The 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?!

If you are thinking of picking up a NextDraw pen plotter (the successor to the AxiDraw pen plotter), you can take 5% off a NextDraw pen plotter or accessories with discount code DIRTALLEYDESIGN2024 when you buy directly from Bantam Tools.

Tobias Grothmann: Maze Postcards

How about these playful maze postcards by Tobias Grothmann?

Postcard pen plot by Tobias Grothmann (IG: tobias_grothmann)

The solution to the maze is revealed when hit with UV light!

Postcard pen plot by Tobias Grothmann (IG: tobias_grothmann)

Tobias also keeps things simple with black and white patterned postcards too.

Postcard pen plot by Tobias Grothmann (IG: tobias_grothmann)

Sohan Murthy:Colorful Generative Postcards

On the colorful side of things is the work of data scientist and artist Sohan Murthy.

Postcard pen plot by Sohan Murthy (IG: sohanmurthy)

This metallic generative postcard feels like a sea plant bobbing underwater.

Postcard pen plot by Sohan Murthy (IG: sohanmurthy)

Or this colorful classic pattern of truchet tiles drawn with thick markers.

Postcard pen plot by Sohan Murthy (IG: sohanmurthy)

Sohan creates batches of postcards often, and will send to anyone who can show proof of donation to a local food bank.

Dan Malec: Algorithmic Postcards

The programmatic and math inspired work of Dan Malec includes these triangular meshes postcards drawn with Sakura Micron pens.

Triangular meshes postcards by Dan Malec (IG: @dan_malec)

Or this patterned work that shows how the lines change when altered with perlin noise.

Algorithmic postcard by Dan Malec (IG: @dan_malec)

Dan includes a description on the back of how the pattern was created for the curious!

Algorithmic postcard by Dan Malec (IG: @dan_malec)

Sfd.art: Generative Landscape Postcard

For the last Plot Party, sfd.art created this postcard in response to the hatch fill shading prompt.

Pen plot postcard by sfd.art (IG: @sfd.art)

This postcard depicts the Tre Cime Di Laveredo in South Tyrol, Italy and was created using GIS Data and Rhino’s Grasshopper plugin to create the hatch shadings. Drawn with a Muji gel pen on bristol paper.

Ruud de Rooij: Mathematical Art as Postcards

Most any of the mathematical and algorithmic work by Ruud de Rooij is small art, and postcard sized!

Pen plot postcard by Ruud de Rooij (IG: @ruuddotorg)

According to Ruud, there are 10395 different ways to pair up 12 points around a circle. But only 132 ways to do it without overlapping lines, as depicted above!

Pen plot postcard by Ruud de Rooij (IG: @ruuddotorg)

Ruud exclusively uses the AxiDraw mini to draw these pen plots, which means automatically being limited to a smaller pen plotting surface!

Joel Cammarata: Mixed Media & Glitchy Postcards

Most anything by Joel Cammarata makes heavy use of mixed media, mistakes, and surprises! Such as this pen plot postcard that combines spray paint and ink.

Pen plot postcard by Joel Cammarata (IG: @j.cammarata.art)

Joel exclusively works smaller creating two pen plots at a time with an AxiDraw v3.

Pen plot postcard by Joel Cammarata (IG: @j.cammarata.art)

Pentronik: Generative Postcards

Pentronik was inspired by the idea that the best work is created by those willing to make lots of things over focusing exclusively on quality.

Pen plot postcard by Pentronik (Twitter: @pentronik)

Pentronik makes batches of postcards to mail to anyone who wants one several times a year.

Pen plot postcard by Pentronik (Twitter: @pentronik)

Michelle Chandra: 10 Print Postcards

10 print is a single line of code written in BASIC that produces wonderful maze like patterns.

Pen plot postcards by Michelle Chandra (IG: @dirtalleydesign)

Michelle Chandra’s postcards are a colorful take on the 10 print algorithm.

Pen plot postcards by Michelle Chandra (IG: @dirtalleydesign)

Drawn with cyan, magenta and yellow pens, where these colors overlap creates additional colors!

Images in this post were used with permission by Tobias Grothmann (IG: tobias_grothmann), Sohan Murthy (IG: sohanmurthy), Dan Malec (IG: @dan_malec), sfd.art(IG: @sfd.art), Ruud de Rooij (IG: @ruuddotorg), Joel Cammarata (@j.cammarata.art), Pentronik (Twitter: @pentronik) and Michelle Chandra (@dirtalleydesign).

About the Author

Michelle Chandra studied art, design and code at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. Her work has been featured in many publications including Gizmodo, the Washington Post and Engadget. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram @dirtalleydesign.