Adobe Illustrator CS2
Controlled chaos: Creating a new design aesthetic using Illustrator CS2
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Company
The Department of Notation
Headquarters in
Mineola, New York
Challenges
- Create designs with psychedelic flair that are based on organic design elements
- Produce complex designs consisting of tens of thousands of vectors
- Output designs to a wide variety of media, including print, broadcast, and the web
- Convert scanned artwork to editable, scalable vector paths
- Resize images without losing quality
- Keep client content fresh and appealing
- Quickly deliver multiple versions of designs for projects
Solution
- Use Adobe Illustrator CS2 software to create vector artwork and the Live Trace feature to convert scanned artwork to vector paths
- Write and apply generative software algorithms to create designs consisting of thousands of vectors
- Use composition generators to create multiple outputs for print, broadcast, or the web
Benefits
- Created random, complex art based on organic design elements
- Easily turned analog drawings into vector artwork that can be readily fed into regenerative software programs
- Delivered 16 versions of background animations for a single commissioned video project
- Readily output designs to a wide variety of media
- Produced an application with an abstract animation that changes color with the seasons
Toolkit
- Adobe Illustrator CS
- Generative software algorithms including Color Stripper, Random Controlled Color, and Composition Generator
- Apple Power Mac G5 computer running Mac OS X
- Wacom tablet
There are many ways to produce artwork. Just ask Joshua Davis and his innovative design studio, The Department of Notation. Davis uses Adobe® Illustrator® CS2 software as the genesis for his designs, creating shapes like trees, leaves, and flowers. He then transforms his design elements using computer programs that he and partner Branden Hall write to randomly generate artwork based on mathematical algorithms.
Though Davis encourages randomness, he also likes to control it. While studying illustration and communication design at Pratt Institute, he used to freeze or bake paintings to see how the stress affected pigment.
A machine-generated image from Davis's "Once-Upon-A-Forest" series.
Today, his primary tools for creating random art are Illustrator CS2 and generative composition algorithms — computer applications that automate his workflow.
"A lot of people are using computer programs to draw art," he says. "The difference is that I've already predetermined and created my design elements using Illustrator CS2. I define the computer program's assets, what it can use, and how many objects I would like it to paint. It's essentially controlled chaos."
Simplicity plus psychedelic flair
Davis has long been attracted to the simplicity and beauty of vector-based artwork created using Illustrator. He is perhaps best known for his posters based on organic design elements that feature the psychedelic flair of rock posters from the late 1960s and early '70s. There is a significant difference, however. Davis's designs are so complex that they often consist of tens of thousands of vectors.
This design complexity is created by a variety of generative software algorithms. One is Color Stripper, which outputs colors based on transitions between user-defined base colors. The Random Controlled Color application employs hues chosen by Color Stripper to fill blanks in scanned, hand-drawn line art. With either application, a click or touch of a button enables Davis to edit out colors singly or generate new iterations. A third application, Composition Generator, outputs finished works populated by items from an asset library — a folder housing a collection of images Davis draws by hand for each project using a drawing tablet and Illustrator.
Images generated with Davis's art-making machines from his "Once-Upon-A-Forest" series, from a solo show consisting of prints, interactive works, and motion-based projections at the Barcelona gallery Maxalot.
Multiple versions, ever-changing content
While the studio's ever-changing artwork attracts artists and musicians, it also draws corporate clients like Sony and Nokia driven to keep their content fresh and appealing. For Sony VAIO in Japan, for example, Davis's studio devised a desktop application with calendar, time, and MP3-playing functions. Its random abstract animation changes color with the seasons.
The composition generators can output to a wide variety of media, enabling Davis to quickly create multiple options for print, broadcast, or the web. For the 2002 Red Hot Chili Peppers tour, Davis delivered 16 versions of background animations for a single commissioned video project — something artists using traditional tools would have difficulty accomplishing in a reasonable amount of time.
"Generative artwork is like snowflakes, with infinite possibilities based on specific ground rules," says Davis. "Imagine a website where the background is regenerated each time you visit. I define the look using Illustrator artwork and predefined rules, but the artwork is new and interesting every time."
Mathematical artwork from mathematical algorithms
Davis prefers drawing design elements in Illustrator CS2 because of the software's ease of use and power in creating vector-based illustrations. Bitmap images created in programs such as Adobe Photoshop® software are made up of pixels, while vector images created using Illustrator are composed of mathematical formulas consisting of curves and points. Vector images can be resized without losing quality, making them ideal for manipulation using mathematical algorithms.
Davis also loves features like Live Trace in Illustrator CS2, which lets him quickly and accurately convert scanned artwork to editable, scalable vector paths.
Confounding printers on multiple continents
Davis is passionate about creating artwork using Illustrator CS2 and computer programs. One of his main joys — and challenges — is working with printers charged with outputting his work. For a show in April 2005 of graphic designers' wallpaper at the Maxalot gallery in Barcelona, Spain, he submitted a machine-generated image from a series called "Once-Upon-A-Forest." The 8-by-19-foot image caused waves of excitement and frustration at a print shop in Spain. The piece included 170,000 layers and more than 50,000 vectors.
"My artwork freaks printers out — they can't imagine how I created it. I love confusing printers all over the world," says Davis. "If I used traditional design tools, it would probably take me six months to create artwork of this richness and complexity."
Davis has spurred controversy in the design community. Some opponents claim he's not technically the creator of the finished artwork, because the software programs draw his artwork, but Davis begs to differ. "We create the algorithm, the artwork assets the algorithm uses, and the boundaries that define the artwork," says Davis. "This is an entirely new and exciting aesthetic. It's just taking people a while to catch on."
