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Wires

A grid of grouped lines (wires), each with four colours, and each moving diagonally or straight across in unique patterns
Print Date
Print Duration
56 minutes, 14 seconds
Paper Size
20×20 cm
Distance Drawn
22.26 m

Among Us is a popular multiplayer online game. A team of crewmates try to complete tasks, whilst avoiding meeting an unfortunate end at the hands of “imposter” players. One of the most common crewmate tasks involves connecting the ends of coloured wires, which appear in a random layout each time they are accessed.

This plot is a visualisation of all permutations the wires can make. With 24 possible wire layouts, and 24 possible permutations of colour for each, the total number of permutations is 576.

Black paper with all possible wire combinations printed, with the pens used to draw them next to the print to show scale
All 576 permutations, including 24 variations of “perfect wires”

Pens used

  • Sakura Gelly Roll Moonlight

    — 0.5mm (10)
    Fluorescent Yellow, XPGB10#403

  • Sakura Gelly Roll Moonlight

    — 0.5mm (10)
    Red, XPGB10#419, Archival ink

  • Sakura Gelly Roll Moonlight

    — 0.5mm (10)
    Fluorescent Pink, XPGB10#420

  • Sakura Gelly Roll Moonlight

    — 0.5mm (10)
    Blue, XPGB10#436, Archival ink

Artwork Details

  • Four colours — Yellow, Pink, Blue, and Red
  • Each row contains all possible layouts
  • Each column contains all colour combinations for a single layout
  • Each permutation measures 6×4.25 mm
  • Contender for the worlds most tedious video game Bingo card
An extreme close-up of one wire group, showing how the gel pens are able to layer colour over previous ones

This was my first attempt at using the Gelly Roll pens for a detailed plot — there’s still a way to go. The yellow and pink colours produced much bolder, fatter lines than the red and blue, even after going over them multiple times. I’m guessing it’s the fluorescent ink being a different consistency. The overlap effect worked well though.

Printing in progress - the yellow and blue wires are complete, pink is being drawn
The same grid pattern as before but on white paper
A prototype print using fineliners on off-white paper

Pens used

  • Stabilo Point 88 Fineliner

    — 0.4mm
    Red, 88/40

  • Stabilo Point 88 Fineliner

    — 0.4mm
    Dark Blue, 88/41

  • Stabilo Point 88 Fineliner

    — 0.4mm
    Yellow, 88/44

  • Stabilo Point 88 Fineliner

    — 0.4mm
    Pink, 88/56