Ruder Finn Interactive's Mr. Picasso-head: Fun on-line drag & drop art activity, great for a touch-screen or interactive whiteboard!

I was looking for a drag-and-drop activity for students to use on interactive whiteboards (and also on my HP TouchSmart PC), and thought Mr. Potato head would be a good choice. My daughter linked me to something even better: Mr. Picasso Head, an on-line activity created by Ruder Finn Interactive, a few years ago.

Here is my creation:

Visit the Mr. Picasso Head gallery, where you can view 939209+ creations!

Somewhat Related

The One Million Masterpiece (On-line Collaborative Art Project)

"We are asking you to draw a small square image using software on our website. You don't need to be an artist or be able to draw - you can make patterns, write words, doodle - what-ever you want. Your image will be one of one million images that will make up the entire picture - The One Million Masterpiece.

You can choose to make your picture fit in with the surrounding pieces, or make it stand out, by using a preview feature that shows your image with the context of your neighbours. You can change your image at any time if you don't feel happy with it, and you can exchange messages with your fellow artists using our community pages."

If you join the One Million Masterpiece, you can a link to display a mini gallery of your favorite pictures that can be replayed on your Facebook profile.

Urban Screens and Media Facades

Link to a video an post about Urban Screens:

Revisiting Urban Screens: 555 Kubik Facade Projection; info about media facades...

Bloom - Play Music with Colors: Seth Sandler's relaxing little on-line application!

Bloom: Play music with colors (link to application)

For more information about Seth Sandler's work, visit his AudioTouch website.

Here are a few pictures of his applications:








Seth integrates music into his multi-touch applications, as he has a background in both music and art. He is a member of the NUI-Group.

Umajin Creative -Digital Story Telling for Interactive Whiteboard or Touch Screen- free demo available

Umajin Creative is an application designed for digital storytelling. I haven't had a chance to preview it. I was impressed with the pictures on the website. If you use this application, please leave a comment. It looks kid and teacher friendly. I can see that it has potential!

According to the website, you can "compose multi-page digital documents with rich text, digital photography (including blue screen support), illustrations, sound, video, 3D models, particle fx, interactive functionality, and so much more... runs on both a Mac and PC. It also supports interactive whiteboards and touch screen PC's.. so you can interact directly with the content. With the HP Touchsmart PC you can use real brushes on the screen..to experience digital painting with variable width brush strokes!

Interactive Digital Storybook:


Below: Cool-looking digital brushes.

Above- Sample 3D models
Below- Sample of blue-screened cutout images

Below: Samples of animated particle effects

Seven Custom Functions:

I think the people from Fingertapps are responsible for UMAJIN. Below is a video highlighting multi-touch applications:

Learning to Think Spatially: GIS as a Support System in the K-12 Curriculum: Free Online Book

I came across a link to an interesting book on Susana Valica's blog. Susana's master's thesis focuses on human-computer interaction and geographic information systems.

The book, Learning to Think Spatially: GIS as a Support System in the K-12 Curriculum is available for partial viewing online. This book specifically addresses topics useful to educators who are interested in visual thinking and learning and would like to improve their own visual skills, develop a better understanding of human spatial cognition, and share this with young people.

According to the authors, "..spatial thinking is powerful and pervasive, underpinning everyday life, work,and science. It plays a role in activities ranging from understanding metaphors, becoming good at wayfinding, and interpreting works of art, to engaging in molecular modeling, generating geometry proofs, and interpreting astronomical data."

If you are interested in this topic, you might also be interested in the work of Alan M. MacEachren, the director of the GeoVista Center at Penn State. I recently had the opportunity to see Dr. MacEacren's presentation at UNC-C and the Charlotte Visualization Center's Visualization in the World Symposium. I was impressed with the depth and breadth of his work.

Dr. MacEachren is the author of How Maps Work: Representation, Visualization, and Design.

Visual and Multimedia Literacy: 500 Years of Women Art

Here is an example of the importance of visual and multimedia literacy, I thought I'd share this YouTube video clip of paintings of women's faces as they morph from one to another, depicting the last 500 years of art. In just under three minutes, the viewer gets a deeper understanding of the concept.

Realistic 3D technology for artists - from ID games

Here is a quick link to a video of John Carmack, from ID software, that highlights some of the latest 3D graphics technology for games.

Wouldn't it be nice if ID could put together a workshop for some art K-12 art teachers over the summer? I'd like to see more computers used for art creation in our schools. I think the students would, too.



Direct link to the full video stream from Apple: http://stream.qtv.apple.com/events/jun/d7625zs/m_99427722_650_ref.mov