Presentation

My slides for presentation in class. I decided to focus on giving some context for what I am passionate about and how I have ended up in the direction that I am headed.

When trying to decide on a project direction I decided the most important thing was for it to be something I am passionate about. I also thought it was important that I explore something I haven’t tried before or want to explore in more depth.

For me my passion lies in Illustration, so I wanted the project to focus around that. I then began thinking about ways I could expand on that or explore something new. One thing I have always been interested in exploring is 3-d/sculpture work, so it could take on a physical form like that.

I then thought about previous coding projects I had done and how passionate I had gotten during them. After talking in class about coding/ai/technology intersecting with the creative world my first year project coding for creative practise came to mind.

This project is a simple example of how we can use computing power to create/enhance the creative process. In this project I created a program which took an input and turned it into a randomly generated map.

No man’s sky

Precedent example on how coding can be used to create – The concept for this game is that every ‘atom’ is procedurally generated using algorithms and parameters.

For this image above I took a trip down memory lane looking at a game I used to play in primary school with my friend. We would draw a random line (such as on the left) and then challenge the other person to create some sort of creature out of that. It was a great way to challenge and force creativity and thinking outside of the box.

From this I was reminded of a classic childhood game much like this, which involved folding paper and drawing different sections of a ‘man’ to create something unique with multiple people. I realised that I have an example on my wall which was created during a party a few years ago… clearly it is a technique that most remember and has stuck with us.

I began to wonder how this concept could be explored further through other mediums. This could be implemented through code, using the computer to create the initial random shape. Or the reverse, what sort of creation could come out of it? Or could I combine this with 3-D design / sculpture to create a physical representation?

I also find the idea of collaboration drawing quite interesting and find it intriguing these seemingly simple and meaningless childhood drawing ‘games’ are actually an excellent way to enhance creativity.