Kimiko Ryokai Marti, S., and Ishii, H.

Abstract

"The World as your Palette" is our ongoing effort to design and develop tools to allow artists to create visual art projects with elements (specifically, the color, texture, and moving patterns) extracted directly from their personal objects and their immediate environment. Our tool called "I/O Brush" looks like a regular physical paintbrush, but contains a video camera, lights, and touch sensors. Outside of the drawing canvas, the brush can pick up colors, textures, and movements of a brushed surface. On the canvas, artists can draw with the special "ink" they just picked up from their immediate environment. We describe the evolution and development of our system, from kindergarten classrooms to an art museum, as well as the reactions of our users to the growing expressive capabilities of our brush, as an iterative design process.