TIMELINE
June 2026
PURPOSE
Side Project
TOOLS
Cursor
Figma
WEBSITE
Overview
Sumi is a real-time web tool that simulates the traditional Japanese art of suminagashi (floating ink marbling). Users can drop colored ink onto a virtual water surface and drag to distort and blend patterns organically.
Features
Instant ink dropping with color control
Direct mouse-drag distortion and combing-style manipulation
Real-time flowing patterns
Unlimited strokes and interactions without quality loss
Runs smoothly in any modern browser
Tech Stack
The core is a WebGL-based fluid simulation using shaders for:
Velocity field and advection
Ink diffusion and color blending
Rendering crisp, high-contrast patterns
I used a hybrid method combining mathematical transformations (inspired by Jaffer) with GPU-accelerated fluid dynamics. This allows responsive dragging while preserving the characteristic thin, flowing lines of real marbling.
References & Inspiration
Traditional suminagashi and paper marbling create beautiful, unpredictable patterns through ink floating on water. I wanted to bring this tactile, playful experience to the web so anyone could experiment without physical setup, mess, or limited materials.After exploring existing work, I drew inspiration from:
I used a hybrid method combining mathematical transformations (inspired by Jaffer) with GPU-accelerated fluid dynamics. This allows responsive dragging while preserving the characteristic thin, flowing lines of real marbling.
