Author: Naz

For this assignment, we had to use loops for and while to create or create an artwork. As I did not have any specific artwork that I wanted to make and go for, I experimented with three different shapes (circles, rectangles, and lines) in order to get more comfortable with how to construct them and what to expect. Therefore, I randomized which shape would be printed, and in what size and in what color in order to get different compositions each time the mouse was clicked.

I really enjoyed the making process of the piece, as I realized I was not so sure what would come out in the end either due to my unfamiliarity up to this point. So, I was able to play around with some parameters to see what kind of output I would receive by tinkering with them. After printing more and more patterns after altering another parameter and another, the pattern I was seeing was reminding the cubism form that marks Picasso’s art style. Since I enjoyed connecting it to reality like that, I decided to keep the artwork as it is.

The biggest challenge for me, in this case, was not what to print but how to print. I was struggling on figuring out how to achieve multiple patterns. In the draw function, the patterns would move very fast that it was staggering. On the other hand, the setup would have to be run repeatedly. Therefore I have finally decided to incorporate the mouse-clicked function to loop the pattern code that resides under the draw function. This way I was able to receive multiple patterns in a way more accessible manner.

Link to p5js:

https://editor.p5js.org/iremnaz/sketches/BLhDgFAOm

In this assignment, I tried to incorporate the basic shapes we covered in the first week of the classes. One of the things that captured my attention in the class was how the location of the mouse was integrated into the pieces for the exercises as well as other self-portrait projects I have seen on this blog! So I knew that I really wanted to do that.

In terms of the creative incentive I knew that I didn’t want to make my self-portrait not too human but also not so little. A highlighted experience for me while making this portrait was the fog that would cloud my effort and mind, most of the time, and would require serious and conscious effort to pass that over. Therefore I have made cloud shapes with a combination of multiple ellipses that hovers around the head in the darkness and move to the side when the mouse hovers into the middle.

The biggest challenge for me here was actually finding an idea. I felt that it was hard to choose an idea but also after finding it, it was hard to implement. I could feel while drawing the ellipses that I was uncomfortable with producing the desired shapes with shape functions that were available and for me, it was a big struggle to make the lines meet, and align each time.

The integration of the location of the mouse to the brightening of the background and dispersing of the clouds was a creative choice and compared to the actual drawing of the shapes was not that complicated. I feel that after experiencing these initial struggles with p5js I will be comfortable with creating the art pieces I desire.

Link to p5js:

https://editor.p5js.org/iremnaz/sketches/oxRGnv701