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It’s something that dawned on me last week when I was finishing up my Rainbow Tam (pictures coming soon I hope). I had to do some pretty basic algebra to figure out how to decrease the hat enough so I could knit the hat band. Between that, and  a new podcast called The Math Dude (excellent podcast, be sure to check it out) , it hit me how much math is used in artwork.

Knitting, and crochet, use algebraic formulas to help you figure out how many stitches you need at certain points.  In sewing it’s figuring out how much to add for seem allowance.  Computer code is basically a series of computations to tell the screen what to show, and the program you’re using what to tell you when it’s done. Those are all examples of the more obvious spots in arts.

Mixing colors is another spot where math comes into play, but it wasn’t as obvious to me at first.  Mixing colors moved into percentages, and ratios.  A similar concept, though slightly more obvious is the classic ‘rule of thirds’ that is used as a classic guideline in composition for paintings, and drawings.

Cooking is another one where math is more obvious. Everything from basic addition, and subtraction, to fractions, percentages, and ratios.

I’m sure that there is a lot of other places that I’m missing where math is involved, these are just the ones I spotted off the top of my head. What are some other examples that y’all can think of where mathematics and art combine?

I need to do these far more often, they’re just plain fun.

It’s a drawing that just sort of happened today while I was listening to a podcast. It started with a vague idea of a cartoon tree then evolved into another of my swirl pieces. Colors came from randomly picking pencils from the bottom of my bin.

And for an extra bonus, It helped me come up with an idea for a new watermark.

When I was little I had a crush on Scrooge McDuck. I spent many happy hours running around my yard hunting such treasures as jewel encrusted wild flowers, gold dust (sand), and coal mines.

I was reading The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, and got to thinking about her again. The outfit is a take off of Scrooge’s from The Buckaroo of the Badlands. I figured that if they were traveling together, they’d probably end up wearing about the same type clothes. Catlin isn’t fond of ‘frilly finery’, as she puts it (her mom kept her in dresses most of her early life). Though she could  She wouldn’t have long hair except Scrooge won’t let her cut it.

That’s about all that I remember about her at the moment, I have a really old drawing of her around somewhere in a ballgown… Why I drew her in a ball gown is still a mystery to me. Maybe she had to attend some party? I ought to post that up here someday when I find it.

As for the O’Quacky … I just stuck in an Irish sounding name…. Suggestions for a better one are welcome.