HOTENDS is a series of 3D printed Two-and-a-half-D drawings of Instagram models as lighter pin-ups. These are the first tests I made and the process I use that came out of that. Final pieces made with this process will be featured here and in my webshop when I have finished them.
While having to stay at home I’ve been playing and experimenting with multicolour 3D printing with a single nozzle 3D printer by creating and printing separate colour parts next to and on top of each other. This way all colours fuse together into one final piece.
My process thus far
First I draw with pencil on paper from reference photos on Instagram.
Then I scan it and correct, outline and colour over the sketch in Photoshop, until I’m happy with the final drawing.
After that the drawing is imported into Illustrator and traced, so I can save all different colours as separate SVG files and import those into Tinkercad.
In Tinkercad I give each colour its specific dimensions and height from the build plate and add a built-in skirt around all separate colour models. This skirt line around the model gives the nozzle time to prime for each colour and helps me to directly when I start a print see if it is in the exact right spot. If not, I have to start again from the beginning.
Then all colour models are printed one-by-one after each other, while leaving the previous prints on the build plate for the printer to print in between and on top off to create the final print, built from multiple prints in the same spot.
