Digital art
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Digital art most commonly refers to art created on a computer in digital form. Digital art can be purely computer-generated, such as fractals,and algorithmic art 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 modified 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. In an expanded sense, "digital art" is a term applied to contemporary art that uses the methods of mass production or media.
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[edit] Description and techniques
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 infinitely repeatable.[citation needed]
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 the message"(Marshall McLuhan). Digital tools have now become an integral part of the process of making art. As silicon-dry digital media converges with wet biological systems, Roy Ascott has pointed to the emergence of a "moistmedia" substrate for 21st century art.[1]
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 museums are now beginning to collect digital art such as the San Jose Museum 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 image file 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).
[edit] Digital art pioneers
- Charles Csuri
- David Em
- Herbert W. Franke
- Laurence Gartel
- John Lansdown
- Manfred Mohr
- Frieder Nake
- Jack Atkinson
- Sandro Bocola
[edit] Fields of digital art
[edit] Computer-generated
Computer-generated art is art created with a computer, from models created by the artist. The term is usually applied to works created entirely with a computer.
Movies make heavy use of computer-generated graphics; they are called computer-generated imagery (CGI) in the film industry. In the 1990s, and early 2000s CGI advanced enough so that for the first time it was possible to create realistic 3D computer animation. The film The Phantom Menace was widely noted for its heavy use of computer graphics.
More affordable computers, software and websites provide several advantages for thrifty artists. Compared to the price of oils, an easel and canvases, a PC and the occasional trip to the copy shop can be an attractive alternative.
There are two main paradigms in computer generated imagery. The simplest is 2D computer graphics which reflect how you might draw using a pencil and a piece of paper. In this case, however, the image is on the computer screen and the instrument you draw with might be a tablet stylus or a mouse. What is generated on your screen might appear to be drawn with a pencil, pen or paintbrush.
The second kind is 3D computer graphics, where the screen becomes a window into a virtual environment, where you arrange objects to be "photographed" by the computer. Of course the image generated is 2D, so you can always take it into your paint program for additions, in the same way Weekly World Inquirer Magazine inserted the space aliens in the coffee bar. Typically, 2D computer graphics use raster graphics as their primary means of source data respresentations, whereas 3D computer graphics use vector graphics.
A possible third paradigm is to generate art in 2D or 3D entirely through the execution of algorithms coded into computer programs and could be considered the native art form of the computer. That is, it cannot be produced without the computer. Fractal art or algorithmic art is an example.
[edit] Illustration
Artwork created using, generally, vector-based tools.
[edit] Photography/cinematography-related
Artwork created through a camera which may then be manipulated.
[edit] Painting
Artwork created in similar fashion to non-digital paintings; software-based brushes, pallet knives, canvases, and paints are manipulated by the painter on a computer platform.
[edit] Game-related
Artwork that relates to computer games or video 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
[edit] Other
Aside from visual digital art, there are also other forms of digital art.
[edit] See also
- Art software
- Computer art
- Internet art
- Electronic art
- Cyberarts
- New Media
- Interactive film
- New Media Art
- Austin Museum of Digital Art
- Computer generated music
- Fractal art
- Demoscene
- Machinima
- Generative art
- Music visualization
[edit] References
- ^ Ascott, Roy (July 12, 2000). Moistmedia, technoetics and the three VRs (RTF). ACTES / PROCEEDINGS ISEA2000.
[edit] Further reading
- Paul, Christiane (2003). Digital Art (World of Art series). London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-20367-9.
- Grau, Oliver (2003) Virtual Art: From Illusion to Immersion (Leonardo Book Series). Cambridge/Mass.: MIT-Press.
- James Faure Walker (2006) Painting the Digital River: How an Artist Learned to Love the Computer, Prentice-Hall (USA). ISBN 0-13-173902-6
- Wands, Bruce (2006). Art of the Digital Age, London: Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-23817-0.
