Posts Tagged ‘technical illustration’
Scoville 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 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 MoreHow to Punctuate Items Listed in a Table Cell or Unordered List
Punctuation of table cell or unordered list items presents a special problem in technical writing since more often than not such lines include technical specs. Punctuation questions, like whether to end each line with a period or not, acquires a special significance since Parallelism “Parallelism” is one of those cardinal rules in technical writing. In…
Read MorePersonal Story of a Software Technical Illustrator Writer Working in Canada
What are the Differences Between Technical Illustration, Information Design, and Editorial Illustration?
© 2010 Ugur Akinci Thanks to a number of responses to an earlier post about Technical Illustration, I had the opportunity to think more about the topic. I now realize that I have not clarified the various niches that exist within the catch-all category of graphic arts that we call “technical illustration.” Here I’d like…
Read MoreHow to Develop Your Technical Illustration Skills
© Ugur Akinci As I mentioned several times in the past, if you are a technical communicator who enjoys graphic arts, you are missing something in your career if you have not developed your technical illustration skills. Our industry is very ripe for those writers who can also draw and create all kinds of technical…
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