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I don't want to use formal diagramming tools to make the diagrams, I want to draw them instead.
Does anyone know of any tasteful examples where people use digital drawing tools to do this?
I like Lin Clark's drawings on the Mozilla Hacks blog: https://hacks.mozilla.org/author/lclarkmozilla-com/
Children's publisher Usborne have made available for free some classic computer books from the 1980s aimed at kids. The books use illustrations extensively to explain concepts.
These books have been discussed a few times before here on Hacker News. Scroll down to the bottom of the link below for the free PDFs.
https://usborne.com/browse-books/features/computer-and-codin...
Don't be put off by the fact the books are aimed at kids. I'll repeat what I said about these guides in a previous Hacker News discussion: Not only are these books well written with clear, concise explanations, they are also more readable and enjoyable than many programming books published for adults today.
I've often wondered why programming explanations don't use simple graphics or diagrams to illustrate programming concepts. Anyone writing a technical guide (of any kind) would benefit from reading these as a source of ideas and inspiration.
I will be seeking inspiration from paras Chopra's https://invertedpassion.com
Quite well done.
https://medium.com/the-node-js-collection/having-fun-with-no...
Ask me anything ;)
This is not quite what you asked, but still worth taking a look... Children's publisher Usborne have made available for free some classic computer books from the 1980s aimed at kids. The books use illustrations extensively to explain concepts. These books have been discussed a few times before here on Hacker News. Scroll down to the bottom of the link below for the free PDFs. https://usborne.com/browse-books/features…
Most of them are done with a tablet without "fancy" software.
To do something similar in my presentations, I used an old DIN A4 Samsung tablet with Autodesk Sketchbook with good results.
I found very useful to be able to worki with layers, so I could draw the diagram on the top layer, and fill the shapes with colour in a layer underneath.
But the best part is I could focus on the storytelling, not in redoing again, and again the diagram in Powerpoint. With a hand drawing, you can iterate fast the concepts until you find it good enough.