Sketch Series: Parker Nussbaum

From the MARS Ascension Vehicle at the Johnson Space Center to the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, the products of Parker Nussbaum's sketches continue to reach new heights and audiences. The Houston-based industrial designer is well-versed in rapid prototyping and creating objects that marry both beauty and function. In June, Parker helped launch Rottet Collection during NeoCon 2017, and he's been on a roll ever since. In this Sketch Series installment, we delve into the organized chaos behind Parker's work.How did you first get into sketching/drawing?I have always liked drawing and actively sketched throughout most of my youth. I was lucky in that my parents took me to a lot of art museums growing up, so I learned to love the visual arts and explore them in my free time.It was not until college, however, that I really hit my stride and started to gain knowledge of form, composition, and technique. The transformation did not come easily. Having your drawings and ideas slammed during critiques pushes you to try to be more clear and fluid in form and style, not to mention learning the technique for industrial design drawing of Vizcomm (visual communication), which took a while to grasp.Today I still keep sketchbooks around and continue to further my skills in drawing and idea generation. Right now I have three in rotation: one for work and notes, another for product design ideas, and a personal one where I draw the most freely.Tell us about your drawings.Most of these drawings are some of my favorites from past projects. The bicycle-related drawings explore the functionality of bicycles and bicycle accessories for a startup project I worked on in conjunction with the [Gerald D. Hines] College of Architecture and the [C.T. Bauer] College of Business at the University of Houston, my alma mater. The living chandelier and oxygen-generating devices are studies from my thesis exploring different implementations of living media to combat indoor air pollution. The space craft design drawings are some human factor studies I did on the Mars Ascension Vehicle at NASA in conjunction with Lockheed Martin, studying flight seats and sleep hardware.They are quite different in their scope of product, but I wanted to show more fleshed-out drawings rather than the visual madness which constitutes most of my sketches.What do you sketch when you’re not at work?Nine times out of ten, it’s something from work that I just didn’t feel I got right. Usually through this sketch exercise, my perfectionism begins to lose its edge and the drawings descend into chaos. It’s in the chaos that I either find clarity or just begin to draw forms.Occasionally I’ll practice drawing people or landscapes, but usually they are very abstracted or quick expressions of a moment.What was the last thing that inspired you?Recently, I had the chance to see the David Hockney retrospective at The Centre Pompidou in Paris, and was truly inspired by the breadth and quality of his work. Not only was his style fluid and emotional, it also managed to retain a quality of simplicity and optimism.  I read a quote by him on one of the signs that described how he wanted to master as many painting techniques/styles as he could, so that his work would not be typecast by art critics but instead retain a timeless quality. I think that is an admirable goal.What are your favorite tools?I actually really prefer to draw on loose leaf paper. 80-lb Hammermill paper is my standard. It handles Copic markers really well and does not wear out fine-tipped pens nearly as quickly as other types of paper. If I am going to use a sketch book, I have come to prefer the MUJI Size A6 Notebook, since it fits in my back pocket but still has enough structure.For drawing utensils, I love Marvy LePens, the MUJI 0.5mm black ballpoint, Pilot Fineliners, and Faber-Castell pencils. When do you find the time?I do some sketching at work on a daily basis, but it’s rough - almost like a data dump, spilling out shapes, notes, and thumbnail ideas. I suppose the really tight and clean drawings I do are at home on the weekends when everything is a bit quieter and I can focus on the minutiae. I like when the drawing experience transcends into being a meditative experience.