I was wondering how long in advance you all start preparing your accents and if you make a sketch of your cake first... I don't and end up winging it and my cakes aren't nearly as beautiful as the ones on this site.

Just curious!

I do a sketch so that I will have something to show the client. It makes it nice for them to have something "visual" instead of what's in my head! LOL!

is it rude to bump myself???

I'm still very new at this, so I usually design my cakes after other's I have seen. If that counts as sketching, then 'yes', I sketch.

I will "try" to do a sketch my by artistic talents are POOR in this department. There is a web site I ran across that looks promising but it is not up yet www.cakedesigncenter.com

I also will cut and paste other cakes I see for inspiration to try and get a visual of what I want.

I always sketch my cakes...now. Didn't used to and boy what a difference having your ideas down on paper makes. No more being upset that something I want to do on the cake can't be done because i already did x and it can't be changed now. I used to wing it but no more since I discovered the power and sanity a sketch provides me!

I have a book specifically for my cake drawings and plans. When I get ideas I go to the notebook and sketch it out so that I remember later. I have always been into drawing and I am a visual learner, so this approach works really well for my cake creating process.

i sketch my cakes but usually the sketch and the actual cake do not match. i always end up adding, changing or removing something.

for those of us that are artistically deprived, anyone have any suggestions... I try to sketch my cakes, but, what I see in my head I just cannot get on paper... it is frustrating. Has anyone used any type of paint program or something like that?

I believe you can use Word to create Spheres and Squares.........that would give you a "base" to work on.......

I'm with Shrek -- I do a bunch of sketches, just to keep my sanity and help me remember the various inspirations I get in the middle of the night -- but RARELY does the end result look like my sketch!

well, we all know what I do.
plus I use MS Publisher sometimes to do basic shapes that become templates or to combine art to create. sometimes MS Paint too.

(have to break down and buy Photoshop and InDesign)

very hard for most to ever get mental image to match paper image...those people are the true artists and even then they complain "but it's not what I saw...."

ah the power of imagination and the limits of realization.

I've wanted to sketch, but somehow the inspiration doesn't come to me until I'm face to face with the blank cake..lol but I do usually have a base idea in my head. Sometimes if I'm working with 'props' I will lay them out either on the cake or on a blank sheet of paper of same size/shape of my cake.

I don't sketch. This is because I can't even draw a stick man that good. My husband tries to help me. He;s the artist in the family. I get frustrated, due to my inabilities.

I do a sketch if it is for something elaborate which incorporates lots of ideas. I also sketch a basic drawing for wedding orders to show myself the shapes/separations/special additions that will be used on the cake. I very rarely do something to show the client.

I think you've nailed it, Jenn123 -- it's a rare sketch I'd show a client. All sketches are just for my use. Plus, it's fun for me to go back and look at the picture of the finished cake, and compare it to my sketches/ideas.

I LOVE the creative process!

I do both. Sometimes I have an idea clinking around in my head and best way to get it out is to sketch it and file it a later use or to make right away now thta I have a hard copy to go by. I sketeched out my all-pink cake (in photos) and pretty much kept to the plan until Imade the pink chocolate lattice work too big then I had to change other elements to make it all work. Like so many have said, the final cake always is different than the sketch. I tend to create things in my sketches that are almost impossible to create in real life, so I adjust the design. I have found that I create some of my best cakes when I am pressed for time or someone has asked at the last minute.

i do sketch but most of the time i end up doing an entirely different design ...as if i did a lot of cakes already! ..maybe if i sell my cakes i would stick to the design that i would show to my client...if i get any...lol!

I either sketch or I plan them out on my computer. With the computer, I can change colors and move things around much easier than having to redraw it over and over.

Hey PennySue, When you say you plan them on your computer, where on your computer do you do this?

Thanks

nathanikka and dl5crew, because you don't draw doesn't make you a non-artist!!!!!!!!! Golly - you guys create cakes right? Then you are creative and also an artist - don't underestimate your talents.

I don't draw - but a set-up a "Feed Your Eyes" collage like the interior decorators on HGTV. Little this color, little that shape, maybe this modeled figure, with this piping - etc. Then put them into my "Feed Your Eyes" Journal. After creating the cake I put notes on what worked and what to change for the next time!

CrystalsCakes5,
I do mine on MS Publisher.

I don't consider myself a fine artist but I make a rough sketch of all my cakes once I've thought it out in my head. That way I can clearly see if I need to tweek the design a bit.

This was a thread on this topic with some good info & basic cake templates. Doug posted some amazing templates too, I'll try to find them:



http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-13844-sketch.html

I sketch every now and then. It is true however that some of my best work is unplanned or rushed. I don't know why that happens.

Now that I think about it, I sketch more than I thought I did. I usually sketch out a rough draft for the bride to look at so that she can kind of get an idea of what her cake will look like, especically if she really didn't have anything in mind before she came in for the consultation.

Me, never..because I know I won't follow it. Designs pops into my head as I stare at it before I decorate it.