Concept:
When I began brainstorming for the assignment, I first thought of words like “life”, “loop”, and “infinity”. So I really wanted to do something that represents the repetition of daily life in the short run but also the uniqueness in our path in the long run.
To me, some days just seem like a loop that passes by in the blink of an eye, leaving me with nothing. However, that’s not true and I’m just too accustomed to life in the short run. As I grew, I realized that many of the valuable things I acquired in this stage of my life are due to those “looping” days I found meaningless before, thus I wanted to create an artwork that would display different “courses of life”, where each shape represents someone. I also incorporated many elements of randomness to reflect on what I believe to be life—unknown starting line, unknown direction, and unknown endings.
Highlight of code I’m proud of:
I’m particularly proud of this section where I struggled a lot before finally figuring out. After I figured out this part, all the rest were downhill.
//rectangle
for(let rep = 0; rep < 2; rep+=1){
fill('#2fb63f')
noStroke();
rect(x1,y1,random(1,50), random(1,50));
x1+=random(1,10);
y1+=random(1,10);
}
The reason I struggled so much at first is because I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that draw() function is in of itself a loop, which is why my for loop never “ended”, when, in fact, it did, but the draw function just kept on calling it, creating “nonstop” loops. After I realized what was happening, I stopped being stubborn and played along: using the for loop as a manipulation for how many shapes I want to draw per call, indirectly manipulating the speed for each shape’s path, which again plays into the idea of “life”.
Embedded sketch
How Was This Made:
I started the work by brainstorming a general idea I wanted my artwork to convey, which was a display of different “life” paths in this case. After I settled the shapes and concepts, I began experimenting with the loops and values.
At first, I wasn’t aware of the role that the draw() function played in “continuing” the loops I wrote and kept on triggering infinite loops. However, as I proceeded with my experiments—trying all the ways that “might” work–I finally realized there wasn’t something I could change like in other computer programs I’ve done before, because it was just how draw() worked. Then I began to think how I could put for/while loops in this “loop”, and ended up observing the shapes in different frame rates to see when my loop “stops”, which led me to realize that the condition I put in for loops determines how many shapes are drawn in each frame.
I then decided I could use the for loop as a way of manipulating the speed and direction of each shape’s path and let draw to continue the looping of the for loop.
I also heavily relied on the p5js reference library during the process.
Reflection and future improvements:
I wish I could rest better before engaging in experiments and work because I think a big part of my struggle in this assignment stemmed from mental fatigue which made me unable to think clearly.
Creative Reading Response:
Two things I found really interesting in this video were the different inspirations that led to many of the art works, as well as the part in 29:40 where Casey Rea talks about how he would “coax” the program of randomness to display effects he liked. Both cases expanded my perspective on both the concept of randomness and “art” in general. An example of the first case was when Casey mentioned how one of his works was inspired by cell communication, which was really fascinating to me in the sense that I never knew “communications” can manifest as visual trails, let alone as colors and artworks. This made me reflect on my perception of the world and how shallow I am in my knowledge of art. Then Casey Rea displayed another work of his towards the end of the video and mentioned how he’d slightly manipulate the code so that the randomness remains but also displays different effects he wanted. This made me question what true randomness is. Conventional definition of randomness is something unexpected, uncontrolled, and obeying “chance”, however in this case, Casey Rea is saying he can “control” and “expect” the outcomes while allowing the smaller component of the work maintain “randomness”. Is the mix of randomness in micro level and control on the macro level really considered randomness? Or is randomness always entirely “independent”? Or are we still able to call an art work a work of “chance” if it’s a mix of both? I think I will be holding these questions while I continue to explore art.