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Illustrating Crafting Interpreters

Bob Nystrom · 12.3K views · 2018-03-25 · 9:24

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Overview

Bob Nystrom shows his process for hand-drawing the diagrams in his book Crafting Interpreters, from pencil sketches to tracing and inking. It is a time-lapse of the whole illustration workflow.

On Hacker News

Shared in Crafting Interpreters threads because it shows the care behind the book and is satisfying to watch.

Recommended by 2 HN people across 2 months · HN mentions 2020–2024

Topics

Compilers, interpreters & program analysisVisual arts, photography & architectureLiterature & writing craft
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crafting interpretersillustrationpen and inktime-lapsebob nystrom

What people said

vishnugupta · 2022-02 · Recommendation

Related. The author's love for their craft oozes through their work. If I'm not wrong every single illustration in the book is hand-drawn ; like literally. Take a look: [VIDEO]

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airstrike · 2020-04 · Recommendation

> I used to do graphic design, and I have this weird tic where any time I see something that looks handwritten, I look for multiple instances of the same letter to see if they are different or if the design just used a handwriting font. It’s almost always a handwriting font and I die a little inside to see the illusion evaporate. Not a graphic designer, but I do the exact same thing and feel the exact same way... Happy to see I'm not crazy alone And his look like really neat hand-drawn diagrams! I certainly appreciate the degree of craftsmanship and care displayed throughout both books As a someone put it on YouTube, the time-lapse video of the entire process is like ASMR for geeks [VIDEO]

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munificent · 2024-02 · Reference

You're welcome! People always assume I drew them digitally somehow, but nope, literally on paper with pencil and pen. Here's a video I put together showing the process: [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Bob Nystrom, played through YouTube.

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