How I cutaway the Xbox Series X...

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I should point out from the get-go that this is an Adobe Illustrator illustration and not an exact CAD model or precise render of the inner workings of the upcoming XBox Series X games console. Think of it more as an indication of how it works, based on the best publicly available images from Microsoft.

It was a relatively tricky graphic to do and had some quite fiddly elements to create in 3D. Here is the abridged process in 10 screen grabs. The images can be enlarged by clicking them, if you wish.

I begin by taking some screenshots from the XBox website that show the console's innards.
I skew one image into an approximation of a flat, face-on viewpoint and proceed to draw components.


These are the elements laid on top of each other – making sure they all fit together.

Time to extrude elements into 3D shapes, using reference photos from the XBox website.

All the, now 3D, elements laid on top of each other – making sure they still fit together.

Now to work out how to pull them apart within the confines of our 2-column graphic template.

Starting to play with text pointers to work out what I want to say.

With everything pretty much sized the way I want them, I start to shade
the objects and create a keyline layer for each of them.


Time to add a few gaussian blur shadows to help the components "pop" a little bit.

The finished graphic. If you click this link – https://bit.ly/3g5ovHh – you can view it on
the Graphic News website, complete with a responsive smartphone-friendly version.
If you want to enjoy more infographics like this one, you can sign up for a free
Graphic News 30-day pass here – https://bit.ly/2Y47gjl

Visit graphicgibbon.com to enjoy more tasty morsels of infographic goodness!


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