By the time I left grad school in 1980
I had a DEC PDP-11 computer
with maxed memory (64 KBytes @ $600.00)
and a professional (stolen) FORTRAN compiler.
My images could become more complex.
In this ‘melting ice cube” image the squares
were plotted directly onto the canvas with an angular offset
that increases proportionally with distance from the center.
At a certain distance they begin to move away from the center.
I used an airbrush to get a smooth color gradation
and plotted masks on acrylic sheets then cut with X-Acto blades
to fill in the squares with color.
tedious... but the means were there
except for thin lines.
It has, of course, an aspect of a galaxy...
which I would have painted instead
if I had had the technique
I painted this for a girl...
Fortunately, we split before I could give it to her.
I still have it.