Week 11- Breathing Week

I designated this week as a 'breathing week', a week to let ideas settle and to mull them over in my head without any impending coding on the horizon. As is my usual practice I messed around and experimented with some new styles of drawing. Taking my first steps to what I would call 'algorithmic drawing'; the act of drawing within a guideline of rules, as if I was the computer who was bound by the program or algorithm it was running.

These drawings were fun to make and were incredibly useful in freeing my mind and allowing new ideas to flow naturally without this brick wall of code looming over me, constantly reminding me of how much is still left to learn. It was just me and my pen and, in a way, this felt more algorithmic than my algorithms themselves. The methodical transience of the drawing process took me into almost a state of hypnosis; allowing me to focus all of my attention on the current line I am drawing and, when that line is complete, moving onto the next.

This style of drawing is map-like in a sense. Each line reminisces on the contours of the previous to create a playful intersection of line, ultimately resulting in an algorithmically natural looking form. Some of these terms I've used may not seem logical or may even be nonsensical but they feel right to describe this process. These drawings are much more about the process than the outcome. Much like my previous algorithmic work was intensely focused on the creation than the finished product.