Creating portraits with CSS and HTML

[handrawn]

@ acorn

I think you may have missed the point

[Acorn]

@Acorn
I think you may have missed the point

Missing the point would be to avoid Pointillism.
If she is genuinely working in HTML/CSS then she has removed the ability to fluidly position shapes to create an image.

With Xara, you can at least build up Layers (like watercolour painting), and retain artistic control.

Her "point", as I read it was to have a mechanism that created realistic images that can be scaled without loss of fidelity.
i assumed this from her statements around her CSS Font as well as her baroque paintings.

Her "rules" are:

1. All elements must be typed out by hand
2. Only Atom text editor and Chrome Developer Tools allowed
3. No SVG allowed (no offense to SVG)

My "rules", equally, could be:

1. Any placed element must be derived from a rounded-corner rectangle
2. Only an XDA allowed

Pointillism's "rules" might be:

1. Any placed element must a coloured pixel
2. Only an XDA allowed

Just saying,

Acorn

[pauland]

It's a sad reflection on TG at how so many threads focus on minutiae rather than celebrate the skill and beauty of the result.

Very impressive Gary.

[Acorn]

It's a sad reflection on TG at how so many threads focus on minutiae rather than celebrate the skill and beauty of the result.
Very impressive Gary.

So I get marked down if I look at something, appreciate it and work out how I might do it and share my creative idea?
There are some of us who think they are not artistic but would like to have a go but don't know any of the techniques: pointillism, watercolour, 3D-modelling, etc.
For every true artist, there are a cohort of technicians who promote, assist and develop the art, not playing second fiddle, but participating.

The medium for art has changed over time. currently, it is the Internet. Tomorrow, it may be augmented reality.
Computing is a case in point. I am an analyser, developer, designer, implementer and integrator by profession. Most are just users. Neither would exist without the other.

My reflection is TG is no longer a true forum where people can engage in debate.
Every one is right and no one wrong so let's celebrate that.

Acorn

[pauland]

So I get marked down if I look at something, appreciate it and work out how I might do it and share my creative idea?
There are some of us who think they are not artistic but would like to have a go but don't know any of the techniques: pointillism, watercolour, 3D-modelling, etc.
For every true artist, there are a cohort of technicians who promote, assist and develop the art, not playing second fiddle, but participating.

The medium for art has changed over time. currently, it is the Internet. Tomorrow, it may be augmented reality.
Computing is a case in point. I am an analyser, developer, designer, implementer and integrator by profession. Most are just users. Neither would exist without the other.

My reflection is TG is no longer a true forum where people can engage in debate.
Every one is right and no one wrong so let's celebrate that.

Acorn

I feel we should be able to embrace an achievement rather than pick it apart and criticise it.

Is she mad? certainly, but I admire her for taking a challenge on.

Nobody is marking you and I didn't mention you specifically. By all means present your take on it.

I am not the TG police.

The joy is in Gary's post and Diana Smith's incredible skill and doggedness.

[gwpriester]

The joy is in Gary's post and Diana Smith's incredible skill and doggedness.

Absolutely, Paul. As we know there are many Xara artists who could do a much better job using the vector and bitmap tools but the point is really what these people were able to achieve in such a unique way. Just because they could.

Acorn - This is not unlike how you improve the reach of Xara by adding additional scripting.

[handrawn]

My reflection is TG is no longer a true forum where people can engage in debate

ok lets have a debate...

Every one is right and no one wrong so let's celebrate that

I trust you were being ironic... everyone is entitled to their opinion, that is never going to guarantee it is right [or wrong]

There are some of us who think they are not artistic but would like to have a go but don't know any of the techniques: pointillism, watercolour, 3D-modelling, etc.

I reckon no one starts with a technique, they start with a realisation; whether it is the 'natural' way you arrange flowers, or the patterns you make when you doodle, or the way you find yourself singing your own accompliment to the music you listen to, it is spontaneous at inception and then you realise you really like doing it and would like to 'do something with it' - then you look round for a way of doing just that

For every true artist, there are a cohort of technicians who promote, assist and develop the art, not playing second fiddle, but participating

by implication this means that my mother-in-law the one who arranged the flowers so beautifully with no technical assisstance outside of mother nature was not a 'true artist' - you are on very dodgy ground when you start to use the term 'true artist' [as I know form my own experience], so you had better give a proper definition of it if you intend to carry on using it

The medium for art has changed over time. currently, it is the Internet. Tomorrow, it may be augmented reality

there are lots of mediums for art

the internet is a great enabler, bringing art to those who maybe would not have seen it otherwise.. although it has to be said a picture of Tracey Emin's unmade bed on a screen is only a description [visually], and not the real thing... until you see the real thing you do not see the art; same goes for a painting such as mona lisa, the last supper, Dali's the temptation of saint anthony, and even high quality prints do not give you a sense of the brushwork, the effect of light, you need to see the real thing [and hope the gallery curators know what they are doing which is not a given]

computing opens lots of new possibilities sure, but Dylan went electric and the acoustic guitar still thrives; I do not need electricity to make art, though it will be somewhat different...

So I get marked down if I look at something, appreciate it and work out how I might do it and share my creative idea?

the way I read you post was 'I know a better way of doing this' - if that was wrong, I apologise

Computing is a case in point. I am an analyser, developer, designer, implementer and integrator by profession. Most are just users. Neither would exist without the other

you could argue that a lot of artists create art without caring a hoot whether anyone is interested or not

for that matter what use was binary before computing.. Carroll made use of it in Alice, but that was an in-joke from a mathematician - is something art if no one goes 'WOW'... is there a sound when the tree falls if no one sees....

[Acorn]

Truly, thank you all.

I was not trying to better or discredit her efforts, I was offering up a method others might try with an XDA as otherwise they might not realise its power or ever have a go.
It was a stab at Xara for trying to limit our capacity to do things: rotate text by a degree and we get a bitmap; use a NavBar and you have bitmaps upon bitmaps.
I was and am after the purity Diana has achieved without going elemental.

Acorn

[Boy]

Pauland, your remark that

It's a sad reflection on TG at how so many threads focus on minutiae rather than celebrate the skill and beauty of the result.

Seems contrary to

I am not the TG police.

But I appreciate your call to celebrate any great achievement.


In that vein, I would like to celebrate Acorn’s efforts and achievements -- by having a grand vision for the Xara design apps and by focusing on the minutiae in order to achieve that -- to reinvigorate the forums, to expand the usability of the apps, and to call Xara management’s into action.

He’s championing many of the concerns and requests that have been expressed for years by countless TG members, many of whom have since left, often hurt and dispirited that their love for Xara’s apps was not acknowledged by Xara management. With the input of a few other distinguished members (not including me), Acorn is giving a boost to the whole Xara ecosystem.

I don’t know why he is doing this and where he gets his seemingly boundless energy from, but I follow his actions with wonder and respect. I feel this is the time and place for me to say it out loud.

[handrawn]

I am not politically correct... but I am an artist [as in art school] first and foremost, and I know that the only sensible answer an artist can give to the question 'why did you do it like that' is 'because I can'

if you think that the final product is all that matters then you do not understand the artistic [=as opposed to design] process - I had a friend who did watercolours - they always ended up a mess, he was the first to admit they were a mess, but what he loved was the process of doing it...

I cannot speak for the artist in question, but I am not going to say I know better, because I know better [than that]

Missing the point would be to avoid Pointillism

can you do pointillism ?

@paul - just seen your post - its very skillfull and very beautiful yes, way beyond what I could ever do whatever way i chose to tackle it, nothing but admiration...