Package 'xkcd'

Plotting 'ggplot2' Graphics in an 'XKCD' Style

Description

Provides custom geoms and themes to create charts and graphics in the distinctive, hand-drawn 'XKCD' webcomic style using the 'ggplot2' framework. The package utilizes custom layers for jittered lines, segments, circles, and figures, and includes a theme that supports the necessary 'XKCD' font.

Details

The DESCRIPTION file:

Package:	xkcd
Type:	Package
Title:	Plotting 'ggplot2' Graphics in an 'XKCD' Style
Version:	0.1.1
Date:	2026-08-19
Authors@R:	c( person(given = "Emilio", family = "Torres-Manzanera", role = "aut", email= "[email protected]"), person(given = "Enrique", family = "Toledo", role = c("ctb", "cre"), email = "[email protected]"))
VignetteBuilder:	knitr
Description:	Provides custom geoms and themes to create charts and graphics in the distinctive, hand-drawn 'XKCD' webcomic style using the 'ggplot2' framework. The package utilizes custom layers for jittered lines, segments, circles, and figures, and includes a theme that supports the necessary 'XKCD' font.
License:	MIT + file LICENSE
URL:	https://github.com/ToledoEM/xkcd, https://toledoem.github.io/xkcd/
BugReports:	https://github.com/ToledoEM/xkcd/issues
Depends:	R (>= 4.0), ggplot2 (>= 3.4.0)
Imports:	Hmisc, stats, grid, extrafont
Suggests:	knitr, rmarkdown, zoo, reshape, splancs, pkgdown, palmerpenguins, dplyr, ggrepel, systemfonts, covr, testthat (>= 3.0.0)
Encoding:	UTF-8
Config/testthat/edition:	3
Config/roxygen2/version:	8.1.0
Config/pak/sysreqs:	cmake make libicu-dev libuv1-dev
Repository:	https://toledoem.r-universe.dev
Date/Publication:	2026-08-19 18:43:08 UTC
RemoteUrl:	https://github.com/toledoem/xkcd
RemoteRef:	HEAD
RemoteSha:	b9d5ebad85d5c91e32e815bdd59bb9332ad412f0
Author:	Emilio Torres-Manzanera [aut], Enrique Toledo [ctb, cre]
Maintainer:	Enrique Toledo <[email protected]>

Index of help topics:

geom_xkcdpath           GeomXkcdPath: fuzzy path/circle geom (XKCD
                        style)
GeomXkcdRect            GeomXkcdRect: fuzzy rectangle geom (XKCD style)
theme_xkcd              Creates an XKCD theme
xkcd-package            Plotting 'ggplot2' Graphics in an 'XKCD' Style
xkcdaxis                Plot the axis
xkcdman                 Draw a stick figure
xkcdrect                Draw fuzzy rectangles

Author(s)

Emilio Torres-Manzanera [aut], Enrique Toledo [ctb, cre]

Maintainer: Enrique Toledo <[email protected]>

Examples

## Not run: vignette("xkcd-intro")

---

GeomXkcdPath: fuzzy path/circle geom (XKCD style)

Description

A ggplot2 geom that draws jittered, smoothed paths or fuzzy circles. It expects aesthetics like 'x', 'y', and either 'xend'/'yend' (for segments) or 'diameter' (for circles). Additional aesthetics (colour, alpha, linewidth, linetype) are respected.

Usage

geom_xkcdpath(
  mapping = NULL,
  data = NULL,
  stat = "identity",
  position = "identity",
  ...,
  xjitteramount = 0.01,
  yjitteramount = 0.01,
  wobble = 1,
  seed = NULL,
  mask = TRUE,
  show.legend = NA,
  inherit.aes = TRUE
)

Arguments

mapping	Aesthetic mapping.
data	Data frame.
stat	The statistical transformation to use on the data for this layer.
position	Position adjustment.
...	Other arguments passed on to layer().
xjitteramount	Horizontal jitter amount for segments, in data units.
yjitteramount	Vertical jitter amount for segments, in data units.
wobble	Scalar multiplier applied to both jitter amounts. '1' leaves the jitter amounts unchanged; '0' draws straight lines.
seed	Optional integer. When supplied the wobble is reproducible: the same 'seed' always yields the same path. Each row of 'data' is offset from 'seed' so rows still differ from one another. The global RNG state is left untouched.
mask	Logical; if TRUE draws a thicker white mask path under the main path.
show.legend	Show legend.
inherit.aes	Whether to inherit aesthetics from the plot.

---

GeomXkcdRect: fuzzy rectangle geom (XKCD style)

Description

Draws each rectangle as a standard filled rect with four jittered, Bezier-smoothed border segments on top.

---

Creates an XKCD theme

Description

This function creates an XKCD theme, applying the 'xkcd' font if available.

Usage

theme_xkcd()

Value

A theme object.

Note

The "xkcd" font must be installed on your system for the full effect. Modern graphics devices pick it up directly; registering it with extrafont is only needed for pdf/postscript output. See the vignette vignette("xkcd-intro") for installation instructions.

Examples

## Not run: 
# Assuming 'xkcd' font is installed and registered:
p <- ggplot(mtcars, aes(mpg, wt)) +
     geom_point() +
     theme_xkcd()
p

## End(Not run)

---

Plot the axis

Description

This function plots the axis in an XKCD style.

Usage

xkcdaxis(xrange, yrange, ...)

Arguments

xrange	The range of the X axe.
yrange	The range of the Y axe.
...	Other arguments passed to geom_xkcdpath.

Value

A list of layers containing the axes, coordinate system, and theme.

Examples

## Not run: 
xrange <- range(mtcars$mpg)
yrange <- range(mtcars$wt)
p <- ggplot() +
     geom_point(aes(mpg, wt), data=mtcars) +
     xkcdaxis(xrange,yrange)
p

## End(Not run)

---

Draw a stick figure

Description

Draws one stick figure per row of 'data'. The figure is built from eight fuzzy elements – a circular head plus seven bones (spine, two humeri, two radii and two legs) – which are emitted as just two [geom_xkcdpath()] layers.

Usage

xkcdman(mapping, data, seed = NULL, ...)

Arguments

mapping	Aesthetic mapping
data	Dataset
seed	Optional integer for a reproducible figure. See [geom_xkcdpath()].
...	Optional arguments passed on to [geom_xkcdpath()].

Details

The following aesthetics are required, supplied through 'mapping' or as columns of 'data': 'x' and 'y' (centre of the head), 'scale' (overall size), 'ratioxy' (the x/y scale ratio, which keeps the figure from being distorted when the axes have different units), and the angles 'angleofspine', 'anglerighthumerus', 'anglelefthumerus', 'anglerightradius', 'angleleftradius', 'anglerightleg', 'angleleftleg' and 'angleofneck'.

See Also

[geom_xkcdpath()]

---

Draw fuzzy rectangles

Description

It draws fuzzy rectangles.

Usage

xkcdrect(
  mapping = NULL,
  data = NULL,
  stat = "identity",
  position = "identity",
  ...,
  borderxjitteramount = 0.005,
  borderyjitteramount = 0.005,
  wobble = 1,
  seed = NULL,
  na.rm = FALSE,
  show.legend = NA,
  inherit.aes = TRUE,
  fillcolour,
  bordercolour,
  borderlinewidth
)

Arguments

mapping	Mapping between variables and aesthetics generated by aes. See Details.
data	Dataset used in this layer.
stat	The statistical transformation to use on the data for this layer.
position	Position adjustment.
...	Other arguments passed on to layer.
borderxjitteramount	Horizontal jitter amount for the border.
borderyjitteramount	Vertical jitter amount for the border.
wobble	Scalar multiplier applied to both jitter amounts. 1 leaves them unchanged; 0 draws straight borders.
seed	Optional integer for a reproducible border. See geom_xkcdpath.
na.rm	If FALSE, missing values are removed with a warning.
show.legend	Show legend.
inherit.aes	Whether to inherit aesthetics from the plot.
fillcolour	Deprecated. Use the fill aesthetic.
bordercolour	Deprecated. Use the colour aesthetic.
borderlinewidth	Deprecated. Use the linewidth aesthetic.

Details

This function draws rectangles with hand-drawn, wobbly borders.

The following aesthetics are required:

1. xmin

2. ymin

3. xmax

4. ymax

The fill and border are controlled with the standard fill, colour and linewidth aesthetics, so they may be mapped to variables in the usual way.

Value

A layer.

See Also

aes, geom_xkcdpath

Examples

## Not run: 
volunteers <- data.frame(year = c(2007:2011),
                         number = c(56470, 56998, 59686, 61783, 64251))

xrange <- range(volunteers$year)
yrange <- range(volunteers$number)

p <- ggplot() +
     xkcdrect(aes(xmin = year - 0.2,
                  xmax = year + 0.2,
                  ymin = number - 500,
                  ymax = number + 500),
              data = volunteers,
              fill = "pink",
              linewidth = 1.2) +
     geom_point(aes(x = year, y = number), data = volunteers) +
     xkcdaxis(xrange, yrange) +
     theme_xkcd()
p

## End(Not run)

---