How to: Glitch Art
The new theme for this week’s online photo competition is glitch art, so we’ve put together this handy guide to help you get started. You can enter the competition either by posting on Instagram, tag @ffotogallery and use the hashtag #glitch, or you can email your entries to [email protected]. The deadline for entering is Sunday 31st May.
The term ‘glitch’ often refers to the result of a digital malfunction, and it’s probably safe to say that we’ve all fallen victim to devices corrupting our data - but as we progress further into the digital age, what was once seen as an error has fast become a whole new art movement as more and more visual artists are embracing the ‘glitch’ aesthetic.
‘Glitch art’ typically refers to visual glitches in both still and moving image - these can either be captured as it randomly happens, or more commonly by manipulating your files (also known as ‘databending’) to purposely create these errors.
For those of you who are new to glitch art, we’ve compiled a list of online glitch generators which are free and easy to use and included some of our own examples below.
Original image:
Glitchy3bitdither by jkirchartz
This tool has a variety of different glitch presets to choose from – simply right click and ‘save image as’ to save your final image.
Rutt-Etra-Izer by Airtight Interactive
Easy to follow instructions, and you can even rotate the image to see an almost 3D version of your newly corrupted file.
imageglitcher by Airtight Interactive
A fairly basic but effective tool, allowing you to ‘re-glitch’ until you reach your favourite outcome.
JPG Glitch by Snorpey
Toggle with the controls to experiment with the final outcome, or select ‘randomise’. Right click and ‘save image as’ to save your image.
If you enjoy corrupting your images, why not delve a bit further into databending? We recommend datamoshing.com - there you can find multiple tutorials on various ways of manipulating image and video files.
Happy glitching!