DIGITAL ART TWO

John, if I remember correctly, you have mentioned before how you have used digital programmes for work. I, for one, didn't assume you saw it as inferior. Like you ( and others) I have often seen what I assume to be manipulated images on the gallery. Sometimes I have asked " what medium?" - guess what - in those instances you never get a reply.

There's no need to apologize to me, John. I respect your opinions but chose to differ on one aspect...setting up a separate folder for digital. As Robert pointed out in the other thread, the cheats would continue to cheat and all you'd have in 'that folder' would be the work of people genuinely trying to make art using digital software. They'd effectively be sidelined and probably not looked at...it's hard enough to keep up with work posted now, I don't think many people would bother to search out for a digital folder. POL do list 'digital' in their media list, as you pointed out...given that they don't cover digital in their magazines, that's good. They recognize that digital has its place in art. Good on 'em for that. I never imagined POL would agree to it...so it's all a bit of a storm in a teacup...but it produced a discussion about art, so that's for the good. I occurs to me that there are people reading this who don't dabble in digital art, so indulge me while I attempt an explanation... This is DIGITAL ART (with a small 'a'), I've created everything in it, but used digital software to 'paint' it. Even if you don't like it, I think everyone can accept that it's a genuine piece of art. It requires a degree of artistic skill. This is PHOTO-MANIPULATION. Clearly photos have been used, nobody would confuse this with art. But even a simple effort like this requires some degree of thought and some skill. (Several photos have been used to make this image. It's part of a jokey photo-book I made about my grandchildren. This is what all the fuss is about (IF IT'S PRESENTED AS ART). If I posted this as a drawing I would be cheating...I don't think it would fool many people...but it just might with people who have no experience of digital software. I've taken one of my photos and applied a 'find edges' filter to produce this effect. If I wanted to exert myself I could have pressed another button to remove the vestiges of colour to make it slightly more like a drawing. Not much thought...zero skills...one button pressed...offering it up as a drawing would make me a cheat. My digital software is ancient, more modern versions would probably make a better job of it. NOBODY LIKES THIS. So, I've got that out of my system...back to enjoying art...and yes, even digital art. No offence to anybody. Lew.

I agree with John, that is a lovely clear explanation Lewis. I am another one that does use digital occasionally as one of many (probably far too many!) mediums that i use - so far I've only posted a very few on here and always specify that they are digital. I like to use them as another way of drawing/graphics rather than to produce a "painting" - they can be good fun.