Creating & Consuming Augmented Reality-Art Just Got Easier!

I’m not a programmer or a developer. I make art and music. In other words, I’m just a dumb artist. But, I found an app that can make me look like a cutting edge art-fart.In the blink of an eye, I went from a simple man who draws crude pictures and makes grimey ass hip-hop beats to a man who creates futuristic merchandise and art prints that have the ability to combine my art and my music together!When you first see your art come to life using AR.

The easiest way to explain AR is to liken it to the Pokemon app that took the kids by storm a couple of years ago. In layman’s terms, simply using your phone, you can download an app, install and run it and then hover over an area or a specific image. When you look at the area or image through the phone then the screen will depict whatever has been programmed right on your phone. It’s almost like a QR code in the way that you can hover over an image and the pre-programmed message, in this case audio and/or visual, is displayed.

Bruh.. it’s there, but like, it’s totally not even there.

A couple weeks ago I was humbly invited to be a featured artist at the 2019 Bitcoin Conference in San Francisco. I had signed up for the Artivive app a few days prior just off of a whim. It was an AR app I’d seen just nosing around the internets. I didn’t think much of it and approached signing up as something to do and looking into it more after I had some free time. But, at the Bitcoin event- I saw, in person, works by Trevor Jones and Josie Bellini using AR in their works and I immediately got the itch to create some stuff in my newly downloaded Artivive app. As soon as I got home I did just that. Thanks for the inspiration ya’ll.

Still image of Josie Bellini’s art coming to life in the Artivive App.

Now, I’ve taken two pieces, “Cant Smoke A Bitcoin” and “Head Honey Badger In Charge,” and paired them with the Artivive app to create some cool new ways to view my stuff. The HHBIC piece was my first try at the app and brings my honey badger to life and a rocket shoots to the moon behind it. The second piece is the CSAB art that plays the “Cant Smoke A Bitcoin” music video in its entirety! The app works whether the image is on a shirt, sticker, magnet, canvas, computer screen and the list goes on. I imagine even a well-trained tattoo artist could pull of replicating the image and making it come alive on your body.

Now, I know what you’re thinking.. How much is this? $29.99? $9.99? $2.99? No, this joint is free to use as a consumer and it’s free for artists to create up to 3 pieces.

The next step is to explore the 3D functions of the app.

It’s simple. It’s free to use and create on, and it’s necessary to have to view MY OWN AR-based creations. Download the Artivive app and get to creating your own reality!

P.S. I don’t work for Artivive ;)

Creating & Consuming Augmented Reality-Art Just Got Easier! was originally published in HackerNoon.com on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.