Digital art

Encyclopedia : D : DI : DIG : Digital art

Computer-generated image created by Gilles Tran using POV-Ray 3.6. The glasses, ashtray and pitcher were modeled with Rhino and the dice with Cinema 4D.

Death Masque created by Rich DiSilvio using Adobe Photoshop. Using a graphics tablet to hand render this image DiSilvio dispells the notion that all Digital Art is simply generated and not a creative or "serious" medium.

Death Masque created by Rich DiSilvio using Adobe Photoshop. Using a graphics tablet to hand render this image DiSilvio dispells the notion that all Digital Art is simply generated and not a creative or "serious" medium.

Digital art is art created on a computer in digital form. Digital art can be purely computer-generated, such as fractals, or taken from another source, such as a scanned photograph, or an image drawn using vector graphics software using a mouse or graphics tablet. Though technically the term may be applied to art done using other media or processes and merely scanned in, it is usually reserved for art that has been non-trivially modifed by a computing process (such as a computer program, microcontroller or any electronic system capable of interpreting an input to create an output); digitized text data and raw audio and video recordings are not usually considered digital art in themselves, but can be part of a larger project.

-->The availability and popularity of photograph manipulation software has spawned a vast and creative library of highly modified images, many bearing little or no hint of the original image.  Using electronic versions of brushes, filters and enlargers, these "Neographers" produce images unattainable through conventional photographic tools. In addition, digital artists may manipulate scanned drawings, paintings, collages or lithographs, as well as using any of the above-mentioned techniques in combination. Artists also use many other sources of information and programs to create their work.

3D graphics are created via the process of designing complex imagery from geometric shapes, polygons or NURBS curves to create realistic 3 dimensional shapes, objects and scenes for use in various media such as film, television, print, rapid prototyping and the special visual effects. There are many software programs for doing this.

The technology can enable collaboration, lending itself to sharing and augumenting by a creative effort similar to the open source movement, and the creative commons in which users can collaborate in a project to create unique pieces of art.

The mainstream media uses a lot of digital art in advertisements, and computers are used extensively in film to produce special effects. Desktop publishing has had a huge impact on the publishing world, although that is more related to graphic design.

Nonetheless, digital art is yet to gain the acceptance and regard reserved for "serious" artforms such as sculpture, painting and drawing, perhaps due to the erroneous impression of many that "the computer does it for you" and the suggestion that the image created could be infinitly repeatable.

Computers are also commonly used to make music, especially electronic music, since they present a powerful way to arrange and create sound samples. It is possible that general acceptance of the value of digital art will progress in much the same way as the increased acceptance of electronically produced music over the last three decades.

Some say we are now in a postdigital era, where digital technologies are no longer a novelty in the art world, and "the medium is no longer the message." [link] Digital tools have now become an integral part of the process of making art.

Digital Photography and digital printing is now an acceptable medium of creation and presentation by major museums and galleries, and the work of digital artists is gaining ground, through robotic installation, net art and software art. But the work of digital painters and printmakers is beginning to find acceptance as the output capabilities advance and quality increases. Internationally many musuems are now beginning to collect digital art such as the San Jose Musuem of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum print department also has a reasonable but small collection of digital art.

One reason why the established art community finds it difficult to accept digital art is the erroneous perception of digital prints being endlessly reproducible. Many artists though are erasing the relevant imagefile after the first print, thus making it a unique artwork. Another reason is longevity. With today's digital printing technology though, fading of colours will not occur for 60 to 100 years(www.wilhelm-research.com).

Fields of digital art

Computer Generated

Artwork rendered from models created by the artist.

Illustration

Artwork created using, generally, vector-based tools.

Digital illustration

Photography/Cinematography Related

Artwork created through a camera which may then be manipulated.

Painting

Artwork created in similar fashion to non-digital paintings by means of software.

Digital painting

Game Related

Artwork that relates to computer games.

Video game design
Artistic computer game modification
Demoscene (A subculture that concentrates on making digital art.)
Computer art scene (Another subculture with many parallels and ties to the Demoscene.)
Pixel art
Machinima

Other

Aside from visual digital art, there are also other forms of digital art.

External links

[Digital art] at the Open Directory Project.