Diana Probst, Cambridge Artist

Building a Drawing Machine

A pen, held by a machine head, that is writing in white on blackI’ve been quiet lately, for work and for other work, and here is the result of something I’ve been doing in my spare time.
 
I built a drawing machine. It essentially draws a really complicated graph, just like the X-Y graphs you’ll have done at school. When I started it, it was a hobby project, but now people are liking it so much that I think I should be making art with it a lot more. Someone came to my latest show just to see it. I’ve made room in my head for this to be for art works, and not just a thing that I build out of interest to see what art works I can make. (I was planning it as a lino cutter, but people like it as a machine with a pen.)
 
There is a Z axis as well, which means I can move the pen up off the paper and down again. With a bit of improvement I can change pens and keep the zeroing – the position of the pen tip – intact. I’m slightly in shock over how much people love it. Videos to come, I guess.
 

 
If you like my work and want to support me, you can subscribe to get original art at my Patreon page – that includes a level for mechanical, drawn, objects.