Recent events:
I’m currently working and going to school. This means long work weeks and endless hours spent completing homework. Early days and long nights.
I’m itching to relax, but alas I decided to work on a new art project.
I got my pencils and paper, and began drawing some sketches. I then transferred my ideas onto my computer, and digitally drew some more. Additional coloring, shading, rendering, and details were added.
Ten hours later, I’m finally done.
So here is where things got interesting.
I was spent, exhausted, and not exactly proud of how my digital painting turned out. I later showed my art to someone and they asked me how I made it.
I explained that it was painted digitally, and the response was, “Oh… that’s nice. So the computer automatically does it. Computers are so amazing aren’t they?”
Computers don’t automatically (magically?) create art. Computers are a tool; nothing more, nothing less.
At this moment I realized that digital art is a medium with little to no exposure. This person didn’t know what at all was involved. They didn’t know what skills, techniques, discipline, equipment, or training is required to create a digital painting.
Can computers write thought provoking narrative works of fiction? No. Of course not. A writer may use a word processor to actually (physically) type a story on, but the story does not write itself. Same is true for artists and digital art/painting. Once again, a computer is a tool.
So my goal is to shed some light on the wonderful and fun yet sometimes challenging and difficult world of digital painting.
If you want to learn, then let’s go!
Digital Art
I’d like to start by sharing some examples of digital paintings. As you view, pay particular attention to how similar they look to actual paintings you would see in traditional works of art. Note the textures and painterly techniques being used.
Artist: Irakli Nadar
Artist: Aquasixio - When She Was Six
Artist: Various art professionals.
Stunning, right?
Let me tell you a secret… these digital paintings were done by hand, and actually drawn with a pen on a computer.
But not just any old pen. No siree bob! I’m talking about a “digital” pen. Let me show you what I mean. A digital pen like this:
And the setup looks something like this:
As you can see from the images above, a digital pen is used to draw on the surface of a tablet made by a company like Wacom. Ever heard of ‘em? No?
Well let me tell you, they specialize in making incredible digital drawing products for artists like you and I, and they’re one Google search away from filling the void in your art loving heart.
There are also other companies that make similar products. Research and check them out.
But back to the matter at hand, to create a digital painting (generally speaking) you will need the following:
Computer
Drawing tablet + Pen
Software
Your drawing skills
Alright, so now you should see the physical act of drawing traditionally is actually the same as drawing digitally. Now notice how actual drawing skills are required. If you can't draw traditionally, you can't draw digitally. Once again, the computer will not draw for you. It will not pick up the pen and draw whatever is going on in your brain!
So you might be wondering, “Well, why would I want to draw something that can only be viewed from a computer monitor or my phone?” My response?
Check this out.
Welcome to the new age, baby! Digital art/paintings can be printed onto canvases (giant ones, even) so that you can hang them on your wall.
But it’s not just the artsy-fartsy side of things where you can witness digital art in all it’s grandiose splendor. Take a look at these:
Digital Art on everyday items.
Magazine covers.
Digital Art on T-shirts
Movie Posters
Billboards
… and even video game covers!
It’s everywhere! And it's glorious. As much as I love traditional art, I am always as equally excited to draw digitally.
What I hope you gleaned from the above imagery was how varied digital painting can be and how many applications exist for the medium. It’s such a versatile medium with many different styles, techniques, and practical uses.
Ultimately, you have to realize that someone, an actual person, hand crafted these digital works of art.
For my next blog post I will create a small tutorial on how to actually create digital art. Until next time, thanks for visiting and be blessed. Cheers!
~Joe