APD - Week 9 - Play and Abstraction
THEME
Play and Abstraction
Please feel free to play yourself~ https://hiyokaygames.itch.io/abstractartcreator pwd:magi
Progress video: https://youtu.be/JcRVs5SLlV0
CONTEXT
I think abstract art is based heavily on shape and colour (and other elements too!), but also on the limitation of those elements. Abstract patterns and designs follow ‘extreme rules’ that define what they are. These include following a strict colour palette or certain shapes put together to create the final product that is not an accurate depiction of visual reality.
I initially had an idea of getting everyone to draw the same subject in the same abstract ways and sewing it all together to make a collaborative abstract animation, but I ended up going with an abstract art maker instead.
I thought of limiting the player to certain shapes and certain colours that they will be forced to make use of to play around with and expand their creativity.
METHOD
I followed a tutorial on drawing shapes in unity and tested out different ways I could incorporate some design rules that would also be aesthetic. I was inspired by the minimal blue and pink graphic design trends and wanted people to be creative with the limited options they had.
For my first version, I went with a dark blue base and light pink background so that it was very minimal but I changed my mind and decided to have a medium pink as well for more variety and possibility.
After I created what I thought was a complete project, I asked my friends (lab rats in training) to take it for a test run. They had a whole variety of complaints from the user-unfriendly interface (The buttons being too close to the canvas) to the limited options (only one colour per shape). I didn’t know how to code in more colour options per shape but I figured I might as well tweak the interface a bit. That done, I tried some trial and error code work and lo and behold I got more colours per shape!
So, in the final version, I ended up with a rectangle, circle and triangle maker, in 3 separate colours.
RESPONSE / REFLECTION
I honestly wanted to have more colours and more shapes for people to play around and experiment with. However, I was following a tutorial that I didn’t fully understand., and I couldn’t incorporate features like switching between colours for shapes. I didn’t even try too hard at it because I was convinced I couldn’t do it.
I think something I learned during this particular project is to not give up on something before I even tried my hand at it, because I might just have ended up being able to do it. Hopefully, I’ll remember this lesson with everything else I’m working on!
I also wish I had given people a specific image to draw inspiration from so that it will clearly show the abstract depiction of the image.
REFERENCES
Kondratyuk, D., 2017. Draw 2D Physics Shapes In Unity. [online] Medium. Available at: <https://medium.com/@hyperparticle/draw-2d-physics-shapes-in-unity3d-2e0ec634381c>
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