When I last posted, I had just finished updating one of the algorithms that controls exactly how my painting robot, Zanelle, paints.
It is one of my brush stroke planning algorithm. Once the robot and I have arrived at a design, this algorithm plots out and plans exactly how the brush will fill in the canvas, stroke by stroke. I have a dozen or so of these programs that each have a different effect. This specific program paints in a style that resembles an old school dot matrix printer. It paints only horizontal lines. Examples of other programs that plot brush strokes include random fills, cross hatching, and contour painting. I will show examples of a simple cross hatching effect in my next post. Zanelle is painting this same composition with a cross hatching algorithm as I write this.
But in this post I wanted to show a couple photos showing this painting being completed from start to finish. Once again it is The Resurrection, 14″x18″, Acrylic on Canvas. It is the third execution of this composition. The first two can be seen in previous blogs.
The robot begins by painting light colors. It completely finishes each of the 6 colors before continuing to the next. This is an option as it could even mix colors if I set it to do so. Same with color order. I specify the order in which it paints each color before each painting begins.
As the painting progresses, you can see more and more detail emerge. It is not until near the end that it gets to red and Optimus Prime starts to appear. Then finally the black creates some shadows of the soldiers guarding his tomb.
One of the cool things about painting with a robot is that you get exact stats. For example, this painting took 14.85 hours to paint and is composed of exactly 18,386 strokes. I could break it down further if you like. How many artists can give you this much information about their paintings?
Pindar
