Still Life with Left Hands (2024)

AI Tool(s) Used

• Custom Plotter Software: Developed in-house to generate pastel drawings.
• Automated Drawing AI: Likely embedded within the plotter to interpret and render the artist’s instructions into precise, controlled lines and strokes.

Description of Result

The result is a pastel drawing produced by a custom-built plotter machine, titled “Still Life with Left Hands.” The artwork represents a complex blend of mechanical precision and artistic sensitivity, capturing the texture and softness of pastels on paper. The hands, as focal points, are delicately outlined and shaded, displaying both the algorithm’s accuracy and the artist’s vision.

Step-by-Step Breakdown

1. Developing the Custom Plotter: The artist spent over a year designing and refining a custom plotter capable of rendering pastel drawings. This involved programming the machine to handle soft media like pastels, ensuring the pressure, speed, and movements were finely tuned to mimic human touch.

2. Inputting the Design: The artist likely input a design—potentially digital sketches or reference images—into the plotter’s software. The AI algorithms within the software processed these inputs, converting them into precise drawing instructions for the plotter.

3. Plotting the Pastel Drawing: The plotter executed the drawing in pastel on paper, guided by the programmed instructions. The machine had to replicate soft, curved lines and gradients, ensuring the artwork retained the subtlety and texture characteristic of pastel media.

4. Final Touches: After the plotter completed the drawing, the artist may have manually refined details or adjusted certain elements to ensure the desired aesthetic outcome, blending human oversight with automated creation.

Tips & Tricks

• Fine-tuning is Key: When working with custom plotters or AI drawing tools, precise calibration of parameters like pressure and speed ensures that softer mediums like pastels retain their delicate appearance.
• Experiment with Traditional Media: Combining traditional materials, such as pastels, with AI-driven plotters opens up new avenues for blending human touch with technological precision.
• Allow for Manual Finishing: Even when using automated systems, human oversight can add the final nuances that make a piece stand out, providing a balance between digital perfection and organic variation.

Annotation

“Still Life with Left Hands” stands as a testimony to the evolving intersection of art and technology. The custom-built pastel plotter blends mechanical precision with the soft, expressive quality of pastels, showing how AI and custom machinery can produce results that feel deeply human. By automating repetitive or technically challenging aspects of the drawing process, the artist is free to focus on the conceptualization and refinement of the work.

The hands in this artwork—rendered in soft pastels—are delicate yet exact, showcasing how a machine can replicate an organic touch. This project demonstrates the growing potential of AI and automated tools to expand artistic possibilities, providing artists with innovative methods to achieve greater intricacy and control in their creations.

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