Category: Glitch Art Guides

Beginner’s Guide to Glitch Art

What is Glitch Art?

Glitch art is a type of art that is created by deliberately introducing errors or “glitches” into digital images or videos. Glitch art can be made with software, hardware, or simply by manipulating digital data. Glitch art often explores the relationship between technology and society. It can comment on mass surveillance, corporate power, and the commodification of culture.

David Ariel Szauder’s Failed Memories

Glitch art can also be simply aesthetic or simply fun. Whatever the purpose, glitch art is a way to create something new and unexpected from digital media.

Glitch Art Print by Azrhon 

History of Glitch Art

Digitex Triacotine 16 Art Print by Chad Wys 

Glitch art has its roots in the early days of computing when programmers deliberately introduced errors or “bugs” into their code to see what would happen. These glitches would often produce unexpected and exciting results, which the programmers share with their colleagues. Glitch art began to take shape in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the advent of digital editing software such as Adobe Photoshop and Apple’s Final Cut Pro. These tools made it possible for anyone with a computer to create glitch art. The genre began to gain popularity in underground art and music scenes.

Digitex Triacotine 20 Art Print by Chad Wys 

In recent years, glitch art has entered the mainstream. Commercial brands are now using glitch art to create eye-catching and attention-grabbing visuals. The genre is continuing to grow in popularity.

Glitch Art Methods include:

  • Databending: the process of manipulating a media file of a certain format, using software designed to edit files of another format. Distortions in the medium typically occur as a result. [more]
  • Pixel Sorting: the process of isolating a horizontal or vertical line of pixels in an image and sorting their positions based on criteria such as luminosity, hue, or saturation. [more]
  • Datamoshing: a technique of damaging video clips to create a glitch effect wherein frames that should change don’t. It’s most noticeable between cuts and across motion. [more]
  • Software Glitches
  • Hardware Glitches
  • Combining Glitches

Data Bending example:

Pixel Sorting example:

Black And White Design GIF by BADCODEC - Find & Share on GIPHY
by badcodec
Datamoshing by LetsGlitchIt

Famous Glitch Artists

Famous glitch artists include Sabato Visconti, known for his “datamoshing” technique, which involves manipulating digital video data to create Glitch Art.

Images Adrift – Sabato Visconti (Example of Pixel Sorting)

Michael Betancourt

The Kodak Moment by Michael Betancourt

Other amazing glitch artists include:

How to Make Glitch Art

There are many ways to create glitch art, but most methods involve manipulating digital data somehow. For example, you can create glitches by:

  • Editing images or videos with software such as Photoshop or Final Cut Pro
  • Manipulating digital files with hex editors or other hacking tools
  • Playing around with the settings on your computer or video game console
  • Recording and editing digital footage from TV, movies, or other sources
  • Glitching images or videos online using websites or apps such as Glitché or Glitchee
  • Combining different types of glitch art to create unique results

Glitch art is all about experimentation, so there are no hard and fast rules.

Here are some videos for creating your own glitch art:

Glitch Art Tools

There are a variety of tools that you can use to create glitch art, including:

Glitch art is a fun, creative way to experiment with digital media. Have fun and see what you can create!

Best Glitch Art Apps

Glitché

Glitché App

Glitché is an award-winning editor and a perfect NFT-art tool with glitch-filters based on random data that cannot be recreated. Create unique digital art with Glitché.

  • 40+ professional tools for digital glitches, datamoshing, 3D-transformations, color distortions, crusty VHS looks and more
  • Real-time AR-filters and masks to bring the best out of your art
  • Effect control during recording and editing
  • Fonts generator, layers, and blending modes
  • Beautiful simple design
  • Endless inspiration and creativity

Glitché is another excellent option for iPhone users. It has a wide selection of glitch effects, and you can even create your own Glitché filters.

Get Glitché.

Glitch Art Studio: Cam Effects (iPhone)

This app is perfect for creating glitch art on the go. It has a simple interface and various glitch effects to choose from.

Add glitches to your photos and videos!

Glitch Art Studio offers an extensive library of exclusive effects to distort your photos and videos in creative ways.

Effects:

  • Analog Noise
  • Digital Noise
  • Interference
  • VHS Noise
  • Color Aberration
  • Datamosh
  • Slit Scan
  • Pixel Sorting
  • Quantization
  • Dithering
  • Lens Distortions
  • Symmetry
  • Dope & Rad Effects
  • Scanlines
  • Interlace
  • CRT
  • ASCII
  • Glass

Get Glitch Art Cam Effects.

MoshUp

MoshUp

With Moshup you can do live datamoshing on your iPhone or iPad. Capture a short clip and then film something different. The first recording will stick to the second recording and will be transformed by its motion. You can create some interesting mapping effects. The app was mainly used on the viral TikTok datamoshing videos over the last two years.

You can also repeat Frames in order or randomly.

Save the result as an image or video. While data moshing you can now fade back to a clean camera input. It’s now also possible to watch a preview to decide if you want to save or continue with your video recording. Get MoshUp

Web-Based Glitching Tools:

Gitch Art Galleries

Glitch Art is still a relatively new art form, so there aren’t many Glitch Art Galleries yet. However, here are a few that you might want to check out:

Glitch Art Resources

What is Glitch Art?

  • Rosa Menkman
  • MAX HEADROOM, WHICH MARKED GLITCH ART’S ENTRY INTO THE MAINSTREAM. IMAGE VIA DAILY DOT

Glitch art is the practice of using digital or analog errors for aesthetic purposes by either corrupting digital data or physically manipulating electronic devices. Glitches appear in visual art such as the film A Colour Box (1935) by Len Lye, the video sculpture TV Magnet (1965) by Nam June Paik and more contemporary work such as Panasonic TH-42PWD8UK Plasma Screen Burn (2007) by Cory Arcangel.[1]

In a technical sense, a glitch is the unexpected result of a malfunction, especially occurring in software, video games, images, videos, audio, and other digital artefacts. Early examples of glitches used in media art include Digital TV Dinner (1978) created by Jamie Fenton and Raul Zaritsky, with glitch audio done by Dick Ainsworth. This video was made by manipulating the Bally video game console and recording the results on videotape.[2]

The term glitch came to be associated with music in the mid 90s to describe a genre of experimental/noise/electronica (see glitch music). Shortly after, as VJs and other visual artist began to embrace the glitch as an aesthetic of the digital age, glitch art came to refer to a whole assembly of visual arts.[3]

What is called “glitch art” typically means visual glitches, either in a still or moving image. It is made by either “capturing” an image of a glitch as it randomly happens, or more often by artists/designers manipulating their digital files, software or hardware to produce these “errors.” Artists have posted a variety of tutorials online explaining how to make glitch art.[8][9] There are many approaches to making these glitches happen on demand, ranging from physical changes to the hardware to direct alternations of the digital files themselves. Artist Michael Betancourt identified five areas of manipulation that are used to create “glitchart.”[10] Betancourt notes that “glitch art” is defined by a broad range of technical approaches that can be identified with changes made to the digital file, its generative display, or the technologies used to show it (such as a video screen). He includes within this range changes made to analog technologies such as television (in video art) or the physical film strip in motion pictures:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glitch_art
  • Animated example of what a glitched video can look like by Michael Betancourt. (Mae Murray in a screen test)
  • Glitched Image Using a Pixel Sorting Script

Glitches are the frustrating byproduct of technology gone awry. Many artists and programmers, however, have embraced these crisis moments and discovered beauty in the glitch. By hacking familiar systems, they intentionally cause glitches, and manipulate them to create art. Enjoying the aesthetics of technological mistakes defies the notion that technology and entertainment has to be seamless.