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Trad vs. Digi
2 years ago
General
Recently I found myself in a situation where I chose to revisit my traditional art abilities. An art auction was coming up and I had about four concepts in mind I wanted to try and put on paper.
Normally I would do a rough sketch and then take it to Inkscape where I could play with and sculpt the work to my heart’s content. However I only really had a week and my current skill-level with digital art would take far too long. Not only that but it struck me that fewer people would be willing to bid on a physical piece if it was a mere print of a digitally-produced (and easily replicated) image. Thus I opted to splash out on some quality watercolour paper, some new pens and pencils and get stuck in.
Boy was it fun. It felt like I had overcome a lot of my shortcomings in terms of my traditional capabilities and I was able to produce at a far greater speed than working away with a tablet. Maybe this was down to the fact that my options were more limited or it was revisiting a style I had practiced a lot with over the past couple of decades, but it was very refreshing to see the pieces come to life in the short time I had, compared to the weeks it would take in the style I’ve been focusing on for the past several years.
However, that being said, I am often very disappointed when these pieces do not seem to get the same level of love. The auction was more than able to cover my expenses and I hope they have found good homes among those who won them… but suffice to say the bidding was hardly pitched.
Now, I can concede that it could simply be that the subject matter or other aspects: anatomy, composition etc. just didn’t make the grade or reach the broad appeal necessary for the kind of positive feedback I would want, but in my defence I also think the very nature of traditional art means it doesn’t really come to life through a digital hosting medium.
Cameras, scanners and photoshop lighting can be very harsh in a way the human eye is not, making the art appear washed-out and amateurish. The lines become less sharp, the colours blotchy and the flaws more obvious.
Now there are always ways to overcome this. There are countless masterpieces that have been skilfully translated to digital and film and I bet most of us are more familiar with copies of famous artworks than the originals. So this isn’t an entire excuse for why my trad art looks worse than my digital art on this site, but I keep feeling like it has to be a factor.
So, yeah, I love the ease and craft actually physically creating art, but it has very much reminded me that among the other benefits of digital art (the undo and morphing abilities, among others) art pieces made on a computer screen will always have a visual advantage when viewed on a computer screen.
Normally I would do a rough sketch and then take it to Inkscape where I could play with and sculpt the work to my heart’s content. However I only really had a week and my current skill-level with digital art would take far too long. Not only that but it struck me that fewer people would be willing to bid on a physical piece if it was a mere print of a digitally-produced (and easily replicated) image. Thus I opted to splash out on some quality watercolour paper, some new pens and pencils and get stuck in.
Boy was it fun. It felt like I had overcome a lot of my shortcomings in terms of my traditional capabilities and I was able to produce at a far greater speed than working away with a tablet. Maybe this was down to the fact that my options were more limited or it was revisiting a style I had practiced a lot with over the past couple of decades, but it was very refreshing to see the pieces come to life in the short time I had, compared to the weeks it would take in the style I’ve been focusing on for the past several years.
However, that being said, I am often very disappointed when these pieces do not seem to get the same level of love. The auction was more than able to cover my expenses and I hope they have found good homes among those who won them… but suffice to say the bidding was hardly pitched.
Now, I can concede that it could simply be that the subject matter or other aspects: anatomy, composition etc. just didn’t make the grade or reach the broad appeal necessary for the kind of positive feedback I would want, but in my defence I also think the very nature of traditional art means it doesn’t really come to life through a digital hosting medium.
Cameras, scanners and photoshop lighting can be very harsh in a way the human eye is not, making the art appear washed-out and amateurish. The lines become less sharp, the colours blotchy and the flaws more obvious.
Now there are always ways to overcome this. There are countless masterpieces that have been skilfully translated to digital and film and I bet most of us are more familiar with copies of famous artworks than the originals. So this isn’t an entire excuse for why my trad art looks worse than my digital art on this site, but I keep feeling like it has to be a factor.
So, yeah, I love the ease and craft actually physically creating art, but it has very much reminded me that among the other benefits of digital art (the undo and morphing abilities, among others) art pieces made on a computer screen will always have a visual advantage when viewed on a computer screen.
