"How to Hack a Painting" by Tyler Hobbs

In Hackers and Painters, Paul Graham famously linked coding and the visual arts. In this talk, I'll explain how to do both at once.
Through the Processing framework, Clojure, and careful observation, it's possible to simulate watercolor paints and other media. I will walk the audience through the observation of real watercolor paint, breaking down the mental model we can use to think about its shape, texture, and qualities. Next, we will translate that mental model into a Clojure program capable of generating watercolor effects. Special attention will be paid to probability distributions, as randomness is the key to pleasing effects.
With the basics established, we can dive into textures and the blending of multiple colors. Finally, I will demonstrate how to combine everything to create a finished generative work of art, capable of generating a stream of unique but aesthetically related images.
Tyler Hobbs
Tyler Hobbs is a generative artist from Austin, Texas. His work focuses on the interplay of randomness and structure, and frequently references paints, plants, landscapes, and naturally occurring patterns. Prior to becoming an artist, Tyler was a primary developer of Apache Cassandra, an open source, high performance, distributed database. Tyler received a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin.

[@tinbane2386]

No accident that he created the greatest series in generative art. Seeds of Fidenza all throughout this presentation. Amazing.

[@elric4850]

One of my favorite talks, and one that helped shape some decisions early in my programming career.
I find myself coming back often. It’s beautiful.

[@cbrpnk]

That's some next level awesomeness.

[@FcSteezey]

This was a sweet talk. Thanks for sharing tyler

[@nztuber]

Fantastic talk (and great-looking work), thank you!

[@36nibs]

so cool to see such advanced static generative art pieces I thought they had to be animated eye opening hope to find more of your presentations.

[@leif5046]

Another fantastic talk. Very informative and inspirational!
I appreciate the lengthy Q&A in particular. And thanks for repeating the questions!

[@sambeard4428]

Listening to your talk i hear myself. I have the same educational background, I have the same interests in the patterns found in nature and I also stumbled into generative art, it came naturally. I hope at one point I'll be at a same level as you are and perhaps also incorporate it into my profession, like you managed to do. This is very inspiring and great work!

[@VigneshMukund]

Super cool stuff! Thank you so much for sharing!

[@angelcaban2387]

Thats so cool, Thanks Love it

[@electron7373]

Excellent talk! Thanks Tyler!

[@code_explorations]

Loved it; thanks.

[@eisman3138]

Much appreciated for such a treasure

[@nibnob9]

Great art great mind and a great speaker Tyler Hobbs! You are awesome. I loved the watercolor bit ~20m great stuff man

[@python360]

Great video, love the images 👍👍

[@chaussebenjamin]

6:32 "Computers are excellent at working with randomness."
Security analysts: `Start crying`

[@CYON4D]

Nice work.

[@mskogly]

"All of the parts that doesnt get paid" :)