Cap & Stem
The spot pattern is asymmetric on purpose — a symmetric cap reads as a logo, not a plant.
Plate 00 · x0,y0 · cover
Quarterly of low-resolution image-making
Pixel
Canvas
Plotter is a journal for people who draw inside constraints — sixteen squares wide, four inks deep, no anti-aliasing to hide behind. Issue 07 maps the grammar of the grid: how a single misplaced cell rewrites a whole silhouette.
Ninety-six pages, risograph, hand-numbered. Every plate below is drawn on the same lattice you are scrolling.
Get Issue 07 Open sprite sheet
Press run live 640 copies 16×16 native
Plate 01 · x0,y24 · contents
Inside the grid
Five essays, one interview, and a fold-out sprite sheet you are allowed to cut up.
- 001The Tyranny of the DiagonalWhy a 45° line is the only honest slope in pixel space.p.08
- 002Four Inks, No BlendingBuilding depth from ordered dither instead of gradient.p.21
- 003Interview: Mira HalvorsenTwenty years of tile sets, drawn entirely at 1:1 zoom.p.34
- 004Reading a SilhouetteIf it fails in black, no palette will rescue it.p.52
- 005Field Notes from a Plotter BedPen-on-paper output as a test for legibility.p.71
Plate 02 · x0,y64 · sprite sheet
Sheet 07-A
Every figure here is 16×16 and uses no more than four inks. Hover a tile to lift it off the board; the checkerboard behind is transparency, not decoration.
Beacon
A diamond is the cheapest shape that still looks lit. Two inks; the inner ink never touches the edge.
Housecat, seated
Ears cost two cells each. Anything smaller and the animal becomes a loaf of bread.
Peak & Strata
Horizon bands carry the depth. The mountain is only nine rows tall and still reads as far away.
Plate 03 · x0,y112 · reference
Dither table
The five patterns used throughout the issue, with their coverage and the distance at which they stop reading as texture.
| Pattern | Matrix | Coverage | Breaks at |
|---|---|---|---|
| Checker | 2×2 | 50% | 40 cm |
| Sparse Bayer | 4×4 | 25% | 25 cm |
| Dense Bayer | 4×4 | 75% | 25 cm |
| Scanline | 1×2 | 50% | 90 cm |
| Noise (seeded) | 8×8 | 38% | 15 cm |
Plate 04 · x28,y112 · subscribe
Take four
Four issues a year, posted flat, plus a loose plate from the sheet above.