1. Step One Draw a perfectly vertical line. Hint: Align your ruler with the bottom of the paper.

2. Step Two Draw a diagonal line (approx. 30 degrees) up towards the right.

3. Step Three Draw a second diagonal line (this time from the bottom) and make sure that the two diagonal lines are parallel to each other. The two lines must be parallel to each other. If they are not, the design will fail.

4. Step Four Drop a second perfectly vertical line down from the top end of the top diagonal line. This vertical line will connect the two diagonal lines. It is crucial that the two vertical lines are parallel to each other as well. Are they? I bet they are. Because you are awesome.

5. Step Five Now this time, you are going to repeat everything you have just done on the left side. Remember, the diagonal lines must be parallel. You should now have something that looks like an open book, or a magazine, or a folded piece of paper, or the back of an arrow, or something else that looks like whatever the above picture looks like.

6. …and now the fun begins! Draw a diagonal line up from the top right corner. Don’t go too far though. Make sure this diagonal line is perfectly parallel to the diagonal lines on the left side. Is it? It is!!! Hooray!!!

7. If you now drop a vertical line down, it looks as though there is a side to this object that is being folded behind. You are creating space and depth. You are a magician.

8. Draw another diagonal line. Make sure this one is parallel to the diagonal lines on the right side though.

9. Drop a vertical line down…

10. …and bring another diagonal line back to the right edge. Now you’re creating even more space. Keep this up, and you’ll be able to create an entire universe! You will be all powerful!!! Bwahahahahahahahaha!

11. But wait…you can do even more! Get back to your open book, or magazine, or whatever it is.

12. This time, instead of making things fold backwards, make your shape look like a three-dimensional cube. Make sure the diagonal lines are parallel like before: the top right to the front left side, the top left to the front right.

13. Now what you want to do, young grasshopper, is draw a smaller, right-side panel inside the right panel. Make sure your lines are staying parallel.

14. From the bottom right corner of the inner panel, draw a diagonal line upwards towards the left.

15. Now draw two more lines. One will be a diagonal line down and the second will be a perfectly vertical line up. When you are finished, it should look as though there is a little ledge inside…

16. …where perhaps a little gnome may be found napping away the long hours of the afternoon.

17. Now I’m just being ridiculous.

18. Let’s get back to reality. No more gnomes. Are you with me? Good.

19. On the top of your cube, draw a diagonal line parallel to the left side diagonals.

20. Do the same to the other side.

21. Now make that same bookish/magazinish/arrowish shape on top of your cube.

22. Doesn’t this look crazy awesome? I think it does. You’re so creative and brilliant. You are now manipulating space. You are a wizard.

23. But there’s still more to do! Starting from the left side, draw a right-side panel. You’ve basically just made that wacky book thing upside down.

24. See if you can do this. Hint: it’s just more parallel lines. You can? Well…

25. …what about this?

26. …or this???

27. Well, young grasshopper, you’ve proven you can do most anything. Excellent work. Your drawing looks fantastic. Notice how all the diagonal lines are still remaining parallel to our initial diagonal lines. It makes the design look clean and precise.

28. …and that’s it! Using these basic rules (parallel lines, overlapping, etc.), you can create all sorts of crazy spatial manipulations. Push the limits. Challenge yourself. Go forth, young grasshopper, and make art!