A time-laspe for our interns to show a process of creating infographics using one of series of infographics for an educational supplement to the Ken Burn’s documentary on cancer. This is a lot faster than in real time, but it shows the abbreviated actions from thought to final product.

Well, according to the header it’s drawing with graphite. But that’s just how we start sometimes. There is just something about the way a pencil feels on paper – nostalgia, I guess. But in the video below we show the other way we draw on the computer. I think this is it for 2D on the computer. It’s either vector or pixels. (I believe 3D is usually created in polygons and is really more like sculpting than drawing.) Drawing in pixels is most like conventional drawing and painting. It’s great for texture, but it cannot resize infinitely like vector.

We finish the drawing in Photoshop using a Wacom Intuos. Really, this video is less about drawing an more about finding a style.

Everyday people ask us how we create illustrations. No they don’t. No one ever asks. But below is a video of us in Adobe Illustrator using a mouse to draw with the vector pen tool. It sort of does the same thing that a french curve used to do in the olden days, but this is all mathematically based points and lines. That means it can be scaled to any size, which is why it is used for typefaces, logos and most graphics. Vector is superb for crisp lines and shapes.

See the whole poster set