Contemporary illustrators, such as Scarf and Steadman, use their skills to work with the spontaneity and accident of media, which can convey movement and energy within satirical works to great effect.

Jackson Pollock, the pre-eminent Abstract Expressionist, described some of his work as 'Action Painting', where his interactions and controlled gestures with the paint and his implement were richly captured on surfaces.

In all physical mark making, the pigment and surface conjoin by the artist's interactions through space and over time. The creative event is the consequence of the mental and physical intent expressed, and can be seen captured in time by the medium. This is within the nature of all physical mark making, and it is how we are able to distinguish the hand of the artist.

It is this vital characteristic that is deficient in present computer graphics systems. They were not designed to fully take in all the 'action' at 'creation time' nor do they react with it. The results show for themselves. Images created lack the impulsiveness of physically made images, because the encoding is not sufficient to capture, with true fidelity, the spontaneity of the event.

Messy Media™ is the first software graphics system using ActionDraw™ patented technology to overcome these limitations...