Processing

Processing is a free to download and open source tool used to write code based around the creation of visual arts. You can find out more information and download Processing here.

We used Processing to create some digital art. There were no rules about what we could create and I enjoyed the experimental process. I have coded before so I was able to apply the basics of code logic to the new language; which is based on Java.

Processing allows you to draw shapes on the page and the page is re-drawn 12 times per second allowing you to make the shapes move.

My inspiration came when I used a yellow colour with a thick black outline and I was reminded of the paintings of Piet Mondrian. I decided to recreate a painting in Processing with movement added in to create a digital and modern version.

Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow - Piet Mondrian (1930)

The moment of inspiration

The final moving image can be seen below.
I could improve this work by adding a layer of interactivity. The tiles could begin moving on a user's input or the colours and lines could appear with different animations, such as fading in, or appearing as if being painted in with a brush.

If you cannot see this video try looking at it on Vimeo.

Here you can see some of the code that I wrote to make the artwork. I was familiar with some of the ideas of coding before such as functions, IF statements and loops, so I was comfortable experimenting with ways of making my ideas happen on the screen.

The way processing works is that is re-draws the screen 12 times a second, so if you draw a square in a slightly different place each time, it will appear to move across the screen.
I used this to make the squares of colour in the artwork move across the screen.
The highlighted bit of code shows where I have used an IF statement to only move the square when it is not yet in place. meaning that the squares stop when they get to the correct position.

Another thought I have about the artwork I made is that it could possibly produce a random artwork instead of the same one every time. This would be hard to do as you would have to work out where the squares had been made so you could fill them with colour but it is a cool idea that I might revisit some time

I liked using processing and could maybe use it some more.
There is a large community of people who share their creations online, they share the code and the outcome so there is plenty of help and inspiration out there.

I am a big fan of modern art like this and I really like the idea of taking a painting and modernising it, adding interactivity to it.