Generative Art and Design
Many visual artists now use computers to modify and manipulate pre-existing images. In recent years, however, a growing number of people have been exploring how one can use computers to generate art out of abstract mathematical rules. Not surprisingly, the area is becoming known as Generative Art or Generative Design. You may also find links under topics such as Creative Coding or New Media Art. There are even Creative Computing degree courses now available. (The art historians will point out that generating art using algorithms pre-dates the invention of computers. Computers just let you handle much more complicated algorithms. Whether this necessarily leads to more interesting art is another argument. The change in recent years is that almost everyone has sufficiently powerful computing tools in their home.)
I think that exploring this new medium is likely to be fun. It is also perhaps easier than you might think. Visual artists may find that here is a different type of medium which opens possibilities for exploring visual ideas that are simply impossible in other ways. In fact most of the work in this area is the product of people trained in visual arts, rather than those from a computing or maths background. They can do it! Why not you?
Those who approach the medium with previous experience of computing may have some early advantages in getting on terms with the basic tools, because they have evolved as simplifications of the more general, powerful and complex methods used by people from more technical backgrounds.
However, the visual artists soon will find that developing ideas in this medium is fundamentally not so very different from their previous experience. You use your imagination to conceive of a possible image, then work out how to get there and often, along the way, the unexpected occurs and you end up following a different route to a more exciting outcome. (And, of course, much also gets thrown away.)
It turns out that we do not have to climb very high up the ladder of computing and maths skills in order to make an incredible variety of images, whereas good art always requires a sophisticated visual imagination and a deep understanding of the way people react to visual stimuli. Drawing is more than just knowing how to make a mark with a pencil, and generative art is much more than knowing how to program.
There is a practical side to doing Generative Art (for which we will explore the use of the Processing toolkit), but there is also a "Principles and Philosophy" side the the business, which addresses the "What" and "Why" questions, rather than just the "How". Both aspects are important. The practical side will be demonstrated though my developing efforts under "Processing Sketchbooks" and in the Gallery. The principles will be covered in "blog" articles, as ideas and questions occur to me. The art is up to you.