Due on Wednesday June 5 (week 10) at 11:59 PM
Description
We use R within RStudio for statistical analysis, but it has the capability of creating some very cool art pieces from what is essentially a random number generator. From Danielle Navarro, a self-described “data scientist, generative artist, and recovering academic”:
This is what I think generative art really is. An automated process that takes garbage as input and creates unpredictably delightful outputs – sometimes with a little helpful human oversight and curation – is a generative art system. It is fundamentally a process of making something from nothing. Art from the void. Treasure from trash. Signal from noise. You get the idea.
By the end of this assignment, you’ll use numbers as a tool for creating art, and have created a few pieces of art on your own. Additionally, you’ll be expected to annotate your code so that you know what each line is doing to understand how the randomness all fits together to create a final art piece.
There are two routes for this assignment: structured and unstructured. In the structured route, you will work through a tutorial by Danielle Navarro, and create 3 art pieces using her materials. In the unstructured route, you will read and complete smaller tutorials by Meghan Harris, George Savva, and Jiwan Heo and create 3 art pieces synthesizing things you learned from each tutorial. You can decide which route to take based on your own comfort level and interest.
Components
Part 1. Context (structured and unstructured)
a. Read the last entry of the Art from Code workshop, “Wrap Up”
Danielle’s “Wrap Up” gives good context for why this kind of exercise is useful. Have fun with it!
b. Read Nicola Rennie’s “Best (artistic) practices in R”
Nicola’s guide to artistic practices in R is useful for understanding how to structure, annotate, and share your code in the field of generative art.
c. Read Mine Cetinkaya-Rundel’s Generative Art slides
Mine’s workshop gives a good background for some of the mechanics of creating art. There are no notes to go along with these slides, but you’ll get a sense of what the code tends to look like.
Part 2a. Workshop (structured only)
a. Get set up.
Fork the repo from the original GitHub repository into your own account and download it into your computer.
b. Do the introductory exercises.
Read and complete exercises from “Get Started” (link). Annotate your code to demonstrate that you know how it works.
c. Art of your choice: tricks
Choose one: spatial noise tricks, polygon tricks, shading tricks
Complete all exercises. Again, annotate your code.
d. Art of your choice: iteration, tiles, pixels
Choose one: iterated function systems, tiles and tessellations, pixel filters.
Complete all exercises. Again, annotate your code.
Note: these three lessons have less structured exercises - your job is to play around with the code provided and create something of your own, and not to follow written directions. Change stuff around and see what happens!
e. Put it all together
Create 3 art pieces that combines elements of what you learned from parts b-d. For each piece, write an accompanying caption that includes:
- The title of your piece
- The date you created it
- A 2-3 sentence description of your inspiration
- A 2-3 sentence description of what specific components from each part (b-d) you drew from to create the piece
Part 2b. Tutorials (unstructured only)
a. Work through tutorials
Read and code along (i.e. copy/paste the code into your own document, annotate it, and run it) with the following tutorials:
- Meghan Harris’s Thinking Outside the Grid
- one of George Savva’s tutorials on Mathematical Art and Creative Coding (you choose the one you want to do)
- one of Jiwan Heo’s tutorials (again, you choose the one you want to do: flow fields, hypnotic squares, Truchet tiles, or rotating lines)
b. Look at other people’s generative art for inspiration
Some generative artists who work in R include:
- everyone featured in this gallery (look under the “Collections” tab for examples)
- Jacquie Tran
- Meghan Harris
- George Savva
- Jiwan Heo
- Danielle Navarro
- Thomas Lin Pedersen
- Antonio Sánchez Chinchón
c. Put it all together
Create 3 art pieces that combine different components of Meghan, George, and Jiwan’s tutorials. For each piece, write an accompanying caption that includes:
- The title of your piece
- The date you created it
- A 2-3 sentence description of your inspiration
- A 2-3 sentence description of what specific components from each tutorial you drew from to create the piece
Checklist
Your submission should include
- A link to the GitHub repository where your materials for this specific assignment are (make sure it is public!)
- A link to a rendered HTML document with navigation bar showing where each of the exercises/tutorials are
Note: you can do this by making your GitHub repository connect to GitHub pages. The guide to doing this is here.
Your rendered HTML document should include
- your name, the title, and the date
- annotated code and output for all tutorial activities
- annotated code and output for your three art pieces
- written caption for all three art pieces
- a 8-10 sentence summary at the end about your process: What was new for you? What was familiar? What did you learn? How did following the exercises/tutorials go for you?
Your GitHub repository should include
- an informative README
- code and data organized into their own folders (thus, your code has to incorporate the
herepackage in some capacity - see workshop 7)