In the last week, I returned to Hive. I wanted to find a connection to something here to hold my interest, or at least, keep me productive. Some wise words popped into my head, start with something easy. Updating my cover image for my blog's page was the thing that came to mind. It is an easy task but when I am trying to create visual content without limits things can get very nutty very fast. I suppose I could have started with something even easier, like just being present. Strange how just being present feels like it's not enough, meanwhile, there are authors and artists straining hard to produce worthwhile content for the readers, to consume; I want to be more productive than just a presence. I should be more present; I should try harder at being a better presence.
Before this, I tried revisiting the code in @personz steem-fossbot-voter. I have a dream of rewarding posts and maybe even the collectors of my native Hive NFT creations with my own curation trail. Unfortunately, my ability doesn't allow for my ambition. Once I effectively adapted most of the code for hive-js and hive API connection, I discovered that other parts of the code need refactoring because the javascript packages it uses have been upgraded to replace obsolete code that the codebase uses. In the end, I shelved the code for hive-fossbot-voter and I submitted to hive.vote for my automation tasks, for now.
How's that for starting with something "easy"? Yea, I didn't listen to my own advice, and so I guess I was working on another important thing to remember. Always stay humble.
After that defeat, I decided to update my cover for real and I thought that I would probably do some kind of fantasy landscape with a sun and clouds and rolling hills. So I started drawing clouds, and as I drew, I realized that I had too many clouds for a single landscape. I have made some game development sprites in the past for a game built in Godot Engine and I decided to make my clouds into sprites by making a file for each layer with a transparent background. That act of making them into sprites kind of dictated this entire project. I knew then that I was going to be making lots of files with varied backgrounds, sun rays, clouds, stars, a distant landscape, a foreground, and a midground as well as objects to layer on top of those landscapes. At that point, it became a generative project.
Most of my creations in digital format over the last 25 years have been in this style. I draw vector lines with my mouse in a visual editor software, I bend those lines to make contours, and I then fill those contours with color. Sometimes I trace things in this method but for these landscapes, everything is from my mind.
This actually is not my first generative project. I made a series of generative layered png valentines last year on the Tezos blockchain using fxhash.xyz and using a boilerplate for PFP collections made by purespider for use with the fxhash sandbox and contracts. That is why I already knew how to organize the files and program the rarity features to generate this new layered png creation.
By no means is this a true to the generative art style generative project. Yes at any given moment it is a generative layered png project but it is still in draft form. This is more of a living project where I generate a few and then make more pieces, generate a few, and repeat. Someday I will probably arrive at a "finished" version when I move on to other things. For now, I am exploring my creative side. Because NFTShowroom doesn't store the features like some NFT platforms, I find it low-stress and dare I say fun.
Because this is generated in a sandbox I have the luxury to rotate through potential candidates for me to mint. I generate various versions until I see one that I like, I save that one and the hash that created it, and I then mint it on NFTShowroom.
I am calling these Hive Coverscapes.
These are made from layering a set of 16 or more transparent images selected at random from a collection of more than 180 images that I created.
Here is the first Hive Coverscape #0001.
Link to the NFT: https://nftshowroom.com/gallery/empath_hive-coverscapes_hive-coverscape-0001
Shortly after minting the first I minted the second Hive Coverscapes #0002.
Link to the NFT: https://nftshowroom.com/gallery/empath_hive-coverscapes_hive-coverscapes-0002
They are a collection of Cover images 2048x512px , the size that is recommended for hive.blog profiles.
I hope you enjoy them. I wanted something colorful, with enough whimsy to fit in with the bright personalities of Hive authors and artists. I will still be working on giving them more variety and strangeness over the coming weeks and months. I will mint more as they sell, if they even sell.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post.
I will come back with updates on how this collection is doing and more soon.
Have a nice day!