The Aikon Project uses computational techniques to examine the activity of drawing – in particular sketching the human face – and is co-ordinated by Professor of Computing at Goldsmiths, Frederic Fol Leymarie and researcher and artist Patrick Tresset. The Skediomata robotic system was shown in action at the recent Kinetica Art Fair, London held February 4-7 2010.
The Aikon (Autonomous/Artistic/IKONograph) Project has received funding from the Leverhulme Trust to carry out work until the end of 2011, and could eventually result in Aikon ‘learning’ to draw in its own style.
The team explain: ‘Artistic drawing, is the human activity we investigate in the Aikon project. It has been practiced in every civilisation for at least the last 30,000 years. The project will be using computational and robotic technologies to explore the drawing activity. In particular the research focuses on face sketching.’
Aikon: Lovelace; Lovelace detail; Turing
‘What can explain that for a non-draughtsman it proves so difficult to draw what they perceive so clearly, while an artist is able to do so sometimes just with a few lines, in a few seconds? Furthermore, how can an artist draw with an immediately recognisable style/manner? How can a few lines thrown spontaneously on paper be aesthetically pleasing? Art historians, psychologists, neuroscientists, such as Arnheim, Fry, Gombrich, Leyton, Ramachandran, Ruskin, Willats, Zeki, have argued that artists perceive the world differently.’
‘We believe that it is now possible, with some imagination and insights, to implement a coarse computational simulation of the processes active when an artist is sketching faces from life.’
Aikon: Lena series
‘The most important processes to be studied and simulated within Aikon include the visual perception of the subject, and the dynamically created sketch. It will also study the representation, planning and execution of the drawing gestures; the cognitive activity of reasoning, about the percepts of the sitter and the drawing; the influence of the years of training as a form of memory, and the inter-processes information flows, with a focus on feedback mechanisms – for example when looking back at the sitter or when looking at the partial sketch already performed.’
Aikon: vssm series
Based on earlier work and results, Frederic and Patrick are expecting Aikon to be able to draw in its own style, with the resulting system having been informed by an artist’s insights and also by past artists‚ who have left writings about their creative behaviour.’
