Digital Art

Digital Art

I paint digitally today. In fact, the artistic process in digital art is very much the same as for making classical or traditional painting. The main difference is that digital art can never be a finished piece of art, an artwork to hang on a wall. You can always come back, as an Artistic Terminator, and add some other nuances to any of your digital paintings. Romance of classical art is gone in our digital age, but antiquated art forms, such as handwritten portrait, may take on new importance one day and become greater than ever, as this old art is very personal, deliberate and means more than any software will.

A leader stimulates mirror neurons of the led. (Rana Junaid Mustafa Gohar)

Anatomists today would be hard put to identify the brain of a visual artist, a writer or a mathematician - but they would recognize the brain of a professional musician without moment's hesitation. (Oliver Sacks, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain )

The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything (Oscar Wilde)

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes (Oscar Wilde)

True friends stab you in the front (Oscar Wilde)

I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best (Oscar Wilde)

Further, manga is a style of comics originating in Japan, in the same way as anime is an initially Japanese animation genre. Both have gained worldwide popularity.

Interestingly the word anime varies in meanings. Sometimes it narrowly refers to Japanese animation and comics (with related words such as manga, komikku and popular series Naruto), while at other times it means cartoon and comic book style characters and stories, that are dark, close to Gothic, in nature. Despite the indisputable worldwide popularity of the anime genre, there are many other cartoon styles such as machinima (toons made with computer graphics as background art), and popular animated television series such as Family Guy and derivative shows, Futurama, Bob’s Burgers, The Lion King (motion picture, full length animated feature) or Star Trek: The Animated Series, to only name a few…

A distinguished comic story turned cartoon is The Smurfs franchise. Also called Schtroumpfs, these mythical beings were created in Belgium by the cartoonist artist Peyo. On July 29, 2011 a collaboration between Columbia Pictures and Sony Animation Pictures presented the 3D movie The Smurfs. Needless to say, it’s a lovely movie… Other famous animated productions come from prestigious cartoons, fantasy and comics names such as Disney, Dream Works Animation, Marvel and DC.

Interestingly, the term Smad Ubiquitin Regulatory FactorS are also abbreviated as SMURFS (Arora & Warrior, 2001). The ligases fulfill important functions in TGF-β functions. Well, aside from the occasional biomedical blogger and the present entry, there are very few connections between Smurfs and neuroscience, so the aforementioned ligases is as close a connection between the tiny blue creatures and science as this text will cover. Finally, in the 2011 movie, Smurfette or Schtroumpfette is voiced by I Kissed a Girl popular singer Katy Perry (who since went from jade black to golden blond locks).

Abstract and Digital Art

Abstract art is open to interpretation and free from confinement by rational limitations. Digital art is in that sense less controversial, in that it originated during the 1990s and 2000s or the Internet connection era, and has been noticed to evolve at high speed. Notwithstanding, today's digital art symbolizes both the technological changes to lifestyles, and that some elements remain unchanged regardless of the circumstances.

Art dates back to times of prehistoric cavern paintings, so it is understandable that art comes in many forms and kinds. The images below center on an animated, cartooned businessman, digital, abstract art and graphics.

Sketches

Sketch drawings of natural scenery

Sketching is a form of drawing, usually used to express that a depiction represents a first draft, or is rough or unfinished. Below are some sketches portraying Elves - the magical creatures of the fantasy art world.

Sketches or sketch drawings consist of unfinished, rough or preliminary drawings. Sketching is usually achieved using graphite, charcoal and ink. The following images represent landscapes and other elements of nature. Such drawings are commonly in black and white (grayscale), done with pencils, graphite or pen. Collections of pictures can represent sketches of nature landscapes (ocean, shore,  rocky ocean and sea shore, mountains, fields and forests, prairies and steppe paysages as part of landscape paintings. A fantasy art style sketch drawing of a river shore can also be seen, as well as lakes and other bodies of water.

References:

•     Arora, K.; Warrior, R. (2001). A new smurf in the village. Developmental Cell, 1: 1-2.

Vince's Dragon

Vince’s Dragon

By Ben Bova

The warehouse fire was the most spectacular anyone had seen in a long time, and the police were totally stymied about its cause. They questioned Vince at length, especially since he had forgotten to get rid of the gasoline and paint thinner in the back of the stolen station wagon. But they couldn’t pin a thing on him, not even car theft, one Louie had Big Balls Falcone explain the situation to the unhappy wagon’s owner.

Vincee’s position in the Family started to rise. Spectacularly.

Arson became his specialty. Louie gave him tougher and tougher assignments and Vince would wander off a night later and the job would be done. Perfectly.

He met Sizzle regularly, sometimes in abandoned building, sometimes in empty lots. The dragon remained invisible then, of course, and the occasional passerby got the impression that a young, sharply-dressed man was standing in the middle of weed-choked, bottle-strewn empty lot, talking to thin air.

More than once they could have heard him asking, « You really ain’t interested in my soul? »

But only Vince could hear Sizzle’s amused reply, « No, Vince, I have no use for souls, yours or anyone else’s. »

As the months went by, Vince’s rapid rise to Family stardom naturally attracted some antagonism from other young men attempting to get ahead in the organization. Antagonism sometimes led to animosity, threats, even attempts at violence.

Dragon without a head. Photo by Elena

But strangely, wondrously, anyone who got angry at Vince disappeared. Without a trace, except once when a single charred shoe of Fats Lobardi’s was found in the middle of Tasker street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth.

Louie and the other elders of the Family nodded knowingly, Vince was not only ambitious and talented. He was smart. No bodies could be laid at his doorstep.

From arson, Vince branched into load-sharking, which was still the heart of the Family’s operation. But he didn’t need Big Balls Falcone to terrify his customers into paying on time. Customers who didn’t pay found their cars turned into smoking wrecks. Right before their eyes, an automible parked at the curb would burst into flame.

« Gee, too bad, » Vince would say. « Next time it might be your house, » he’d hint darkly, seeming to wink at somebody who wasn’t there. At least, somebody no one else could see. Somebody very tall, from the angle of his head when he winked.

The day came when Big Balls Falcone himself, understandably put out by the decline in his business, let it be known that he was coming after Vince. Big Balls disappeared in a cloud of smoke, literally

Inspiration

Inspiration

By Ben Bova

I stole a glance at Albert. His eyes were riveted on Kelvin, his lips parted as if he wanted to speak but could not work up the nerve. He ran a hand nervously through his thick mop of hair. Kelvin seemed perfectly at ease, smiling affably, his hands laced across his stomach just below his beard; he was the man of authority, acknowledged by the world as the leading scientific figure of his generation.

« Can it be really true? » Albert blurted at last. « Have we learned everything of physics that can be learned? »

He spoke in German, of course, the only language he knew. I immediately translated for him, exactly as he asked his question.

Once he understood what Albert was asking, Kelvin nodded his gray old head sagely. « Yes, yes. The young men in the laboratories today are putting the final dots over the i’sm the final crossing of the t’s. We’ve just about finished physics; we know at last all there is to be known. »

Albert looked crushed.

Kelvin did not need a translator to understand the youngster’s emotion. « If you are thinking of a career in physics, young man, then I heartly advise you to think again. By the time you complete your education there will be nothing left for you to do. »

« Nothing? » Wells asked as I translated, « Nothing at all? »

« Oh, add a few decimal places here and there, I suppose. Tidy up a bit, that sort of thing. »

Dark. Photo by Elena

Albert had failed his admission test to the Federal Polytechnic in Zurich. He had never been a particularly good student. My goal was to get him to apply again to the Polytechnic and pass the exams.

Visibly screweing up his courage, Albert asked, « But what about the work of Roentgen? »

Once I had translated, Kelvin knit his brow, « Roentgen? » Oh, you mean that report about mysterious rays that go through solid walls? X rays, is ité1

Albert nodded eagerly.

« Stuff and nonsense », snapped the old man. « Absolute bosh. He may impress a few medical men who know little of science, but his X rays do not exist. Impossible! German daydreaming. »

Albert loojde at me with his whole life trembling in his piteous eyes. I interpreted :

« The professor fears that X rays may be illusory, although he does not as yet have have enough evidence to decide, one way or the other. »

Albert’s face lit up. « Then there is hope! We have not discovered everything as yet! »

I was thinking about how to translate that for Kelvin when Wells ran out of patience. « Where is that blasted waitress? »

I was grateful for the interruption. « I will find her, sir.»

The Long Way Back

The Long Way Back

By Ben Bova

Cold. Dark and so cold that numbers lost their meaning. Paralyzing cold, seeping in through the suit while you worked, crawling up your limbs until you could hardly move. The whole universe hung up in the sky and looked down on the small cold figure of a man struggling blindly with machinery he could not understand.

Dark. Dark and Cold.

Ruth stayed on the radio as long as Jasonn would allow her, talking to Tom, keeping the link with life and warmth. But finally Jason took over, and the radio went silent.

So don’t talk, Tom growled silently, I can keep warm just by hating you Jason.

He worked through the frigid night, struggling ant-like with huge pieces of equipment. Slowly he assembled the big parabolic mirror, the sighting mechanism and the atomic convertor. With dreamy motins he started connecting the intricate wiring systems.

And all the while he raged at himself : Why? Why did it have to be this way? Why me? Why did I agree to do this? I knew I’d never live through it. Why did I do it?

»He retraced the days of his life : the preparations for the flight, the arguments with Jason over exploring the cities, his trek from Chicago to the settlement, the aimless years after the radiation death of his two boys and Marjorie, his wife.

Marjorie and his boys, lying sick month after month dying one after the other in a cancerous agony while he stood by helplessly in the ruins of what had been their home.

Dark. Dark and cold. Photo by Elena

No! His mind warned him. Don’t think of that. Not that. Think of Jason, Jason who prevents you from doing the one thing you want, who is taking your life from you; Jason, the peerless leader; Jason, who’s afraid of the cities. Why? Why is he afraid of the cities? That’s the hub of everything down there. Why does Jason fear the cities?

It wasn’t until he finished connecting the satellite’s last unit – the sighting mechanism – that Tom realized the answer.

One answer. And everything fell into place.

Everything… except what Tom Morris was going to do about it.

Tom squinted through the twin telescopes of the sighting mechanism again, then pushed away and floated free, staring at the Earth bathed in pale moonlight.

What do I do now? For an instant he was close to panic, but he forced it down. Thank, he said to himself. You’re supposed to be a Homo Sapiens… use that brain. Think!

Flatland

Flatland

Let us imagine we inhabit a strange country where everyone is perfectly flat. Following Edwin Abbott, a Shakespearean scholar who lived in Victorian England, we call it Flatland. Some of us are squares, some are triangles, some have more complex shapes. We scurry about, in and out of our flat buildings, occupied with our flat businesses and dalliances.

Everyone in Flatland has width and length, but no height whatever. We know about left-right and forward-back, but have no hint, no trace of comprehension, about up-down – except for flat mathematicians. The say, “listen, it’s really very easy. Imagine left-right, imagine forward-back, ok, so far? Now imagine another dimension, at right angles to the other two. And we say: “What are you talking about? At right angles to the other two? There are only two dimensions. Point to that third dimension. Where is it?” So the mathematicians, disheartened amble off. Nobody listens to mathematicians.

Every square creature in Flatland sees another square as merely a short line segment, the sight of the square nearest to him. He can see the other side of the square only by taking a short walk. But the inside of a square is forever mysterious, unless some terrible accident or autopsy breaches the sides and exposes the interior parts.

On day a three-dimensional creature – shaped like an apple, say, comes upon Flatland, hovering above it. Observing a particularly and attractive and congenial-looking square entering its flat house, the apple decides, in a gesture of interdimensional amity, to say hello. “How are you? “ asks the visitor from the third dimension. “I am a visitor from the third dimension”. The wretched square looks about his closed house and sees no one. What is worse, to him it appears that the greeting, entering from above, is emanating from his own flat body, a voice from within. A little insanity, he perhaps reminds himself gamely, runs in the family.

The question of what lies beyond is meaningless. Flat creatures cannot, on their own, escape there two dimensions. Image: © Megan Jorgensen (Elena)

Exasperated at being judged a psychological aberration, the apple descends into Flatland. Now, a three-dimensional creature can exist, in Flatland, only partially; only a cross section can be seen, only the points of contact with the plain surface of Flatland. An apple slithering through Flatland would appear first as a point and then as progressively larger, roughly circular slices. The square sees a point appearing in a closed room in his two-dimensional room and slowly growing into a near circle. A creature of strange and changing shape has appeared from nowhere.

Rebuffed, unhappy at the obtuseness of the very flat, the apple bumps the square and sends him aloft, fluttering and spinning into that mysterious third dimension. At first the square can make no sense of what is happening; it is utterly outside his experience. But eventually he realizes that he is viewing Flatland from a peculiar vantage point “above”. He can see into closed rooms. He can see into his flat fellows. He is viewing his universe from a unique and devastating perspective. Traveling through another dimension provides, as an incidental benefit, a kind of X-ray vision. Eventually, like a falling leaf, our square slowly descends to the surface. From the point of view of his fellow Flatlanders, he has unaccountably disappeared from a closed room and then distressingly materialized from nowhere. “For heaven’s sake,” they say, “what happened to you?” – “I think”, he finds himself replying, “I was up”. They put him on his sides and comfort him. Delusions always run in his family.

Imagine the universe just like Flatland, except that unbeknownst to the inhabitants, their two-dimensions universe is curved enough through a third physical dimension. When the Flatlanders take short excursions, their universe looks flat enough. But if one of them takes a long enough walk along what seems to be a perfectly straight line, he uncovers a great mystery: although he had not reached a barrier and has never turned around, he has somehow come back to the place from which he started. His two-dimensional universe must have been warped, bent or curved through a mysterious third dimension. He cannot imagine this third dimension, but he can deduce it. Increase all dimensions in this story by one, and you have a situation that may apply to us.