canvasxdraw How-To Series, Episode 13: Practical Sketching 101
We’re kicking off something new with this post — the first contribution from our newest guest blogger, Michael Erikson. Michael spent his career at Boeing as an Associate Technical Fellow, working as an Envisioner using canvasxdraw to help Boeing’s engineering community turn complex ideas and workflows into clear visual illustrations. He’s been using the tool since 1990, through every iteration of it, and he’s joining our instructional video series to share what three and a half decades of hands-on illustration work looks like in practice. We’re glad to have him.
His first video, “Practical Sketching 101,” is a ground-up look at vector illustration using just two tools: the Pointer and the Pen.
What You’ll Learn: How to draw and edit a simple vector shape from scratch using only the Pointer tool and the Pen tool and why thinking in points and paths, instead of pixels, changes how you approach a drawing.
The Core Idea: Vector Isn’t Pixels. As Michael puts it, the old pixel-based model of computer art was about turning pixels on and off. Vector illustration works on a completely different idea: points, paths, and images generated from mathematical equations you never actually see. His analogy: it’s less like dragging a pen across paper, and more like drawing with rubber bands.
Building the Shape. Michael sketches a simple “swoosh” arrow to show the basics:
- Click, click, click with the Pen tool to lay down a basic tapered shape such as straight segments with square corners and no curve handles yet.
- Select a point with the Pointer tool, right-click, and choose Add Handle to convert a sharp corner into a curve. Pulling the handle shapes what Michael calls a “fair curve” which is a boat-builder’s term for a smooth, aerodynamic line, which is the same idea as a Bezier curve.
- Add more handles or add a point mid-path (right-click → Add Point) for finer control over the curve’s shape.
Refining and Editing. The bigger lesson here: nothing comes out right the first time, for an artist or an engineer, and canvasxdraw is built around that reality.
- Duplicate with Command-D, and save as you go.
- Double-click to select a path, click along it to find a cut point, and use Break to open a closed path.
- Delete the parts you don’t need, pick the Pen tool back up, and continue the path to build something new in Michael’s demo, turning the arrow into a callout shape.
- Nudge stray points into alignment with the arrow keys for small, precise corrections once the rough shape is in place.
Finishing Touches. The color palette’s lower swatch controls fill, the upper swatch controls line color, and the adjacent controls set line thickness including dotted-line options.
Why It’s Worth Knowing: Michael’s framing is the real takeaway: canvasxdraw works like a graphics Swiss Army knife with plenty of capability under the hood, but it gets out of your way rather than forcing you to learn a massive menu structure before you can draw anything. Two tools, two kinds of clicks, and a willingness to sketch first and correct second.
Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBpfez5q1QU
Welcome aboard, Michael and we are looking forward to the next one.