acarapetis / curve-appreciator

curve-appreciator (working title)

This project is a work in progress.

This project tries to create something analogous to a metronome, for the eye.

(A metronome helps keep time for a piece of music/helps develop a sense of timing. Similarly, this visualization can be used to develop/improve a sense of the visual "speed" in a composition—especially one with long linear elements.)

Robert Henri (1865-1929) was an American painter and instructor, who taught at the school where I first learned to draw and paint, under instructor Dan Thompson—The Art Students League of New York.

Refer to the recorded fragments of Henri's teachings and notes.
Talking of the brush stroke, Henri stated that there are—

"Strokes which carry the observer with exact degrees of speed.
Strokes which increase their speed, or decrease it."

Drawing from life, in line—especially figure drawing, helped me develop a (fairly clear) sense of the visual "speed" of a drawn or painted line.

I wish to make intuitive ideas shared by many painters and draftsmen, clearer and more accessible.

I hope this project makes some of the ideas Henri mentioned and my own sense of navigating visuals more comprehensible to you.

I value deliberate drawing, good craftsmanship, and clear use of terminology and ideas in the visual arts.

This project would not have been possible without the mathematics and code by Anthony.

—Gunvir Mahajan

Mathematics and code by Anthony Carapetis

The idea for the original visualization, and its use as an educational tool in the visual arts by Gunvir Mahajan