A drawing prompt engine for Derrick Kempf. A satirical fork of vvriter.
You type the prompt. I draw it. By hand. You'll get it when you get it.
AI is generating graphics whether we participate or not. So I built the alternative ... one input field, one human, and a response time that is best described as "organic." The output looks like some mediocre artist who's abandoned their formal training drew it. And that artist is some dewd named Derrick Kempf.
No API. No model. No latency optimizations.
Just a guy with a pen.
Two modes:
- Submit your prompt
- It gets added to the queue
- The queue is a notebook on a desk
- The notebook gets drawn from at some point
- You receive the drawing at an undefined later date
- The drawing is real. Made by hand. Yours.
This is not a bug. This is the feature. The feature is a human being.
Pulls from the Visualize Value visual library — 400+ black-and-white graphics built on boxes, arrows, and compressed ideas — and then remade in the Derrick's illustration style.
Same concept. Different hand. The box becomes a sketch. The arrow gets a little wobbly. The insight stays.
The original said something with geometry. This version says the same thing but it looks like someone drew it while thinking about it, which is because someone did.
Delivery times vary. Factors include:
- Queue depth
- Complexity of prompt
- Whether the prompt made me laugh
- Whether I'm traveling
- General life circumstances
Prompts that are funnier tend to get drawn faster. This is not a policy. It's just how it works.
Drawings are delivered digitally. They look handmade because they are handmade. They are made in the Derrick Kempf style, which means:
- Loose lines
- Characters that are doing something
- Usually a little bit funny
- The idea is in there somewhere
Good prompts tend to be concepts, not scenes. Think VV-style: one idea, compressed. The drawing will interpret it.
Works well:
- "Sell your sawdust"
- "Build once, sell twice"
- "The moat is the person"
- "Consistency beats intensity"
Also works:
- Anything that made you stop scrolling
- A thing you keep meaning to explain to someone
- An idea you haven't figured out how to say yet
Less useful:
- "Draw my cat"
- Extremely detailed scenes with specific lighting requirements
- Anything that needs to be done by Tuesday
vvriter generates articles from Jack Butcher's archive using an MCP server and 50,000 tweets.
dravver generates drawings from a single input field and one person's interpretation of it.
The architecture is different. The spirit is similar. The turnaround time is not comparable and we ask that you not compare them.
MIT. The drawings are mine until they're yours.