White ruling-pen linework on Prussian-blue cyanotype: compass-true circles, chain lines, 45° section lining, gothic lettering, and motion that only draws. The nib travels each stroke; nothing fades.
By Alex Greenshpun @alexgreensh Sep 22, 2026
**Medium, physically.** A ruling pen and a spring-bow compass loaded with white ink on Prussian-blue cyanotype stock. The stock never exposed evenly: brighter where the arc lamp stood, mottled (`blueMottle`), two old fold lines, dust. The ink breaks up on the tooth of the sheet (`draftTooth`) and white on blue blooms, so every line gets a faint halo (`inkGroup`). **The marks.** Ruled lines that are never dead straight (a 0.6 px bow, seeded). Compass circles that ARE true round (`circle`: the compass does not wobble, the freehand does). Chain lines, long dash then short dash, for centres and pitch circles (`chain`, `chainRing`). Section lining at 45 degrees that starts and stops just inside each part (`hatch`), adjacent parts lined in opposing directions, thin sections filled solid, shafts and pinions never sectioned. Filled arrowheads. Single-stroke inclined gothic capitals from `drafting.ts`; dimension figures read from the bottom of the sheet (unidirectional). **Edge.** A thin, even pen line with a slight taper where the nib lifts. No tone except section lining. No light and no cast shadow: an orthographic drawing has none, and faking one breaks the medium. […] **Palette.** Ground `#123a63`, white ink `#f1f7fb`, cyan `#a7d8ec`, dim `#7fbcd8`. […] **Motion grammar.** A drafting office has no camera moves and nothing ever fades: the nib travels along each stroke (`progress`), compass circles swing from where the needle-leg starts, section lines run on one stroke at a time, lettering is written stroke by stroke. Long ruled strokes are fast, lettering is slow. Finished parts are flattened onto one cached surface keyed by how many parts are finished, so only the stroke being drawn costs anything.
From Alex Greenshpun's repo, under the Apache-2.0 license.
2,500 years of Western civilisation in just over two minutes, reportedly told in line drawings and on-screen words cut…
An architectural build-up in three.js with TSL: a house evolves from first lines to massing, detail and the finished ho…
One-line Drawing — Style Prompt A single ink line that never leaves the paper. Everything on screen is that one line be…
把 short-1.mp4 做成一条新的竖屏短片 short-1-v5.mp4: 我的人像缩小成右下角的圆形画中画,能看清我在讲话,不遮字幕。 主画面换成一段动画 B-roll,跟着我讲的内容走:我说到哪个概念,画面就画哪个概念。风格轻松…