Code 19: Network Bodies & Circular Voids

Where watercolor meets code, geometric bodies emerge from networks, and circular absences create presence

The Makelangelo Experiments

I've been playing with my Makelangelo plotter lately, creating these network-style drawings that merge with my watercolor backgrounds. The machine draws what I program, but the watercolor does whatever the hell it wants—that tension between control and chaos is exactly what keeps me coming back.

The plotter follows algorithms to create these geometric wire-frame bodies and circular forms, but it's the unpredictable bleeding and blooming of watercolor that brings them to life. I'm finding something strangely compelling about this hybrid approach—part digital precision, part analog unpredictability.

Networked Woman in Red

The first experiment features a female figure rendered entirely in red network lines against a minimal blue horizontal strip. Something about the geometric representation of organic form creates this fascinating tension—the body reduced to its most essential connections yet still unmistakably human.

I laid down the blue watercolor band first, then programmed the plotter to create the network figure. The resulting piece sits in this interesting space between digital wireframe and traditional figure drawing—neither fully one nor the other.

What fascinates me is how our brains fill in the gaps. The network only suggests a form, yet we immediately recognize the pose, the gender, the gesture. We're hardwired to see humanity even in its most abstracted forms.

Void Circles: Green, Blue, Pink

The next series explores circular forms—concentric rings of color surrounding perfect voids. The green version against ochre, blue against coral, and pink against powder blue each create distinctly different emotional responses despite sharing the same basic structure.

There's something meditative about these circular forms—the way the plotter traces perfect concentric paths around an empty center. The void becomes the focal point, defined entirely by what surrounds it.

Sometimes emptiness is more present than presence itself.

The black spot in the blue circle piece wasn't planned—a perfect imperfection that somehow makes the whole composition more interesting. Sometimes the best elements are the ones you didn't program.

Networked Portraits: Yellow and Orange

The final experiments return to the human form but focus on faces—one in yellow against white, the other in orange against blue. These network portraits reduce human features to their geometric essence, yet somehow still convey emotion and character.

The yellow face has a contemplative quality, the network more dense around the eyes where we instinctively focus when looking at others. The orange face against blue feels more assertive, the contrast creating a different emotional temperature entirely.

I'm particularly drawn to how the different background treatments affect our perception of the same basic network structure. The geometric pattern remains consistent, but our emotional response shifts with the color relationships.

Code as Drawing Tool

What makes these experiments different from my previous work is the collaborative aspect—I'm co-creating with code and machine. I define parameters and basic structures, but the execution happens through the plotter's mechanical precision.

There's something freeing about surrendering some control to the algorithm. When I draw by hand, my mind constantly makes tiny adjustments and decisions. With the plotter, I set up the system and then watch as it unfolds according to its own logic.

This series began with a simple question: what happens when you combine watercolor's fluid unpredictability with the geometric precision of plotted lines? The answer is this strange hybrid space where organic meets mechanical, where programming meets painting.

The resulting works exist somewhere between traditional art and computational creation—neither purely human nor purely machine-generated, but something new emerging from the conversation between the two approaches.

What's Next?

I'm already thinking about how to push this collaboration further. What if the plotter responded to the watercolor patterns rather than just overlaying them? What if the algorithm itself incorporated randomness to match the unpredictability of the paint?

These first experiments feel like just scratching the surface of what's possible when code becomes a drawing tool and watercolor becomes a computational variable.

Until next time—keep letting your machines make messes and your paints follow algorithms.