Hey everyone, it's Deysi from Design Squad.

Sketching is a really cool engineering tool because it lets you visualize.

That means to see a design before you build it.

I want to talk about a really cool technique called isometric sketching.

An isometric sketch is a 3-D drawing of an object where you can see all three views-- the front, the side, and the top-- all in one drawing.

Most sketches of 3-D objects show you only one view of the object, like the front of a house.

But an isometric drawing shows you all three views: the front, the side, and the top.

We'll draw an isometric sketch of coolguy753's fan car.

In response to coolguy753, seaslug sent us this nifty sketch of a futuristic car that is good for the environment since it's powered by wind rather than gas.

This sketch of the fan car is from a top view angle.

Our isometric sketch will show some of the front, side, and top of the fan car.

This view is helpful.

It'll appear three dimensional, sticking out of the page.

It'll give you a better idea of what your design will look like before you build it in real life.

You're gonna need an isometric grid to help guide you.

You can print one out by searching for "isometric grid" on your computer, or you can also draw one.

Ta-da!

But I'm gonna use a printed one.

Our fan car's base is a rectangular prism.

Drawing a rectangular prism on an isometric grid is easy.

Just follow the lines on the grid and make sure your parallel sides are the same lengths.

Now I'm going to make an isometric sketch of the fan car.

These vertical lines are three centimeters and are all the same length.

These diagonals are all five centimeters, and these long diagonals are all ten centimeters.

Now you can see the front, the top, and the side view all in one drawing.

Now let's try to draw some wheels.

To draw circular objects, you kind of have to draw an ellipse.

And here are two partial ellipses.

Take a look at this quarter.

When you look at it straight on, it's a circle.

But if you hold it at an angle, like the angle we see objects in an isometric drawing, the quarter looks like an ellipse.

You see that?

The wheels look like they're coming out of the page.

Now let's draw the rest of the fan car.

First, I'm gonna draw the blades, which will catch the wind.

Well, that looks great.

Now it's time to draw our fan.

The wind from the fan is going to blow against the blades, which are gonna rotate our wheels.

Now see, the front, the top, and the side all in one drawing.

These kind of sketches take a lot of practice.

Sometimes, it takes a few tries, but that's okay.

Keep practicing; they'll get easier.

And there you have it.

Send your own isometric sketches of things you want to build to the Design Squad website.

I can't wait to see them.