The 4x4 Project invited four leading web artists and designers to work together on the theme of Time and Stasis. Each artist was commissioned to create a new Flash movie, to explain the how and the why, and finally to swap files and remix each other's works. The four authors: Jeremy Tai Abbett (suture), Arron Bleasdale (reforms), Karen Ingram (krening) and Francine Spiegel (tenderoni) are well known and respected for their groundbreaking web sites. All four authors are expert in combining Flash and Photoshop to create stunning effects, but there any similarity ends.
Jeremy Tai Abbett
Arron Bleasdale
Karen Ingram
Francine Spiegel
Between them, the four authors represent the vast diversity of styles and approaches possible when the time-based animation of Flash is combined with the static, layered images of Photoshop to create intricate, inventive, animated environments and reactive effects. Their detailed explanations of how each piece was created form an invaluable primer in a wide range of techniques and skills.
This book and the accompanying web site immerse the reader in the four phases of the 4x4 process:
Theory: personal accounts of the creative process, manifestos, diaries, mental sketchbooks, and associated ephemera
Time and Stasis: access to the finished original Flash movies online, and stunning artwork from the pieces presented in the book
Process: detailed, firsthand, technical descriptions of the creation of each piece, along with original source files on the web site
Noise and Interference: the four authors discuss, sample and remix each other's works
This book is one of a set of four which explores the creation of original artwork. If you feel strongly about the work you see here, there is a forum on friendsofED.com where you can offer your own review and hear what your peers have to say. The four books may be purchased individually (1903450454, 1903450462, 1903450470, 1903450489) - and they make a pretty cool picture when you lay them out together.
