Silicon Valley, ink painting on the computer

In the later 1980s HyperCard was a radical product that combined computer tools to mimic real-world activities such as writing, drawing, painting, making music, and linking these things together, like free association. Mac Calligraphy was one of the best early products based on HyperCard. The interface had a peaceful studio with trickling water and changing view of the inner courtyard, and a palette in which to choose a brush, mix ink and create brushwork calligraphy or artwork.

It came in a balsa wood box (see cover on the left above) containing a complete and artful manual (see red cover in the middle above) and a boxed floppy disk with the software (on right above). It also provided beautiful rice paper to print on (see background of this and the meditative art page). It simulated pressure-sensitive brush strokes with the mouse pointer. In 2011, curious as to what became of Mac Calligraphy as computer software product, I found a wonderful link under "old Mac software" on this Japanese page: http://www.d4.dion.ne.jp/~motohiko/calligraphy.htm. It uses GIF graphics to show some of the features. Photoshop and Wacom graphics tablets became even better art tools, of course. But Mac Calligraphy was unique, best of kind, and is still inspiring to me.

Back to Art in Silicon Valley.