monet_0037
What’s most important here? Is it the algorithms which made this picture possible? Or is it more a question of how the code is used by the artist? Read more »
lilySQ_0101
The path to the realization of visual structure and color is different from painting with oils than working through a color monitor. The mediums requires different approaches to realize similar goals. At the outset oil paint is a messy substance and a dead medium to which one gives life. Initially it is flat and opaque. Through the mixing of colors you build color saturation and intensity to represent something. For some painters this process may require the juxtaposition of complimentary tones of color to achieve a quality of light.
The emitting light from a color monitor can give colors the same degree of saturation. Dealing with color saturation and intensity through the monitor is like reverse engineering. You do it backwards. Over saturated color needs to be taken down and brought under control. Sometimes I use atmosphere or transparency to soften a color. The use of ambient light can help with saturation. It can give more life to darker colors. Intensity is affected by the setting and position of the lights. A shader enables me to modulate a color across a surface. It is always a challenge to keep a sense of a color field.
One of the things I have disliked about 3d computer imagery is that it still looks like it was created with a computer. The procedural processes used to create texture and surface properties still have a mechanical feel to them.
Over twenty years ago I used my drawings and paintings as texture maps. While I liked the combination of two and three dimensions, I was still uncomfortable with my brush and drawing marks looking flat in space.
experiment: digital brush marks
The above image represents a shift in thinking about my brush marks. While they are my brush marks scanned into the computer, their reality becomes a part of the curvature of space. The image appears less mechanical than other works I have done. I’m more effectively able to exploit my background as a painter. What is also taking place is a play of light and transparency where space clings to the object.
