BrandArt

This site is truly amazing. Wonderfl is an online ActionScript compiler with an interface that encourages code-sharing. It’s an online community for ActionScript developers. The game above is as sophisticated as the old arcade game that inspired it and you can peek under the hood at the code that makes it work ( to play us the move;arrow or wasd/shot;ctrl,z,n/slow;shift,x,m). The projects on Wonderfl currently shared range from simulations, experiments to games but there’s no limit to the kinds of Flash apps that could be collaboratively developed on the site.

When a movie is being made, and a landscape, set or location proves too difficult or too expensive to shoot, matte artists create matte paintings to fill the frame.  Traditionally artists painted scenes on glass backdrops that extended a live action scene.  Today they work in Photoshop, creating digital paintings that often include 3d models.  The final art is added to the movie using compositing software like AfterEffects.  Matte painters are part comp artist, part fine artist, part designer and sometimes part 3d modeler.  They’re close to the creative development process of the film, sometimes creating concept art for the film’s director in the beginning stages and eventually creating finished matte paintings that become part of the special effects.  A whole bunch of matte painter’s portfolio sites are in the old Yahoo! directory.

Sometimes art isn’t a tangible object but an experience. Since installation and video art emerged in the 90s, these artists have embraced digital technology. Toby Joe explains how the frameworks for animation are evolving in a cross-posted blog post Toward the Bare Metal: From Flash to Processing, OpenFrameworks, and Beyond, “A lot of people moved from Flash to Processing – a great Java-based framework and IDE – as their interests moved away from wide distribution (via the Flash player) towards lower-level access to the hardware.” OpenFrameworks is a C++ library for creative coding. An artist collaborative called Field showcases the video above with some information about their processes. Code has created art, but coding is an art in itself.

Augmented reality technology might one day be ubiquitous. Everybody might walk around wearing heads-up display glasses projecting directions, emails, text messages, various widgets and tags onto their field of vision. Will this technology liberate artists and their audience from billboard advertising or isolate and confine them into their own little worlds?  Will augmented reality create a space for free expression or an opportunity for targeted marketing messages?   I’m sure this technology could enable advertisers to deliver personalized billboard messages. Maybe we will opt-in to socially augmented reality groups in order to view art or advertising? Let’s hope augmented reality will make cool things possible and make life easier.

Heads-up closed captioning goggles for deaf people?

Heads-up subtitle-style translation goggles for traveling over-seas?

Scott Hansen is an artist/designer with a great blog at ISO50. He recently re-linked readers to a post about his work process.  The project was a print for Obama’s campaign fundraising.  Every artist, illustrator, art director or designer has their own unique process, but all creative disciplines require a meticulous attention to detail.  Real projects require deadlines, comps and approvals that shape the workflow but are outside of our creative control.  I have learned that improving my work requires changing my work process, and it’s helpful to read about how other people approach work.  Hansen’s process works for him, and it’s inspiring.

HDR (high dynamic range) photography is one of the most interesting digital post-processing techniques to emerge in the last few years.  I found tutorials on HDR and experimented with the technique last year (above).  But digital photography has not only created new post-processing techniques, but also changed the way we shoot pictures.  This site explains all the technical details that make our cameras work so we can take better pictures.

Hollywood Cemetery is a bizarre spot. Cemeteries are time capsules, and Hollywood cemetery preserves Richmond’s history from around 1849 to present. Two U.S. presidents are buried here along with twenty two Confederate generals and over 18,000 Confederate soldiers. It’s the contradictions in the cemetery and its forgotten stories that make it interesting. A more complete history is here.  The typography on the engraved tombstones is interesting and the art that is the funeral statuary is fascinating.

I went to see “The Divas and Iron Chefs of Encaustic” at the Anderson Gallery at VCU.  Encaustic is an ancient technique that is increasingly relevant to painters today because it’s hard to reproduce.  There is no digital equivalent.  Each piece is unique and most of these pieces incorporate carvings or sculptural elements like fiberglass fibers.  Cameras have a hard time capturing this exhibit’s color and texture.  Even though it’s best seen in-person, the gallery is also online.