Sketchbattle Story

Sketchbattle didn’t start as an event — it started as an energy. A collision of sketching, rave culture, competition, Detroit grit, and the rebellious spirit of designers who never fit the corporate mold.

Roots in Graffiti Battles

Sketchbattle’s DNA comes from graffiti sketch battles — artists drawing wildstyle letters in their blackbooks, competing for style, respect, and creative dominance. That raw, expressive underground energy planted the seed for everything Sketchbattle would become.

The Idea Forms at CCS

Between 2010–2012, while completing his Master’s (MFA) in Transportation Design at the College for Creative Studies (CCS), Brook was required to create a full business plan. Instead of inventing a generic product or startup, he fused everything that shaped him:

• electronic music culture — house, techno, ambient, drum & bass

• immersion in the UK’s late '80s–early 2000s rave movement

• a lifelong obsession with sketching and concept design

• inspiration from futurists Syd Mead and Daniel Simon

• the fiercely competitive sketch culture inside CCS Transportation Design and in automotive design in general

At CCS, students stayed up all night sketching — battling each other for internships and jobs. Everyone knew it: 

​

THE STRONGEST SKETCHERS WON THE BIGGEST OPPORTUNITIES.

​

Brook asked the question that sparked the whole movement: What if that intensity wasn’t hidden behind studio doors? What if design could be a sport — in front of an audience?

​

Design + Party = A New Form of Culture

Growing up inside the UK rave scene, Brook always wanted to host real parties — music, lights, atmosphere, energy. Not stiff corporate mixers. Not beige hotel‑lobby gatherings.

So he merged the worlds:

A sketching contest that feels like a rave.

Sketching + music + competition + Detroit + design culture. Nobody in the automotive industry had ever fused these worlds — especially not in a city as gritty and creative as Detroit.

The First Event — 2012 Detroit

After graduating, Brook and Judith founded Middlecott Design and opened their Detroit studio in the Penobscot Building. Instead of a traditional studio launch party, they tested the Sketchbattle concept as part of Detroit Month of Design (then DDF).

Sketchbattle #1 packed the studio wall‑to‑wall. Music pounding. Designers sketching live. Crowd cheering. Mike Ilitch even walked in unexpectedly.

It was undeniable: Sketchbattle worked.

Growth into a Movement (2012–2019)

The next Detroit battles were held in underground warehouses — gritty, loud, raw, and real. During the Detroit Auto Show, international designers would wander in and say, “This is the real Detroit,” not a polished hotel lobby.

That’s how Sketchbattle earned the moniker “The Fight Club of Design.” A place where executives, designers, students, and the public stood shoulder-to-shoulder, ties off, drinks poured, old designer friends and new business opportunities, networking abounded!

Sketchbattle expanded fast. Designers wanted to compete. Sponsors wanted in. Cities kept asking.

Key expansions included:

• Detroit events starting in 2012

• Los Angeles at the Petersen Museum (2016) with Michael DiTullio, BASF, Polk Audio

• Las Vegas with Axalta at SEMA + Mobsteel (2016–2017)

• Academy of Art University, SF and Hilton (2018)

• New York City Fashion Week at Gawker/Gizmodo HQ, invited by Jalopnik (2019)

• Chicago at X‑PONENTIAL drone & tech expo (2019)

• Pebble Beach / Monterey during Concours Week (2019)

• CES, Las Vegas (2020)

By 2020, Sketchbattle had become a traveling design‑culture festival.

Then the world shut down.

In 2023, Ralph Gilles, chief Designe Officer, Stellantis, reached out with one sentence that changed everything:

​

“You need to bring Sketchbattle back — and I’ll back you.”

Ralph Gilles 2023

​

The Future — Design as a Global Sport

Today, Sketchbattle stands for far more than a party or a contest. It is:

• design as athletic performance

• talent discovery in real time

• a global stage for students and professionals

• a bridge between education, industry, and culture

• a platform shaped by Detroit’s design legacy and rave‑culture energy

​

Brook and Judith are building Sketchbattle into a global creative platform — spanning automotive, footwear, product design, youth programs, online feeder rounds, livestream content, and international competitions.

Sketchbattle is becoming what it was always meant to be: A movement where creativity is loud, competitive, inspiring, and alive. A place where designers are treated like athletes. A place where the sketch becomes the sport.

​