Tag Archives: drawing

Cesar Del Valle’s Illustrations Interact with their Physical Surroundings

Cesar Del Valles Illustrations Interact with their Physical Surroundings people installation illustration drawing body black and white

Columbian illustrator Cesar Del Valle‘s drawings are so detailed they could practically be photographs and if the illustrations weren’t realistic enough he then has them interact with the physical world they find themselves in. A figure delicately balances on a pencil protruding from a wall or a girl balances on an actual string affixed to the canvas. I have a feeling his artwork would make an even greater impression seeing it firsthand, but regardless this is truly remarkable stuff. (via behance)

A Helium-filled Kinetic Drawing Sculpture by Karina Smigla-Bobinski

A Helium filled Kinetic Drawing Sculpture by Karina Smigla Bobinski sculpture kinetic sculpture installation helium drawing balloons

ADA – Analog Interactive Installation, is a kinetic sculpture by German-based artist Karina Smigla-Bobinski. The installation is made form an enormous helium-inflated sphere trapped inside a small room that’s spiked with dozens of protruding charcoal pieces which scrape the edges of the gallery wall as participants push, toss, and otherwise manipulate it. Most recently it was on display at the Electronic Language International Festival in São Paulo this Summer that took place in São Paulo. It’s fascinating to me that given the constraints of the sphere and room, a single outcome (pictured at bottom) is destined to emerge, but yet requires the participation of dozens if not hundreds of gallery visitors. Reminds me of the work of Roman Ondák. (via we make money not art, photos courtesy we make money not art, s.antonio, and the artist)

By Christopher on August 16, 2011 • balloons drawing helium installation kinetic sculpture sculpture

Time Print Machine

Time Print Machine drawing machines drawing device

The Time Print Machine by designer Paul Ferragut uses standard felt-tip pens mounted to a device controlled by custom hardware using openFrameworks to draw pointilist representations of images. The marker stays in contact with the paper for a time period relative to the brightness of the pixel it’s attempting to draw, thus the “bleed” of the marker creates larger spots for darker pixels and smaller ones for lighter. Ferragut further modified the machine to create successive 4-pass CMYK drawings as well. This certainly isn’t the quickest method of drawing something with a robot, but it’s pretty darn neat. See some more detailed photos of the drawings and the machine here, and also check out his gesture drawing device. Thanks Paul for sharing your work with Colossal!

By Christopher on August 1, 2011 • device drawing drawing machines

World Record Connect the Dots: Mona Lisa in 6,239 Dots

World Record Connect the Dots: Mona Lisa in 6,239 Dots illustration drawing art history

A 9.5 hour time lapse

I stumbled onto the online portfolio of Melbourne-based artist and designer Thomas Pavitte and immediately planned on writing a post about his insanely flammable 10,000 matchstick tribute to John Walker, the inventor of matches. But then decided his Blu Tack typography was pretty awesome as well, not to mention this dead sexy laser-cut wooden contour bowl. Is there anything this guy can’t do? Well apparently in his spare time he searched around online for the world’s largest connect the dots puzzle, and, finding nothing, created a variation of Mona Lisa using 6,239 dots, then spent a grueling 9.5 hours of his life solving the damn thing. I could really use a puzzle like this for my son on his next flight.

By Christopher on July 29, 2011 • art history drawing illustration

Fred Laforge

Artist Fred Laforge has an impressive body of work that spans several mediums including resin and wood sculptures, graphite drawings, as well as printmaking. Via his artist statement:

My practice focuses primarily on the concept of the atypical body. Within my work, therefore, there is a fascination with non-standard morphologies. I am interested in a particular body type that has been subjected to the judgment of value throughout Western culture. In these works, the bodies that are old, disabled or obese are represented for their aesthetic qualities and the visual poetry they emit. I present these bodies in a new light, flushing out the a priori of the real (is a fat body an ugly body?).

He is currently represented by Gallerie SAS in Montreal.

By Christopher on July 27, 2011 • drawing illustration sculpture

Numerically Controlled Sharpie Drawings

Numerically Controlled Sharpie Drawings robotics posters and prints drawing machines drawing

These lovely sharpie drawings are a collaboration between Matt W. More (previously) and aarn who turned Matt’s vector drawings into machine language and then fed the instructions to a 3-axis CNC machine wielding a black Sharpie marker that proceeded to draw the prints. Each print from the limited edition is signed and numbered and comes with the Sharpie used to make it. Available in the MWM Graphics Shop. Video by Paper Fortress Films

By Christopher on July 19, 2011 • drawing drawing machines posters and prints robotics

Jesse Houlding’s Magnetic Drawing Machines

Jesse Houldings Magnetic Drawing Machines sculpture magnets machines drawing machines drawing

Loop Drawing Machine

The Ferrous Wheel

Over the past several years Oakland-based artist Jesse Houlding has created a variety of incredible kinetic drawing devices using magnets and iron fillings. As a series of magnetic components move in various patterns behind the paper, the iron fillings leave a gradual residue that reveals a visual representation of the magnetic field holding them in place. Houlding says that he is interested in the accumulation of marks, specifically how time is evidenced in artwork and the relationship between process and end-results. You can see a couple more videos of his machines on his Youtube channel. Thanks Jesse for sharing your work with Colossal!

If you liked this check out the work of Sandy Noble, Eske Rex, and Harvey Moon.

By Christopher on July 12, 2011 • drawing drawing machines machines magnets sculpture

Sandy Noble’s Polargraph Drawing Machine

Sandy Nobles Polargraph Drawing Machine robotics drawing machines drawing automated

I was checking out some photos emerging from this weekend’s Interesting 2011 conference held in London (there was a world record attempt at ping pong ball mouse trap nuclear fission, among other things) when I stumbled onto a portrait of the group’s organizer Russel Davies being drawn with a very strange device. It turns out the robotic drawing machine was built by maker/designer/craftsman Sandy Noble and he calls it a Polargraph which is really nothing more than a pen attached to string that’s moved by two small motors. With an assist from good ‘ole gravity and some clever software the pen arcs back and forth, similar to a standard back-and-forth plotter printer, creating the beautifully textured drawings above.

Drawing machines are certainly nothing new, what with Harvey Moon’s Drawing Machine that successfully debuted on Kickstarter last year, and even Eske Rex’s enormous weight balanced spirograph drawing machine. However this variation on the design shows lots of exciting potential for such a primitive if somewhat quixotic method of drawing. You can learn more about the nitty gritty details of Noble’s printer here and see some more photos here.