I love plotter art and have dabbled a bit myself. The really fun part is how pen-on-paper is not completely reliable or a perfect line. You get a little texture if the pen skips. You can use watercolor pens that bleed. You can get crazy with something like Copic markers on Yupo paper so the whole thing stays wet and smears for minutes. It's part of the art.
This bit from the article made me laugh ruefully though: "it's as simple as buying some black paper and a white gel pen." You can get some beautiful effects with white ink on black paper but it is notoriously difficult to get looking good. White ink is tricky stuff. But that's part of the fun!
dsign · 3m ago
Yupo paper! I've been searching something like that for weeks! Why is it that no matter how many times I type "coated 80 gsm paper" in Amazon it will only show me 200 gsm inkjet photo paper!? Thank you very much for mentioning this brand.
mattdesl · 4h ago
A lot of it comes down to which pens you happen to have - I’ve had some success with Sakura gelly rolls for white, and also more recently have been enjoying sharpie creative acrylic markers which has a moderately opaque white ink. I’ve also had some really frustrating experiences with some other pens and instruments!
NelsonMinar · 1h ago
JetPens has been an invaluable resource for learning about and buying pens. Their blog is great: https://www.jetpens.com/blog
coldcode · 2h ago
I only make art designed to be printed on 10-12 color large format inkjet printers. Making plotter art is not inherently better or worse that printing, it's just a different type of art. I love what people do with plotters, but I just prefer doing printed versions, since what I make is often not possible with a plotter, as I deal in pixels (up to 200+ megapixels), and plotters deal in vectors. It's like Photoshop vs Illustrator, the don't compete as much as specialize in different things. https://andrewwulf.com if interested.
cosiiine · 4m ago
Agreed 100%. It all comes down to the artists intentions, and plotters have many limitations. My hope for this article was to expose people to other options.
Great portfolio of art btw, thanks for sharing!
snoman · 1h ago
I’m sure you know this but it took me entirely too long to really understand and feel the satisfaction of taking and printing my own photos.
It’s very accessible these days to have a finished piece of art that’s all yours - even with little artistic ability.
TheGoodBarn · 29m ago
I splurged on a iDraw H SE - A3/A2 earlier this year and have been coding / making birthday cards for friends and family all summer.
I feel like I get asked a lot the same questions and I think this article describes it best. Like yes I could have just upgraded to a nicer printer, but there is something fun about the process of getting an artwork plotted that makes it fun for me.
I need to upload some of my plots to share.
---
On a similar note for others who want to get into this, there was a thread awhile back on "What is the 90% activity in your favorite hobby", for example sanding taking 90% of the time for woodworking. For pen plotting the 90-95% is the art side. Taking images, converting them into g-code either via SVG or other processes, or writing code to make generative art, that is the 90%.
At the end of the day the pen plotting itself at the surface level is a projection of the effort taken to generate the art. Where it gets really exciting is the capabilities and unique aspect of the medium (like touching on white ink or watercolor) that create truly unique ways of presenting the art.
Is there actual plotter simulation software I could be using?
m463 · 44m ago
Reading this, I think of paper technology that has probably been lost.
I remember using flatbed plotters with a "static-cling" button. (maybe HP?)
you clicked the button out, put paper on the flatbed, then clicked the button in and a static charge sucked the paper down and held it in place.
You would generate your plots using a language that could select various color pens, move to x1,y1, pen down, move to x2,y2, pen up, etc...
I think better printers and then inkjets are what finally killed them off.
donatj · 6h ago
My dad worked for Control Data in the 1980s and talks about hiding designs in period characters on his schematics. Talks about how the plotters would get to the period, hang out for a while and then continue.
LinuxAmbulance · 5h ago
I always thought of plotters as legacy tech, but considering the variety of marking tools you can attach to the head, I'm wondering if I should get one.
Does anyone know of an inexpensive plotter you can buy or build?
buffet_overflow · 4h ago
I made one for roughly $100 USD from an Arduino, steel rods, some stepper motors, and some 3D printed parts.
Having an existing 3d printer is a bit “draw the rest of the owl” for this, but being able to extend and modify a device like a pen plotter is pretty nice.
lobsterthief · 4h ago
You can also pick up used older printers (like the Ender 3) secondhand VERY cheap and convert them.
dylan604 · 2h ago
But wouldn't you need to have the plotter working to draw the rest of that owl? so it seems like a chicken and egg situation as well
NelsonMinar · 2h ago
AxiDraw from Evil Mad Scientist was what a lot of us were buying a few years ago. He's now part of Bantam Tools and is making a thing called the NextDraw. Same design but better built and a lot more expensive. https://bantamtools.com/collections/bantam-tools-nextdraw
There's a world of cheaper unbranded Chinese plotters that folks are using that seem to work well. Quality does matter, you want something very precise and stable.
pimlottc · 21m ago
Looks like the Bantam Tools ones start at just under a thousand. How much were the AxiDraw units originally?
bdcravens · 5h ago
Cricuts (and similar cutters, and multi-mode tools like the Xtool M1 and Bambu Lab H2D) have pen attachments
exasperaited · 4h ago
Yes. But no geek should be getting a Cricut when the Silhouette machines exist and are not so locked down and cloud encumbered.
ETA: I guess a true maths geek nerd artist would probably want something more modular and larger anyway, but the Silhouette machines are varied, interesting, support a pretty well documented protocol (GPGL, a variant of/alternative to HPGL I think) and are supported in Inkscape and Python.
mankyd · 3h ago
Seconded. My Silhouette is great. I even emailed them and received a copy of the GPGL docs one time. It wasn't full on support, but they were willing to give me a start.
The first thing I programmed was having it draw a hilbert curve and it worked great!
exasperaited · 3h ago
Ooh, did you do a blog article about it perhaps? I think I read it, if so.
You could find a Silhouette Portrait 2 on eBay pretty cheaply. It has a reasonable range of tools, python and inkscape support and a reasonable, documented protocol.
bongodongobob · 2h ago
Not legacy at all. Think construction/cabinetry plans etc. Plotters are not inexpensive unless you build one.
romellogoodman · 4h ago
Im on my second Bantam tools next draw and love it. Having made a similar transition from generative art to printmaking with a risograph and drawing with a pen plotter; I love the slow physical process of using them.
ziml77 · 5h ago
Printers using CMYK isn't strictly true, right? Aren't you able to choose the ink colors when getting prints professionally made?
cosiiine · 5h ago
You're correct, there are some more sophisticated processes used by specialty printers such as CcMmYK (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CcMmYK_color_model). Something like this will use more inks and less halftones, giving better results in some cases.
Or are you referring to other printing methods, say for example silk screening? There, you would definitely select a specific ink to use. It just depends on what your goals are.
mcphage · 5h ago
Or they could be referring to Spot Color.
lotyrin · 5h ago
One of my favorites is spot gloss.
azornathogron · 4h ago
I had a summer job working at a print software company and they had a large format printer with, if I remember correctly, 12 different ink colours. These weren't spot colours - though that's also an example of going outside CMYK - but meant the printer supported a very wide colour gamut and subtle colour grading.
Anyway, yes, professional printing can go beyond just CMYK in various ways.
ludicrousdispla · 5h ago
Yes, giclee printers typically have ten or more inks, and Risograph printers offer a wider but limited set of options.
jeffbee · 4h ago
"gicleé" is just a neologism that means "I will charge my customers more to recoup the capital cost of this large inkjet printer" and doesn't really have any inherent meaning as to the number of inks.
exasperaited · 3h ago
Yes. With a limited carve-out for anyone still running an Iris, who originated that neologism in a much more sceptical market.
alt227 · 5h ago
At work we have CMYKW printers, which add an extra channel of white ink to the mix.
cubefox · 19m ago
To print on non-white paper? But I think then the ordinary cyan, magenta and yellow inks can't be used. Normally those are translucent in order to create red, green and blue via subtractive color mixing. E.g. overlaying yellow and magenta dots creates a red dot.
But if the paper can't be assumed to be white, CMY need to be opaque, otherwise yellow on black paper would just look black. Then you can no longer create red, green and blue. So you need additional red, green and blue pigment, likewise opaque. So "CMYRGBKW". Then the other colors can be mixed via dithering the eight base colors as usual.
Or maybe your printer still needs white paper, and the white pigment has some other use?
kayodelycaon · 4h ago
I have a Canon Pixma Pro 100 and it uses 8 different inks. The “Pro” really means professional. When used with the correct paper, it produces the same high quality prints as any professional service.
Looking at the artwork on my wall, there’s two big things that set prints apart from an original artwork. 1. Computer software doesn’t capture the imperfection of a physical medium. 2. Printers can’t reproduce the texture of layered colors.
jaffa2 · 4h ago
Great article. I’ve only ever came across plotters used for tech drawings cad cam archtecture but i hadnt considered them applied to artistic output. Well done makes me want one now.
ElCapitanMarkla · 1h ago
I have a failed 1x1m cnc build due to a lack of rigidity. I'm in the process of rebuilding it as a wall mounted plotter in my office. I could spend all day watching it move
stevetron · 3h ago
I used to have an Epson Hi-80 plotter someone gifted me. Somebody else gifted it to themselves, so I never had a chance to play with it. But it had a centronics interface and could be set to emulate an Epson RX-80 dor matric printer. Never considered it for printing text, but why couldn't it with Epson emulation?
JoshTriplett · 3h ago
I still remember the old "CreataCard" machines. They were a lot of fun to use and watch. (They very much understood and leveraged the fact that the customer purchasing a greeting card is not the recipient; making it fun to watch and fun to give was a major selling point.)
jwong_ · 3h ago
I have a really cheap one that seems to apply uneven pressure across the bed. Has anyone worked with any sort of spring loaded holder that could help that sort of problem?
futurecat · 3h ago
I’m having the same issue. Which model do you have?
jwong_ · 3h ago
Mine is an ultra cheap “hand writing” machine off taobao. There’s not really any specific model since there’s a million clones of them floating around
I’ll probably have to make the holder myself but good to know others have had the same problem!
futurecat · 6h ago
As a plotter artist also, I'm super happy to see this article on HN.
qwertytyyuu · 4h ago
For whit inks how about uv printers?
cluckindan · 4h ago
For plotters, just get a pen with UV ink. Is a UV printer something more fancy?
Karliss · 2h ago
Those are two completely different things. Nothing to do with UV fluorescent inks. UV printers use special inks which are cured by UV light instead of relying on solvent evaporation like most inks. A bit similar to UV cured resins used by SLA printers or UV cured glues. This makes it easier to print on various materials like metal, glass, and ceramics. UV printing can be done in multiple layers to add 3d texture or using bottom white layer as primer thus providing better colors regardless of base material color.
acomjean · 3h ago
>The keyword here, though, is reproduction. A printer isn't capable of mixing pigments the same way an artist mixes paints on a palette.
This is kinda no longer true. Computer tools such as “krita” (open source) do an exceptional job emulating paints and brushes. A lot of professional illustrations now days are done digitally and printed. “Art” less so but the tablets keep getting better.
As someone who was kinda adept at making black and white prints from negatives, I kind of miss some of the old tech (making prints was a little magical). But digital / ink jet can get you 90% of the darkroom much easier and has some serious advantages.
I do applaud the effort and the fun factor here is real. Those pen plotters are neat and enough different to make this an interesting niche.
This bit from the article made me laugh ruefully though: "it's as simple as buying some black paper and a white gel pen." You can get some beautiful effects with white ink on black paper but it is notoriously difficult to get looking good. White ink is tricky stuff. But that's part of the fun!
Great portfolio of art btw, thanks for sharing!
It’s very accessible these days to have a finished piece of art that’s all yours - even with little artistic ability.
I feel like I get asked a lot the same questions and I think this article describes it best. Like yes I could have just upgraded to a nicer printer, but there is something fun about the process of getting an artwork plotted that makes it fun for me.
I need to upload some of my plots to share.
---
On a similar note for others who want to get into this, there was a thread awhile back on "What is the 90% activity in your favorite hobby", for example sanding taking 90% of the time for woodworking. For pen plotting the 90-95% is the art side. Taking images, converting them into g-code either via SVG or other processes, or writing code to make generative art, that is the 90%.
At the end of the day the pen plotting itself at the surface level is a projection of the effort taken to generate the art. Where it gets really exciting is the capabilities and unique aspect of the medium (like touching on white ink or watercolor) that create truly unique ways of presenting the art.
--
Some related subreddits:
https://www.reddit.com/r/PlotterArt/
https://www.reddit.com/r/PenPlotters/
After rewatching that, I did a one-shot remake in p5js: https://g.co/gemini/share/b983a93e3ae2
Is there actual plotter simulation software I could be using?
I remember using flatbed plotters with a "static-cling" button. (maybe HP?)
you clicked the button out, put paper on the flatbed, then clicked the button in and a static charge sucked the paper down and held it in place.
You would generate your plots using a language that could select various color pens, move to x1,y1, pen down, move to x2,y2, pen up, etc...
I think better printers and then inkjets are what finally killed them off.
Does anyone know of an inexpensive plotter you can buy or build?
Having an existing 3d printer is a bit “draw the rest of the owl” for this, but being able to extend and modify a device like a pen plotter is pretty nice.
There's a world of cheaper unbranded Chinese plotters that folks are using that seem to work well. Quality does matter, you want something very precise and stable.
ETA: I guess a true maths geek nerd artist would probably want something more modular and larger anyway, but the Silhouette machines are varied, interesting, support a pretty well documented protocol (GPGL, a variant of/alternative to HPGL I think) and are supported in Inkscape and Python.
The first thing I programmed was having it draw a hilbert curve and it worked great!
https://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/171
And a 2d minimalist plotter.
https://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/846
They seem to have been bought. Those pro plotters look nice though quite pricy. The page still has good resources.
https://www.evilmadscientist.com/
https://note.com/penplotter/n/n4fdf6959738a
The page is in Japanese, but you can get a feel of things through the embedded videos. One of them links to this instructables page in English:
https://www.instructables.com/Mini-Plotter-V2/
Or are you referring to other printing methods, say for example silk screening? There, you would definitely select a specific ink to use. It just depends on what your goals are.
Anyway, yes, professional printing can go beyond just CMYK in various ways.
But if the paper can't be assumed to be white, CMY need to be opaque, otherwise yellow on black paper would just look black. Then you can no longer create red, green and blue. So you need additional red, green and blue pigment, likewise opaque. So "CMYRGBKW". Then the other colors can be mixed via dithering the eight base colors as usual.
Or maybe your printer still needs white paper, and the white pigment has some other use?
Looking at the artwork on my wall, there’s two big things that set prints apart from an original artwork. 1. Computer software doesn’t capture the imperfection of a physical medium. 2. Printers can’t reproduce the texture of layered colors.
I’ll probably have to make the holder myself but good to know others have had the same problem!
This is kinda no longer true. Computer tools such as “krita” (open source) do an exceptional job emulating paints and brushes. A lot of professional illustrations now days are done digitally and printed. “Art” less so but the tablets keep getting better.
https://krita.org/en/
As someone who was kinda adept at making black and white prints from negatives, I kind of miss some of the old tech (making prints was a little magical). But digital / ink jet can get you 90% of the darkroom much easier and has some serious advantages.
I do applaud the effort and the fun factor here is real. Those pen plotters are neat and enough different to make this an interesting niche.