The Anti-Drawing Machine

Harsh, Akshat, Soonho

Video

Final Setup

For our final exhibition, we perfected our movement and sealed everything inside of a clean box. We wanted to have paper available for people to take and draw on, so we cut 30 sheets of 18″ x 18″ paper. The lighting was set so that all the focus was on the paper.

We wanted to embrace this “child-like” aesthetic because of how the drawings looked, so we chose to use Crayola markers!

We also chose to stick up all the drawings on the back. There was an interesting effect where the back wall started to have that “refrigerator drawings” feeling.

Observation

It was really interesting to observe how different people used the machine differently. Most people made very gestural and pattern-based drawings, but other people treated it like a game where they were determined to finish their original drawings.

There were some collaborative drawings

And some innovation/ experimentation with different marker combinations.

There were many strokes and effects that could not have otherwise been created without this machine!

Feedback

There was a spectrum of feedback, from mild frustration to wild enjoyment. Most of the participants did not recognize any sort of logic in the robot motion unless they specifically asked about it. This was largely due to the focus mainly being on the drawing itself.

Ultimately, everyone who tried the machine told us they had a fun time and were extremely pleased to have created a drawing that is not necessarily perfect. This machine seemed to alleviate the expectations to make drawings with extreme craft, and it kind of “evened the playing field” for all participants.

Code