I love digital painting! So there, I said it!
“Living Room Still Life” Digital Painting created in Procreate.
I’ve been an artist for nearly forty years. Holy cow. During my career, I've worked in oil paint, acrylic paint, lithography, silkscreen, collage, pastel, sculpture, and installation. I probably forgot one or two.
Along the way, I’ve also been a technology geek. I’ve been building my own (and others) websites since the 1980s. But that’s a story for another time.
This post is about my love of digital painting. I've added this tool into my toolbox just like all of those other media I listed above.
But this tool is a little different. There's still a stigma attached to working in the digital realm. As if it's not "real painting."
Someone should tell David Hockney about this.
The analogy I like to use when someone casts aspersions on digital painting is the Prius. It goes something like this; the person tells me that I'm not making real art. Real art they say, is paint on canvas. Preferably canvas that you have stretched yourself. And paint that you have made yourself. This is real art. None of this newfangled digital stuff. That's not art.
Then they get into their Prius and drive away. Or they pick up their iPhone to check their email. Or they turn on the overhead light. Electricity anyone?
Can you tell I'm a bit peeved by this?
Why is one form of progress okay and another is not?
David Hockney “Untitled 182” iPad painting.
There was a time when acrylic paint was the ugly step-child of painting.
Not that long ago, in terms of art history, oil paint was the new kid on the block. I mean 500 years is just a blip on the art history radar. Painting in oil only started to gain popularity in the 15th century.
The printed word as we know it has only been around since about 1450. Thank you, Johannes Gutenberg. Fifteenth century monks copying the Bible by hand probably thought "that press thingie... that's not REAL printing. It'll never catch on."
So come on, you explorers. You brave creators of the future. Come create with me in the digital realm. Create your art on your iPad, your phone, the fender of your Prius. Just make stuff no matter what your choice of medium.
And then give the world your beautiful creations. Never mind the naysayers!