https://editor.p5js.org/saramui/sketches/Txddxxzkn

Going into this project, I knew that I wanted to play with different positions of objects, colors, and opacities. I also wanted to incorporate randomness into my art since I think a good generative pattern should produce a different yield every time. 

For the first image, I played with the random size and location of the circles while keeping the opacity the same. 

For the second image, I wanted to experiment with putting circles in a grid. I then thought of lowering the opacity as the y-position gets bigger. I eventually added a decreasing circle size as the circles went down. I kept the same color for one run of the circles because I thought it would make the drawing more cohesive, but the color changes with every run.

For the third image, I initially wanted to experiment with ellipses and change their size relative to their location, but I thought it looked very messy and decided to go with squares instead. I do wish that I would have been able to get it to work with ellipses.

For the fourth image, I was inspired by the previous image to work with the origin in the middle of the drawing. I then used random colored lines and put circles at the end of them.

For the fifth image, I wanted to play with the rotations of triangles in a grid, and thought that a gradient of colors would be good to show the progression of the image.

For the sixth image, I wanted to see what random placement and length of lines would look like with different stroke weights. I thought that it would be nice to have a grayscale drawing.

For the seventh image, I finally experimented with movement in my image, and thought that a grayscale drawing would be fun to show that with.

For the eighth image, I wanted to keep the x-position constant, and created a series of random sized ellipses in a column. I added two more to make the drawing more full. 

For the last image, I wanted to play with the randomness of shapes of triangles and put them in a grid for easy viewing. I also made them random colors to look more fun. 

In the end, I think that using the computer to draw yields faster and more random results than drawing by hand. Shapes can also be kept more consistent digitally than manually.

https://editor.p5js.org/saramui/sketches/9pSXcDAAU

When I first started my project, I knew I wanted to do something with circles while manipulating their fill and stroke. When I saw that I had to include a line in the assignment, I decided to try and integrate circles and lines. Instead of having the lines go through the middle of the circle, I liked having the circles hang off the line better. It was then that I decided I would do something with lights, since I was inspired by string lights. The first interactive measure I put was drawing the line while the mouse button was pressed. I liked the thought of having a color changing string, so I made the line and stroke of the circles change into random colors with every frame. I wanted different color lights too, and thought that it would be good to incorporate interactivity into the color of the lights. I eventually implemented a keyPress that would change the color of the circles every time I pressed it. I also decided to implement a size changer for the lights and accompanying stroke to include more interactivity and customization. It was then that I learned about the difference between just the Pressed and the IsPressed functions, since the former activates the function when the button is pressed once, while the latter is only able to be used while the button is pressed down.

The main thing I learned from this project was how to think logically about what responses I wanted from what stimuli and how that translates into a sequence that the computer can understand.

1. Lie canvas flat on floor.
2. Pour paint from the can above the canvas.
3. Let the paint dry. 
4. Repeat steps two and three with different colors.
5. Pour black paint and use a brush to draw strokes into the painting.
6. Use a brush to flick white paint onto the painting creating white dots.

COMPOSITION WITH POURING II (1943) Jackson Pollock

The Exquisite corpse technique is a technique where a whole drawing is completed by different people, meaning that one person draws before folding the paper and handing it to the next person. This means that as multiple people collaborate on a project, the ending piece cannot be only one person’s interpretation of the artwork. This allows people to strengthen their creativity while limiting themselves at the same time, since they are provided with other people’s drawings and have to work off their creation but can only contribute a certain amount of additions to the piece. These techniques could be translated to be used with interactive computer programs because it can encourage collaboration with others, which is a great way to be introduced to other people’s ideas. 

 

I agree with the idea that art should reflect the wider cultural environment of the time it is produced. Because of this, many Dada artists were able to develop techniques of chance, such as Arp, Ernst, and Tzara. An increase in scientific advances means that there are more ways to create art, especially with the concept of “chance-imagery”. An example of this is said by Brecht in the text, “works of great artists are products of the same complex interacting welter of cause and effect out of which came the results of mathematical physics”, meaning that discoveries of the time led to a concept of art, which in turn show where and what the technique is derived from. 

 

1. Throw a dart on a spinning globe with your eyes closed. The spinning causes the globe to move and not be stationary and closing your eyes prevents you from throwing the dart consciously at a place.
2. Add the numbers of the longitude and latitude of the place you picked. These numbers are different for every part of the globe and cannot be predetermined if you pick the place without bias.
3. Multiply that number by the population of the place you land the dart on. Since each place’s population is different, it will cause different numbers. 

 

https://editor.p5js.org/saramui/sketches/rzJfn0gDs

My approach to writing the program for my sketch was to simplify the shapes I had on my photograph to geometric shapes that existed within the program. I started with my desk, trying to play around with different pixel sizes for inputs until I had created a shape similar to my desk. This was when I discovered the function quad(), since my desk was not a perfect rectangle at the angle that I took my picture from.
My next step was to draw the lamp, which I had trouble with because of the shape of the base and the part that connects to the lamp. I figured out in my drawing that the base can be shown as a triangle on top of a trapezoid on an ellipse, which is how I ended up programming it. I had trouble with putting the shapes together, as I had initially thought that they needed to be lined up with correct coordinates and slopes, but I soon realized that I did not need to care about that, as each shape overlapped each other.
I then worked on my drawer, which became a problem for me. After coding each panel of my drawer, I decided that I did not like the placement of it in my drawing since I didn’t leave enough space for the mirror. I ended up moving the drawer multiple times, and looking for the correct coordinates to change was a little tedious.
Afterwards, I only had my computer, mouse, and mirror left, all of which went smoothly after the troubles I dealt with in the previous objects.
Even though I succeeded in completing this assignment and I learned many things along the way, I still prefer drawing on a piece of paper because the directions for what things to draw where are intuitive for us, but we have to manually type them for the computer to understand.