When I look back at the Lego of my youth compared to the Lego of today a few things are striking. Today’s is much cooler: the colours are better, the pieces are more interesting, the sets are cleverer (they also have a lot more weapons*). And the sets have their own characters: they’re not just nameless people in characterless towns, every set is full of people with names, expressions, back stories, personality and goals. My observation, ahem, through our children, is that this makes it way more interesting to play with. It’s the characters and the story that make them so good now. A good part of that I think is also the shift in quality of expressions on the faces.

I am kind of in awe of Lego faces. The number and variety and subtlety of expressions it’s possible to make with just a few small changes to a few small lines on a face I find truly astounding. This sketchplanation shows just a tiny bit of the variety from the Lego Movies. Respect to the artists.

*5% of Lego boxes sold in 2001 contained Lego weapons. In 2014 that was 30% according to Bartneck C, Min Ser Q, Moltchanova E, Smithies J, Harrington E (2016) Have LEGO Products Become More Violent? PLoS ONE 11(5): e0155401.

Lego faces

A type of projection that looks distorted when viewed from a standard vantage point or means, but can reveal itself spectacularly from the right point or using the right tool.

This is the technique responsible for making 3D looking ads on rugby fields that players can run over as if they weren’t there; or how they create those amazing street art holes; or how S L O W painted on a road may look just right when driving towards it but weird and long when seen from the side; or how Hans Holbein the younger tucked a skull into his painting The Ambassadors in the National Gallery. But others may require viewing with a mirror or a circular viewer to reveal themselves as intended.

Anamorphic art is therefore referred to as an intimate art as, even in an art gallery, the true picture may only reveal themselves to one person viewing in just the right way.

Also see: one-point perspective, two-point perspective, 3-point perspective, draw what you see, not what you think, atmospheric perspective.

PS you’ll have to tilt your screen or move to quite an angle to see Tilt me look like normal letters in the sketch.

Anamorphosis

The effect you may have noticed where things further in the distance lose their intensity and colour until they fade into the sky. Most often noticeable with hills or mountains, but also in a misty forest as mist, dust, fog or things like pollution increase the effect.

If it’s a blue sky day, the distance will take on a bluer tone like the colour of the sky.

This scene painted from our ascent of Mt Rainier in the Pacific Northwest. And here’s a sunset version.

Atmospheric perspective

You could do worse than follow this for most simple branding. Think of a suit where about 60% of the colour you see is the suit, 30% the shirt and 10% accent or highlight with the tie. Classic.

60-30-10 Colour rule

With primary colours - red, blue and yellow - secondary colours, made by mixing the primaries - orange, purple and green - and complementary colours - from the opposites on the colour wheel - red and green, blue and orange, yellow and purple.

It’s fair to say there’s a lot more to colour than this basic wheel. I will try to get back to it.

The basic colour wheel

…by using the natural geometry of your joints. It took me a while to figure out that it’s easy to draw lines in some directions and hard in others. And most of the time it’s simply down to respecting the pivots of the elbow and the wrist. And also why we tend to angle our notebooks so much to the desk, and why, if you want to draw a smooth line at another angle, you’re really best-off just turning the paper.

As a corollary, I figured out that by looking at angle of most of Leonardo Da Vinci’s cross-hatching you can see that he was drawing left-handed.

Draw smooth lines

A handy technique for communicating much of what you need about something.

Orthographic projection

The proportions of the golden ratio pop-up in all sorts of places in Nature and man-made things since early times and are a handy shortcut to make something we seem to find pleasingly proportioned. In photography, art, Nature, violins, or the Parthenon, we just keep being drawn to it. It has a pleasing equation too where the ratio of the long over the short dimension is the same as both added together over the long dimension. Why not browse some golden ration examples. Even Trump.

The golden ratio.

Basics to consider for your photo and drawing composition. It has a long history.

Compose with the rule of thirds

Scribbling on a post-it doesn’t give your ideas they respect they deserve. Change the way you and others consider them by using a simple format that makes people think twice before dismissing and does more to get your idea across.

Treat your ideas with respect

Not my invention. Most recently spotted via the excellent Eva-lotta Lamm.

Easily draw expressions

One of the best things we did when on a significant traveling trip was to make our journal as a mindmap. There are all sorts of reasons why we found it better and more enjoyable to do at the time and better and more enjoyable once returned. Get a better idea than this sketchplanation by flicking through our mindmap travel journal

Try a mindmap travel journal

The little things like these make all the difference. Comic artists can only draw realistic bulging muscles because they know what muscles are actually where. Thinking through an object carefully, not superficially, makes a huge difference in being able to represent it well.

Think through the whole object

It’s very easy to draw what we think something looks like, rather than what we’re actually seeing. One of the things art classes teach you is to measure what you’re seeing to not let your eyes be fooled by your common sense. An art teacher in a class at Berkeley once, memorably, sat on the classroom floor to illustrate foreshortening like I’ve shown here. It has stuck with me.

Draw what you see, not what you think

To experience, try standing at the corner of a tall building and looking up.

Also see One-point perspective and Two-point perspective.

Three-point perspective

Lines converge to two points on a horizon.

Two-point perspective

All lines converge to a central point. Turns out Kubrick is pretty handy at one-point perspective.

One-point perspective

Principles from Edward Tufte. Remove chart junk. Erase redundant and non-data-ink. Above all else show the data.

Of course the present infographic trend laughs in the face of these principles in the interests of trying to encourage people to actually look at the data in the first place. But, assuming you actually want people to seriously infer some meaning from the data, these are not bad principles to follow when constructing your data graphics. Some basic Excel templates could do with a clean up for example.

Maximise data-ink

Draw a basic bike

That little bit of extra space you give real edges makes a big difference.

Life is 3D. Give edges thickness

References and a better looking and interactive explanation on cuteify. Inspired by a brilliant little exhibit at the even brillianter Exploratorium in San Francisco. 

Rules of cute

Always handy to be able to draw some quick sensible looking people. Worth practicing.

6 simple sketch people

The Hermann Grid, the Necker cube, and the Blivet

Some optical illusions

Do: Structure and organise information as it’s said

Do: Write big - aim for letters at least 2in high

Most of what I know about visual recording from Jump Associates and The Grove.

When visual recording

Checking that things fit by rehearsing in the air is often a few seconds well spent.

Air-write before inking

Regail/bore people with the subtleties of leading, tracking and kerning.

Be a type geek

Most people I meet think I can draw. But they also don’t know how many times in my life I’ve screwed up a drawing and it didn’t come out like I wanted it to. I really believe that almost anyone can draw. With attention, practice, a thoughtful eye and a tolerance for mistakes we can all get there. No excuses.

Trust your picture

By now I have learned a thing or two. Massive thanks for following along.

Create a sketchplanation

The key is endarkening edges where you can’t see both sides. And maybe a little more on the bottom for solidity. That’s about it.

Draw iconic objects

Draw a grey nurse shark

Use white space with care to make your point

I figured this out while trying to draw one. The epiphany was noticing that the s-line in the centre is uninterrupted but part of two chain links. Neat.

Sketchplanations tagged with drawing