Hacker News: dougdude3339

New comment by dougdude3339 in "I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph"

dougdude3339 — Tue, 26 May 2026 14:01:14 +0000

I really enjoyed reading this. I wonder where the master copies ended up. Storage? Landfill? I hope some are preserved and hung on the wall.

The pen plotter sounds phenomenal. I've used some modern budget friendly ones - but don't think they compare to what you describe here.

New comment by dougdude3339 in "I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph"

dougdude3339 — Mon, 25 May 2026 16:00:41 +0000

I used one of these bizarre pouches as a gentle final pass to clean up drawings. The graphite "smear" from the t-square happened with every drawing - thanks for sharing this top. Before starting a new drawing I would wipe down the tools to start fresh!

New comment by dougdude3339 in "I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph"

dougdude3339 — Mon, 25 May 2026 05:02:04 +0000

I try to “think with a pencil” every single day - I’m excited to browse this book. When digging into hand drawn data viz I did not have older software on my mind. It’s analogous to this project and something I’m excited to try - and maybe, it won’t take 50 hours. Thank you for sharing these.

New comment by dougdude3339 in "I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph"

dougdude3339 — Mon, 25 May 2026 04:43:36 +0000

Certainly reminds me of the fonts produced by the vintage lettering kits.

What if for digital fonts, there was a way to write the same letter 2 or more different ways? Adding slight variations to the same letter would mimic the effect of using hand tools.

New comment by dougdude3339 in "I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph"

dougdude3339 — Mon, 25 May 2026 04:35:34 +0000

That seems like a valuable internship. I think the documentation in books about hand drafting techniques only contains so much information. How much knowledge was passed from professionals to apprentices alone? And does this knowledge disappear when they leave us?

New comment by dougdude3339 in "I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph"

dougdude3339 — Mon, 25 May 2026 04:20:23 +0000

I dream of stumbling across a book like this in the used book store... I'm striking out finding a digital copy or availability at libraries.

New comment by dougdude3339 in "I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph"

dougdude3339 — Mon, 25 May 2026 04:10:56 +0000

This is exactly what I hoped for when writing this article. The "Atlas de statistique graphique de la ville de Paris" from 1889 has stunning hand drafted data visuals I may have never seen unless you shared. Thank you for making an account and adding to this catalog of resources about data viz. I plan to add this to the list in my next update.

New comment by dougdude3339 in "I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph"

dougdude3339 — Sun, 24 May 2026 17:19:14 +0000

I've taught digital art classes too. I was pleasantly surprised at a writing assignment where most students (un-prompted) turned in a hand-written response.

New comment by dougdude3339 in "I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph"

dougdude3339 — Sun, 24 May 2026 17:16:29 +0000

Classic.

New comment by dougdude3339 in "I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph"

dougdude3339 — Sun, 24 May 2026 17:16:15 +0000

I found myself using the Prismacolor Artgum eraser the most. It had a nice way of shedding the used parts and staying clean. I like the kneaded erasers too but I tend to dirty them up too much.

New comment by dougdude3339 in "I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph"

dougdude3339 — Sun, 24 May 2026 17:11:25 +0000

Learning about something like TikZ is exactly what I hoped for from writing this article. Thank you for sharing.

New comment by dougdude3339 in "I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph"

dougdude3339 — Sun, 24 May 2026 17:06:01 +0000

The kerning deserves the criticism - I'm glad someone said it :)

New comment by dougdude3339 in "I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph"

dougdude3339 — Sun, 24 May 2026 17:04:59 +0000

This will be an excellent addition to the list. Curve lines are a challenge I have yet to tackle in depth.

New comment by dougdude3339 in "I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph"

dougdude3339 — Sun, 24 May 2026 16:53:21 +0000

Never heard of Decker - I can tell I'm gonna have fun with it. Thanks for sharing.

New comment by dougdude3339 in "I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph"

dougdude3339 — Sun, 24 May 2026 16:44:35 +0000

Finding tools that clicked was a nice process to discover. I also tried harder leads and like them for the reasons you mention - but for whatever reason, kept coming back to a basic BIC mechanical pencil.

An eraser shield is a good addition to the tools list - that came in handy often.

Love the tracing paper tip - that’d be helpful to remove the digital aspect of taking a picture a digitally sketching on top.

New comment by dougdude3339 in "I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph"

dougdude3339 — Thu, 21 May 2026 15:05:28 +0000

What's been more interesting to me lately than using software to design data visualizations is learning to draw data by hand. It's a time consuming process but incredibly rewarding. The feeling of erasing graphite to reveal clean, crisp lines is something that software cannot recreate.

I spent 50 hours drawing a line graph

dougdude3339 — Thu, 21 May 2026 15:05:28 +0000

Article URL: https://www.dougmacdowell.com/50-hours-to-draw-some-lines.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48223997

Points: 664

# Comments: 105

Fifty Hours to Draw Some Lines - Making high quality data visualizations by hand

dougdude3339 — Wed, 20 May 2026 16:26:18 +0000

Article URL: https://www.dougmacdowell.com/50-hours-to-draw-some-lines.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48210245

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

New comment by dougdude3339 in "Coffeematic PC – A coffee maker computer that pumps hot coffee to the CPU"

dougdude3339 — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 17:45:36 +0000

Incredible - thank you for sharing this.

New comment by dougdude3339 in "Coffeematic PC – A coffee maker computer that pumps hot coffee to the CPU"

dougdude3339 — Sat, 02 Aug 2025 10:04:47 +0000

Excellent find I have never heard of - thank you for sharing