Algorithmic Brushing

Using only information in the image, is it possible to algorithmically choose angles for brush strokes? I started fooling around with this idea back in 1988, and have been resurrecting it off and on over the years – this version runs in Processing.

Get the source here.

Strange Things Around the Eyes This has always been the problem with this approach – no attention to the anatomical details. I wonder if facial-recognition data could be used to scale the strokes around and on the eyes to preserve some detail?

More Facial Distortion I like the treatment of the ceiling in this one, but the distortion of the facial features is disturbing again.

Sleeping Dog, Window Swung the laptop towards the window and caught Kai sleeping. Stroke direction on Kai just happens to coincide with fur.

Un-natural Directional Choices Vertical strokes on the hand? Feels like those should follow the vectors of the fingers…. Might try reducing image to a few colors, creating a polygonal representation, and then use a vector field (seeded with the lines from the polygons) to determine brush angles.

Self Portrait – Eyes Closed Looking for good angular distinctions between areas of similar brightness but different hues.

Monochrome Brushing Ignoring the color information to see the angular details more clearly.

(added 3.jan.09)
Interesting to note what kind of traffic you get from posting to the Exhibition section on processing.org:

I posted to processing.org on Christmas day (25.dec.08) and then get an almost perfect decay curve in blog traffic.