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# Outline · Anchor Points
- URL: https://blog.garypercival.com/outline/
- Published: 2026-10-18T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-18T15:00:00.000Z
- Description: A poster built from Bézier paths. White tubes, red anchor points, handles pulled outside the curves. Green letters run off the edges of the frame.
- Author: Gary Percival
- Tags: #behindtheposter

## Why this week's poster

I wanted to show the skeleton of a letter.  
Every letter is a set of paths.

Anchor points.  
Handles.  
Curves.

I built them as physical parts.  
The word fit: outline.

The paths trace the edge of every letter.  
Handles sit outside the shape they control.  
The letters run outside the frame.

## The build

- **Objects.** Bézier paths modelled as white tubes. Red glossy beads mark the anchor points. Straight rods form the handles. Small collars cover the joins.
- **Letters.** Letters from the word outside, scaled large and rotated. They overlap each other. The biggest forms bleed off the left and right edges.
- **Colour.** Flat green fills. White type. Pink where the type overlaps the fill. Navy to charcoal behind.
- **Lighting.** Soft, even light across the fills. Gentle highlights run along the tube edges. The background lifts at the top and falls dark at the corners.
- **Texture.** Satin white tubes. Glossy red points. Green with a slight gradient across each form.
- **Type.** White grotesque. Outside is set twice, top right and bottom left. Each setting breaks after outs and turns 90 degrees. Date and URL sit small in the corners.

## What worked

- The tubes read as real objects, not outlines.
- The red points give each curve a clear start and end.
- Pink overlaps stand out against the green.
- Cropping the letters at the edges pushes the scale.

## What I'd push next time

- Handles on every curve, not only the large ones.
- A second material pass on the anchor points.
- A motion test: drag a handle and watch the letter change shape.

## Close

Every letter carries its own points.  
This poster shows them.  
Read the word, then follow the paths.

![Two copies of the Outline poster overlap on light grey, green letters traced with white paths and red anchor points](https://storage.ghost.io/c/92/bc/92bc4aa6-fb0d-48c9-88cc-6bb1e109d23d/content/images/2026/10/Ghost_Post_Images-1.jpg)