All things pen plotter artwork, drawing machines and generative art
The last prompt for next week’s Plot Party is “no pen.” Do you need a pen to draw artwork with a pen plotter? Definitely not, below are many different ways to create pen plots without pens!
One of the first plotter artists that comes to mind when it comes to watercolor painting is Licia He.
Licia’s colorful pen plot art are created with code and painted with an AxiDraw v3 using a custom program.
Continue readingThe second to last prompt for next week’s Plot Party is postcard! This will also be an art exchange for everyone participating in Plot Party (more info to come!)
Time to scale things down, what kind of pen plot postcards can you make?!
How about these playful maze postcards by Tobias Grothmann?
The solution to the maze is revealed when hit with UV light!
Tobias also keeps things simple with black and white patterned postcards too.
Continue reading“Glitches” is the third Plot Party prompt designed to inspire letting loose and embracing mistakes, errors, bugs and experimentation in the design and plotting process!
Enough talk, on to some example pen plots!
Normally I would advise checking your pen registration when plotting with multiple pens. Of course, you could always NOT do that to wonderful effect, as in this work by Jeff and Evan of 90 Percent Art.
Most anything by Joel Cammarata involves glitchy mixed media experimentation including this pen plot on a thermal print by Adrian Hanft.
Or this unique pen plot “misprint!”
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Plot Party is coming up (Nov 8-12), and the second prompt for the five day pen plot art challenge is “multiple line widths!” What does that mean exactly?! Whether you use one pen or multiple pens to accomplish, let’s look at some inspiring examples from some of my favorite pen plot artists!
The Pilot Parallel Pen is a unique italic calligraphy pen (refillable!) that can also be used for pen plotting.
This pen is different from most calligraphy pens in that the nib is made from two plates which allows ink to flow evenly across the entire length of the nib. That means you can create broad strokes, but you can also use the corner to create a thinner line.
For the multiple line widths prompt, that means you can create thin and thick sections in one line!
Targz advises running the Pilot Parallel pen slowly, and filling the ink cartridge with watercolor. Overlapping your lines with different colored inks when plotting can create additional colors where the inks overlap!
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The second ever Plot Party is around the corner (Nov 8-12), and the first prompt for the five day pen plot art challenge is “weather!” Question is, what kind of pen plots can you make that might relate to the theme of weather?
If you are in need of local inspiration, you can use the actual literal weather, for starters! Daniela Krohnert did just that at the first ever Plot Party (held last July) by leaving out a sheet of paper for a few minutes during a Viennese summer rainstorm.
The paper dried curled, and created an uneven texture when plotting 42 straight lines with a Faber Castell Artist Pitt Pen with a soft brush tip.
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One of my favorite pens to use with a pen plotter (such as an AxiDraw) are Sakura gelly roll pens! They come in many color flavors from classic white, and metallic gold, to even fluorescent options such as the Moonlight gelly rolls which will glow under UV light! They work great on dark paper (and white paper!)
Nothing beats white ink on black paper! The ink density that builds over time as pen lines overlap is quite lovely.
White gelly rolls create strong white lines on black paper as in this work by Diana (@di_diff_world on Instagram!)
Metallic gelly rolls also really pop on black paper such as this generative work by Vernon Miller (@aldernero on Instagram!)
Mix metallic gelly rolls for a rainbow effect as in this work by Adam Spannbauer (@thespanningset on Instagram!)
Truchet tiles never looked better drawn with a white gelly roll on black paper – example art by Floris de Jonge (@dejongefloris on Instagram.)
While you can achieve beautiful results with gelly roll pens, they can also be very trying to work with when it comes to pen plotting. But why?! The ink flow from these pens can be quite inconsistent. For this reason, I have found that the best gelly roll pens for plotting are medium width (I steer clear of fine gelly rolls!)
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One advantage of using a pen plotter is the ability to use most any kind of ink and pen for drawing artwork including…metallic pens!
However, in order to use metallic inks for plotting, you will be limited to disposable gel pens or paint markers such as Posca paint markers. Unfortunately, metallic ink may clog refillable pens!
Since Posca paint markers will completely cover whatever they are drawn on, they are great for drawing artwork on acrylic ink paintings such as this recent series of “space” inspired artwork by Michelle Chandra.
They are also great for thick line designs, and come in beautiful, bright shades. Sohan Murty takes wonderful advantage of this!
Don’t know what to plot? Need guidance on making your creative code art plott-able?! Look no more! Find below a list of suggested workflows, and links to guides, blog posts, and wikis across the web that will help you make your pen plotting art!
If you are thinking of picking up an AxiDraw pen plotter, you can take 10% off your purchase from Evil Mad Scientist, the makers of the AxiDraw, when you use the discount code DIRTALLEY10.
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If you are thinking of picking up an AxiDraw pen plotter, you can take 10% off an AxiDraw pen plotter and accessories with discount code DIRTALLEY10 when you buy directly from Evil Mad Scientist, the makers of the AxiDraw!
It’s been two years since I bought an AxiDraw pen plotter and began plotting my code art! This is an update to an older blog post detailing my AxiDraw pen plotter setup, and my favorite pens.
The Axidraw pen plotter is expensive, which means it is mostly ready to go out of the box with minimal setup. Keep in mind that the AxiDraw will need a large dedicated area to operate as the arm of the AxiDraw needs space to extend back behind the plotter (along with out front over the drawing area!)
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