Who are you?
Hello, my name is 劉乃廷 (Liu Nai-Ting), nicknamed 19. I’m a web developer from Taiwan.
Eziraros is the name for web3.
When did you start making art?
I’ve loved creating since I was a child. My attempts till now included drawing, graffiti, making music, origami, wool felt, and creative coding.
The picture below is one of my wool felt works — a brain. (2019)
I keep trying, but I don’t really know what art is. I just try to approach it.
If anyone is interested in the music I made, click here → https://soundcloud.com/u_d/sound-shower
When did you start making generative art?
It was about 15 years ago. A friend showed me some sketches made by him with Processing. I felt surprised and started to learn Processing from him, making some sketches during that time.
In the next few years, I became a front-end developer and occasionally used the techniques I learned before. Other than that, there was no further generative art creation until this year. I got into generative art again because of fxhash.
How did you hear about FxHash?
I have a friend named Aluan, probably the most famous generative artist in Taiwan. He stayed on the path to being an artist while I was not continuing to make generative art. I saw him mentioning fxhash and NFT on Facebook too many times in the last year. Finally, I felt as if I should try. Then began my first work on January 1st of this year.
What is your creative process for making a work of generative art?
I don’t have a very solid process yet.
If I want to do something figurative, after I decide what to draw, I’ll collect images as references from Pinterest, and watch a bunch of videos on Youtube. (Sometimes, I put them into Milanote for a better arrangement.) Next, do some studies.
- shape study
I start by drawing some sketches in pencil, dismantling the various parts of the object, and building a familiarity with the shape.
In this process, I think about how to classify the various parts programmatically and how the shapes grow.
2. texture study
This part usually starts after my code is able to draw some shapes roughly.
Besides studying the texture of the object itself, I also study artistic expressions. (e.g., sketch, watercolor on paper)
The layout and features are decided while coding.
Coloring is at a later stage. I’m not good at creating color palettes, so I usually use only two or three colors. It’s relatively simple.
Why do you make generative art?
I love coding and art. Making generative art is a perfect way to combine both.
But as I said, I stopped once. NFT was the turning point that made me want to continue it. I never imagined that I could have income and get connections with people by making generative art before.
Tell us about one of your earliest low edition FxHash projects.
My first project was modified from a sketch I made in 2010. At that time, I had no idea about the NFT market, and I didn’t know what should I do, I just tried to publish an old work as an NFT. I remember the first collector is named Lucas. Seeing the first token be minted, I was grateful and very excited.
“The generative octopuses” was a huge success. How did this work come to be?
I did a write-up for the octopi here → https://mirror.xyz/0xF7E15015D31e1Be374c21E6F1dE91147C8B5db88/tEL7_taJEbIiA4rcfZnOvHDRqnKzV2haRnnVV2YFU94
and a thread to document it →
Explain “shape study” to us.
It’s embarrassing to admit this. The key to making me start this project was “Balanced” by JeffW.
My friends and I liked this project and minted a few. Later we found out that some of the shapes looked a little bit… familiar. A question bubbled up in my mind: “why don’t I make sex toys in the form of generative art?” Then I took “shape” as the theme and started my “Shape Study.”
The process was the same as I described. I sketched in pencil first.
At first, I drew many types of sex toys. Then I decided to make dildos only. Because I thought the shape is the most recognizable and symbolic. The shape of the dildo is from humans. I need the shape which has a connection with our body because the shape of ourselves is what I really want to talk about.
In the work description, I mentioned
I realized that when people explore themselves or others, it is also a form of shape study.
With what’s visible and concrete, explore the unseen and abstract
It’s not only about physical shapes but also about preference and personality. Therefore, I don’t want all shapes to look strong and aggressive. You can find a short, thin, or even soft one in some variations.
Some WIPs here → https://twitter.com/s_r_r_z_/status/1527219940909936640
About the development of this project, I’ll make another write-up in the future.
How did you know when “shape study” was ready to be released?
The question is great and hard to answer. Frankly, Shape Study was not completed as I imagined before, although I’ve spent lots of time on it.
But I suddenly remembered something Sam Tsao said
My capacity is not there, but the results seem okay to release for me. The details were rich enough; the variations were not bad, so I decided to release it. Then move focus to the coming projects.
In your opinion, what’s the difference between a good and great piece of generative art
In my opinion, a good piece would have a good concept and good execution.
And a great piece should be a good piece that is pioneering, exploring the edge of possibility in some way.
Is there anyone you want to shoutout?
I want to give a shout-out to the friend who taught me Processing. Now he is running a bookstore that specializes in photobooks. If you love photography and have a chance to visit Taiwan, please check his bookstore “moom bookshop.” It’s a small but beautiful place.
Anything else?
Thanks John for the interview. It’s my first time being interviewed in English. Please forgive me if my words were hard to read or made some ridiculous mistakes. Thanks for your reading.