Category: dailycreate

Accidental Allure

In the past I’ve made a few experiments with randomly layering and combining images: Glen Finlas -evaluate-sequence subtract and Averages (The Prisoner) for example.

A couple of weeks ago I started playing with combining images in the browser. There are several ways to go about this, I found a nice script to blend two images on a canvas and gave that a shot. It worked well and gave interesting results.

I though that using the Flickr API I could gather a list of images and randomly blend them two at a time.

Flickr’s API will return a json list. I started using the flickr.interestingness.getList which produced some interesting (sic) combinations. However when I started to get the license of the photos most were not labled for reuse.

I switched to using a standard search (flickr.photos.search ) which allowed me to search for license that allowed reuse.

I also switched to using CSS and background-blend-mode, this allows you to have multiple images set on a background and blend them.

For example using these images:

And this code:

<div style="border:solid 1px;width:500px;height:400px;background-image:url('https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7587/26482589423_daa3bbdbd1.jpg'),url('https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7012/6677861899_ef6e012bc8.jpg');background-blend-mode:multiply;"></div>

give me this:

With this in my toolbag I could pull in a flickr feed, extract image URLs and info about each photo and randomly combine them. They are displayed for 10 seconds each.

This gave me this:

Random Flickr Blendr

Here are a few random blends, screen captured:

I’ve found the pictures quite compelling.

On interesting this was the change I noticed when I swapped from the interestingness list to a search for creative commons images ordered by interestingness-desc. The images became more subtle and less HDRish, i think thy are more interesting and less glossy. An unusual win for Creative commons.

Over in DS106 land the page was used for a daily create:

#tdc1588 Turn @johnjohnston’s Random Image Pairing into a Self-Help Book Title | The (new) Daily Create

Which turned up some nice images and a fairly crazy bunch of titles.

My Own:

tdc1588

What was also interesting was some responses to the page:

So I an quite pleased with the result of this bit of experimenting. I’ve learnt a little more about CSS, images, JavaScript and even practised a bit of git. On the git front I’ve installed ezyang/git-ftp which is a quick and efficient way of pushing changed files to a website via FTP and works very well indeed. Saves working directly on line or opening an FTP application.

#tdc1547 Van Gogh goes #DS106

First Daily in a while, so though it was worth a quick post.

#tdc1547 Make a Van Gogh – Make him go for DS106 | The (new) Daily Create

The original DS106 image from DS106: The Open Online Community of Digital Storytellers by Jim Groom — Kickstarter Not sure who to credit as Google didn’t turn up a backstory.

The Van Gogh picture from File:Vincent van Gogh – Self-Portrait – Google Art Project.jpg – Wikimedia Commons where it says:

This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:

The author died in 1890, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 100 years or less.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1923.
This file has been identified as being free of known restrictions under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights.

Which is good enough for me.

Process

vg-layersDownload both images. Open in Photoshop.

The Quick Selection Tool is my Friend.

  1. Select Van. and make new layer via copy.
  2. Duplicate that layer into DS106 image.
  3. Quick  Selection tool to cut out rear figure to new layer. Then headphones and cables to new layers too. Hide figure.
  4. Move VG layer behind main layer resize to fit.
  5. Image-> Adjustments -> Black & White…

vg-b-w

I messed about till I got it as B&W as I could.

Cropped and exported to jpg.

Other possibilities

I did think about the dark glasses:

make-art-vg-2-dg

But think the eyes had it.

 

I also though about tracing the VG picture to make it more in the style of the DS106/Sonic Youth.

Or sending the ds106 image to the twitter bot that does impressionist images…

Updates

Worth noting I flipped the VG image.

More important we know the DS106 Artist:

And I claim a couple of assignment stars: ds106 Assignments: Remix an Album Cover 😉

Along the Daily Trail

I’ve not been keeping up with #western106 much other than a couple of artonthecouch posts.

But I have done the odd Daily Create. I am noting them here as some sort of record before they are lost in twitter.

The 4th February:

Create an Oregon Trail Game Screen for DS106

ds106-nyan

A quick google for the Oregon Trail found a pile of bitmap art. Seemed like a nyan cat riff might be appropriate. Downloaded the gif, opened in fireworks and chopped away.

5th February:  Create some stop motion using Vine

I’ve not got a vine account so just make a 6 second stop motion video. Snapped some photos with my iPhone (sitting on a lego mount), stitched together with the 5secondApp and exported as a video. I had to speed it up a bit to get 6 seconds, here is a 17 second version.

 

7th February  Add to the Code of the Cowpoke

A one line response:

8th February  5 Years Since Dr Oblivion Disappeared: Craft an Western…

coyboyoblivion

The idea of Cowboy G-Men is a a wee bit mind boggling. This is a really badly edited file. Quick & dirty. I did run a quick fliter over the cover to try and match the Doctor’s face, but didn’t spend enough time on it to do a good job.

11th February  Treasure of the Hills

We were to draw a map. Remembering the ‘lights out for the territories’ above I remembered that the map is not the territory. So my tweet went:  this mondrian is not the territory

mondrian-map

Which lead to a nice bit of twitter banter.

and so on…

12th February  Extra Terrestrial Visitors from the Far Frontier?

nyan-cow

Was a no brainer, back to FireWorks for a quick edit. The cow head was found on Flickr with a no known copyright restrictions filter.

Yesterday:  Caption Remington

an-unbranded-cow

I was trying to hint to other folk that they should license their DS106 content to make it review and remix friendly.

The stream for the daily create has been pretty active and it is great to see all of the different responses. I am not sure I’ll get to doing much more on #western106 but I am certainly enjoying the odd 15 minutes on the daily create. Thanks to Alan (and Mariana) for the continual work on organising the fun.

 

Lazy Art on the Couch

I did manage a couple of daily creates this week but my hold on the ds106 stream is pretty tenuous. Given the public commitment to Art on the Couch last week both here an on The DS106 Good Spell I clicked the random button a few time this morning until I got my first visual image. This is it:
Daily Create 2 – Susan V. Laws

Again I can’t see any license on the image so you will have to head over to the link to see it.

1. What stands out the most when you first see it?
The Rotated S

2. Explain the reason you notice the thing you mention in number 1.
It is quite an organic line, it immediately reminded me of a river on a map.

3. As you keep looking, what else seems important?
The background colour and grid.

4. Why does the thing you mention in number 3 seem important.
This reinforces the idea of a map for me. Although the scale would be off it it was a map unless the river was very broad.

5. How has contrast been used?
The nature of the assignment, creation of a cattle brand leads to a very strong contrast indeed. There is also a contrast between the curves of the s and the straight lines of the L. The L becomes imposed on the S perhaps.

6. What leads your eye around from place to place?
The lines. There is not much else to follow. The longer I look at it the more I feel the tension between the straight and the curves.

7. What tells you about the style used by this artist?
The lines are very strong the occasional kinks are surprising.

8. What seems to be hiding in this composition and why?
When I first saw the image I was immediately reminded of something, but could not quite put my finger on it. I search on google for similar images unsurprisingly brought up mostly typographical ones.

image-search

This then brought to mind occult symbols:

Clavicula_Salomonis_BL_Oriental_14759_35a

a group of pentacles from the Hebrew manuscript (BL Oriental 14759, fol. 35a) By Anonymous – [1], Public Domain,

And the language of hobos and tramps:

hobo-signs

Hobo signs Karen Apricot CC BY

Both of these types of image are secret languages, they give hints of something behind, just out of touch. Is this a map of a secret language.

9. Imagine the feelings and meanings this artwork represents?

A brand has quite negative connotations. Here a painful reminder of ownership. In other contexts a marketing tool. Here the L seems to cut across and stamp the more natural S.
In a western context we are aware of the history of the west, a series of impositions on the natural environment. We have the idea of the ‘original’ Native Americans working with the land as ‘part of the natural landscape’. This was followed by ranching which was then fenced in by farmers.
I know this is a pretty sketchy overview gleaned from various poorly remembered western movies I watched as a child, the short story Shane that was one of my favourites aged 10 and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee a few years later.

10. What other titles could you give this artwork?
Cutting Across, Imposition or Squaring the river, Yin and Yang go West.

11. What other things interest you about this artwork?
I am guessing that this was made on a phone. I didn’t do this daily create, but assumed that most folk would use fonts. I am presuming that this was made on a phone, with an app that straightens drawings out a bit.

Late Create

I was planning to do this one, but didn’t get round to it, mine would have been the double-J. Perhaps like this:

double-j

Thanks to Susan for providing me with an hour or two’s musings. And to Mariana for gathering and suggesting the questions.

Laughing Cowboys

laughing-guns

When I heard about #western106 I was looking forward to messing about as an outrider to the main herd, have a bit of fun, running the odd gif down and perhaps have a few campfire podcasts, nothing to heavy.

I’d not watched cowboy movies much recently and associate them with my father whom I watched them with and childhood. I was vaguely aware of some of the problems of the genre, but thought my favourites: Shane, High Noon, The Searchers and the like would protect me from heavy thinking.

Then Sandy’s Come to Jesus post 1 put paid to that. I might have to ponder the gun a bit.

Being a child in the sixties (b 1958) I didn’t notice any disapproval of guns growing up, they were common toys and we played lots of fighting games. World War 2 based in the main rather than cowboys.

As I got older I’ve not been a great action movie fan, but enjoyed a few movie fights without really thinking about it for too long. As gun toys became less popular and I worked as a primary teacher I tried to encourage my pupils to make something more constructive from lego than ray guns and developed a reasonably negative view of guns.

But the fascination is still there, in ds106 I’ve giffed a few eastern ones:

Italy
A Hitchcock gun

 

Only occasionally reacting to the unsavoury aspects:

 

I guess it is time to start thinking about how we can live in harmony 2

harmonyfw
I didn’t blog this episode during the #prisoner106 run but it will fit in with #western106 too. I am not sure that just giving up the gun will do. The prisoner manage a fair bit of punching in that episode.

Of course it is not just guns, we will have the chance to get to grips with other ornery, politically incorrect aspects of the western over the next weeks. I am sure we can have fun along the trail, but keep a weather eye on the morals too.

1. “Come to Jesus” Talk – An earnest, straightforward confrontation, designed to correct some “sinful” behavior of either a human or an animal. Derived from the no-nonsense approach of 19th century frontier preachers, a “Come to Jesus” talk goes right to the heart of the matter with a sincere “straighten up or else” attitude. Free Cowboy Dictionary – Letter C – useful words of the cowboy lifestyle – definitions, terminology, slang, jargon, word origins ↩

2. From the prisoner: Living in Harmony:

the goal of “Living in Harmony” and other padding episodes, was to “make them as visually exciting as possible but still retaining within them part of the theme of violence doesn’t pay off”

It was not shown as part of the first USA run of the series, worth reading the wikipedia article… ↩