Sparkling Goodbye
Licia He , 2023
Sparkling Goodbye is a long-form generative art program by Licia He, to be released through The Bright Moments Tokyo Collection. Minting for this collection will start on May 6th, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan.
Follow @Licia_He and Bright Moments for project updates and minting options.
Sparkling Goodbye is a generative painting algorithm that celebrates all departures. It's a Farewell to the past, a Bye-Bye to the familiar, and a See-You-Later to faces that you will soon forget.
Each Sparkling Goodbye is meticulously loaded with machine-picked emotions, made from the finest ingredient (100% pixels, full refund if you find any impurities in our ingredient). This hands-off approach makes every single Sparkling Goodbye a chaotic blend of happiness, sadness, serenity, and anxiety. With every glance, you'll discover the impulsiveness of the machine touch as you savor the delightful interplay of dramas that only a maniac generative algorithm can create.
Let Sparkling Goodbye create a moment for you. It will insist that goodbyes are not meant to be said with tears but with sparkling water.
This project page documents Sparkling Goodbye with many (lazy-loading) examples. All images displayed on this website are off-band test outputs unless otherwise mentioned. Click the image to view a larger version. Click the ♾ button to view additional examples.
Sample Output ♾
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Background and Concept
Sparkling Goodbye was created during a special time of my life: a period of time when I had to say many goodbyes. In early 2023, I quit a job that I spent years preparing for, left a country after calling it home for more than a decade, and moved to a city I had never visited ... so that I can live my dream.
And that dream is to create art, to create more art, to create more art every single day.
Sparkling Goodbye was the first major algorithm that I developed after transitioning to a full-time artist. I was thrilled by this new chapter of my life, dazzled by new influences around me. But at the same time, I was overwhelmed by all of these goodbyes that I've said, as well as the ones that I had not gotten a chance to say. As the result, Sparkling Goodbye is an emotional piece that captures my excitement, disorientation, and retrospection during this period.
The core structures within Sparkling Goodbye are groups of rotating and expanding geometries. There are eight major types of geometries in this system. The [Shape Scheme] feature denotes these geometries. The following examples showcase the key characteristics of each type of geometry.
Additionally, there are four [Center Pattern] and four [Background Pattern] that form the structure of the painting. Each pattern is programmed to produce a versatile range of shapes.
Texture
During the creation of Sparkling Goodbye, I was fascinated by how human eyes can instantly build associations between what we see and what we know. When viewed at a distance or on a small screen, Sparkling Goodbye outputs appear to have a painterly texture that resembles acrylic or oil paint. However, simulating paint texture in a realistic fashion was not my goal. Sparkling Goodbye is a purely digital piece, and I wanted to keep the iconic characteristic of my digital art supply. Therefore, I intentionally added marks that have strong associations with machines, such as sharp edges, ordered dots, and perfect grid. The interplay of the physical vibe and digital touch is one of the signature characteristics of Sparkling Goodbye.
When viewed closely, Sparkling Goodbye reveals its machine-made marks: sharp edges, ordered dots, and perfect grid. ♾
Color Scheme
Sparkling Goodbye features 20 sets of fully-generative color rules. Each set consists of 10 rules that produce endless combinations of colors. If you want to read more detailed documentation about my color-selecting approach, head to the documentation of my open-sourced tool, Color Rules Generator, or this documentation of Drifting Dreams.
Here are sample outputs for each palette.
Development Story
Sparkling Goodbye is a Javascript program without any external dependencies.
The development process of Sparkling Goodbye was filled with sparks. I was truly surprised by this algorithm and felt like having a conversation with it. The best word that I could find to describe this process is "magical", as each creative decision led me to unknown territory. It felt like I was the one steering the wheel, but I was also the one listening for directions.
Here are some chronically ordered debugging views, each serves as a milestone for this adventure.