Author: Hoor Sakr

For this project, I got inspired by an animation of random skulls and so I decided to create random smiling faces since I find that using the arc function is somewhat of a challenge and I wanted to practice.The design is generated dynamically with each frame using random values for color and size to create a unique variation every time. The face is composed of basic shapes, including an ellipse for the head, a rectangle for the neck, and circles for the eyes.

My favorite part of this project was using variables to link the eyes and neck to the face so that they automatically adjust to the face’s size and position.

ellipse(skullX, skullY, skullW, skullH)
let neckX = skullX - skullW/4
let neckY = skullY + skullH/4
let neckW = skullW/2
let neckH = skullH/2
rect(neckX, neckY, neckW, neckH)
let eye1X= neckX
let eye2X = neckX +neckW
let eyeY = skullY - skullH/4

One challenge I faced was making the smile look natural. While the arc function works, I’d like to experiment with other approaches to create a more natural expression.

Things I’d like to improve is  adjusting the background colour. Since, it is  randomized, it sometimes blends too much with the skull, making it less visible. So refining how colors are assigned could enhance the contrast and visibility of the design. Also, I’d like to create random facial expressions instead of just a smile.

Casey Reas’ talk about randomness, the intersection between chaos and order, and how art is a form of manifest result made me rethink my definition of what I consider art. I used to see art as paintings where an artist would express his thoughts using shapes or colours, or music where the musician expresses his feelings through notes. To me, art had to be a byproduct of human expression, random and never perfect. As a result I never thought of anything digital as art simply because there is no human aspect to it. However, Casey Reas’ talk about making something artificial have an organic quality made me reconsider. If we just apply natural randomness or disorder, we can make digital creations count as art. The way I plan to do that is by using human expression as inspiration for randomness, the same way buildings and body tissues were used in Reas’ talk. For example, I’d love to maybe use voice frequencies, heart rhythms or random patterns of brain activity to experiment and incorporate randomness into my work to create expressive digital paintings. 

I feel like the optimum balance between total randomness and complete control is somewhere in between. While randomness introduces unpredictability, making a piece feel organic and alive, control ensures coherence and intentionality. By setting parameters, we can guide the chaos in a way that still reflects human intent. As Casey Reas mentions we are the creators of the code and we can implement constraints even with randomness. 

For this project, I created an animated self portrait using  p5.js. The design uses basic shapes like ellipses, arcs, triangles and lines to create the structure of the face.

My 2 favourite things that I spent so much time on is the eyelashes as I had  a hard time adjusting the angles and the coordinates which I couldn’t just calculate, I had to just guess where to place them and see how it looks after running (trial and error).

Here’s the code snippet for the eyelashes:

stroke("Black");
strokeWeight(3);
line(160,170,150,145);
line(240,170,250,145);
line(180,170,190,145);
line(220,170,210,145);
line(170,170,170,142);
line(230,170,230,142);

I also like the interactivity of the portrait. By clicking the mouse, the eyes blink, and the face smiles and upon clicking again the face returns back to its original state.

Here is the portrait:

One thing that I’d like to improve is making the portrait more realistic as that’s what I wanted at first but couldn’t do as I had such a hard time figuring out the coordinates  and the best shapes to use to create the features (ex: the blush on the cheeks and the hair).