June 25, 2025 | Posted in Made by Hand | No Comments.
I have been doing some pen plots with Micron pens using an iDraw pen plotter. I performed some tests to help me select a paper that has great pen quality and performs well for my style of water color. Each pen plot was the same image with the same plotter settings and used a brand new Micron pen on a 22×30″ sheet of paper. The cold press papers had a rougher texture while the hot press ones were much smoother. My favorite are the Arches Hot Press papers.
Arches Hot Press 140lb – Micron 02 – Great Pen Quality.Arches Hot Press 140lb – Micron 02 – Slight irregularities towards end of plot, but overall great.Arches Hot Press 140lb – Colors sink in, has nice balance when adding color and retains it. Great.
Arches Hot Press 300lb – Great pen quality. Started painting before I got a picture of just the pen.Arches Hot Press 300lb – Paper is thick, nice and stiff.Arches Hot Press 300lb – Pretty good, doesn’t allow for a lot of wet mixing.
Arches Cold Press 140lb
Arches Cold Press 140lb – Poor pen quality. Didn’t even finish the plot or test watercolor.
Artistico Fabriano Cold Press 140lb
Artistico Fabriano Cold Press 140lb – Micron 03 – Earlier in the pen plot, decent line quality.Artistico Fabriano Cold Press 140lb – Further into plot. The quality of line is poor.Artistico Fabriano Cold Press 140lb – Watercolor quality is nice.
Artistico Fabriano Hot Press 140lb
Artistico Fabriano Hot press 140lb – Pen quality is excellent.Artistico Fabriano Hot press 140lbArtistico Fabriano Hot press 140lb – Did not like this one. Maybe good for layering, but did not retain color well.
Canson Heritage Cold Press 140lb
Canson Heritage Cold Press 140lb – Micron 03 – Pen quality is great.Canson Heritage Cold Press 140lb – Micron 03Canson Heritage Cold Press 140lb – Dimples cause little color pools; water color sits on top of paper. Not very good.
Canson Heritage Hot Press 140lb
Canson Heritage Hot Press 140lb. Micron 03 – Pen Quality ExcellentCanson Heritage Hot Press 140lb. Micron 03 – Pen Quality ExcellentCanson Heritage Hot Press 140lb – Did not hold color well when applying, like painting on tissue paper on tupperware. Not too good.
Each pen plot is unique, generated from custom code that draws inspiration from a folded, patterned scarf. Each piece is original and will only be printed a single time. Many of these 11×17″ pieces take many hours to print due to the complex, intricate lines and the slow deliberate movement of the HP7475 plotter.
“Scarf Series: Number 5” 11 x 17 in.
“Scarf Series: Number 6” 11 x 17 in.
“Scarf Series: Number 7” 11 x 17 in.
“Scarf Series: Number 8” 11 x 17 in.
“Scarf Series: Number 11” 11 x 17 in.
“Scarf Series: Number 12” 11 x 17 in.
Stacks Series
Original algorithmic artworks generated from custom code that draw inspiration from a stack of books. Color is added by hand using water color.
“1468020948” 11 x 17 in.
“1468342185” 11 x 17 in.
“1468278549” 17 x 11 in.
Bruce
Bruce is a portrait that marries algorithmically generated content with hand made strokes. Created using custom beard and braid generation applications that drive the HP7475 pen plotter mixed with hand drawn pen marks and watercolor. More information about the process available in this process breakdown post.
“Bruce” 11 x 17 in.
Barracuda
A combination of hand and machine made marks driven by custom software. Pen lines created using the HP7475 pen plotter.
“Barracuda” 11 x 17 in.
Squids
Squids are created using a custom squid generator application I wrote in OpenFrameworks. Each squid is randomly generated and therefore unique. Squids are printed on a pen plotter and then water colored by hand. More information about the process in this post.
“Genevieve” 8.5 x 11.5 in.
“Lucas” 9 x 11.5 in.
“Harold” 9 x 11.5 in.
“Paola” 9 x 11.5 in.
“Valeria” 11 x 18 in.
“Alfredo” 11 x 18 in.
“Damarion” 11.5 x 18 in.
“Dede” 9 x 11.5 in.
Peacock
Peacocks are created using a custom peacock generator application written in OpenFrameworks. Each peacock is programmatically generated, and therefore unique. Peacocks are printed on a HP7475 pen plotter and then water colored by hand. Each peacock is a triptych, composed of three 11 x 17″ pieces to compose the complete work. More information about the process in this post.
Just finished a Barracuda using the HP7475 pen plotter, some custom code and watercolor. I love that the output from my application will ultimately result in physical pen marks on a piece of watercolor paper. Available for purchase store.nickhardeman.com.
A custom OpenFrameworks application captured depth information using the Microsoft Kinect. The depth information was calibrated to a color image that was also captured by the kinect. Below is the raw color and depth information.
Kinect color image
Kinect Depth Data
A series of meshes were generated with incremental triangle size from 1 – 19. Below demonstrates the difference in spacing between the different generated meshes, 1 being the tightest and 19 being the loosest.
Various mesh sizes were chosen that allow smooth transitions between tighter meshes and looser meshes. Level 2, 4 and 8 were used to create a composite.
Mesh sizes 2, 4 and 8 from left to right.
The meshes were placed onto the captured color image in photoshop. The tighter meshes denoted the darker areas and the looser ones were utilized for the lighter areas, creating a ‘mesh hatching’ style. Originally the OpenFrameworks application algorithmically blended the meshes based on the lightness of the image, but the process by hand provided a much more pleasing result.
Color Image with Mesh Composite Overlay in Photoshop
February 12, 2013 | Posted in Made by Hand | No Comments.
I’ve had this idea in my head for a long time and I finally acted on it. I drew this with watercolor and ball point pen and finished it with a touch of code. I wrote software to create the triangles behind the mouse, then printed it out onto a sheet of paper and then traced the triangles onto the original watercolor drawing.
Output from OF application used to trace the triangles onto the original drawing.
January 17, 2013 | Posted in Made by Hand | No Comments.
When I was off for Thanksgiving break, I could not look at the screen anymore. So I decided to do some drawings. I already gave two of them away without taking proper pictures. But I still have one that I was able to scan.
