Week 2 – Generative Art

Concept:

I wanted to play around with randomness for this assignment (hence the many ‘random()’ in my code). This idea was inspired by Casey Reas’ talk on the balance between chance and order. So, I started to experiment with lines (including circles and squares) and leaving their placements, sizes, and colors to fate. At first, it felt too random. I did not have a particular direction or way that I wanted my artwork to look like. This was until… I came across the NYUAD “Crossroads Ensemble” poster near an elevator while going to D2.

This very much inspired me, not only because it reminded me of jazz, but also because it allowed my artistic aspirations to coexist with the computer’s decisions (which I guided). Ultimately, I made an artwork whose composition changes as the cursor is moved around.

Embedded Sketch:

Process:

The process of getting the right forms and shapes was tedious, based on trial and error. The p5 directory was my ultimate ally (mainly because I spent days scrolling through it), which allowed me to use new commands like ‘shuffle’ or even ‘floor’.  I also referred to the code of some students who had already posted on the IM website. For instance, to get the radiating thin lines correct, I referred to Tengis Temuulen’s (Link) ‘Optical Illusion’ to understand ‘for’ loops and the use of ‘cos’ in radial shapes. Once I made the first composition, I modified the code to allow for randomness. I tried my best to incorporate loops (for and while) into my work since we have been working on these during this week in class. Here is a snippet of code I am really proud of:

// radiating thin lines
function drawThinLines(anchorX, anchorY, palette) {
  let centerX = anchorX + random(-100, 100);
  let centerY = anchorY + random(-100, 100);
  let lineCount = floor(random(18, 34));
  let startAngle = random(TWO_PI);
  let spreadAngle = random(PI * 0.6, TWO_PI);
  let ThinLinesColor = color(random(palette));

  let i = 0;
  while (i < lineCount) {
    let angle = startAngle + (i / lineCount) * spreadAngle;
    let lineLength = random(60, 180);
    let endX = centerX + cos(angle) * lineLength;
    let endY = centerY + sin(angle) * lineLength;
    stroke(
      red(ThinLinesColor),
      green(ThinLinesColor),
      blue(ThinLinesColor),
      random(90, 200)
    );
    strokeWeight(random(0.4, 1.6));
    line(centerX, centerY, endX, endY);
    i++;
  }
}

Reflections:

I am proud of what I have come up with in only a week. I believe I have finally grasped how to effectively use loops and arrays, which will be helpful as I progress into the course. For this particular artwork, one thing I would like to improve on is modifying how quickly the composition is changing. At the moment, I feel it is too quick for me to process the changes in composition. I am having to move the cursor very slowly across the screen as a result. I have tried to change the frame rate, but it did not make a difference. This is something I would love some feedback on.