We are reprinting Jeff Davis’s conversation with ippsketch (Jeff), originally published on November 23rd 2021.  —Eds.

ippsketch (Jeff) lives with his wife and three kids in Austin, TX where he’s the director of Research and Development for a medical device company by day, and artist who sketches with code by night. We had an opportunity to chat about his iterative approach to being an artist in advance of his upcoming Art Blocks release Bent.

Jeff Davis: Hi there! I thought we could start with how you first became interested in art?

ippsketch: I’ve always enjoyed making art and have developed basic skills in drawing and watercolor but have always found it difficult to advance on a technical level. Making art by painting with pixels instead of pigments has let me lean into strengths that I’ve developed as an engineer: coding, simulation, and problem solving. The engineering side of me also loves the precision and repeatability that sketching with code provides. I became more serious and focused on creative coding and generative art a little over a year ago when I decided to stop drinking alcohol and get sober. Freeing myself from that burden and addiction gave me the time and attention I needed for creative pursuits and making art.

JD: That’s great to hear that it’s become a positive outlet for you. So what was the switch for you to realize that you could use your engineering skills for creative pursuits?

IP: I like to joke and say that I’ve actually been making generative art for a couple of decades—just not in the typical sense. Engineering simulations can be a form of generative art. Simulation models use stochastic (random) processes to produce a set of possible outcomes and results are visualized to understand and communicate their meaning. For me, it was a natural jump from engineering simulations to generative art. Instead of starting at the beginning (“what equations do I need to represent the problem?”), a generative artist could start at the end (“I want a desired output, what equations do I need to get there?”). Once a concept is visualized, it becomes a puzzle and a game (in the best possible sense of the word) to work through the coding problems to bring that concept to life. I love that process.

JD: For sure, I’ve always viewed artmaking as being akin to solving a puzzle that you create for yourself. What was your introduction to NFTs/crypto art?

IP: I’ve been immersed and connected to the creative coding and generative art community on Twitter, where I’ve formed great friendships with many amazing artists. Those connections and shared interests provided inspiration, kept me engaged with my practice, and pushed my art forward. They also led me into crypto art. My first intro to generative art was Frederik Vanhoutte’s epic and long-running iso series and I first learned about Art Blocks when Matt DesLaurier’s Subscapes was released. I started minting quick daily sketches and perfect loop gifs on hicetnunc and then more intentional pieces on Foundation.

JD: Talk to me about your pseudonym ippsketch.

IP: My handle (ippsketch) stands for i++ sketch. The increment operator (i++) is used in code to iterate a process forward. So it’s a reference to the computer behind the art, but it’s also a personal motto of sorts. Keep moving forward, keep iterating, keep adding skills, keep exploring new possibilities. That’s also why I chose “sketch.” Sketches aren’t finished—they’re improved and changed, modified or drawn again from scratch. So I think my work and I are constantly evolving. I started more in the creative coding side of things, making one-off perfect loop GIFs and have moved into static pieces and generative art. I’m excited to see what’s next.

JD: Any recent accomplishments you’d like to share?

IP: I’m really proud of the work I’ve produced and sold on Foundation, as well as a series called Spintiles that I contributed to OpenProcessing’s Crayon Codes fundraiser for Processing.

JD: Alright, let’s get into Bent. How did the project come to be?

IP: Like so much of generative art, Bent was an emergent discovery. I didn’t plan it from the start. I stumbled on the structure while developing sketches with “tritrees” (equilateral triangular subdivision). I kept exploring different ways of tiling and filling the triangular regions and the structure for Bent emerged out of one of the variations. I was immediately drawn to the forms and dove deep into the work, spending time on it every day for several months and pushing the algorithms to their limits to expand the variety. My work tends to revolve around clean lines and simple forms with subtle textures. I think that signature is on this work.

JD: What should collectors look for in your project as the series unfolds?

IP: This project has a lot of variety, but there are really three dominant underlying features that collectors should watch out for: bending mechanism; size; and color. First, the bending mechanism determines how the lines are bent and shaded. Some bends follow geometric rules or patterns and some rely on underlying noise fields. The 2.5D structure that the shading imparts makes the forms stand out from the screen. It’s difficult to see the work and not imagine some sort of 3D structure. These structures are meant to be explored and are often seen differently by different people, or even between viewings. Sometimes they look like ribbons, tape, mountain ranges, cities, or waterfalls.

Next, the size ranges from very large to very small and can profoundly affect the look and feel of the output. Finally, the color compliments the structure and sets the mood. Colors are procedurally, but selectively, generated, which results in a variety of color combinations; some muted and subtle, some neon and Tron-like, and some playful gradients. Despite the variation, I think the colors still achieve a cohesive look and feel across the range of outputs. There’s so much variation in pattern, size, and color that each piece is a surprise. I’ve looked at tens of thousands of outputs, but I still love to press F5 to refresh the screen and see what new unique arrangement the algorithm generates. I can’t wait to see what comes out the minter and I’m really excited to hear what collectors see in each piece.

JD: Anything else people should know to better understand your art?

IP: Each piece is interactive in the live view. The number keys 1–7 or left/right arrow keys can be used to explore the stages of sketch construction (1-grid, 2-divide, 3-tile, 4-bend, 5-shade, 6-color, 7-texture). I really enjoy sharing behind-the-scenes and how-to aspects of my work, so I really wanted to build that capability into the output itself. Art doesn’t just appear on the screen. It’s hard work. But artmaking is for normal people and involves skills that can be learned (paraphrased from the book Art & Fear). This is one way I hope to show that art isn’t magic and encourage people to make art for themselves—not just by showing them the final result, but by sharing in the process.

JD: I love that! Built-in process sharing. Now let everyone know where else they can find you.

IP: I’m active and engaged with the community on Twitter . That’s the best place to connect with me and follow along with my work. More information about Bent can be found at my website before the drop. I’ll also update the website with more information about the project specifics sometime after the drop.

First published 23 November 2021: In Conversation with ippsketch