Digital Painting Palette and Brush
This is a physical tool that seamlessly pairs to a digital experience.
The connection demonstrates a symbiotic relationship between traditional painting methods and digital ones, furthermore, proving the importance of traditional making techniques. The artist becomes untethered to their device, free to move and form a deeper connection to their art.
Tools influence the art that is produced from them. They act as frameworks that shift the artists perception of the subject they are seeing, they enable and disable certain approaches, and their very nature aesthetically determines the appearance of a work. An artist holding a pencil will move in a completely different rhythm than an artist working with an ink brush, their minds intertwined with the different languages of each tool. And if they were to attempt to replicate the same image both tools would give the images different appearances. Tools are important to the artist as they provide possibilities. This project set out to explore the possibilities of combining two seemingly separate realms of art through the creation of a new tool.
Brush Handle
Brush Tip Connector
Brush/Stylus Tip
Alternate Brush Tip Connector and Brush/Stylus Tip
Thumb Rest
Palette
Digital Touchscreen
Brush/Stylus Tip Holder
Brush/Stylus
Alternate Stylus Tip
The brush stylus interacts with the palette in a few different ways. The palette itself holds the different brush tips, attaching to the holes along the side of each brush tip connector, and allows the brush to remove and switch between them. Magnets embedded in the brush tip connectors and the brush handle connect the components. The brush tips and the end of the brush handle function as styluses that work with the palette's embedded touchscreen.
The palette works by pairing with another touchscreen device. The colors mixed and selected on the palette are used to paint on a device like an ipad or tablet. Software downloaded to the tablet will recognize the color selected on the palette by the stylus as well as the shape of the tip attached to the brush stylus to determine the corresponding output. The various stylus tips will allow different variations of paint disbursement on the screen, making the resulting texture appear more like a traditional hair brush.
Progress:
