Genetic Engineering

Esper · **Joined:** Jul 17, 2012 **Posts:** 2770

i've been thinking: does everything i do look the same ?
am i a one trick pony ?
what is the next level for me ?
and i decided, a possible next level might be to combine several pieces into a greater picture

also, today i had a look at some old Basic Channel cover art, and it reminded me a lot of an astethique electronic music producers used in the early nineties
it was the idea, to do some sort of science with sounds
sampling, resampling
its like looking through a magnifying glass, x-raying your sounds, reversing them and put them in a gravity field, etc. - with a sampler

so i tried to use different methods on my pictures, to degrade them in the most possible good looking way
and this is the result
its kind of ugly, but there is a lot of detail in it

Attachment:

Genetic Engineering.jpg [ 2.02 MiB | Viewed 2613 times ]

2-ton · **Posted:** Fri Feb 01, 2013 8:34 pm **(#2)**

Cool, I like it....it's like genetic engineering gone wrong!

he4rty · **Joined:** Aug 30, 2012 **Posts:** 2174

It does work thought Esper.

Erisian · **Posted:** Sat Feb 02, 2013 7:11 am **(#4)**

I really like that one Esper! Nice work.

ek22 · **Posted:** Sat Feb 02, 2013 8:02 am **(#5)**

Looks almost like a Dead Kennedys album cover.

Esper · **Joined:** Jul 17, 2012 **Posts:** 2770

yeah somehow it looks familiar to me too, but i dont know where i have seen it before
im not a punk music lover, so i cant imagine, where i picked the inspiration up

but somehow i have that feeling i imitated something on a subconscious level

for all the curious people, here are some links to the BC art i mentioned:
http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=2163
http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=2167
http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=3544
http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=3543
http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=2165

ek22 · **Posted:** Sat Feb 02, 2013 8:18 am **(#7)**

Well this is why I said it. It reminds me of this.

Esper · **Joined:** Jul 17, 2012 **Posts:** 2770

yeah similiar color scheme, but thats not where i borrowed it.....

this red is stereotypical me....another bad habit :roll:

ek22 · **Posted:** Sat Feb 02, 2013 9:13 am **(#9)**

It's not a bad red. It's a good red. And you own it.

K1TesseraEna · **Joined:** Sep 22, 2012 **Posts:** 2089 **Location:** US

Having cell biology and molecular genetics diplomas under my belt makes me see a lot of genetically related things in your design.

Very cool rendering, I wonder what you did with text to achieve this effect

Esper · **Joined:** Jul 17, 2012 **Posts:** 2770

not sure which one you are referring to, K1te

if you have a look at the links, you can see that, at least to me, the style has a lot to to with degradation
so i tried to warp everything as much as possible

i dont remember everything but i think i used
dithering (G'MIC)
spread noise
noise -> slur (a lot and multiple times)
multiple bump mapping
motion blur

the "DNA" was done by using parts of the ESPER text, that was stretched and satin applied to it
then copying the bits i wanted, re-arranging and then bump mapping
that is the "process and resample" idea borrowed from music production

i used samj Noise filter and the Tetris filter from G'MIC -> artistic

also the newspaper filter

K1TesseraEna · **Joined:** Sep 22, 2012 **Posts:** 2089 **Location:** US

Esper wrote:

i've been thinking: does everything i do look the same ?
am i a one trick pony ?

No, you're most certainly not.

Esper wrote:

what is the next level for me ?

That is the true artist's question of all times. You're not alone

Esper wrote:

and i decided, a possible next level might be to combine several pieces into a greater picture, also, today i had a look at some old Basic Channel cover art, and it reminded me a lot of an astethique electronic music producers used in the early nineties it was the idea, to do some sort of science with sounds sampling, resampling its like looking through a magnifying glass, x-raying your sounds, reversing them and put them in a gravity field, etc. - with a sampler

Right here you've lost 90% of the audience, but that's not your problem. It's like teaching logarithms to a fifth-grader. Don't want to sound highfalutin here but I, personally, embrace everything that defies cliches and stereotypes. A few years back sound visualization concept made an impact on my perception of sound, vision and arts. They are all interwined to a greater harmony. Take any element out and it will never be the same

Esper wrote:

so i tried to use different methods on my pictures, to degrade them in the most possible good looking way
and this is the result its kind of ugly, but there is a lot of detail in it

You don't really think it's ugly. Do you? I don't. In fact, I think it's a gasp of fresh air here. I'm pretty sure you have more similar stuff to share. Please do.

AnMal · **Posted:** Sun Feb 03, 2013 7:34 am **(#13)**

esper:

well done! i also got punk associations first, but most punk stuff is a lot more simple (that's not necessarily bad, of course, but it's different). i agree with k1te, i don't think it's ugly, and the red against the grey is good - it may be a little bit of a cliché, but i think you use it well and you generally don't think "ha! cliché!" when something is used well. you really have a style of your own, brother!

Esper · **Joined:** Jul 17, 2012 **Posts:** 2770

K1TesseraEna wrote:

Right here you've lost 90% of the audience, but that's not your problem. It's like teaching logarithms to a fifth-grader. Don't want to sound highfalutin here but I, personally, embrace everything that defies cliches and stereotypes. A few years back sound visualization concept made an impact on my perception of sound, vision and arts. They are all interwined to a greater harmony. Take any element out and it will never be the same

thank you K1te

im very much in my own specialist world, that has advantages and disadvantages...
if you are interested in this concept stuff, i recommend a book called "More brilliant than the sun" by Kodwo Eshun
its about the history of sample based music, and the science fiction ideas behind it
there is lots of metaphorical stuff going on and you dont have to necessarily like or know the music he is talking about (although it helps)

AnMal wrote:

well done! i also got punk associations first, but most punk stuff is a lot more simple (that's not necessarily bad, of course, but it's different). i agree with k1te, i don't think it's ugly, and the red against the grey is good - it may be a little bit of a cliché, but i think you use it well and you generally don't think "ha! cliché!" when something is used well. you really have a style of your own, brother!

thanks AnMal, that is a great compliment
you have been an important inspiration for me and i tried for once to leave the path of symmetry