At the start of the week, I attended fempowerment, which was an event which was focused on discussing women in the games industry and how important representation and respect is for different minority groups. It also touched on how beneficial flexible work schedules are beneficial for people with other responsibilities (eg: childcare), which I never realised how useful flexible schedules could be for parents and carers. It also included some networking, where I had talked to a few different groups of people who were showcasing their games, having discussions with these people was really interesting and it gave me a lot of insight on how many people can come together with different skills to create many different things.
Starting my academic week, I used p5js for the first time. I was really happy to hear that it used a JavaScript library so that I could build on some of the skills that I had already learnt previously.
When testing out the program, I realised that I am less familiar on loops than I thought I was, so I will definitely need to relook at them again myself as they were very useful when placing several blocks of the same colour in differently randomized positions.
I had a lot of fun using it, especially as its easy to change the colour and size of my shapes on the screen.
I like how the randomisation aspect means that from each reloading of the page (or loop), the results is unique.
(a short video of my randomised gaussian pattern with NoLoop() disabled)
Later on in the week, I attended an online seminar and lecture hosted by Licia He, when she was describing her journey of going down many avenues before deciding what she wanted to do, I found it very inspirational but also very comforting to know I might not find what I want to do in life immediately.
(the above image is a screenshot from her slideshow, showing her steps on how she found her career.)
I liked how she uses many different techniques to make her art, some are made using plotters (image below) and some are made using code. Her work is unique and showcases her own feelings along side her skills, these feelings change overtime as she chooses different styles (watercolour, coloured pencils, paint). I hope that I can put my own personality into my work in the future, as I feel its important for me to enjoy and feel connected to what I’m working on.
Sometime towards the end of the discussion she said that “art is expression, programming is power.”. I completely agree with this statement.
(Licia’s plotters)
Then, later on in the week I experimented with different patterns of grid randomization in P5js.
This first one was created with fixed grid sizes and randomised greyscale colours.
This second one added strokewidth as well as differing grid sizes and colours, it was inspired by Piet Mondrian, however I changed the colours to pastel to add my own personalised touch.
This image was created using TAU, which is a unit of PI. I feel as though this result is the most complex. I’ll need to do my own research into arc’s and TAU, as I find the math and parameters associated with it a bit confusing.
I’m still at a bit of a loss with what I think I’ll do for my project, however I feel like I have a bit more of an idea on how to start.