Mind the Gap
A generative series inspired by childhood memories, play and exploration as well as the emotions and experiences over the last six-months.
— By MountVitruvius
Approach
“I wanted the technical approach to mirror the simplicity and fun that inspired the idea.”
I’ve always enjoyed working within limitations, I find it forces me to think differently and experiment in ways I otherwise wouldn't. For these pieces, simplicity meant no 3D and no shaders, just point and vector math, lines and colour.
I wanted these to feel like a pen drawing. As if the algorithm had picked up a pen, and started outlining the shapes while exploring the canvas, unclear on where it would go, but enjoying finding something beautiful and light-hearted in the chaos.
Joyful, playful motion. Create a wide range of movement. Variation and experimentation are all part of the fun.
Hand drawn. Evoke the feeling of a pen drawing. No straight lines, and only subtle use of texture.
Simple, vibrant colours. The palettes should evoke the feeling of childlike play and experimentation.
The Process
A play-by-play of how each step in the process works.
2 field types with many optional mutations
Using poisson disc sampling
Using either a classic stepping or curl function
Step through each point in each line and check for collisions. End the line if it collides, or reaches a maximum length. Red circles are valid, Blue circles show collisions, green represent collission bounds.
Procedural generation of line geometry, calculate vertexes, fill shape, sketch outline and shade.
Background
A collection inspired by many of the joyful and playful moments over the last 6 months.
This year, my family gifted me a special piece of artwork. They wouldn't tell me who'd made it, only that I ‘knew the artist very well’.
They found it funny that I couldn't work out who it was! My brain went into reasoning mode; Why does this look oddly familiar? Why the use of unmixed colours? Clearly this artist was trying to say something with the flow of these strokes?
Well, it turns out it was me — I was the artist. I had painted this when I was 2 years old.
This experience was a wonderful reminder that when you're 2 years old and just throwing paint at a piece of paper you don't couldn't care less about framing it and putting it on a wall. You're enjoying yourself.
Another inspiration for this collection is a piece that's been with me for a long time.
A friend once gifted me a print by @LinusKraemer which has been on the wall in my workshop for years. It's travelled through 3 different house moves, and each time made its way back onto the wall near my main desk.
It's a simple line drawing called Cylinders, and I've been glancing at it daily for years. I keep it around because every time I look at it, it makes me smile.
This print has been so ubiquitous in my life, that it became an almost subconscious influence as part of my experiments, and I only realised it when I had already created the foundations for this collection.
London is where I was born, and where I painted the picture at the beginning of this story.
In London, we call the underground the ’tube’ and, well, there’s quite a few tubes in this collection! If you’ve ever ridden the London Underground you’ll have undoubtedly heard this collection’s namesake before, probably at every station you stopped at, announced over the tannoy in a crackly robotic tone.
The spacing and the rhythm within these pieces were one of the hardest elements to get right, and it wasn’t until i’d worked out a good scaling system - minding the gaps! - that i felt like this collection was worth showing.
Mind the Gap is a reference to my childhood, but also the fun, playful nature of the inspiration. It’s a thank you to the city i was born in, and it’s a reminder to not take life and art too seriously.
