Drawing With Code

What does it even mean? I see two main ways of drawing with code: 1) going for a representation of a thing you have in mind, or 2) using an algorithm and elements of randomness to surprise you. Representational I have code-drawn Lissajous curves with code - from a picture in mind before I started. I saw the curves as built from wires as thin as possible, or as thick metallic tubes. I have been lucky that I mathematical objects can be compressed so well into code. It would be way more […]

https://elkement.art/2026/03/27/drawing-with-code/

On Descriptive Geometry

I keep forgetting I am writing for an international audience here! Having referred to Descriptive Geometry (DG) often, I doubt that everybody associates similar mental images with it. Anybody remembering the trace of a plane, for example? Learning about the history and culture of Descriptive Geometry, I realize it is rooted in a European tradition - maybe even central and Eastern European specifically. Descriptive - a term introduced by the French founder of DG - is not meant to just […]

https://elkement.art/2026/03/10/on-descriptive-geometry/

Rolling Not Slipping – Story of a Twirling Ellipsoid

I can't help it - I use the first title that pops into my mind! "Rolling, not slipping" is the punchline of a mathematical argument used in classical mechanics, in the theory of the motion of a gyroscope. But I am not going to do it justice in this blog post (apart from a math appendix you can skip). I just want to tell the story of the evolution of my related drawing! This is again going to be a tribute to Louis Poinsot's formulation of the theory of the gyroscope. But this time the […]

https://elkement.art/2026/01/29/rolling-not-slipping-story-of-a-twirling-ellipsoid/

Circles to Circles #2. A Friendly Death Star.

My art should speak for itself, as an abstract geometric drawing. But if you are so inclined, you can decode the math. Mathematics shows up twice: In the thing I am depicting, and in the techniques I am using to draw it geometrically. The series Circles of Circles is about stereographic projection of circles onto circles, and I am using orthographic projection as a tool. In a sense this is "orthographic projection of stereographic projection" Circles to Circles #2 by elkement 2025, […]

https://elkement.art/2025/05/22/circles-to-circles-2-a-friendly-death-star/

Circles to Circles #1. On Descriptive Geometry.

I am not a hoarder. I parted with school memorabilia long ago. When I started reading books on e-readers, the remaining books felt like an odd time capsule. They were not representing my reading self anymore. So, I got rid of most books, too. There was one exception: I still have my high school Descriptive Geometry books. "DG" was taught for the two last years of high school, in grade 7 and 8 (age 17 - 18). I remember it as pure delight - learning how to depict three-dimensional objects […]

https://elkement.art/2025/05/16/circles-to-circles-1-on-descriptive-geometry/