Explaining the world one sketch at a time

Sketchplanations makes complex ideas simple with clear, insightful sketches. Explore topics from science, creativity, psychology, and beyond explained in pictures.

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Draw smooth lines

…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.……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.

13 May 2017

Antipodes

If you were to dig straight down from where you’re standing and pass straight through the centre of the Earth and keep on digging — you’d now be tunnelling up I guess — where you come out would be your antipode. Though most of them would first have you springing a leak at the bottom of the ocean, so be careful.…

6 May 2017

Moon pool

Moon pools are protected entrances to water that can even give the remarkable ability to enter from under the water. First created to support drilling operations on offshore platforms, moon pools can include entrances on the decks or undersides of ships or an entry and exit for divers from permanent underwater research bases. How does an underwater moon pool work? For underwater entrances, also known as wet porches, the trick is to pressurize the air around the pool to the same pressure as the surrounding water. The raised pressure keeps the water from gushing in and enables a swimming pool-like entrance even though you’re already below the surface. I've never used one, but I'd absolutely love to. One of my earliest memories of a moon pool and corresponding bafflement and wonder was in James Cameron's 1989 film The Abyss. A moon pool features in the recent trailer for the remastered version of The Abyss…Moon pools are protected entrances to water that can even give the remarkable ability to enter from under the water. First created to support drilling operations on offshore platforms, moon pools can include entrances on the decks or undersides of ships or an entry and exit for divers from permanent underwater research bases. How does an underwater moon pool work? For underwater entrances, also known as wet porches, the trick is to pressurize the air around the pool to the same pressure as the surrounding water. The raised pressure keeps the water from gushing in and enables a swimming pool-like entrance even though you’re already below the surface. I've never used one, but I'd absolutely love to. One of my earliest memories of a moon pool and corresponding bafflement and wonder was in James Cameron's 1989 film The Abyss. A moon pool features in the recent trailer for the remastered version of The Abyss

29 Apr 2017

Bugs and releases

Smaller software releases generally means fewer bugs, and bugs that are easier to fix. The number of bugs created typically increases with the complexity of interactions of code, which in turn increases with the size of release. This means that a number of smaller releases can hopefully get you to a large change in a safer way with less bugs, and less problematic bugs, created along the way than a single release with the whole lot. There’s probably a somewhat more general relationship with amount of unexpected problems created and the size of any change. Credit to Ewan Silver.…Smaller software releases generally means fewer bugs, and bugs that are easier to fix. The number of bugs created typically increases with the complexity of interactions of code, which in turn increases with the size of release. This means that a number of smaller releases can hopefully get you to a large change in a safer way with less bugs, and less problematic bugs, created along the way than a single release with the whole lot. There’s probably a somewhat more general relationship with amount of unexpected problems created and the size of any change. Credit to Ewan Silver.

22 Apr 2017

Sea horse, sea jelly rather than jellyfish or jelly fish, sea star rather than starfish or star fish

Sea jelly, sea star

Not the easiest switch to make but given that jellyfish and starfish are not at all fish there is a move to call them sea jelly and sea star. As long as we all work to help protect them clearly it doesn’t matter a whole lot, but I think the move to sea jellies and sea stars makes good sense alongside others like the sea horse, sea cucumber, sea lion, sea lily, sea gooseberry…well, actually the sea horse is a type of fish, but you get the idea.…Not the easiest switch to make but given that jellyfish and starfish are not at all fish there is a move to call them sea jelly and sea star. As long as we all work to help protect them clearly it doesn’t matter a whole lot, but I think the move to sea jellies and sea stars makes good sense alongside others like the sea horse, sea cucumber, sea lion, sea lily, sea gooseberry…well, actually the sea horse is a type of fish, but you get the idea.

14 Apr 2017

Orthographic projection

Orthographic projection is a handy technique for communicating much of what you need about something. In an orthographic drawing, you draw a face-on, side-on, and top-down view of an object, allowing you to see the same shape from different perspectives in a single drawing. The neat thing I found about an orthographic drawing is how, when laid out as in the sketch, the dimensions of one view can be extended into the adjacent views, helping to keep the drawing accurate. I definitely felt some satisfaction and enjoyment working on an orthographic projection drawing on a large drawing board with a built-in ruler. While orthographic projections can be helpful for accurately representing an object, they struggle a bit with hollows and some other features that can make them start to look a bit fiddly. Perhaps combine an orthographic view with an isometric projection.…Orthographic projection is a handy technique for communicating much of what you need about something. In an orthographic drawing, you draw a face-on, side-on, and top-down view of an object, allowing you to see the same shape from different perspectives in a single drawing. The neat thing I found about an orthographic drawing is how, when laid out as in the sketch, the dimensions of one view can be extended into the adjacent views, helping to keep the drawing accurate. I definitely felt some satisfaction and enjoyment working on an orthographic projection drawing on a large drawing board with a built-in ruler. While orthographic projections can be helpful for accurately representing an object, they struggle a bit with hollows and some other features that can make them start to look a bit fiddly. Perhaps combine an orthographic view with an isometric projection.

8 Apr 2017

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