Beautiful MatplotLib's xkcd graph

beautiful-matplotlib-graphs.py

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# make_chalk_plots.py
# Hand-drawn (xkcd) style charts; saves stacked + per-panel images.

from pathlib import Path
import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import matplotlib.patheffects as pe

# --------- Output ----------
OUTDIR = Path("images/xkcd")
DPI = 300

# --------- Theme ----------
BG = "#0c0c0c"      # chalkboard
FG = "white"        # chalk
LINE = "#ff3b3b"    # red chalk

def apply_global_rc():
    plt.rcParams.update({
        "figure.facecolor": BG,
        "axes.facecolor":   BG,
        "axes.edgecolor":   FG,
        "axes.labelcolor":  FG,
        "xtick.color":      FG,
        "ytick.color":      FG,
        "grid.color":       FG,
        "grid.linewidth":   2.2,
        "axes.linewidth":   3.0,
        "font.size":        14,
        "svg.fonttype":     "none",  # keep text as text in SVG
    })

def style_axes(ax):
    ax.grid(True)
    for s in ax.spines.values():
        s.set_linewidth(3.2)
        s.set_color(FG)
    ax.margins(x=0.02, y=0.15)

def plot_line(ax, x, y):
    ax.plot(
        x, y, lw=3.2, color=LINE,
        marker="o", ms=7,
        markerfacecolor=BG, markeredgecolor=FG, markeredgewidth=2.5,
        path_effects=[pe.Stroke(linewidth=6, foreground=FG), pe.Normal()],
    )

def savefig(fig, name):
    OUTDIR.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
    png = OUTDIR / f"{name}.png"
    svg = OUTDIR / f"{name}.svg"
    fig.savefig(png, dpi=DPI, bbox_inches="tight", facecolor=fig.get_facecolor())
    fig.savefig(svg, bbox_inches="tight", facecolor=fig.get_facecolor())
    return png, svg

def slugify(s: str) -> str:
    return "".join(c.lower() if c.isalnum() else "-" for c in s).strip("-").replace("--", "-")

# --------- Data ---------
# Replace values with your real measurements if needed.
years = np.array([1980, 1990, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025])

series = [
    # --- original five ---
    {"title": "Transistor Count / Socket", "ylabel": "Transistors (Billions)",
     "values": [0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.6, 2, 30, 70, 90]},
    {"title": "Core Count / Socket", "ylabel": "Cores",
     "values": [1, 1, 1, 2, 8, 32, 64, 96]},
    {"title": "Vector GFLOPS", "ylabel": "GFLOPS",
     "values": [0, 0.5, 1, 5, 100, 2000, 3000, 3800]},
    {"title": "Memory BW", "ylabel": "GB/s",
     "values": [0, 0.5, 1, 4, 50, 140, 320, 480]},
    {"title": "Total Cache Size", "ylabel": "MB",
     "values": [0.1, 0.5, 1, 2, 24, 192, 256, 320]},
    # --- new two (from your image) ---
    {"title": "Storage BW / drive", "ylabel": "GB/s",
     "values": [0.02, 0.04, 0.08, 0.12, 0.6, 3.5, 5.5, 7.2],
     "ylim": (0, 7.5), "yticks": [0, 2, 4, 6]},
    {"title": "Network BW", "ylabel": "GB/s",
     "values": [0.02, 0.05, 0.2, 0.6, 5, 12, 30, 50],
     "ylim": (0, 52), "yticks": [0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50]},
]

# --------- Main ----------
def make_all():
    apply_global_rc()
    with plt.xkcd(scale=1.0, length=200, randomness=2.5):
        # Stacked (all panels)
        fig, axes = plt.subplots(len(series), 1, figsize=(8, 18), sharex=True)
        for ax, s in zip(axes, series):
            y = np.array(s["values"], dtype=float)
            plot_line(ax, years, y)
            ax.set_title(s["title"])
            ax.set_ylabel(s["ylabel"])
            if "ylim" in s: ax.set_ylim(*s["ylim"])
            if "yticks" in s: ax.set_yticks(s["yticks"])
            style_axes(ax)
        axes[-1].set_xlabel("Year")
        savefig(fig, "stacked_all")
        plt.close(fig)

        # Individual panel figures
        for idx, s in enumerate(series, start=1):
            fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(7.2, 4.5))
            y = np.array(s["values"], dtype=float)
            plot_line(ax, years, y)
            ax.set_title(s["title"])
            ax.set_xlabel("Year")
            ax.set_ylabel(s["ylabel"])
            if "ylim" in s: ax.set_ylim(*s["ylim"])
            if "yticks" in s: ax.set_yticks(s["yticks"])
            style_axes(ax)
            savefig(fig, f"panel_{idx:02d}_{slugify(s['title'])}")
            plt.close(fig)

if __name__ == "__main__":
    make_all()
    print(f"Saved images to: {OUTDIR.resolve()}")