I’m taking a web design class this semester working with Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade goods. To familiarize ourselves with the site, our first assignment is to make something to sell on it. As you can imagine, students in a web design class are not necessarily the craftiest of people.
I’ve decided to design a set of coasters and have them laser cut from wood. The coasters will be circular, with designs partially cut into the surface and then primed.
I’ll post the finished pieces and a link to the shop when they’re done. They’ll come in a set of four and there will be a handful of sets available if you’re interested in them. For now, here are the designs I’m planning. They were drawn in Illustrator. Nothing generative this time. Click on the images to see them larger.
Similar to generative computer graphics, generative drawings are created by repetition of some process, although different artists may give some different definitions. This process could be very specific for example drawing a series of circles with a particular relation to each other, or in this case drawing lines of similar curvature and spacing and a certain degree of variation. Generative drawings can be very similar to geometric fractals. Some artists use the term to describe a looser structure more similar to automatic drawing.
This is one of a few drawings from my sketchbook done in this manner, drawn in felt tip pen. Creating such drawings can be little time consuming but often very meditative. In the end it can create very beautiful images which are as much about the subtle variations, what some might call “human error,” as the consistent pattern.

Collaborative drawing with Olivia Horvath. Ink and brush.
She has a cuter blurb.
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