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Plate I · Oculus

kiruk

to scribble, and make something.

An art + code studio. This eye is cut line by line by our own burin engine, into paper the engine makes too.

Paper
  1. a supercilium, the brow
  2. b sulcus palpebralis, the lid crease
  3. c palpebra superior, the upper lid
  4. d cilia, the lashes
  5. e angulus oculi medialis, the inner corner
  6. f caruncula lacrimalis, the caruncle
  7. g sclera, the white
  8. h iris, the iris
  9. k pupilla, the pupil
  10. l palpebra inferior, the lower lid
  11. m angulus oculi lateralis, the outer corner
  12. n stella, the light it holds: the kiruk star
③ globus: the whole eye, drawn first; the lids hide most of it⑧ orbita, the socket's rimR1245670.82d0.55d0.53d0.43d0.58dd = the irisFig. 1.abcdefghklmn
  1. I. Construction
  2. II. Contour
  3. III. Hatching
  4. IV. Cross-hatching
Live measuresW 2.78 d · tilt 3.1°A 0.72 dp 0.36 d0510 mmFig. 1 at 3.66 : 1

Instrument

The eye, in time

x(t) = T + (A + Bt) e−ωt

i. Gaze

g
(+0.00, +0.00)
|ġ|
0.00 /s

It follows the pointer on a critically damped spring, ω = 11: no overshoot. At rest it makes small saccades, as eyes do.

ii. Pupil

p
36% of the iris

Light reflex: τ = 0.14 s closing, 0.60 s opening — the pupil shuts faster than it recovers. L

iii. Lid

a
1.00

A blink closes in 90 ms and opens in 190 ms. B

iv. Dawn

Paper: old or new

Soft morning glow, when darkness starts to lift and yellow seeps in. The old paper: where the hand drew. Iron-gall ink, and the years on the sheet. The papers cross on a spring, d = 0.00. D

v. Ink

w
dry

Drag across the plate to wet it: the ink lifts off the lines, travels with the water along the fibres and dries darkest at its edge, then fades. Water leaves at ẇ = −0.55 w; the stain at −0.06 s. Held to the light: 0%.

vi. Measure

Unit
1 d
11.7 mm · 162 px · 5.2 l.
Fig. 1
drawn at 3.66 : 1
axis
yaw +0°, pitch +0°
light
from 135°, 36° above the sheet

M W

C — the construction first, then each pass cut across the eye, as the studies below show them.

Drag between any two points to measure; the ends snap to the corners, the lids, the iris. With the calipers out (M) the snap shows before you press, and a drag measures over the type too. Shift-drag wets the paper. Lengths in d and mm hold; px and the drawn scale change with the page. U changes the unit; move the pointer and the light moves with it.

vii. Hand

The hand's media
№
impression 0

The plate prints the same every time; a colourist’s hand never does. Red chalk went down before a line was cut. Bistre sinks into the paper’s valleys and dries darkest at its rim; the chalk and the white catch only its peaks; the quill is starved on the tooth like the cut lines; wet it, and the washes run. H I

viii. Engine

burin
warming the plate
frame
at rest — drawn only when something moves
scale
iris 162 px · dpr 1
type
set in the DOM
hand
p5.brush, waking