This sketch went through more versions than I expected. What I’m submitting now is not where I started at all. The process was mostly about learning when to stop adding, when to remove, and when to trust small decisions like color and speed instead of big visual tricks.
Rather than drawing literal objects, I wanted to treat the canvas like a sky that slowly paints itself. The goal was to get something that feels alive and emotional through motion alone, without relying on obvious symbols.
Concept
The sketch is made up of many moving walkers that act like brush strokes. Each one follows a smooth flow field, creating large swirling currents across the canvas. Small warm dots are scattered in the space. They are intentionally subtle and not meant to be read as stars directly. Instead, they influence the motion by creating gentle swirling forces around them.
Movement is more important than form here. The drawing builds up slowly over time as strokes overlap, fade, and accumulate. I wanted the sketch to feel closer to painting than animation.
Inspiration
The main inspiration was The Starry Night by Van Gogh, but specifically the energy of the sky, not the imagery. I was drawn to how the sky feels restless, emotional, and alive. I wanted to translate that feeling into motion and color, without copying shapes or composition directly.
I was also thinking about painterly mark-making and how repetition and gesture can build texture and depth.
Milestones and process
This project was very much a trial-and-error process, and each milestone came from something not working visually.
Milestone 1: Realizing movement alone wasn’t enough
The first versions technically worked but looked bad. The motion was chaotic and noisy, and everything competed for attention. Even though there was a lot happening, nothing felt intentional. This was when I realized that having a system is not the same as having a composition.
Milestone 2: Struggling hard with color
Color was the longest and most frustrating part. Early versions were way too neon and saturated. They felt more like a screensaver than a painting. I kept tweaking values and nothing clicked until I made a decision to restrict the palette almost entirely to deep blues. Warm tones were allowed only in very small amounts. That shift changed everything. Once the palette was limited, the sketch finally started to feel grounded and cohesive.
Milestone 3: Changing how forces work
At first, I used direct attraction, which caused clustering and visual clutter. Everything kept collapsing into points. Switching to a tangential force that makes walkers swirl around dots instead of moving toward them was a turning point. This single change transformed the sketch from messy to controlled and gave the motion a calm, circular rhythm.
Milestone 4: Removing visual elements
This was a big one. I tried adding glowing stars, silhouettes, and other focal points, but they kept overpowering the motion. Removing them made the piece stronger. Each time I deleted something, the sketch improved. This taught me that generative work benefits a lot from editing and restraint.
Milestone 5: Slowing everything down
The final milestone was reducing speed and force. Earlier versions moved too fast and felt anxious. Slowing the walkers and letting the trails accumulate over time made the sketch feel more meditative and painterly. This is when it stopped feeling like an experiment and started feeling like an artwork.
Code highlight
This section of the code was crucial to reaching the final behavior. Instead of pulling walkers inward, it pushes them sideways so they orbit and swirl:
That small change completely reshaped the motion and helped the sketch feel intentional rather than chaotic.
Coded embedded
Reflection and future work
This project taught me how important restraint is in generative art. The sketch became stronger every time I simplified it. Color, speed, and force mattered far more than adding new visual elements.
In the future, I want to explore:
-
Using fewer walkers to increase negative space
-
Creating print-focused versions with stronger contrast
-
Letting the flow field change slowly over time to create different emotional phases
So far honestly I am so so proud of myself for creating this and I loved it