Status update for Week 2 on my journey to learn creative coding, as part of the University of Colorado Boulder’s “Professional Development in Computer Science” course.
What did I do last week?
As we’re still in the phase of developing project ideas for the 13-week summer semester, I spent a lot of time daydreaming about and researching all the directions I could go in. I want to focus on “creative coding” this summer, and last week I looked into several creative technologies, like p5.js, TouchDesigner, Unity, and strudel. I’m having a tough time deciding on which technology to focus on and figuring out how in depth I want to get into it over the coming weeks. At the moment, I’m deciding between p5.js and TouchDesigner (and simultaneously, I’m thinking if there is any way to turn the blogging part of this course into some sort of handmade website?).
What do I plan to do this week?
As part of the “networking” portion of this course, Dr. Guinn suggested I reach out to some creative coders / artists and ask them about the technologies they use, and this made me think about maybe starting some kind of interview series! This week, in addition to narrowing down some concrete tutorials for p5.js / TouchDesigner and writing my project proposal, I plan to make a list of creative coders to whom I can reach out and ask about their work.
Any impediments in my way?
I am my own biggest obstacle, because I want to learn it all! I’m afraid that I will hop from one technology to the other and barely scratch the surface with any technology, instead of going more in depth and learning the full range that one technology has to offer. At the same time, I’m worried about writing a project proposal and feeling locked into something, lacking the freedom to explore these different technologies and see where my creativity takes me.
I’m also very excited about possibly interviewing creative coders / artists, yet worried that I might focus too much on this part and not get any creative coding done myself. Not to mention the impediment of this class being only 3-5 hours/week, which seems like very little for a topic I’m passionate about. And of course, there are the usual impediments of working full-time and taking two other CSPB classes simultaneously.
Reflection on the process?
I think I need a “curriculum”, which is why I wanted to look for some concrete tutorials to guide me. Additionally, I might be overthinking and over-researching, when I should really just start coding. There are so many things I want to learn and try, but really, I should just write it all down in a list so I don’t forget, and get started already with the first thing on that list.