Generative Art

I'm interested in the intersection of computers and art, especially when randomness is involved. These are a few creations I'm proud of.

Code on my GitHub!

Hill Climbing Art

In these pieces the code attempts to replicate a given image by drawing thousands of random shapes and only keeping those that "look right". Specifically this is a hill climbing algorithm where the code tries to solve a problem by making lots of small, random changes, keeping those that lead it closer to a solution while discarding those that lead it further away.

Find my blog post with code and background info here.

Jimi Hendrix in circles
Jimi Hendrix in circles - Original
Wanderer above the sea of fog with transparent circles
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, generated with transparent circles. Original
Wanderer above the sea of fog with transparent circles
Europe a Prophecy copy K plate 01, with triangles. Original
Sunrise behind storm clouds on Lake Michigan
Sunrise behind storm clouds on Lake Michigan.

Fractals

The Mandelbrot set rendered with z_t+1 = (z_t + c)^2 and an escape radius of 2.
A modified Mandelbrot set

This image uses the quadratic map z_t+1 = (z_t + c)^2. The blue, pill-shaped effect shows up for this equation when I stop calculating points which move beyond an escape radius of 2. As I increase the escape radius, things visually look more like the standard Mandelbrot set, although I do not know if they actually converge.