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What is Digital Art?
By Christy Nicholas, aka Green Dragon,
Artist
www.GreenDragonArtist.com
We are in a
relatively new world, the Information Age. The days of Pony Express, telegraphs and
hand written letters are over. So
what does this mean in the art world?
It means that we have a wonderfully flexible, complex, and sometimes
abused new tool to help us create art – the computer.
Many people
confuse the two definitions, and this article will try to de-mystify the
process of digital art, and allow folks to understand the way it works.
Before I get
into an explanation of digital art, I’d like to set out some
definitions.
- Digital
Art: This is a broad term that
encompasses many different methods and work flow. Some people apply it to anything
that touches a computer, even scanned copies of oil paintings from
which prints are made. Others
apply it only to pieces that are painted entirely using the
computer. Many others have
definitions that fall in between.
For many folks, digital photography could easily be considered
digital art. The DAPTTF (Digital
Art Practices & Terminology Task Force) official definition for a digital
fine art print is: “A fine art print
made by any digital output process conforming to traditional fine art
qualifications and requirements.”
- Computer-Generated
Art: This would be art actually created
by the computer, with little or no input from the artist. Some programs, such as a fractal
generator, can create such things using random numbers and a
command. They are often complex
and pretty, but have no composition, line, contrast or design
considerations. Most artists
who create art with fractals use these as a base. They then take those computer-generated
fractals and do so much post-work to it that it is now their own
creation, and bears little resemblance to what the computer originally
created. The DAPTTF official
generation is: “A
misnomer that implies that no human, artistic control is required to
produce artwork. In general it may mean having come through a
specific kind of device, but essentially it is understood that
computers do nothing without the input and control of human beings.”
- 3-D Art: This is art created in
a 3-D program like Poser, Bryce or Daz Studio. It takes a base figure or prop that
someone previously created (either the software company, the artist
themselves or another artist), and allows the artist to position it in
different ways, apply lighting to it, changing perspective, etc. Many artists take a base figure and
customize it, making a ‘character’ that they can then use
as a figure in different settings, situations, etc. Again, this is taking a previously
created piece and customizing it to the artists’ own creative
vision, like in the fractal example above. The computer doesn’t do the
creative part, the artist does.
Trust me, a figure straight out of Poser, with no post-work
done, looks bad!
As an
example of Digital Art, I will explain my work flow and process. This is not, by far, the only way to do
things – just the way I like doing them. I think everyone can agree that it
qualifies as Digital Art.
- I draw
something. It could be a
complex composition with background, details, and shading, or it could
be a quick sketch of an outline of a figure. Pencil drawing is my favorite type
of art, so I don’t want to give that up! I could do it on a Wacom tablet, but
haven’t gotten used to that medium yet… so I draw.
- I then scan that
drawing into my computer, and open it in Photoshop. I don’t have a high end
scanner, this is just to provide an ‘under drawing’ that I
then use as a guideline to paint over.
- I then paint,
using Photoshop, over the areas I have drawn out. I choose the size and
‘edge’ of paintbrush I want to use, and paint, using the
mouse, in the different areas.
Sometimes I layer several colors, and ‘smudge’ them
together. Often, when I am
painting hair, I’ll have 4 or 5 layers and pull very thin, fine
smudge lines through them, to draw the individual hairs.
- Usually I will
zoom in on particular detailed areas to paint them, such as the eyes
or the mouth of a figure. This
way I can draw details such as individual eyelashes, the folds in the
eyelid, the speckles in the iris, etc.
I then zoom back out to see how it looks from normal
distance. Often it looks
completely different, so do this often!
- On any one
portrait, for example, I have several layers; one or more for skin, a
couple for hair, one for the eyes (which later gets collapsed into the
skin for blending purposes), the lips, any adornment like jewelry or
clothing, etc. This allows me
to adjust individual layers for contrast, color, shadows, etc.
- I then have
additional layers for props, background, etc. Sometimes I will do an over-layer to
give everything a color cast, like golden light at a sunset, or cool
blue for a night scene. I will
paint these colors in, but a uniform layer over everything helps tie
it in better.
- After I am done,
I will save it in a collapsed form for printing, but I always keep my
original layered file. Usually
these have take anywhere from 30-40 hours to produce, and it is really
the only proof that I created it.
It takes me
just as long to create a piece of Digital Art as it would an acrylic or oil
painting – but there is no mess, it is flexible enough to allow me to
change the composition halfway through, and I can undo what I just did.
Digital Art
is still art. It is created using a
tool more flexible than a camera or a canvas and paintbrush, but the computer
is still just a tool. It is the
artist that provides the inspiration, the creativity, and the talent and
technique to turn that inspiration into a beautiful piece of art.
Sources:
Glossary of Digital
Art and Printmaking
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