Explosion of Interest in Block Diagrams

Pen and ink, colored pencil on paper.

I have not posted here in a while, because I am trying to crowdsource funds to write new books and publish them through Patreon.com lately.

But when I posted this geology-hydrology block diagram on my Twitter page, it went viral. 

That surprised me, as this was an old-fashioned, hand-drawn illustration. But it raised some interesting questions about the loss of traditional artistic techniques, and methods of presenting scientific information. Perhaps computer-driven digital graphics still lack something (unless you have a gigantic budget to hire Hollywood film-quality graphic designers). 

I whipped this block diagram illustration out easily in a day. I started with a rough pencil sketch, using the principles of perspective.  Then I traced over the pencil lines with pen and ink. Lastly, I colored in the diagram with colored pencils. On paper.

Seems primitive nowadays. But the response from social media has been tremendous, and many people seemed to appreciate the hand-drawn quality, backed up with my years of feild sketching and observation of desert landscapes, vegetation, and geology.

Plus my study of old block diagrams from the early 20th Century. More on that later.

I enjoy doing block diagrams of landscapes, been doing them for decades. This one is a distillation of all my field sketches and experience drawing the Mojave Desert, plus hydrology and geology science. I did it for an educational project for kids, helping to take high school classes to the Mojave Desert from urban areas. Some kids have never been to the desert, let along camping or hiking in remote areas. The last field trip we did was a great success, some kids told me they wanted to be scientists! This year we are going to integrate more art into the field curriculum. 

I have even learned a new saying from a commenter: "Never underestimate the importance of kindergarten." (And the pre-computer days of coloring books!)

Pen and ink, colored pencil on paper.