01 / Plotter
The robot
AxiDraw V3 / A3
Pen plotter, USB serial, A3 working area. The one piece of hardware in the studio. Slow, precise, and surprisingly tactile.
§ 00 — About / Studio open since 2020
A studio of one, plus a pen.
I'm Fabax, a generative artist from France, living in the Netherlands. I write small programs, then hand them to a pen plotter. The plots and digital prints ship from my Leiden studio on Etsy. If you buy a drawing from me, I was in the room while it was made.
LivesLeiden, NL
BornFrance · 1989
PlotterAxiDraw V3 / A3
ShopEtsy · /FabaxArt
PracticeSince 2020
§ 01 — Bio
In first person.
A short version. Full CV on request — write to the studio.
I'm a generative artist from France, living in the Netherlands. I make art with code and robots — sometimes on screen, more often on paper. Pen-plotted originals and digital prints both ship from my Etsy shop in Leiden.
The robot is an AxiDraw V3. The code is mine — I write all of it. I plot every piece myself, and pack every order by hand.
I'm most interested in the moment a program stops being endless and starts being specific — one piece of paper, one afternoon, one pen running dry near the end.
Before this I worked as a software engineer for ten years. The plotter showed up in 2020 — a borrowed AxiDraw, on a kitchen table in Paris.
If you've come this far on the page, thank you. The best way to stay in touch is the Etsy shop or Instagram — both linked below.
§ 02 — Studio
The tools I keep close.
Last updated · APR 202602 / Code
The stack
JS · Canvas · SVG
Almost everything is plain JavaScript and SVG. Small toolchain, fewer dependencies, fewer surprises.
03 / Paper
The surfaces
Hahnemühle · Somerset · cotton
Mostly Hahnemühle Bugra and Somerset Velvet. Some series get archival black stock with white gel pen.
04 / Pens
The ink
Sakura · Staedtler · Uni gel
Archival pigment liners, 0.05 to 0.5. Sakura gel for white-on-black. A pen that runs dry near the end.
§ 03 — Timeline
A short chronology.
- 2026Leiden · NL
Parallax
The seventh study in the Parallax series, plotted and shipped from the studio.
- 2025Rotterdam · NL
Two-colour flock work
Year of the two-pen plot. Flock / North and Snowfield ship; first solo group show at a small gallery in Rotterdam.
- 2024Leiden · NL
First long-form drop
Static / 01 launches as the first hundred-edition piece. Coast, Slowly takes 42 hours per variant.
- 2023Leiden · NL
Paper, Slept
The paper warps overnight. I plot anyway. The collection becomes a series of accidents.
- 2022Paris → Leiden
Move to Leiden
Studio relocates from Paris. New room, new north light, same plotter. Etsy shop opens.
- 2020Paris · FR
The borrowed plotter
An AxiDraw, on a kitchen table in Paris. First plot was a noise field.
§ 04 — Common questions
Things I get asked.
Are the plotted drawings prints?
No — every plotted drawing is a one-off. The robot draws each one with a real pen, on a real sheet. The algorithm is shared across the collection, but no two sheets are the same.
What's the difference between pen plots and digital prints?
A pen plot is an original drawing — inked by the plotter with a real pen, signed, one of a kind. A digital print is a reproduction of a generative piece that was made for the screen, not drawn by the plotter.
Can I commission something?
Sometimes. Most collections have variants I haven't shipped — write to the studio with the size, the colour, or the idea you have in mind.
Do you ship internationally?
Yes — from Leiden, worldwide, via Etsy. Prints are packed flat in archival sleeves with a board backing. Tracking included.
Where can I see the studio?
Instagram is the closest thing to a daily sketchbook — timelapses, work-in-progress, plotter close-ups. @fab.ax. No open-studio dates yet.
§ 05 — Contact
Say hello.
The best way to reach me is a direct message on Instagram — I read every message and answer most within a day. Studio hours are loose, mostly afternoons and late nights.
DM · @fab.ax