Fluid-based brush systems for novel digital media

Digital media allows artists to create a wealth of visually-interesting effects that are impossible in traditional media. This includes temporal effects, such as cinemagraph animations and expressive fluid effects. Yet these flexible and novel media often require highly technical expertise that is outside a traditional artist's skill with paintbrush or pen. Fluid Brush acts as a form of novel digital media, which retains the brush-based interactions of traditional media while expressing the movement of turbulent and laminar flow. As a digital media controlled through a non-technical interface, Fluid Brush functions like a painting system to make fluid effects accessible to a wider range of artists. To provide an informal demonstration of the medium's effects, applications, and accessibility, we asked designers, traditional artists, and digital artists to experiment with Fluid Brush. They produced a variety of works reflective of their artistic interests and backgrounds. We also consider the development of Fluid Brush to identify practical guidelines in the design of accessible digital media.