hamadi.art

I've recently wrapped up my adventure with the wild world of pen plotters. They're honestly pretty nifty machines that I'm surprised are not popular. I had the chance to take my University's Axidraw home over the winter and played around with it using creative code. I tried out two JavaScript Libraries: PaperJS and P5js. PaperJS is a bit old and does not see the same amount of support as P5js. What makes it interesting though is that it's entirely vector-based. Everything created in a PaperJS canvas is vector. This was cool until I realized it had a steep learning curve. I moved on to P5js which had a companion library called p5.SVG. It converts all p5JS code to vector. I was finally able to make the vector art I desired. I put together a small studio in my bedroom to begin printing. The reason why I was focused on vector is because that's the only format the Axidraw accepts. It can't print typical raster images. Moving forward, I experimented with several papers and markers to get somewhere I liked. However, winter break came to a close and I had to return the machine. It only gave me a taste, but I was hooked.

I originated from a computer science background. That was what I came into my University as. Seeing lines of code go across the screen to create a moving image fascinated me and I wanted to master it. That was until I didn't. I realized that I was entranced with the design of software rather than coding. I changed my major to Interaction Design and I've been happier since. However, I still had an itch for code. That's when I took the creative code course. It was mind-opening. I worked with Processing Java to create fun programs that captured my attention. It helped a lot that I was already experienced with Java. Creative code presents a new medium for artists that very few have tapped. It gives the artist the ability to have fun at the computer, even if you don't know math. The programs I developed focused on creating sophisticated pictures. I made smiley faces and rainbows that were entirely code. It got me thinking about my degree and the career I might want to pursue.

I find vector art to be very special. I know that's a general statement, but hear me out. The key property of vector art is that it has infinite resolution. How you may ask? Well, the answer is quite simple: equations. Each point in a vector artwork is calculated by an equation. This is unlike raster artwork because it has a fixed amount of pixels. Opening a raster artwork on any device will always return the same resolution. However, using vector artwork presents the unique opportunity of staying crisp at any resolution. It's this property that intrigues me so much. I want to work with vector in nearly all my projects because it's essentially future-proofing for the inevitable higher resolution screens. I mean - virtual reality headsets are only going to get better, and that starts with being able to see things beyond pixels.