A Third Art Movement to Note

Computer Art

This is an art movement which puts concentration on art which can be displayed or in someway be developed by a computer. Pixel art really falls into this art movement as all pixel art is done on computers. Computer art can be any of the formats a computer can output, such as CDs, Printed pictures, on screen display, videogames, websites etc. There is a lot of potential art to be made with so many formats to make.

At first (1960's), only engineers and scientists could create computer art as the technology was still heavily under development and was not yet widespread.. These people wanted to create creative looking pieces of art, so would mix and match different machines and software to try and create some interesting art.

Here is art from the 60's, created by Desmond Paul Henry, using "Drawing Machine 1".

Computer art became more accessible in the 70's Xerox developed the worlds first GUI (Graphical User Interface). When Apple Macintosh was released in 1984, with a GUI which allowed creative design allowed many designers to create art on their computer, increasing the popularity of the usage of computer art.

Obviously, I like this art movement as one of the potential output of this movement is video games design, which is the reason I am here writing this blog, studying at university for a games design degree.


references:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Art
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1e/Wiki.picture_by_drawing_machine_1.jpg/220px-Wiki.picture_by_drawing_machine_1.jpg (Drawing Machine 1 Image)

Another Art Movement to Note

The limitations of the Sega Megadrive meant that all artwork had to be pixel art.

Pixel Art Movement
Being a fan of older games like Sonic the Hedgehog, Toe jam & Earl and Streets of Rage, I have always had an interest in pixel art.

I have always liked the precision of pixel art and that it is an art movement inspired by limitations.
I would like to be able create pixel art which I could use in a game, but doing so is a lot harder than I first thought. Getting exact curves and shapes by using pixels and getting the perfect looking piece of the art (even just a flower in a large picture of a meadow) is very time consuming, editing individual pixels to get it just right.

The phrase "pixel art" was first used by two members of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in 1982. However, it was first referenced in 1972, ten years earlier that the phrase came about.

To create pixel art, you must use raster graphics software, which creates a grid (also known as a matrix) and allows you to clearly see the different pixels you can edit.

Older forms of art, such as classic cross stitching is similar to pixel art, but is physical, not on a computer screen.

This cross-stitch Cartman from South Park looks a lot like some pixel art.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_art

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raster_graphics

http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/2986/291535-scrap_brain_zone_large.png (Sonic the Hedgehog image)

http://www.deviantart.com/download/113587617/Carman_cross_stitch_by_drsparc.jpg (Cartman image)

Art Movements to Note

 Futurism

This was an art movement from the early 20th century which came from Italy. There where English and Russian movements similar to this but here I'll concentrate on this one as it was where the movement was largest and had most influence.

The main aspect of futurist design is that futuristic designs and artwork are good when they show aspects of modern technology, such as cars, planes and industrial areas. This movement liked to move away from past uniform structures, such as standard art (like a portrait or a sculpture of a person) and move towards bizarre looking structures which are completely different to what you might expect. Being associated with change, futurists liked the fact that the first World War happened, to incite change over the world. Members of the movement also showed interest in fascism (mainly due to fascist influence in Italy around the time of World War II) but this is no reason to degrade the quality of the art and design of the futurist movement.

Giacomo Balla, Abstract Speed + Sound, 1913–1914

This is a piece of artwork from Giacomo Balla who was a key person in the futurist movement. Their art here shows futurist design to its fullest. There are odd, seemingly random shapes all made up of either straight lines or lines with one single curve to create arcing lines. Colours are quite vibrant and when applied to architecture gets some interesting results.

That is why I like futurist architecture. An example of local futurist architecture is the Manchester Civil Justice Centre. It is nearby the Futureworks New Bailey Campus.

The Manchester Civil Justice Centre

As you can see, the structure of the building is primarily made of straight lines or curves. It also contains elements of new and bizarre as some floors of the building pop-out like a bookcase.

Choosing what games to explore the mechanics of

While sat at home sick I've been thinking about what games to analyse for the first assignment. I'm thinking of the old sonic games (Sonic 1 to 3) as they are my favourate games and possibly minecraft as I've been watching a lot of the Yogscast videos and seeing what can be created in that game makes me think that exploring it's mechanics and possible dynamics would be interesting.

Ravines in Minecraft as part of world generation

Build a wheat farm next to a bridge if you want to as the mechanic for placing blocks where you choose allows you to build anything (blocky). 

Classic Sonic Spikes are a standard obstacle. Also, odd glitch where the inside texture of  Flying Battery has been replaced completely with sky.

See the second image (below) to see how events happen in levels to change the appearance of the level.

The area is now on fire thanks to the mini-boss above.

A mechanic added in sonic 3 (& Knuckles) where you can bounce the spinning end level post to hit the ground in certain places for power ups. I didn't find any.

Older sonic games weren't that difficult (except for certain water levels and  bosses) and even had areas of suspense like this where there was no real danger.

City I'm building in Minecraft. I have no idea what to call it.

Using Switches you can make it so a door can only be opened from one side! This is good for making a prison, as shown here.

You need a lot of furnaces later on when you have several stacks (64 pieces) of  iron or gold to smelt.

An enchanting table, used to enchant armor and weapons.