# How to draw watch designs?



## JoshuaTechnomage

A couple things, first what programs do you guys use to draw your watch designs and are any of them free/shareware/included with Windows? Although I would love to make really nice flash watches (for example), I don't have $700+ to spend on software.

Also I wonder if someone could design a web page with integrated drawing software or even flash where anyone could design and submit watch drawings? I'm sure it's possible but my HTML skills are limited and I've never authored any flash. Something simple to use and geared for that specific function?

Right now I'm limited to drawing by hand and certain things are very difficult, like accurately spacing 60 second markings and such and I don't have any proper drawing tools.


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## bfgreen

*Free design applications that can help*



JoshuaTechnomage said:


> A couple things, first what programs do you guys use to draw your watch designs and are any of them free/shareware/included with Windows? Although I would love to make really nice flash watches (for example), I don't have $700+ to spend on software.


This question comes up a lot and for the most part it's a matter of personal preference and budget.

I use Adobe Illustrator to create my drawings. I've been using it professionally now for over 17 years and feel just as comfortable using it to quickly mock up designs as I do using pencil and paper (which I do habitually on ever corner of paper I have or in those long strategic business meetings - yawn).

I also use Adobe Photoshop, though I try to keep this limited to doing only the finishing touches that although I could do in Illustrator, are much easier and faster in Photoshop. I find the combination of the two tools give me exactly what I need and the fact the the designs are vector based and not pixel based means that I can work in minute detail and scale my images to whatever size I need (I have a full color poster print of my first Doxa blueprint on my home office wall - it's breathtaking).

Both of these tools are $$$ and not ideal for everyone, I'm very fortunate to have them and to have had many years of practice using them to the point where they are second nature.

There are many very good free tools out there that mimic both of the tools I use, some are even available as standalone applications that do not require any installation and can be installed on a USB thumbdrive - a sort of design studio in your pocket! I've used one of these (portable GIMP) in a business situation where I was working on a computer in a controlled secure environment and was not given right to install and applications - worked great and saved the day!

Here's some info on two great *free* applications that I hope will help.

*GIMP Portable* is a totally free, fully-fledged Photoshop alternative, I've used this an it is awesome.
http://portableapps.com/apps/graphics_pictures/gimp_portable

*InkScape* is an Open Source *free* vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format.
http://www.inkscape.org/


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