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I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph

dougmacdowell.com

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Re: I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph

#41

Post by mauvehaus »

apwheele wrote: post #16

You should add in Calvin Schmid's Handbook of Graphic Presentation into your list Doug -- https://archive.org/details/HandbookOfGraphicPresentation/pa... Unfortunately I do not see specific discussion of how to make the lines a consistent thickness. It does have notes on how to sharpen your pencil and how to use a carpenters spline to draw smooth curves though.

Technical drawings pens are held upright and have a circular tip that gives a specific line width based on the diameter of the tip.

If you're inking your drawings, you probably don't need to worry all that much about the exact line width and consistency of your pencil work.

N.b. I don't ink my drawings. I've used drafting pens a couple times to experiment, but it's not part of my regular workflow.

https://www.jetpens.com/blog/The-Best-Technical-Drawing-Pens

Re: I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph

#42

Post by zamadatix »

Biganon wrote: post #17
codeduck wrote: post #15

This is my favourite kind of post here

Same. Any kind of hyper fixation is infinitely more interesting than AI bullshit.

There is a hyperfixation on AI to the point you can't even read a post about drawing graphs by hand without it coming up!

Re: I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph

#44

Post by rafterydj »

pram wrote: post #6

They look really good. I really enjoy looking at midcentury engineering charts/diagrams and stuff like jeppesen charts. NASA has a lot of good ones. The way the text looks, the line economy, the general aesthetic. Well worth the effort imo!

I'm glad I'm not the only who seemingly has a taste for "older" diagrams from that period. It makes me think of the same aesthetic roots of what's now called "cassette futurism" or "NASA-punk". Older engineering charts really feel like there was more care and thought put into each line or facet, even though I'm sure it's a trick of time.

Re: I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph

#45

Post by deepsun »

mauvehaus wrote: post #32

I build furniture and while I do my design work digitally for remote clients, I do my shop drawings by hand. One super helpful tip I got from an actual trained draftsman is to use harder pencil lead for your layout and construction lines. Like 6H to 9H. You'll get a much lighter line to erase later. It'll also hold a finer point for longer. I prefer lead holders to wooden pencils. They take 2mm lead, and you sharpen…

Btw, construction tools have thicker lead holders, like 5.6mm, and red color too.

https://www.homedepot.com/b/Tools-Hand-Tools-Marking-Tools-L...

Re: I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph

#48

Post by dougdude3339 »

mauvehaus wrote: post #32

I build furniture and while I do my design work digitally for remote clients, I do my shop drawings by hand. One super helpful tip I got from an actual trained draftsman is to use harder pencil lead for your layout and construction lines. Like 6H to 9H. You'll get a much lighter line to erase later. It'll also hold a finer point for longer. I prefer lead holders to wooden pencils. They take 2mm lead, and you sharpen…

Finding tools that clicked was a nice process to discover. I also tried harder leads and like them for the reasons you mention - but for whatever reason, kept coming back to a basic BIC mechanical pencil.

An eraser shield is a good addition to the tools list - that came in handy often.

Love the tracing paper tip - that’d be helpful to remove the digital aspect of taking a picture a digitally sketching on top.

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