Traditional Art is Dying...?The Digital Age...

Hey everyone

This is something I've wanted to share for some time now and is something and I  (and a number of other worried artists) have spoken about for YEARS. I've never shared it (entirely) here on DA for a number of reasons (one of which being I didn't want to insult anyone) but now this issue is inhibiting my ability to enjoy art...

I recently saw a program for sale that had a box that said "Now ANYONE can be an artist! Create the look of oil paint, pastels and water colors in an instant!"
The rage and disgust i felt was nothing new. It was something I have since my first year on DeviantART.

I was inspired by the lovely to write this. She wrote a similar journal sharing her views on this issue and kindly mentioned me in it. Here's her journal if you'd like to read it yourself

Digital vs. Traditional ArtYou know, I get really excited when I'm browsing through art and I come across a piece that is detailed. Complicated. And beautiful. 
But then I see that it was created with Photoshop or Paint Tool SAI, or something like that. And then I'm like, 
 
Now, please don't misunderstand me. I have nothing against digital artists. I don't think they have any less vision or talent than a traditional artist. 
I just... have WAY more respect for a majorly talented traditional artist. For some reason, I always think less of a piece when I find out that it's digital. I know it's unfair to the artist, but it's just not something that I can help. I don't really like digital art. And I think it's sad that almost all the popular pieces I ever see here on DA... are digital pieces. 
I know we live in the digital generation. I know that digital art is so much cheaper to produce, as well as less messy. There are a million different pros to digital artistry, including easily ridding

I'm a traditional artist. Period.

I love and adore all things traditional and admire those who can create without the help of digital means; something that is becoming increasingly rare these days. Even the use of books and cd's are slowly becoming unnecessary; a thought that a collector like myself is simply horrified by...



I find so much joy in discovering new artists and their beautiful, detailed, thought provoking art...however, more often than not I find that their work is completely DIGITAL! Worst of all is when I'm fooled into thinking it's an actual painting! I ADORE oil paint and I'm an avid painter, so I'm wholeheartedly insulted and appalled  when I find digital "paintings"...and then some people actually add a canvas texture...It upsets me to no end!! Not because digital art is "bad" or "ugly" but because it scares me to think that the future of painting is digital...and that one day traditional painting might be gone for good

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When I first came on to this site I was completely oblivious to how many people actually used photoshop. i come from the marker generation and attended a school where traditional art was the norm and the standard and I grew up with fellow artists who turned to digital simply because they couldn't get a handle on traditional mediums or they were simply trying to save money. But on DeviantART...it's completely different All you find are little doodles with a sprits of digital color here and a flashy ball of light there and speed "paintings" done on SAI or whatever, and those really beautiful pieces that are so incredible, ONLY TO FIND it was done on some program :/

I have nothing against digital artists.I believe there are a lot of talented digital artists (and I actually have MANY art books with digital works in them), however, their medium upsets me (and I hate when their works are called "paintings"....)

And quoted from 's journal: " I just... have WAY more respect for a majorly talented traditional artist. For some reason, I always think less of a piece when I find out that it's digital. I know it's unfair to the artist, but it's just not something that I can help. I don't really like digital art. And I think it's sad that almost all the popular pieces I ever see here on DA... are digital pieces." Agreed.


The colors weren't mixed by hand,  the colors can be adjusted if you don't like the hue you chose and can be made translucent by lowering the opacity, you can delete an entire layer of color in a single click...it's just not the real art process...the planning, the execution, the mastering of the colors and..it's all been stripped away... It's as if no one is taking the process seriously anymore!

:EDIT: perhaps that is unfair to say and is unclear I don't feel that ALL digital artists are lazy and are "taking the easy way out" but there are a great number of people online especially who do a doodle, add a stock image in the background, and add some flat coloring and vuala! Instant deviation...I'm not impressed...

What angers me most is that I can't tell the difference most of the time and that sometimes when I look at traditional paintings in a book that I once admired and adored I feel very little compared to how I used to!! Why? Because I've been desensitized to it's beautify due to what digital mediums can produce!!! It pisses me off that this has been taken from me! That what I adore is slowly over the years being stolen from me because my eyes have seen far too many "digital paintings"...

On top of that,  I'm CONSTANTLY being asked "what program do you use?" "How long have you been using photoshop?" as if traditional mediums can't produce this look! D: Have people forgotten that PAINT came first and that the look of PAINT is what photoshop was made to mimic?!! WTF PPL?!! WTF?!!
When I was younger I was flattered when people thought my work was digital, but now it just seems that people exact such poor quality from traditional and expect the best from digital...

Another quote from 's journal: " I know we live in the digital generation. I know that digital art is so much cheaper to produce, as well as less messy. There are a million different pros to digital artistry, including easily ridding your work of mistakes. I've even tried my hand at digital art, and I found that I was... less than impressed by it. " I also agree...

When I see how hard I work on getting effects in my pieces and then I try the same on photoshop and it's done in minutes...I feel anger. Why? Because aaaaaaaall of those pieces I see on DA with this design here and that ball of light there took a single click of the mouse while I actually took time to practice and learn techniques and fine tune my hand in order to achieve a look that (in my person opinion) looks better but people will still ask "What program do you use?"

Creating art is a personal, loving, and tender process. One that requires time, practice, technique and a polished hand. This is far more than me being upset that digital is taking over, it's that people are forgetting what's art, what's beautiful and are forgetting the beauty of the artistic process...When I hold art demonstrations...most of the kids don't know what Prismacolor markers or Copics are and have NEVER USED ANYTHING BUT DIGITAL MEDIUMS!!!! It's shocking and almost disgusting to me...it's as if they were telling me "Religion? That's what people created to make sense of the world around them. But now we have science to explain it all!" I want people to understand the beauty of BOTH mediums not just one or the other Explore both and be open minded...but of course I adore traditional and I want people to never forget it's beauty...

I want to touch my work, love it, feel it, be able to smell the wet paint and hear my brush rub against my canvas or paper. I need to hear the squeak my marker makes against my paper and be able to hold my work when It's completed...I worked years to learn to do what I can and for many, that's too much work. Some don't want to have to learn how to use colored pencils or how to use paint...Why do go through all of that effort when a few clicks can give you a similar effect...? To loose this is like losing one's culture and traditions...It's a  tragedy...



Last quote from 's journal: "Again, DON'T GET ME WRONG. I'm sure there are digital artists that still feel a deep connection with their work, even if it's done on the computer. I'm not saying it's impossible. Every artist is different.

But I think the main point I'm trying to make here, is that traditional art seems to be losing popularity. And I think it's kind of tragic."

I'm sorry if I've insulted anyone...that truly was not my intention... but I'm seriously upset about this and it breaks my heart that I feel the weight of this issue. It's taken something dear from me that can only be retrieved by staying away from this site (or at least stop browsing DA all together while still posting) but I never truly knew what a negative effect exposure to digital art in such an abundance has done to me until this Fall...the healthiest thing for me to do is simply take a break from looking at work online (or rather, stop browsing all together) Art is so incredibly important to me so if I sound overly sensitive please forgive me ; __ ;

Take care and God bless.

>
~Lizbeth

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