Context:
Rather than creating my own version of an inspiration piece, I decided to spend this time exploring the functions of p5.js and to mess around with one variable at a time to really understand what it does. I knew I wanted to create something colorful and interactive, so I kept adjusting the variables until I got an idea of something I liked. Ironically, the newly learned “for” looping function was the one thing that stayed consistent throughout my trial and error process. I played around with many mouseX and mouseY functions to see the way it affected my piece. The journey to my final piece was a little long and complicated, but I eventually managed to conclude at “Eye-versity.”
Concept:
This piece consists of a grid of lines all connected to one eye. When you move your cursor around, the lines stretch to follow the eye and the eye changes shape and color. The different variations of how the eye shape can look depends on how you move your cursor on the x or y-axis, therefore the name “Eye-versity” to represent diversity in eyes. As someone who comes from a culture where I lack the big round eyes that are the beauty standard, this piece resonates a lot with me and my experience of learning how diverse eye shapes can be amongst all ethnicities and my journey with learning to feel secure about my eyes.
The Piece:
Highlight:
for(let x=0;x<400;x+=35){
for(let y=0;y<400;y+=35){
fill(mouseX,mouseY,mouseX,mouseY,x,y)
ellipse(mouseX,mouseY,mouseX/2,mouseY/4,x)
}
}
I’m proud of this code because it contains everything I wanted to come out of this project: using the looping function, making it colorful, and making it interactive. I’m also proud of it because I managed to fix an issue I had with my old code that eventually resulted in this code to fix that problem.
Reflections & Future Ideas/Improvements:
“Eye-versity” wasn’t the initial project idea that I wanted to create. 
The piece to the right is what I wanted to keep working on, but I couldn’t manage to get the cursor to follow the main target of the artwork, so I added a small black dot that was aligned with the cursor, and created a piece called “Pesky Fly.” I wasn’t exactly a fan of how it looked despite how cool I found the layered base to be. I tweaked the code a bit to find something that would be centered and the “fly” was still there, so I thought I could turn it into an eye for fun and then came “Eye-versity.”
For improvements, I wish I had more time to try to fix my code and create the ideal centered piece I wanted to achieve with the first idea without having to add a “fly.” I really liked how its colors looked and the way it moved, but it was really unfortunate that the cursor wasn’t centered because it bothered me a lot. In the future, I would like to work with more interactivity to make a work that’s more complex and has more movement to it. I also had an idea to create a loop of multiple paparazzi cameras flashing and clicking, so it would be nice if I could create something more aligned with my personal interests and hobbies (I like being a photographer not paparazzi.)
