How can you use your skills and passions to change the world? Maybe you can write, sing, or draw? Or maybe, like Jazmin, you use your tech skills!
Jazmin is a Creative Computing Artist and Educator whose work helps highlight issues in gender, race, and power. She does this through open-source game development tools and virtual reality.
Jazmin wears a lot of other hats, too. She speaks about the issues she is passionate about at conferences, runs a tech club for 11-14-year-olds, teaches graphic design, and makes art.
The intersection of art and technology Jazmin brings into her work is a concept known as STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths). STEAM is essential, as it highlights the fact that people working in creative careers use aspects of STEM which are fundamental to their jobs and vice versa.
What Is Creative Coding?
Coding is when we give a computer instructions to carry out a specific task. This means that creative coding is when we use these instructions to create a variety of different art forms. Creative coding can be used to make 3D sculptures, VR experiences, interactive artworks, ASCII art and more.
Creative coding has benefits over traditional art forms as you do not need access to lots of different artistic tools, just a computer and your coding skills! Lots of creative code is also open-source (free for everyone to use), so you can build upon other people’s work and learn along the way.
Advice From Jazmin
- There are no rules in art, and there are no rules in creative coding. You can use whichever tools you like to create your art. Jazmin’s favourite tools are HTML, CSS and Javascript.
- Do not write off a subject you enjoy just because it is male-dominated. The subjects Jazmin uses now were those she was hesitant about in school because of the number of males in the class.
- Make sure your job is something which you enjoy and that you are good at. Work that isn’t your passion can be boring and tiresome!
