Freezelight writing tools. Part 1. LEDs

This is the first lesson in a series covering various light sources. It’s for those who really want to dedicate themselves to freezelight art form and for those who want to get a deep understanding of our creativity. We will take a look at writing tools that produce lines with very different structure. After careful study of this lesson, you will be able to take a look at any freezelight drawing and easily tell what kinds of light sources were used in creating it.

The first lesson is on the LEDs. This is the most widely available type of light source. The simplest LED flashlights can be easily found in hardware stores and in the specialized fishing and hunting goods stores. The character of the light trace these flashlights produce is thin and sharp, its brightness depends on the LED wattage.

The number of LEDs in a flashlight affects not only its line’s brightness but also its texture. The illustration above shows a flashlight we call “baton”. Because it has a number of LEDs in rows, it produces a trace in a form of a ribbon made up from a number of parallel lines. By the way, this “baton” is very convenient not only on account of its form factor, but also because it can be charged with an AC charger, much like a cell phone.

Chandelier. Of course in this paragraph we are not going to tell you that the most dedicated are able to make use of this kind of hanging lamp. A chandelier is what we call the lamp you see in a photo above. It can be easily found in hardware stores or automotive supply. With the help of this lamp you will be able to create lines with volume. This is another proof that the character of the light trace is directly affected by the arrangement of the LEDs. For example, it was enough to roll this lamp on the surface of the table to achieve an even grid in the background.

LED ribbon give you a little more freedom but requires complete control over the light trace trajectory. Even if you improvise, there’s good chance that after a number of takes you’ll get something that will warm your heart with its freezelight beauty. But, in order to get a meaningful image it will first take you some time to tame the LED ribbon. We were able to do it and one time we got an opportunity to draw in a sleeping street car — these are the cute characters we made. By the way, in April 2010 this photo was included into the permanent collection of the Rostov Museum of Modern Art.

We should mention that it’s not enough to simply buy the LED ribbon for it make its way into your writing tool palette. Basic technical skills are needed — or the friendly support of someone who has them. The LED ribbon has to be attached to a power supply and your schematic must also have a switch so you can turn it on and off. The LED ribbons, the power supply units, the switches and all the other parts you might need can be found at your local radio and electronics swap-meet as well as at Do-It-Yourself or hardware/home improvement supply.

Once you’ve tamed the LED ribbon, you will be able to go on to the next step. For example, to assemble an LED pole. This topic, with all the technical information and a circuit diagram, will be covered in a separate lesson. The pole doesn’t have the ribbon’s flexibility but dramatically gains in coverage.

With the help a single light pole or with a set of a few poles you’ll be able to create similar abstract images. But such freezelight paintings will require more self control rather than abandon. It is more than a little dangerous to people and objects around you, as well as for the writing tool and most certainly for the person holding, to swing around an LED pole (usually made out of a length of an aluminum tube or a bamboo pole) in total darkness. That’s why before creating a light drawing, every movement has to be practiced — much like the samurai training :)

The more tools you have, the greater is the temptation to use them all in the same image. When combining light sources, remember the character of their strokes and don’t forget to first make sketches on paper, tis will let you control the composition in the frame.

No flashlight manufacturer has ever conceived that his product will be used for painting rather than lighting, which is what it actually was intended for. And this is exactly why together with the freezelight experience you will gain an understanding of design flaws in various light sources, and you might want to start making them yourself. This is the simplest way of getting the necessary brightness, color and texture. Vandalism in its lightest form — that is, hacking some flashlights — could be the first step in this direction. For example, the spring in the on/off switch can be removed. This will let you forget about keeping the button fixed in place. That is, the light will go on when you press the button and go off when you let go. It’s worth noting that this sort of customization only works with about 70 per cent of flashlights. In other cases you risk either breaking the switch altogether, or to do poke around forever and still not get to the switch’s innards. Well, whatever happens, these shop class experiments are certain to raise your technical expertise at least a little bit :)

This is an example of our own technological advances. With the help of one LED and a few electronic parts we were able to build a freezelight marker, a flashlight with 1024 hues. If you are reading this article soon after its publication, you might have to wait a little while. We will publish the assembly manual for this tool, but to to able to build it you must be technically very proficient, or have someone around who can help.

This is more of an example of technical rather than creative freezelight. To create this image a tool was built that is similar in appearance to the baton, but, on account of having an electronic brain, on the same principle as the LED dot-matrix display, under out control it can flash it LEDs, project words, symbols e.t.c. — whatever you’ll teach it to do.

And now, so as to release the tension in the more impressive readers and to put the final touch on our article about the LED light sources, we’ll illustrate it with a few examples of what can be made with the above mentioned light sources in your arsenal.

Now a piece of advice. Don’t chase after the technical prowess. Above all, gain experience, that is try to draw more often. Having this tool or another will not significantly improve your photos. Otherwise you will get a new line texture but will not know what to do with it.

Другие записи:

• Teaching a compact camera to take freezelight pictures
• Фризлайт-анимация ▪ Урок 2 ▪ Сборка
• Журнал «Хулиган» ▪ Ноябрь 2009 года
• Журнал «Свой среди чужих» ▪ Июль 2010 года
• Как создавался Час Земли