About Digital Painting

Seems my old blog that I personally deleted a while ago is still being shared and read online somehow by people. Someone explain how is that even possible? What kind of sorcery is this!????  Explain in noob terms though for obvious reasons...

Anyway, this is a reworked and slightly updated blog post on digital painting that is waaaaay better than the old one because I know more stuff now compared to before and so much more to tell you, and it won't be deleted again I promise. Whoever shared the old version could perhaps update the link to this current one?

Check out my first ever digital painting bellow:

Software / Hardware

I started with a Wacom Intuos Art (Small) and in the past and I used Krita which was a pretty good free version for digital painting. This little tablet was very cool and served me well (it still works perfectly and it`s very convenient to travel with).

Clip Studio Paint is another good and cheap software that you can buy once for life for 50$, without those monthly subscriptions or anything like that.

Now I use Adobe Photoshop and Wacom Intuos Pro Paper Edition (Large) which seems to work okay for me (and keeps my back pain-free and straight). On my phone, since it's always a large screen Samsung phone with a pen, I use Autodesk Sketchbook. 

My PC is getting upgraded all the time as I often deal with very large files and need a machine that can handle it. It's not cheap but it's essential if you want to work without lags and issues as a professional artist. You have to invest in your hardware and software and it does pay off eventually.

Brushes

I used to use a few brushes and experimented a lot, switching from time to time between different sets. These were always random brushes with traditional brush textures, I still only work with these types of natural brushes. 

You can buy good brush sets on sites like Gumroad, and you can download free packs from established digital artists (many on Deviant Art) as well. Until the moment I make a set of my own to share with you I recommend you try this awesome source blog for digital brushes HERE

From this perspective now, it's true when they say that it`s not about the brush but how you use it and what you personally can do with it. I've seen some amazing work done with just an airbrush in photoshop because the artists know how to use it. While, for me, Airbrush does nothing because I don't know how to use it to get the result that I want since I like raw, random and expressive mark-making in my work and I'm not into blending so much. So I advise you to experiment with different brushes and settings until you find something that suits you personally. Don't get stuck on my brushes, for example, because they might not work for you the same as they do for me.

Have a look below at my painting process, recorded in 2019:

Portrait 5, source my Youtube page

In my personal work today, I'm using one brush and one layer most of the time and my process stays as close as possible to the traditional painting process. By habit, I just paint over and over as I would on a canvas until I get the perfect stroke or shape going back and forth until it works, occasionally smudge tool the same way as I would when I'd need smudged paint on a canvas, without using the undo and colour pickers, lassos or other tools in Photoshop, or I'd say extremely rarely would I use them.

As for my commercial work, I'm used to working with lots of layers and using all the tools and shortcuts to be faster and more efficient. Since freelancing work for artists means very tight deadlines almost all the time, it demands a whole different approach to the artwork and if you wish to work professionally as a digital artist you'd have to do the same - be proficient and understand all the tools in Photoshop as well as always meet your deadlines.

Digital vs Traditional

If you want to be a decent digital painter I suggest studying traditional painting techniques first and getting your foundation traditionally (anatomy, perspective, colour theory, sketching, printmaking and painting on various surfaces and techniques) before trying digital. Going straight and only digital-first is not impossible and sure you can do this, but it's not the best or the fastest way. Having a traditional foundation, you'll be able to get into digital almost effortlessly compared to if you start digitally straight away. When I started digital I picked it up in less than a year and I have my studies and traditional painting experience to thank for that.

It's a skill that needs to be improved and is learnt by practical work, at one point the learning process becomes almost automated and subconscious, it can go fast if you work hard daily and it can get rusty if you make long breaks.

Misconceptions

As I mentioned before, digital painting is not an easy “click of a button” for lazy “artists”, and it is definitely not just a bunch of stamp tools on a traced photo (unless that is the kind of artist you want to be, if so go for it, have fun!). Just know that this is not what professional digital painters do, far from it. Most of the people that are unfamiliar are open to learning about it and I'm always happy to educate them and answer their questions. Others don't know much about any type of painting or they are traditional painters that are not open to technology and therefore feel somewhat intimidated. Most of them are completely uninformed, I don't know why, maybe google search doesn't work in their area so they weren't able to type digital painting in the search bar? lol

There is the animosity as well I see quite often, for some reason. If you don't like digital, it would be great if you didn't go around being mean and harassing digital artists and underestimating their hard work just because you don't understand how they made it. When this happens to me I don't mind it and see it as an opportunity to educate someone about it but a more inexperienced or a beginner artist might not take it the same way and it's just unfortunate and unnecessary. Every time someone comes to me with these comments and insults it's always because they think I clicked two buttons and there it was a whole entire finished painting appeared on the screen through some techno-wizardry or something. Hilarious, I know, but it's true! 

People tend to fear the new and unfamiliar, and that’s just human nature. It also comes from those who think that just mastering the technique is the final goal and a sign of a great artist, forgetting that after you master the technique you have to take it further or you'll just be another generic painter. You still have to find your style and have a certain sensibility, you still have to "feel" the composition and colours in your own unique and distinguishable way, you still have to be creative and use your mind and hands to create something outstanding, and if you don't have these - no computer, software, paint, brush or any traditional painting tool is going to do much difference.  That's what an artist's life journey is all about, searching for these things. That comes from experience and is individual and personal, no matter which medium you will use to express it- traditional or digital.

What if you stumble upon such a complete artist that does all this, absolutely gorgeous work in every way, but their work is digital? Does it make it a fake or less valuable art just because it's digital? Do you disregard their outstanding ideas and skills just because of the medium they decided to use to convey them? 

No, because that wouldn't make any sense.

Art

As for the argument about how it's digital-only and not a tangible artwork and therefore not equally art, ever heard of "Digital Printmaking"? It exists for decades. I'm not talking about mass printing. The artwork is created digitally and printed in limited editions and small runs, sold in fine art galleries, signed, numbered and dated, where only several will ever be printed. Furthermore, unique prints in an edition of only one print ever to be printed, embellished prints or unique prints that are reworked by hand, paint, collage (or whatever materials we see fit), printed with the technology that is long-lasting and environmentally friendly, using high-quality printers and printing surfaces, etc. Ever heard of the established art discipline called "Analogue Printmaking? The artwork is etched on various surfaces and printed on limited editions as well. All this is done manually but the result is: a print.

Why would we consider analogue printmaking a valid & respected art form but digital not when they are both free-hand artworks created from blank surfaces whose final product is a print? That is the question. Anyone?

About Digital Painting and its usage

Digital painting is essential in the commercial world, in different areas for professional artists. It evolved, amongst other things, from the need to help artists meet their deadlines faster and be more efficient, especially working for big studios on big movie productions or for video games, animation studios, etc. The same applies to freelancers working commercially on tight deadlines where you simply do not have time to wait for the paint to dry because most of the time your deadline is 'yesterday'. That's why it has convenient tools like a colour picker, erase and undo, which makes it impossible to make mistakes, where you can go back in past to previous revisions if the client changes their mind, and helps you finish your work very quickly. And finally, it is a requirement today by our clients most of the time to be proficient in Photoshop and digital painting.

Digital painting can help traditional painters with sketching and composition planning of large pieces, I noticed that interesting results can be reached way quicker. You sort of surpass the time: No need for paper, no need to prep the surface to draw or paint on, you go on and paint, and switch fast to the new composition or go back a few steps in the case you’ve changed your mind about something, etc. I see all my digital work as preparation and studies for potential traditional work, that’s really what my full process is all about. In general, my digital (illustration) and traditional (fine art) work are very closely connected and affect each other in many ways.

What is typical Digital Art anyway?

I often get told my work doesn't look at all like typical digital art, and I think this usually comes from those not familiar with all the possibilities of digital painting.  What you can see in my work is just a traditional painter experimenting with a digital medium, which is yet another medium/technique I use in my work. My aesthetic and style are always going to be the same, no matter which technique or medium I use when creating anything. It's a freehand drawing or painting using a pen and a tablet the same way as you would use a pen and paper. 

For example, my commercial illustration projects are almost exclusively digital, in fact, most of the time I am required to do the job digitally or offered the job in the first place because of the fact that I am a digital painter with the style that works for a particular project.

In my personal work, I sketch traditionally when I feel like it and I do a lot of personal traditional work which is for me and stays private for the time being, there are some posted online but only a few. What I like to do now as well is to sketch and do studies digitally and then I choose which ones to take further to oil/acrylic on canvas and which ones will stay in the form of digital portrait illustration. 

Finally,

For me, these two mediums are equally important and serve me well in my work. When I spend a long time working digitally I start missing the paint and canvas, and vice versa. So I always go back and forth. I love digital, it's a painting medium of the present and our future and we are happy to embrace it. I love traditional because it's the strongest foundation that will never disappear from this world and because it's unique in its own way. Combining them is a perfect mix for our artistic growth.

Thanks for reading the non-blogger's blog!