Methods and apparatus are disclosed for preparing an array of biopolymer features on a substrate by initiating multiple cycles of drop deposition of biopolymer forming reagents to feature locations on the surface of the substrate. Each cycle comprises at least one step of deposition of biopolymer monomers or biopolymer subunits. For at least one of the biopolymer forming reagents and for at least a portion of the method, a dispensing protocol is employed wherein the biopolymer forming reagent is dispensed from a separate drop dispenser of a drop dispensing device and each drop dispenser comprises multiple nozzles. Multiple passes of the drop dispensing devices are employed for each cycle. In each cycle of the dispensing protocol drops of reagents are dispensed to feature locations from at least two different nozzles for each reagent in at least two different passes of a drop dispensing device. The cycles are repeated a sufficient number of times to prepare the array of biopolymer features.