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Layer Tennis: Art as Competition
We've discussed Layer Tennis before: it's a live online competition in which graphic designers trade art back and forth, building upon and changing the art during each fifteen-minute turn, in a kind of graphic design Battle Royale. You may say: huh? Well, here are some sample layers from last week's match between Brooklynites Armin Vit and Sam Potts. In the opening salvo, Vit introduces a wrestling/typography theme:
Potts responds with a beautifully-executed discus-related diss. Is he fronting?
By the penultimate layer of the match, various new themes (Jell-O, birth and death, crotch-kicking, Photoshop abuse) have been added, and the match has become very personal. In the ninth layer, Vit responds:
In the tenth and final layer, Potts wraps things up with illustration layered over a very lovely (and heavily discounted) bridge:
New Match Tomorrow!
The next live Layer Tennis match begins tomorrow (Friday, March 27) at 3pm Eastern. Contestants are Jason Santa Maria (East Coast) and Derek Powazek (West Coast). Which man will dominate? Tune in to find out....
Season tickets are free, and ticket holders can join in the action -- by voting, commenting, remixing layers, and more. For more info, just check out the Layer Tennis site. For past matches, check the archives. (I recommend the psychedelic Owens vs. Gnewikow match from December 2007.)