I pointed the camera at the TV while we watched the debate. Here’s what my watercolor simulation did with what it saw.
Tag Archives: watercolor
Big Wet Pixels 14
Raquel practices guitar while my watercolor simulation paints her portrait.
Here you can also see a first glimpse of the GUI I’m building for live performance. This was my first dry run of the whole system, including webcam and external monitor. Still could use some optimization: the frame rate dropped to 16fps, I think due to thermal throttling. (You can hear how hard the poor laptop is working… just listen to that fan!)
Big Wet Pixels 13
Finding new shapes and textures. Who ever said pixels had to be square?
Big Wet Pixels 12
Spent some time refining control of the instrument: a richer parameter space for stroke planning; new colorspace mapping that handles poor camera conditions (over- or underexposure); two new types of limited color palette (inspired by the gorgeous plein air experiments of my friend Susan Hayden). I’ve also exposed a bunch of fluid sim parameters so they can be tweaked on the fly for maximum effect. This is starting to feel almost robust enough to play live on stage. Lots more work to do though…
Big Wet Pixels: Friends and Family
Here are some portraits of friends and family I’ve made over the past few months. I love seeing people through this strange lens. Originally I imagined this system as something that would stand on its own in a gallery, automatically painting whoever stopped by. But there’s something special about the way people react in real time as the machine paints their portrait. There’s a feedback loop between subject, painter, and machine. So now I’m working on making the system more interactive, so people can see what’s going on inside the black box, and I can play the controls like a musical instrument.
The real Chuck Close
Chuck Close, “Fred/Diptych”, 2017-2018, oil on canvas, 36″ x 30″.
I was stunned to see this series of Chuck Close portraits painted in an almost watercolor style.
“These full-color portraits and self-portraits employ a palette of only three colors: red, yellow and blue. Layering transparent glazes of paint, Close created an effect of abstract likeness entirely different from that of his previous work. The complex color relationships that unfold in these paintings are visible at the bleeding edges of each square within the grid, where the ragged ends of each individual color are visible.”
Chuck Close, “Michael Ovitz (Unfinished),” 2020-2021, oil on canvas, 72-1/2” × 61-1/2” × 2.”
When I started working on my “Big Wet Pixels” homage, I had no idea that the artist himself had spent the last few years of his life painting this way. Seeing these paintings now is bittersweet. It would have been wonderful to see what he would have done next had he lived long enough. But it’s also encouraging to see how many different interpretations are possible in this space. And that makes me want to keep exploring it.
The paintings will be on exhibit at the Pace Gallery in New York, from Feb 23 – Apr 13, 2024.
Big Wet Pixels 10: Debug View
I’m midway through a (major, long overdue) overhaul of the fluid transport layer of my watercolor simulation. Made some good progress over the weekend. But more importantly: I made lots of new bugs. Glorious, unrepentant, face-eating bugs. I almost don’t have the heart to squash them.
Big Wet Pixels 9
Continuing to explore the parameter space of this watercolor simulation. Enjoying the contrast between natural and artificial, accidental and planned. Really enjoying what’s starting to happen with color. Finding bugs, fixing bugs, creating new bugs. This is getting close to the point where I’d use it to paint someone’s portrait.
Big Wet Pixels 8
Refinement, and wandering, and more refinement. Taking control, and losing it.
Tonight’s effort was less about pigment, and more about paper and water.
Big Wet Pixels 7
Some refinements on the Chuck Close homage, and then a left turn into something very different. The bugs in my code are a source of unending joy and frustration. Someday, maybe, I’ll fix them, but where’s the fun in that?