I used to view digital paintings as inferior to “real” paintings, requiring less skill. I’ve since come to realize the skill of digital work is no less challenging, and the medium can be every bit as sincere. Digital paintings require the artist to mix and apply specific color, value, texture, layers, and transparency – all of the decision making that “real” painting requires – but digital comes with some extra surprises like curves that change the color palette to ideas I never could have imagined, and there is something liberating about being able to try things without fear you’ll ruin something, whether you just started the painting, or are looking to see how far you can take something you’ve been developing for countless hours. Or what if you get the painting to an inspired place where you can see it going in multiple directions? You don’t need to choose just one! For me, the most valuable asset is that digital removes the dry time and the cleanup. In fact, I’ve recently started carrying my tablet so I can practice new ways of painting when I’m not able to get to the studio. It has been training my brain and keeping me in the game even when I’m busy.
Below are a few sketches from Keith’s Beginning Procreate class.
This is one in a series of posts showcasing a selection of artwork made by League artists during the last year in quarantine. These artwork pics are borrowed from our online class archives. Instead of viewing these as finished artworks, we hope you will appreciate the excitement of these experimental works in process.
In art school, our art history course included a section on German Expressionism, featuring some paintings by Ludwig Kirchner. They looked something like this: Ludwig Kirchner, “Street, Berlin” (1913) I remember not liking them at the time. Expressionism? Everyone’s squeezed in like bristling sardines! The darkness behind the colors, the acidic contrasts, the dampening black, …
[image_with_animation image_url=”7643″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Bruce Nauman, Failing to Levitate in My Studio, 1966. In art school I learned about the clever and funny Bruce Nauman. In particular, I learned about a series for which he said (I’m paraphrasing broadly) “I am an artist, therefore everything I do is art, therefore this is art.” And …
From Wikipedia: Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese: 歌川 広重), also Andō Hiroshige (Japanese: 安藤 広重; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his landscapes, such as the series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō and The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō; …
A Post-Abstract Representational Artist From Wikiart: Avigdor Arikha (April 28, 1929 – April 29, 2010) was a Romanian-born French–Israeli painter, draughtsman, printmaker, and art historian. Avigdor Arikha (originally Victor Długacz) was born to German-speaking Jewish parents in Rădăuţi, but grew up in Czernowitz in Bukovina, Romania (now in Ukraine). His family faced forced deportation in …
Artworks with an “Undo” button; Online Anniversary Show Continues
I used to view digital paintings as inferior to “real” paintings, requiring less skill. I’ve since come to realize the skill of digital work is no less challenging, and the medium can be every bit as sincere. Digital paintings require the artist to mix and apply specific color, value, texture, layers, and transparency – all of the decision making that “real” painting requires – but digital comes with some extra surprises like curves that change the color palette to ideas I never could have imagined, and there is something liberating about being able to try things without fear you’ll ruin something, whether you just started the painting, or are looking to see how far you can take something you’ve been developing for countless hours. Or what if you get the painting to an inspired place where you can see it going in multiple directions? You don’t need to choose just one! For me, the most valuable asset is that digital removes the dry time and the cleanup. In fact, I’ve recently started carrying my tablet so I can practice new ways of painting when I’m not able to get to the studio. It has been training my brain and keeping me in the game even when I’m busy.
Below are a few sketches from Keith’s Beginning Procreate class.
This is one in a series of posts showcasing a selection of artwork made by League artists during the last year in quarantine. These artwork pics are borrowed from our online class archives. Instead of viewing these as finished artworks, we hope you will appreciate the excitement of these experimental works in process.
Monster big doggy!
Related Posts
Unexpected Happiness in Landscapes by Kirchner
In art school, our art history course included a section on German Expressionism, featuring some paintings by Ludwig Kirchner. They looked something like this: Ludwig Kirchner, “Street, Berlin” (1913) I remember not liking them at the time. Expressionism? Everyone’s squeezed in like bristling sardines! The darkness behind the colors, the acidic contrasts, the dampening black, …
SAL Challenge Day 10: I am an artist
[image_with_animation image_url=”7643″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Bruce Nauman, Failing to Levitate in My Studio, 1966. In art school I learned about the clever and funny Bruce Nauman. In particular, I learned about a series for which he said (I’m paraphrasing broadly) “I am an artist, therefore everything I do is art, therefore this is art.” And …
Hiroshige’s Rainy Moments
From Wikipedia: Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese: 歌川 広重), also Andō Hiroshige (Japanese: 安藤 広重; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his landscapes, such as the series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō and The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō; …
The Drawings of Avigdor Arikha
A Post-Abstract Representational Artist From Wikiart: Avigdor Arikha (April 28, 1929 – April 29, 2010) was a Romanian-born French–Israeli painter, draughtsman, printmaker, and art historian. Avigdor Arikha (originally Victor Długacz) was born to German-speaking Jewish parents in Rădăuţi, but grew up in Czernowitz in Bukovina, Romania (now in Ukraine). His family faced forced deportation in …