Traditional Art-VS-Digital Art

  Are you a traditional style painter? A digital painter? Or both? The digital age has created a brand new way to create art! Steve Jobs first spoke of the possibilities that the computer would create for the art world in his presentation in 1983, where he also mentioned how computers would become part of our everyday lives. Digital art has many great aspects and very little downsides, for instance you will be saving lots of money on canvases, paint, brushes, ect. Digital art also allows you to do many great things, like zoom in on a painting to add more detail, or hit "ctrl=z" on your keyboard to completely erase a mistake you may have made. Not only that, but you can also add effects to your painting that would be difficult to achieve with traditional style painting, such as the glow effect, blurs, distortions, you name it. One of the only downsides to digital art is that while you will save lots of money in the long run the initial investment will still cost you.

 Cost: Digital media is great, but it isn't cheap, you will need a fast computer, graphics software (such as photoshop) and a graphics tablet. However, there are ways to save money when becoming a digital artist. 

You will need a type of computer graphics program and photoshop may be the best out there but, it isnt for everyone due to its price. As a result, many people have instead downloaded a program called GIMP. GIMP is very similar to photoshop and is about just as good (with the exception of no animation capabilities) and the best thing about GIMP is that is completely FREE! ..And then there's the problem of getting a graphics tablet, which can range anywhere from $50.00 all the way to $1,500.00. But if youre just starting out then it may be best to go with something cheaper, like a Wacom Bamboo tablet which usually cost $99.99 at Best Buy.

Resources: Once you've got your Computer and tablet all set up then you're ready to go. If you're doing traditional style painting then you'll be making frequent run's to your local art supplies store. Many artist
prepare their own canvases at home, but if you're someone like me who doesn't know how to properly build a canvas by hand then things can get even expensive. Not to mention all the paint you'll be buying if you're a consistent painter. That said, in digital art to create a new canvas you simply make a few clicks and you've got a new canvas free of charge. So, as mentioned before, if you like to paint traditionally then you'll be spending more money in the long run.

Ease Of Use: Digital painting can seem extremely complex when you're just starting out, you may find yourself overwhelmed by all of the buttons on the screen, I know I was. You WILL have to watch lots of tutorials, or take a course for the program in order to get the hang of things. Someone whos been painting traditionally for year can even find digital painting confusing at first, but they're tradtional art skills will tranfer over into the digital world if they learn the program well enough. Where as with traditional painting anyone can pick up a brush and paint, its as simple as that, but whether or not the painting will be good is another story.. But, for the most part anyone can make a nice painting if they try, whether it be an abstract impression painting, or a detailed piece of fine art. Also, traditional painting is a lot more fun than digital painting, so long story short, digital painting>head ache, Traditional painting= fun and easy.

Value: Traditional art to this day still remains the most valued form of art and with good reason. Traditional styled paintings cant be copied as easily as digital art, and as a result each piece is unique. Even if the painting is scanned and replicated for prints, those prints will have a few slight differences form the original. 

Many fans of art consider traditional art the most respected form of art there is and I tend to agree. Painting fine art takes a lot of practice and hard work, you must be focused and have pay high attention to detail, or one mistake could ruin it. The painting must also be carefully prepared form the start to finish, after all you cant simply open a new layer and design a new background.. In retrospect, digital art has very little value these days, but traditional styled paintings are still selling for thousands, and sometimes millions! Digital art may have an easy to achieve "wow" factor, but traditional painting still takes the cake.

Personal Preference: At the end of the day it all really comes down to personal preference. You don't have to choose one over the other, I like both digital art and traditional art all the same. However, there are some people who love traditional art over any other art form. There are also people who find digital art more interesting.  I suppose it all comes down to what really suits your art style best and what compliments your work. I use both digital and traditional style techniques. The two art forms are very similar, but can also be very different and comparing them seem pointless. If someone is trying to decide which route to take as an artist, I doubt that any of the factors listed in this article will stop them from pursuing the arm form they are most interested in. This article is not to see which art form comes out on top. It was mainly to show the difference and similarities in the two art forms and also to show some of the ups and downs of starting out as a painter.