Thursday, April 23, 2009

Drawball - a curious online public canvas

About drawball: "Show off your skills on the enormous circle of potential art known as drawball." That's it. You figure out the rest!

At http://www.drawball.com you're presented with two Drawballs:


I clicked on Drawball One to begin my exploration:

 
Zooming in, I am immediately aware that the drawball is a collage of individual artwork:
 

Zooming in again for a better look at the detail:

 
Amazing! The drawball is a collection of hundreds of individual drawings, some obviously expertly rendered by computer graphics artists with drawing tablets or some other kind of professional kit. At this level, I can see a bit of blank 'canvas'. I can pan the area with my mouse, but there are no drawing tools available just yet. Zooming in for closer inspection:
 
Aha! At this level, my mouse cursor turns to a quill, and a color palate and ink bottle appear, but I can't draw anything yet. I see a link in the upper right-hand corner that says "Apply for Drawing Access." I click ... and wait ... My pen does nothing. Still waiting ... nothing. I assume the server is busy. Perhaps I must wait my turn. That I can't add to the drawball is only a small disappointment. Browsing the hundreds of images is fascinating --everything from crude doodles to small-scale reproductions of historical masterpieces. I could spend hours here ... and there's yet another Drawball to explore!