#001 - Every path is dimly lit

As someone who can barely draw a proportional smily face, I would never have imagined producing anything remotely close to visual art, let alone wander anywhere near the term “artist.”

But, this was before I discovered pen plotters.

In November 2024, while scrolling through Bluesky, I came across Rémi Forte’s profile. I began scrolling just to understand the context of what I was looking at. Then I saw a video of a machine drawing along with a description of the process: it was completely constructed with code.

As a software engineer, I was intrigued. This was an opportunity to create more than just pixels on a screen: I could actually create something interesting in the physical world.

So, on a whim, I bought a NextDraw 1117. I wouldn’t say these machines are cheap, but I didn’t want to start off with a beginner model — I wanted to go all in.

The trough of disillusionment

There was just one thing missing: the understanding of how to actually create generative art.

I bought books, explored tools and started coding. I decided to use Vsketch, a Python toolkit for creating generative art specifically designed for pen plotting. (Shoutout to Anotine for creating this incredible library.)

It’s taken about three months to really grasp the subtle play between geometric structure and constrained randomness. Generative art is the space between these two concepts. Veer too far towards either and you lose the magic.

This newsletter is my attempt to document the journey, share what I learn and, occasionally, offer limited editions for sale — once I feel comfortable making that leap.