COURSES / DRAWING MACHINES / RESOURCES
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07
RESOURCES
Tools, references,
and inspiration.
Software, hardware, projects, and reading for the Drawing Machines workshop.
01
PROJECTS
Interaction
Interaction
Anti Drawing Machine
Soonho Kwon — A robot that augments drawing by manipulating the rotation and position of the paper while the artist draws.
Interaction
Blind Self Portrait
Kyle McDonald — Face-tracking drawing installation where a participant draws their own portrait without looking at the paper.
Telepresence
Sensing
Materials
Materials
Senseless Drawing Bot #2
Yamaguchi & Kanno — Kinetic installation using high-pressure water washers to swing spray-can–equipped arms in unpredictable patterns.
Materials
threadPlotter
Licia He — Open-source toolkit that enables X-Y plotters to create punch needle embroidery from digital images.
Animation
02
PEOPLE
James Nolan Gandy
Drawing machine artist creating intricate geometric and polyhedron works with custom-built plotters.
Licia He
Plotter painter and researcher — 20+ questions on materials, workflow, and creative process.
David Bailey
Tess Elation — Recreational mathematician exploring tessellation in both pure mathematical and Escher-like artistic contexts.
03
BOOKS
Tracing the Line
Showcases 100+ contemporary artists working with pen plotters and drawing machines, with augmented-reality features.
Meridian
All 1,000 outputs of DesLauriers' generative landscape series alongside essays, technical breakdowns, and code examples.
The Nature of Code
The classic creative coding textbook — physics simulations, genetic algorithms, neural networks — rebuilt for JavaScript.
04
TOOLS
Software
SVG Optimizer (Plotterfiles)
Optimize and clean SVGs for smoother, faster plotting
SVG Optimizer (Drawscape)
Alternative SVG optimizer with plotter-specific options
Drawscape Resources
Collection of plotter-focused tools and utilities
Single-Stroke Fonts
Fonts designed for single-line plotting — no fills, just strokes
plotter.vision
Convert 3D STL models to plottable SVGs with hidden-line removal
plotter.vision Docs
Technical details on the STL-to-SVG wireframe pipeline
SquiggleCam
Capture a selfie and convert it to single-line plottable art
Hardware
Bantam Tools
Desktop CNC art machines for drawing, painting, and writing with digital designs
Generative Hut — Tools
Pen plotter reviews and comparisons across brands and price points
Pen Plotter Resources — Liz Melchor
Comprehensive resource list covering plotters, inks, papers, and workflow
Bare Conductive Projects
Project tutorials using conductive ink and touch-sensitive circuits
05
TUTORIALS & TECHNIQUES
Creative Coding
Turtletoy
Browser-based generative art platform using turtle graphics; exports plotter-ready SVGs
Plottable Multi-Scale Truchet
Example Turtletoy sketch: a generative Truchet tiling pattern ready for plotting
p5.js Editor — Golan Levin's Collections
Creative coding sketches by Golan Levin, many suitable for plotter output
Creative Coding 101 with Georg Nees
Introductory generative art exercises inspired by early computer art pioneer Georg Nees
Quick, Draw! The Data
Google's crowdsourced dataset of 50M+ hand-drawn sketches across 345 categories
Quick, Draw! Dataset (GitHub)
Technical documentation and download links for the Quick, Draw! dataset
Plotter Techniques
Algorithmic Art: Emergent Complexity
Step-by-step generative art tutorial building complexity from simple rules
Fountain Pens with Plotters
Guide to using fountain pens with pen plotters: adapters, inks, and workflow tips
Pen Plotting on Black Paper
Techniques, inks, and pens for plotting on dark media
Pen Plotter Online Course
Comprehensive online course covering pen plotter art from basics to advanced techniques
06
EVEN MORE RESOURCES
Drawing Machines Collection — CreativeApplications.Net
Curated collection of 24 drawing machine projects spanning robotic arms, pen plotters, and autonomous mark-making systems
Drawingbots.net
Hub for drawing robot enthusiasts with project showcases and community links
Drawingbots.net Resources
Curated list of software, hardware, and guides for pen plotting
awesome-drawing-robots
Community-maintained GitHub list of drawing robots, pen plotters, and related tools
DrawingBots.com
Community knowledge base covering drawing robots and CNC machines
DrawingBots.com Tools
Directory of tools and software for drawing robots
Ink & Algorithms Archive
Archive of writing on pen plotter art, technique, and culture
07
UPLOAD FOLDERS
Links will be shared before each workshop.