Week 2 – Graphic Art

Concept

Inspired by the “Computer Graphics and Art” magazine which was linked in the assignment, I wanted to create an art piece which  used shapes of random sizes and colors to create an abstract, seemingly chaotic art. Given that the magazine was written in 1977 it was all in black an white, so I decided to modernize it a bit by adding different random colors to the design therefor making it even more aesthetically pleasing.

Process

When I started this project I wanted to place shapes with random attributes in random positions to create artwork. My plan was for the user to run the program and each time get a completely different result which represents a whole new piece of art. I also didn’t want to stick to just one object so I decided to add lines alongside ellipses for a better visual effect. It was a bit challenging at first putting the lines somewhat correct positions as I also wanted to introduce randomness. But with some tweaking and work I managed to create something that I find satisfying.

let numLines = random(3, 10);

for (let j = 0; j < numLines; j++) {
  let x2 = x + random(-s, s);
  let y2 = y + random(-s, s);
  stroke(r, g, b);
  line(x, y, x2, y2);
}
Reflection and future improvements

Overall creating art from something random and chaotic proved to be a fun task. I enjoyed seeing how just a little change in the code made a huge difference in the artwork. Although I did implement the code stopping in the end to allow the user to see what they’ve created, in the future I’d like to make it possible to reset the canvas and create a new piece with just a click.

 

Reading Reflection – Week#2

Casey Reas’ talk at the EYEO festival 2012 gave a compelling reflection on the balance of randomness and control in the creative process. What I liked is how he showed us that even though artists use randomness in their artwork, they still have some control over it. This is something that I haven’t thought of before but now makes so much sense. The visual projects he created show exactly what he is trying to convince us. I really liked how all of his work showed randomness with some dosage of control and by combining these two he created beautiful unique structures. It is interesting how he wants to present coding as not just a technical skill, but also an art form. In the “10 PRINT” example he showed us, we had a chance to see how even a simple line of code can create beautiful, unique and diverse structures that create the digital art as we know it.

 

This talk did get me thinking though. Is it even possible to create something that is completely random? Because Reas makes an argument that artists and coders still do have some control over the artwork they are creating, does that mean that in order to create something truly random would mean that we need to bash our keyboard in order to type random letters in hopes some will combine into a sentence that is readable by the programming language? Maybe even the code alone, with its chaos, would be some sort of an art form? That is something Reas didn’t talk about but I think might be important. Can a chaotic code which is used to create randomness be used as art?

 

In my code I want to implement total chaos and randomness. I want the user to not understand what’s happening before they click to “freeze” the motion. This chaos and randomness when stopped will create a beautiful artwork which will of course every time be unique. But I am also keeping some control as from Reas example, I will be limiting some parameters of the random objects therefore making it somewhat controlled. 

Week 1: Self – Portrait

Concept

For my portrait I didn’t really focus on making the face shape or body similar to mine, I wanted to present my hobby and something I love doing. My goal was to create a drawing of me going on a hike in a forest.

Not focusing on the facial and body features allowed me to focus a bit more on the background and create a mini forest. I also decided to add a backpack and a hat both of which are essential hiking equipment.

Process

I started by initially creating the body and the neck. I then proceeded to create the head and the details for the arms. The face seemed like the most difficult task so I left that for last. I created the background with the trees and the ground and also added the backpack straps so it is clear to the viewers that there is a backpack behind the avatar. The face features turned out to not be so complicated and were done using basic shapes and I am proud the way it turned out, simple yet effective.

//eyes
fill('white');
ellipse(170, 170, 40, 30); // left eye white
ellipse(230, 170, 40, 30); // right eye white

fill('black');
circle(170, 170, 15); // left eye pupil
circle(230, 170, 15); // right eye pupil

//mouth
noFill();
stroke('black');
strokeWeight(2);
arc(200, 230, 50, 30, 0, PI); // smiling mouth

The mouth, even though it used a simple arc was fun to work on and figure out how to set it up properly which took a bit of time.

Reflection and future improvements

I had so much fun working on this mini project and playing with all the shapes and design that p5js allows. In the future I would like to perhaps add more details to the face and the body as well as add some animations which would bring the avatar to life. Also somehow making the art interactive is something that would probably be interesting to incorporate and would further improve the user experience.