New Forms of Art - Digital Photos Oil Paintings
SECTION I
A NEW REVOLUTION IN ART
The latest developments in digital cameras and image-editing software have dramatically changed the very nature of both photography and painting. As a result, digital photography has moved toward the next level of expression, removing the boundary between photography and painting. A new field of digital photo painting has been born which combines the artistic tools found in photography and painting.
A. Digital Photo Painting vs. Photo Painting
Although digital photo painting is a newly emerging field in both amateur and professional art, the use of a camera as a sketchbook is as old as photography itself.
The development of paintings from photographs to completed works of art is a very common approach in traditional painting, despite the well-known fact that many painters prefer not to talk about it. By using a camera as a sketchbook, artists are able to collect unique visual references in order to inform and inspire their creative work.
In her book €Painting Great Pictures from Photographs€, Hazel Harrison states that €although there is a lingering prejudice against using photographic references, to many professional artists the camera is essential€. She also points out that there is a considerable difference between taking photographs for their own sake and taking them as painting references. Good paintings can be made from such particular photographs but seldom by direct copying.
Digital photo painting has opened new opportunities for the use of photographs. Artists can still use them as painting references in a traditional way, just by looking at them and painting digitally from scratch. But they are also able to put them into the underlying layer of specialist software in order to paint 'over them'. Furthermore, amateur painters can use popular software or plug-ins for turning their digital photographs into paintings automatically, with a single mouse click.
B. The Nature of the Revolution
Digital photo painting is a form of digital art. Without doubt, digital art has changed the landscape of art forever. But are those changes serious enough to be considered as a new revolution in art?
Scott Ligon in the book €Digital Art Revolution'analyses five key reasons why digital art is causing a revolution: (1) Everything is connected, (2) Endless experimenting, (3) Process, not product, (4) Eliminate the middleman, (5) No limitations.
More specifically, digital technology is redefining the creative process because it: €(1) blurs the boundaries between mediums to the point of irrelevance, (2) possesses potential for endless experimentation and variation, (3) allows for infinite duplication with no loss of quality, (4) is able to reach large audiences directly with no middleman, and (5) contains no inherent aesthetic or technical limitations€.
Of course, it is possible to name several other factors that define the nature of the digital revolution, such as, for example, the scope and the depth of the ongoing changes. The digital revolution in art is affecting not just a particular small group of artists, but everyone who deals with either professional or amateur photography or fine art. Also, the revolutionary changes are going so deep that it is difficult to name any artistic form or technique that might not be influenced by digital technologies.
C. Painting vs. Photography
The birth of digital painting has raised many questions about a new relationship between photography and painting. What is going to happen to them in the future? Is photography dead, and is it just a first step in the production of digital photo paintings? Is traditional physical painting dead and to be replaced with the digital techniques?
To answer those questions, a deep and essentially philosophical reflection is required. Putting the relationship between photography and painting in a historic perspective will make the whole picture much clearer. Ever since the invention of photography, the proportion of €paintings to photographs€ has constantly changed in the same direction as an ever increasing number of photographs were being produced worldwide each and every day.
As of today, almost everyone seems to be a digital photographer and millions and millions of the resulting photographs are uploaded to the Internet. Comparing this with the number of paintings produced at the same period in time, the complete dominance of amateur photography is obvious. According to Hegel's dialectical method, such monotonous development cannot continue forever. At a certain point in time, a transition from quantity to new quality has to take place. Usually, such transitions happen in the form of a sudden jump that in some cases can more properly be called a revolution. The jump from traditional photography to digital painting is just such a revolution, and it is worth considering the concept in more detail.
SECTION II
THE CONCEPT OF DIGITAL PAINTING
A. Computer-generated Art?
In general, digital painting is associated with the process of painting on a computer using Corel Painter or similar software and some specialist hardware, such as a pressure-sensitive Wacom tablet and pen. This process results in an image that is visually manifested on a computer display as an array of coloured pixels. Each digital painting is born in this initial €virtual' form. It can stay in it forever or it can be physically rendered on paper or canvas using a printer.
Is digital painting therefore a kind of computer-generated art? Since the main goal of digital painting is to simulate traditional painting using new electronic tools, the answer is negative. It is formulated very well by Jeremy Sutton in the Preface to his book €Painter 11 Creativity': €The digital painting referred to in this book is no more €computer-generated' than a Van Gogh painting was 'oil brush generated'. It involves original handmade brush strokes on a digital canvas. The act of painting is very similar to the act of traditional painting, only with electronic media instead of physical media €¦ €, The main idea of today's digital painting is to produce a piece of art that looks human made, but to do this using computer-generated brushes and digital paint.
B. Between Photography and Painting
Digital photo painting takes photography to the next level of expression, allowing us to turn digital photographs into artworks that look hand-painted rather than created on a computer. With popular software and little effort, everyone can alter digital images so that they will replicate traditional media like oils or watercolours. But when all desired painterly effects are applied and photographs are successfully transformed into paintings, are the final pieces genuine digital paintings or do they remain essentially digital photographs?
This question reflects the intimate goal and the main issue of digital photo painting. As Marilyn Sholin pointed out in her book 'The Art of Digital Photo Painting', €It is always the goal of the digital painter to create paintings that do not look either too photographic or too computer generated€. In other words, the answer to the philosophical question €To be or not to be' could in this particular case be as follows: To be a masterpiece, your digital photo painting should not be too photographic and at the same time it should not be too computer generated.
The art of digital photo painting is that of treading the narrow path between clearly computer generated and clearly photographic appearances of artwork.
C. Going beyond Digital
Digital paintings are digital only by their birth. With the latest technologies, they can be printed on a solid physical substrate, such as paper or canvas, using practically any medium, such as Gicl©e. acrylic, watercolour or oil. This allows digital paintings to exist in the physical world of art in the same way as any traditional paintings on canvas or paper. After such 'materialization', digital paintings are no longer just files on a computer; they are som
A NEW REVOLUTION IN ART
The latest developments in digital cameras and image-editing software have dramatically changed the very nature of both photography and painting. As a result, digital photography has moved toward the next level of expression, removing the boundary between photography and painting. A new field of digital photo painting has been born which combines the artistic tools found in photography and painting.
A. Digital Photo Painting vs. Photo Painting
Although digital photo painting is a newly emerging field in both amateur and professional art, the use of a camera as a sketchbook is as old as photography itself.
The development of paintings from photographs to completed works of art is a very common approach in traditional painting, despite the well-known fact that many painters prefer not to talk about it. By using a camera as a sketchbook, artists are able to collect unique visual references in order to inform and inspire their creative work.
In her book €Painting Great Pictures from Photographs€, Hazel Harrison states that €although there is a lingering prejudice against using photographic references, to many professional artists the camera is essential€. She also points out that there is a considerable difference between taking photographs for their own sake and taking them as painting references. Good paintings can be made from such particular photographs but seldom by direct copying.
Digital photo painting has opened new opportunities for the use of photographs. Artists can still use them as painting references in a traditional way, just by looking at them and painting digitally from scratch. But they are also able to put them into the underlying layer of specialist software in order to paint 'over them'. Furthermore, amateur painters can use popular software or plug-ins for turning their digital photographs into paintings automatically, with a single mouse click.
B. The Nature of the Revolution
Digital photo painting is a form of digital art. Without doubt, digital art has changed the landscape of art forever. But are those changes serious enough to be considered as a new revolution in art?
Scott Ligon in the book €Digital Art Revolution'analyses five key reasons why digital art is causing a revolution: (1) Everything is connected, (2) Endless experimenting, (3) Process, not product, (4) Eliminate the middleman, (5) No limitations.
More specifically, digital technology is redefining the creative process because it: €(1) blurs the boundaries between mediums to the point of irrelevance, (2) possesses potential for endless experimentation and variation, (3) allows for infinite duplication with no loss of quality, (4) is able to reach large audiences directly with no middleman, and (5) contains no inherent aesthetic or technical limitations€.
Of course, it is possible to name several other factors that define the nature of the digital revolution, such as, for example, the scope and the depth of the ongoing changes. The digital revolution in art is affecting not just a particular small group of artists, but everyone who deals with either professional or amateur photography or fine art. Also, the revolutionary changes are going so deep that it is difficult to name any artistic form or technique that might not be influenced by digital technologies.
C. Painting vs. Photography
The birth of digital painting has raised many questions about a new relationship between photography and painting. What is going to happen to them in the future? Is photography dead, and is it just a first step in the production of digital photo paintings? Is traditional physical painting dead and to be replaced with the digital techniques?
To answer those questions, a deep and essentially philosophical reflection is required. Putting the relationship between photography and painting in a historic perspective will make the whole picture much clearer. Ever since the invention of photography, the proportion of €paintings to photographs€ has constantly changed in the same direction as an ever increasing number of photographs were being produced worldwide each and every day.
As of today, almost everyone seems to be a digital photographer and millions and millions of the resulting photographs are uploaded to the Internet. Comparing this with the number of paintings produced at the same period in time, the complete dominance of amateur photography is obvious. According to Hegel's dialectical method, such monotonous development cannot continue forever. At a certain point in time, a transition from quantity to new quality has to take place. Usually, such transitions happen in the form of a sudden jump that in some cases can more properly be called a revolution. The jump from traditional photography to digital painting is just such a revolution, and it is worth considering the concept in more detail.
SECTION II
THE CONCEPT OF DIGITAL PAINTING
A. Computer-generated Art?
In general, digital painting is associated with the process of painting on a computer using Corel Painter or similar software and some specialist hardware, such as a pressure-sensitive Wacom tablet and pen. This process results in an image that is visually manifested on a computer display as an array of coloured pixels. Each digital painting is born in this initial €virtual' form. It can stay in it forever or it can be physically rendered on paper or canvas using a printer.
Is digital painting therefore a kind of computer-generated art? Since the main goal of digital painting is to simulate traditional painting using new electronic tools, the answer is negative. It is formulated very well by Jeremy Sutton in the Preface to his book €Painter 11 Creativity': €The digital painting referred to in this book is no more €computer-generated' than a Van Gogh painting was 'oil brush generated'. It involves original handmade brush strokes on a digital canvas. The act of painting is very similar to the act of traditional painting, only with electronic media instead of physical media €¦ €, The main idea of today's digital painting is to produce a piece of art that looks human made, but to do this using computer-generated brushes and digital paint.
B. Between Photography and Painting
Digital photo painting takes photography to the next level of expression, allowing us to turn digital photographs into artworks that look hand-painted rather than created on a computer. With popular software and little effort, everyone can alter digital images so that they will replicate traditional media like oils or watercolours. But when all desired painterly effects are applied and photographs are successfully transformed into paintings, are the final pieces genuine digital paintings or do they remain essentially digital photographs?
This question reflects the intimate goal and the main issue of digital photo painting. As Marilyn Sholin pointed out in her book 'The Art of Digital Photo Painting', €It is always the goal of the digital painter to create paintings that do not look either too photographic or too computer generated€. In other words, the answer to the philosophical question €To be or not to be' could in this particular case be as follows: To be a masterpiece, your digital photo painting should not be too photographic and at the same time it should not be too computer generated.
The art of digital photo painting is that of treading the narrow path between clearly computer generated and clearly photographic appearances of artwork.
C. Going beyond Digital
Digital paintings are digital only by their birth. With the latest technologies, they can be printed on a solid physical substrate, such as paper or canvas, using practically any medium, such as Gicl©e. acrylic, watercolour or oil. This allows digital paintings to exist in the physical world of art in the same way as any traditional paintings on canvas or paper. After such 'materialization', digital paintings are no longer just files on a computer; they are som
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