While it is true that some of us are more practised at drawing than others, anyone can draw and you don’t need to create Rembrandtian masterpieces to communicate a point. In fact, simplified caricatures are recognised more easily than photos. Psychologists Christopher Chabris and Stephen Kosslyn believe the mental images we form in our minds actually match caricatures better then fully rendered images, because our minds emphasise what is different about an object and de-emphasises similarities. This is why cartoons are effective.

There are lots of excellent but not massively complicated illustration styles that effectively convey a message. For years now, xkcd have been using the power of stick figures to illustrate ideas about maths and physics. Illustrator Kate Beaton has taken the internet by storm with her expressive illustrations. While she is clearly a master at drawing expressions, all she uses are wobbly black lines for many of her comics. And Vanessa…