BP04_2009_1206_Mutapic

I found Mutapic an interesting and user-friendly graphic design program and great way to introduce students to computer-generated artwork. This is really fun and exciting way to generate interesting patterns using symmetry, color and various other design elements. I think my students would love this. The only problem is that you have to purchase the professional version for $30 to save your work! Basically, you can choose a graphic icon from a list of icons and manipulate it with tints, textures and filters until you get something you like. I didn’t fully understand how exactly it worked until I played with it for a while, which was part of the fun. This would be a wonderful project for students who have limited hand eye coordination or students or students who are less interested in studio art projects. Students could just fool around and explore visual ideas and brainstorm, or create graphic images with a theme. It could be used as an in between project, or a lesson on it’s own about symmetry, texture, and mutation.

When you enter the application, you will see three buttons, the top green button creates the images after you click on one of the two below buttons. The middle button holds the icons. There are three tabs labeled 1, 16, and F. Number 1 has one icon, 16 has 16 icons, and F has even more icons. The bottom button has shapes. Once you chose your icon and shape, hit the green generate button and then play around with filters and tints. On the bottom right hand corner of the screen, there is a question mark, if you hit the question mark it brings up any questions you may have about an icon or what each button does. It was lots of fun and I spent way too much fun exploring it!