Technical Illustration
BOOK REVIEW: Excellent Project Guide for Commercial Designers and Technical Illustrators who Draw Graphs
© Ugur Akinci If you’re a beginner or amateur illustrator or designer Adobe Illustrator CS2 @work: Projects You Can Use on the Job is not for you since it does not address the nuts-and-bolts aspects of Adobe Illustrator. This how-to volume assumes that you already know the basics of using the Illustrator. What the author…
Read MoreHow to Express a Continuous Cycle Visually in a Word Technical Document
“Continuous Cycle” is a fairly common idea both in life and in technical communication. Seasons form a continuous cycle that never ends: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring, etc. In technical writing the process of writing, editing, reviewing, releasing also forms a process that never ends. It’s a continuous cycle that repeats itself. You can…
Read MoreScoville Pepper Heat Chart – Information Graphics that Shape the Conversation
© Ugur Akinci Sometimes information graphics hit the bulls-eye. Here is one such graphic, throwing precious light on a recent news event: spraying the UC Davis students with “pepper gas.” When I first read this story, I couldn’t help but assume that “pepper gas” would hurt just like jalapeno pepper, but only a lot more…
Read MoreHow to Draw a Circuit Resistor with Adobe Illustrator
Resistors are common components of many electrical circuit diagrams. Here is how you can draw a good-looking resistor in Adobe Illustrator: (1) Draw a straight line with the Pen tool and select it. (2) Select Effect > Distort & Transform > Zig Zag from the main menu to display the Zig Zag dialog box: (3)…
Read MoreHow to Edit Vector Drawing Objects in Inkscape
Inkscape is a great vector drawing software with poor documentation. Most people quit using Inkscape after a few tries because the GUI looks different than that of (say) Illustrator. Although I use Illustrator for most of my technical drawings I can’t help but appreciate the amount of functionality packed into Inkscape, which is after all…
Read MoreHow to Draw Connecting Shapes with Multiple Strokes with Adobe Illustrator
© 2011 Ugur Akinci Sometimes you will need to draw technical illustrations with shapes that not only connect but also have double or multiple strokes. Think of converging railroad tracks. A shape like this: Follow these steps: (1) Draw your individual overlapping shapes by using any tool necessary (rectangle, ellipse, etc.). (2) Press Ctrl +…
Read MoreSimple Diagrams: Draw a Blackboard-and-Chalk Diagram
Simple Diagrams is proof that we’ve come a full-circle in technical illustration. We started fifty years ago with nothing more than a blackboard and a fistful of chalk. If we had any colored chalks we considered ourselves lucky. That was my elementary school experience. Then we went through the Photoshop + Illustrator revolution in the…
Read MoreHow to Slide Sideways into Technical Writing
© Ugur Akinci “Ugur, I know technical writing is a good niche, it pays well, and I want to do it. But how and where do I begin? I have not done it before and any time I apply for a technical writing position they ask me to show what I did earlier…” is a…
Read MoreHow to Join Two Open Paths in Adobe Illustrator
The PEN is one of the most powerful tools in Adobe Illustrator: You basically can draw anything you like with it. With PEN you can draw both OPEN and CLOSED paths: More often than not, in technical illustration we use CLOSED paths to represent different drawing objects — buttons, circuit boards, capacitors, door bells, car…
Read MoreA Great New Career for Nurses – Medical Writing and Illustration
There is now a great career for Nurses — medical writing and illustration. Say you’re a nurse. An RN. A highly-trained and capable health care professional. And again, say you’re a bit sick and tired of the hustle and bustle of a hospital… Yes, the pay is good but there are nerve wrecking responsibilities. You’re…
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