For this print, I'm using the calligraphy pen, which is thicker in one direction than the other. The next is that the software inside the tablet is trying to simulate ink flow. The first few experiments I tried, using the pen plotter to draw on the tablet produced some interesting effects. I got my hands on the reMarkable 2, eInk tablet, which you can draw on with a stylus. So while I've been thinking about prints for a long while, I hadn't found a solution until. There is nothing wrong with that, I would be in the realm of Generative Art, along with several wonderful artists, who often make beautiful art that you can buy as prints.īut I like taking things into the realm of the physical, the faults that creep in as friction plays a hand, the unpredictability of ink, all of that.Īt this point, I could take it into Illustrator, run a filter to jiggle and wiggle the lines a bit to give my clean lines some of the characters, which would also be fine, but again not what I'm looking for. If I want a line to go one way, it goes that way, and if I want it to switch back in the other direction, it does that too. The tools I create generate SVG files, perfect, smooth, clean lines. The questions for me was how could I make prints that still worked with my self-defined role as a pen plotter artist? So here we are, now selling prints, or at least dipping the mildest of toes into the water of selling prints, or is that dipping a toe into the mildest of water? With the right partner ( The Print Space) handling the printing and postage it's a close to hands-off print-on-demand as I can get. Keep the plots for people who want affordable originals and sell prints for people who want the work, but don't want to pay the price of an original.īasically print scales better than plots. Of course, supplemental to the above is, diversify and don't just sell plots. I'm pitched somewhere between people who want to pay more than a print, but less than the thousands for original art, but still get something unique and original.ģ) Keep working the day job (btw, hire me) to cover the bills, but let the artwork cover its costs and pay for itself - more than a hobby, but less than a career, somewhere in the side-hustle zone. Which is a fine option, but I have a target audience in mind people who want unique, one-off, original art, but can't afford to buy traditional originals. Three kids, one about to go to Uni and a mortgage suggests that's not going to happen any time soon.Ģ) Become a famous and in-demand fine-art artist and increase my prices, to like £1k apiece and sell 5- 6 a month. Pretend for a moment that I'm super successful, buy an extra plotter and double my output and still sell out, I'd be up to £2k a month, which would be amazing, but not enough to give up my day job.ġ) Reduce my living costs until £2k is enough. After expenses, I'd make around £50 profit per plot, that's £1,000 per month. I mix my time between creating plots to go into the shop and trying out new code, ink, paper and techniques let's generously say I produced one sellable plot each work-day, twenty a month, and managed to sell every single one. I've talked about this before in my monthly profit/loss posts (which can be found over here, just below the list of tools), that selling plots isn't scalable. Sometimes I worry I make my plots too clean and perfect, but it's the path I've chosen so here we are □ Many people have told me they like the more uneven look because it moves the plot towards the hand-made, craft, fine-art aesthetic and away from perfect-computer-print. There is nothing wrong with running plots quickly and having a more organic look to the plot. I then send those SVGs to the plotter, choosing my pen, ink and paper carefully, and let it draw the plot.ĭrawing the plot often takes hours because I run my plots really slowly it suits my work better, giving a more even line and ink coverage. I write code that I can manipulate and interact with to generate vector graphics (SVGs) with, the type you create in art packages like Illustrator. I'm a pen plotter artist, and the AxiDraw pen plotter is my tool.
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