Assignment 2: Art Work

Concept

I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to create at first. Then, while I was listening to music, the idea struck me: why not make a sketch of a spinning CD while playing music in the background? I thought the fusion of auditory and visual elements would be an interesting challenge for this assignment.

Donald Glover served as the muse for this artwork, as it was his music I was listening to when the initial idea came to me, influencing my choice of song for this project.

Sketch

Code highlight
// colored lines to give the illusion of a cd
for (let angle = 0; angle < 360; angle += 2) {
  let x1 = centerX + cos(radians(angle + rotationAngle)) * (circleRadius - 20);
  let y1 = centerY + sin(radians(angle + rotationAngle)) * (circleRadius - 20);
  let x2 = centerX + cos(radians(angle + rotationAngle)) * 150;
  let y2 = centerY + sin(radians(angle + rotationAngle)) * 150;

  let randomColor = color(random(100, 255), random(100, 255), random(100, 255), 150);
  stroke(randomColor);

  strokeWeight(7);
  line(x1, y1, x2, y2);
}

I found this bit particularly challenging as I had a hard time trying to figure out how to give the illusion of a spinning CD. I decided to create a series of lines that radiated from the circle in the center, incrementing the ‘angle’ variable from 0 to 360 in steps of 2 degrees to find the right angle for all the lines. For each angle, I calculated the coordinates (x1, y1) and (x2, y2) for the endpoints of the line. And to add an extra touch of realism, I decided to randomly generate different colors for the lines.

Reflection

I’m really pleased with how I was able to incorporate audio into my sketch; it added a dynamic and immersive element to the overall experience. Initially, my vision was for the CD to remain stationary until the user clicked on the screen, at which point it would start spinning. However, I was not very pleased with my implementation of applying a gradient color to the CD during its stationary phase. Therefore, I decided to make the CD spin continuously. This experience has underscored the importance of further refining my skills with gradient colors, as I believe it holds the potential to elevate my creations. Overall, I am very satisfied with how the final piece turned out.

References
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwwRWCErx_Q
  • “Redbone” by Childish Gambino

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