This summer at UCLA, our artwork theme is "Dreams". These dreams may include our goals for the future, our daydreams, or our dreams at night. Using p5.js (see drawings on either side), I hoped to reflect all of these interpretations of the word "dream". Though I had never used a coding software to create artwork, I had a lot of fun making these animated images. (I got a little carried away with the randomization effect...maybe click to another page if your eyes are sensitive.) Scroll down to see my inspiration for each one!
First, my excitement about the future: I've been looking forward to this summer for a while now. I couldn't wait to visit California and take the Design Media Art program at UCLA. I also couldn't wait to start working at the beach. The beach setting represents both of my summer "dreams": the UCLA summer program and my new job. I feel very fortunate that both of my dreams are coming true! To make this image, I coded individual pixels, using a randomization tool to generate the color values. However, I wanted to make sure that the sky remained red, orange, and yellow, while the water remained blue, purple, and green. By randomizing each pixel's color value within a restricted RGB range, it's possible to restrict a square to blue, for example, while allowing thousands of different shades. My next goal: figuring out how to code pixels in groups so that I won't have to write individual codes for 100 squares!
Next, daydreams and dreams at night. This image is a bit (very) chaotic...so are our dreams. In class, we were shown a series of images and had to write down words we associated with each picture. (See the five words above.) At night, our brain processes information that we've taken in throughout the day, creating our dreams. The word association game reflects this process: an image of clouds, for example, reminded me of cauliflower. Likewise, events, objects, and people may appear in our dreams which are reminiscent of our experiences during the day. In the morning, though, our dreams can feel scattered and nearly impossible to explain to others, and it's often difficult to identify each component. (Hence the scattering...although I'll admit, that was mostly for fun.) I also recycled elements of my first project (on the left), demonstrating how fragments of our daytime experiences and our daydreams appear in our nighttime dreams.