The Artfkt collection library
Armature
Rebuild a picture as a drawn structure
Armature turns a photograph into a structure you can still recognize. Bent Net warps a connected grid. Block Stacks raises a column where the picture is bright. Arc Tiles turn so their strokes meet along edges in the picture.
Each treatment keeps the original available on Mix. Start from the picture, then decide whether the structure should bend, rise, or join.
Included in the Artfkt desktop app. All collections, one desktop studio.
Pick the structure before the details
Bent Net is one grid, pulled by the brightness of the picture. Block Stacks is a field of columns, taller where the picture is lighter. Arc Tiles is a repeat of curves or bundles that meet their neighbors when the picture’s direction agrees.
Use the same crop for all three. The comparison is the point: a face, a building, or an object should remain the thing that organizes the net, the stacks, or the joins.
Let the photograph do the variation
Cell count sets the rhythm. Bend, Height, and Direction decide how far the picture is allowed to disturb that rhythm. A flat, even photograph has little to push against, so choose a frame with real light and a few strong edges.
Mix brings the original back. Use it to keep a subject readable when the structure gets dense, and to check that the treatment is sitting on the picture you intended.
Effects in Armature
3 effects to explore and combine.
Bent Net
Bent Net draws one grid and moves its crossings with the brightness of the photograph. Lines, ribbons, and dots are three ways to mark those same corners.
Block Stacks
Block Stacks divides the photograph into columns. Lighter cells grow taller. Each top keeps a sample of the picture, and the sides darken so the stacks read as solid.
Arc Tiles
Arc Tiles turns a picture into connected, winding paths. Its arcs change direction with the picture, and their weight responds to light and dark areas.
Creative applications
- Make a poster plate by letting a portrait or object become a single readable net.
- Build a cover where bright parts of a photograph stand up as shaded blocks.
- Follow a contour in a picture with tiles whose curves connect across the frame.
Starting workflow
- Choose a photograph with a clear subject, some hard edges, and both light and dark areas.
- Apply Bent Net. Lower Cells until the grid is a structure, then raise Bend until the subject shoves the crossings.
- Switch the mark to Ribbons or Dots only after the bend already follows the picture. Check Mix at the low end to confirm the original is still there.
- Duplicate the layer or replace the effect with Block Stacks on the same crop. Raise Height until light regions stand above dark ones, and turn Light angle until the sides are easy to see.
- Try Arc Tiles on that same crop when you want lines that travel with an edge. Raise Direction until the joins follow the contour, and lower it when the field should stay a repeated motif.
Make it part of your next composition.
Combine Armature with other collections, images, and editable text in the Artfkt desktop app.