The hottest Art & Illustration Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Art & Illustration Topics

Reflections of a new author (thank you, community!)

Cozy Philosophy • 79 implied HN points • 02 Feb 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Writing Podcast Theatre
  1. The author reflects on their journey of becoming a new author and the support received from the community, highlighting the experience of sharing their book with the world.
  2. The author invites readers to join a virtual Cozy Cafe session to nurture creativity and connection, offering a space for casual chats and creative work.
  3. The author shares recent treasures like a podcast on nurturing creativity, an article on being a multi-potentialite, and a lively theatre show, providing creative inspiration.

Patagonia

Cosmographia • 179 implied HN points • 14 Mar 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Art Literature Photography Cartography Poetry
  1. The post is part of the Atlas' Notes series on Cosmographia, focusing on art, poetry, literature, cartography, and photography centered around a specific place.
  2. The post is for paid subscribers only, with an invitation to subscribe to access the full content on Patagonia.
  3. The author, M. E. Rothwell, shares insights on Patagonia through a combination of text and visual elements in their posts.

60. States

The Line Between • 137 implied HN points • 01 Nov 23
🎨 Art & Illustration
  1. The post discusses the coexistence of states through watercolor art.
  2. It includes a quote from Witold Gombrowicz's _Cosmos_.
  3. The author shares a personal anecdote involving pouring water into the wrong part of an espresso machine.
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What was the GAN?

Cybernetic Forests • 119 implied HN points • 26 Nov 23
🎨 Art & Illustration AI Art Digital Art Collage
  1. Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) were innovative in AI art, generating images based on existing datasets and patterns.
  2. Artists using GANs had more control over their datasets, shaping the outputs with their own images and deciding what to include, unlike modern Diffusion models.
  3. Training and working with GANs was an experimental process, where artists had to understand the algorithm's perspective and engage in a technical dialogue to create art.

Circles & Joy

Chartography • 117 implied HN points • 28 Nov 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Charts Maps Diagrams Joy
  1. Today's post features maps, diagrams, and charts in a super-sundry edition.
  2. Circular charts were cleverly used to visualize survey answers and climate change data.
  3. The post also highlights beautiful pieces of art, including a 3,400-year-old paint box and a sculpture made of defunct brass band instruments.

Mother of Frankenstein: Volume One

Have You Played? • 78 implied HN points • 30 Jan 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Puzzle Storytelling Design Strategy
  1. Mother of Frankenstein: Volume One is a tabletop puzzle game that feels weightier due to its subject and length.
  2. The game features puzzles that are well-designed and include elements of wordplay and narrative storytelling.
  3. There is a lack of urgency in the story's pacing and the game's marketing does not effectively explain why players should care about the secret being unearthed.

AI images litter the internet

Wood From Eden • 528 implied HN points • 18 Mar 24
🎨 Art & Illustration AI Art Visual storytelling
  1. AI-generated images are becoming prevalent on the internet, but their superficiality can hinder deeper meaning and understanding.
  2. The proliferation of AI images can crowd out images of real people and places, which traditionally provide more valuable information and opportunities for discovery.
  3. In a digital age where sharing reality is crucial, efforts should be made to prioritize genuine, real-world images over AI-generated ones to maintain authenticity and meaning.

#125 Design calling 📞

Design Lobster • 279 implied HN points • 09 Jan 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. Predictive text like T9 technology for mobile phones drastically speeds up text entry by predicting what you meant to type based on a single tap.
  2. The Lobster Telephone by Salvador Dali collides everyday objects with unique elements to create a surreal and thought-provoking design that challenges how we see the world.
  3. Steve Jobs' quote emphasizes the importance of taking action and making the first call to turn dreams into reality, highlighting the significance of initiative and courage.

Procedural Jellyfish, Slang Shaders, and Generative vs Generative AI

Generative Arts Collective • 92 implied HN points • 07 Jun 25
🎨 Art & Illustration Generative Art Creative Coding Digital Media Visual Arts Art Philosophy
  1. There's a growing connection between art and technology, especially in generative arts. Artists now use programming and math instead of just brushes and paint.
  2. Questions about creativity, originality, and the role of the artist are becoming more complicated with advancements in AI and machine learning.
  3. New tools are making it easier for anyone to create art, which can help unleash more creativity in people who might not have tried otherwise.

Forté #19

SJF • 78 implied HN points • 26 Jan 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Music Inspiration Design Culture Creativity
  1. The beauty and significance of orange blossoms in Tunisia
  2. Alternative ways to share work and life outside of social media
  3. Exploration of ethereal ambient music like the self-titled record from Christina Vantzou, Michael Harrison, and John Also Bennett

One of One: Revisiting the Disruptive Potential of NFT Art

DeFi Education • 339 implied HN points • 17 Feb 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Digital Art NFTs Art market Cultural Trends Disruption
  1. NFT art can change the way artists sell and share their work. It allows them to reach collectors directly without needing galleries.
  2. Collecting NFTs creates a new type of ownership in digital art. This means owning a unique piece of art that can't be copied easily.
  3. NFTs can offer more than just art; they can provide access to experiences or communities. This makes them valuable beyond just being a visual piece.

The Superette

Justin E. H. Smith's Hinternet • 725 implied HN points • 01 Oct 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Writing Music Speaking Events Collaboration
  1. A Superette is a unique word that combines aspects of a supermarket and convenience store, with some preliminaries and follow-ups.
  2. The author discusses the challenge of evolving as a writer while staying true to their own style, without being influenced by readers' preferences.
  3. The essay delves into the author's critical views on music genres like rock and rap, exploring the cultural and racial dynamics of different musical movements.

🚀👨‍🚀 It's the 10th anniversary of one of the most Up Wing stories ever told

Faster, Please! • 548 implied HN points • 17 Feb 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Science fiction Books Films Space Technology
  1. The 10th anniversary of 'The Martian' highlights the power of problem-solving and self-sufficiency in driving progress and celebrating human ingenuity.
  2. The 'Star Trek' franchise embodies a pro-progress, risk-embracing philosophy and has made a significant cultural impact, paving the way for technological advancements and careers.
  3. Science fiction stories like 'The Martian' and 'Star Trek' exemplify Up Wing thinking, focusing on individual initiative, resourcefulness, and a positive attitude towards progress.

Comics from 1983/08 Today Mag

Computer Ads from the Past • 512 implied HN points • 11 Mar 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Comics
  1. The post shares comics from the August 1983 issue of Today magazine, providing a glimpse into humor from the past.
  2. Readers are encouraged to suggest what computer ads they'd like to see in the future and to share the post with friends and relatives if they enjoyed it.
  3. The publication, 'Computer Ads from the Past,' offers readers the opportunity to subscribe and support future content.

Resolve Now It’s Working

The False Consensus Effect • 78 implied HN points • 21 Jan 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Paintings Creative Process Inspiration Imagination Art exhibition
  1. The author shares personal reflections on their art, daily routines, and anti-government sentiments. This includes details on their creative process, struggles, and aspirations.
  2. The post emphasizes the power of imagination and the importance of taking action towards one's ideals. The author encourages readers to make a difference, even in small ways.
  3. Financial accountability and planning are highlighted, with the author detailing expenses, savings goals, and reflections on contemporary societal issues. Rose, the author's partner, also plays a role in household finances.

TITAA #48.5: Stone Tape on a Stone Island

Things I Think Are Awesome • 117 implied HN points • 15 Nov 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Film Visual Arts Creativity Literature Culture
  1. The film 'Enys Men' by Mark Jenkin is a poetic visual experience featuring a mysterious radio and glimpses of the past.
  2. The concept of 'stone tape theory' in the film explores the idea of objects recording and playing back the past, contributing to the eerie and weird atmosphere.
  3. Mark Jenkin's film delves into the fear of time breaking down and uses film as a medium to convey a sense of time and space.

(event tonight) something analogous to the natural intelligence of our universe

ART⋂CODE • 16 implied HN points • 04 Dec 25
🎨 Art & Illustration Digital Art Generative Art AI Art Exhibition Sound art Media theory
  1. A generative model trained on many personal photos can show an emergent, proto-perception that feels similar to natural intelligence. Its glitches and odd outputs reveal how representations form.
  2. Keeping and animating the model’s discarded glitches and textures can produce slow, hypnotic audiovisual landscapes that make the medium’s limits and character visible. These pieces are being shared as work-in-progress performances rather than immediate online releases.
  3. The project asks us to re-see recent technological and artistic advances amid cultural fatigue, political distrust, and loneliness, warning that mass-produced, shallow content can desensitize us. It calls for renewed intention and appreciation of how remarkable the past few years have been.

Words

The Leftovers • 99 implied HN points • 12 Dec 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Writing Tools
  1. It's important to be able to write with whatever tools you have available, but also nice to have tools that you enjoy using, as they can influence your writing output.
  2. Having a variety of writing tools at your disposal can help you develop different styles and avoid being a one-dimensional writer.
  3. Notebooks can serve as important tools for developing writing techniques, similar to practicing scales and arpeggios as a musician.

The Algorithmic Resistance Research Group (ARRG!)

Cybernetic Forests • 139 implied HN points • 13 Aug 23
🎨 Art & Illustration AI Art Digital Art Generative AI
  1. The Algorithmic Resistance Research Group (ARRG!) focuses on critiquing and analyzing AI systems, highlighting issues like data rights, stereotypes in AI output, ecological harms, political risks, and the impact of red teaming.
  2. ARPG! highlights the importance of challenging the logic of AI systems to avoid exploiting stereotypes, artist data rights, and push back against automated cultural production.
  3. Research showcased the use of Gaussian Noise Diffusion Loop to create abstract art, challenge content moderation tools, and explore the dynamics of AI-generated imagery.

Anna Ørberg: Algorithms Anonymous

Do Not Research • 139 implied HN points • 03 Jul 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Visual art Exhibition Technology Addiction
  1. The video 'Algorithms Anonymous' portrays algorithms in rabbit costumes engaged in an AA-like meeting, reflecting on their past actions.
  2. The piece is part of a larger exhibit in Copenhagen exploring the intersection between technology and addiction.
  3. Through this artwork, the audience is prompted to consider the implications of algorithms and technology in our lives.

Taj Mahal

Cosmographia • 139 implied HN points • 18 Apr 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Art Literature Photography
  1. The post is about the Taj Mahal featured in the Atlas' Notebook series on Cosmographia.
  2. The content includes art, poetry, literature, cartography, and photography focused on a specific place.
  3. Access to the full content of the post is for paid subscribers only.

The hatred of fiction

The Leftovers • 139 implied HN points • 30 May 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Fiction
  1. Many true crime documentaries today use drone shots excessively, which can feel forced and manipulative to the viewer.
  2. The author's experience with documentaries made them reflect on their relationship with fiction, realizing they have been slowly drifting away from it.
  3. The author's last finished fiction book was chosen more for the language than the desire to consume fiction, indicating a shift in reading preferences.

Twice-Found Sounds

Justin E. H. Smith's Hinternet • 518 implied HN points • 14 Feb 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Creativity Personal Growth Reflection
  1. The author reflects on the pressure and influence of social media on their creative work, and the desire to distance themselves from mainstream trends and metrics.
  2. They find inspiration in their past work in sound collage and resolve to continue pursuing multimedia endeavors with a newfound creative freedom.
  3. The author emphasizes the importance of personal experience in creativity, encouraging individuals of any age to engage in creative pursuits without worrying about skill level or societal expectations.

Fear of Trees

Wild Information • 117 implied HN points • 12 Nov 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Nature Literature Science Horror Time
  1. Some people have a fear of trees, which can be related to plant intelligence and time perception.
  2. Trees hold ancient time, and exploring forests can evoke eerie and beautiful feelings.
  3. Plants are believed to have intelligence, and this idea has been explored in horror, folklore, and science fiction.

What is Taste and how to have it?

Product Composition • 137 implied HN points • 12 Feb 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Design Craft Creativity Aesthetics Influence
  1. Having good taste is a skill that can be developed by paying attention to craft, analyzing surroundings, seeking feedback, and surrounding yourself with tasteful things and people.
  2. Buying expensive items doesn't necessarily mean you have good taste; true taste is about appreciating quality and value, not just high price tags.
  3. Having good taste can be beneficial for business success, as it involves analyzing goods, spotting opportunities, and making valuable decisions efficiently.

Artist Lucy Raven on her creative process

Chance Operations • 277 implied HN points • 13 May 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Visual art Creative Process Technology Exhibitions
  1. Lucy Raven's work focuses on material transformation and technology, reflecting on globalization and the relationship between humans and the natural world.
  2. Her projects often stem from unanswered questions in previous works, leading to an organic progression in her creative process.
  3. Sustaining creative work involves a mix of exhibitions, commissions, residencies, teaching, and other opportunities, with grants playing a smaller role.

Resonance

johan’s substack • 19 implied HN points • 10 Jun 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Authorship Poetry Interpretation Narrative
  1. Resonance in human-AI collaboration can create new, hybrid structures of meaning that transcend individual limitations.
  2. Resonance involves emotional connections, cognitive harmonies, and creative synergies between human and AI.
  3. Resonance blurs lines of authorship as text becomes a multi-dimensional space of shared meanings in the semioscape.

And Gifts from the Flames

Doc Hammer's Anvil • 137 implied HN points • 12 Jun 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Crafts DIY
  1. The author made a bottle opener karambit from old wrenches, practicing his skills.
  2. A Mother's Day dinner bell was crafted to round up kids for dinner, with various tones when struck.
  3. Current projects include making a spear socket jig and working on crafting pila.