Yesterdays lesson on digital art gave us an insight into ASCII art. This is the the strange name given to art produced by using the printable characters from a typewriter, word-processor or computer keyboard. A simple example would be :0)
Going back to the start of computer technology, the sort of images and graphics we can produce today were impossible. The only way people could produce digital art would be by using these techniques.
|\_/| **************************** (\_/)
/ @ @ \ * "Purrrfectly pleasant" * (='.'=)
( > º < ) * Poppy Prinz * (")_(")
`>>x<<´ * (pprinz@example.com) *
/ O \ ****************************
Nowadays, ASCII art is much more advanced and can be used in many ways to create interesting artworks. We can even access the computer code that makes up the images and manipulate that to change existing images. This was something we did in our lesson.
Below you can see what a section of computer code looks like.
During our lesson, we deleted parts of the code, moved parts of it round and generally played with it. This enabled us to understand what the code represented, in a ‘hands on’ way. We could learn through our experiences that the text and the image were connected. It was interesting.
The image at the start looked like this, a simple tree in a field.
But, by the end looked like this.
This reminded me a bit of the work of Briget Riley, an artist famous for her stripey artworks (born 1931).
Although I found this interesting to learn about it didn’t really appeal to me as an artist.
However, towards the end of the lesson we were introduced to another website, which was loads of fun to play with! (Highly recommended.) I could immediately see how it would be useful to me. I could use it when an image needed ‘pepping up’ or some fresh inspiration. I love the randomness of ‘photo-moshing’ and not knowing what the computer will come up with next.
Here’s the original image, a water-colour painting I created in the summer. It’s a stone circle from up in Cumbria.
Here’s what happened next! which is your favourite? if any?
I look forward to playing with this website some more and exploring the other tools on there. It’s something anyone could use with family photos, landscapes, images from magazines or online. So why not have a play yourself? I’d be interested to see your ‘before and after’ images too.
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