A Drawing Machine is an Arduino-controlled polargraph plotter controlled by an arcade joystick to give the user a unique drawing experience. The project was presented the the Arts Alive Festival at the Art Center of Corpus Christi, on September 1-2, 2018, in Corpus Christi, Texas
The project contradicts the core of what we understand about drawing. For thousands of years this process is direct, immediate and personal. The drawing material is an extension of the arm and mind. This become a inhibitor for someone whose vision may not match their execution. The idea that "I can't draw" is a oversimplified perversion of the disconnect between the hand and the mind. The challenge of drawing starts with seeing. When someone gives up on drawing, they relinquish an even more crucial practice of critical seeing, optically flattening space into two dimensions, and their ability to abstractly analyze diminishes.
A Drawing Game creates an interface to re-cultivate and challenge that skill. When the versatility of drawing is limited to eight directions and a mechanical line weight, the drawer is allowed to reconcile the limits of their ability to achieve realism, and the playing field is leveled. The machine challenges the drawer to do more with less as they deconstruct their ideas of form and line.
This project is freeware, code and materials available soon
