Tools for Inspiration - Drawing

This will be -hopefully- a new fixed section in UglyDoggy.

I am a big believer in the search for inspiration. But my take on it is less romantic and more pragmatic, meaning that I believe less in the "muses" and more in tools, techniques and methods.

From my point of view to call the muses you need to feed the brain. Sometimes with information, sometimes with images, always with new things.

It has become easier with the internet: on one hand we have more access to information but also there are more and more tools out there that can help us "think without thinking". This is one of those cases.

The "Scribbler: A generative illustration toy by Zefrank" makes almost any simple draw beautiful by adding scribbles to your own scribble. First, you have to draw something, but it doesn't really need to be a good, nice drawing (believe me, I can't draw with the mouse!).

Then in the next step, before starting the scribbler, make sure you click in the "scribbler settings". There, you can choose colors, thickness of the lines and "scribbliness". Choose your settings and click on start. Be aware that you can also change settings while the program is working, what allows you to have several colors on the image.

Chances are you will get something way more beautiful than your original drawing. Both the buterfly and the star in this posting were done with it.

This is not the only "interactive toy" that the Ze site has. His "String Spin" also plays with your drawing in a beautiful way and his "Gyro" (make sure you first see one in the making and then open the control panel to make changes) creates images from your settings.

Some other interesting toys helps you create your own kaleidoscope (there are several versions) and some others play with sound. If you want to see the whole list, you can go to his site and check each feature under "interactive toys". Some are better than others,but while you may think that some of these games are for kids, remember that kids tend to be more creative than us adults, among other things because they DO play with anything that crosses their path!