Thank you for your report!
We have received your report and it is currently under investigation by a forum moderator.
Painting and digital artwork.
Welcome to the forum.
Here you can discuss all things art with like-minded artists, join regular painting challenges, ask questions, buy and sell art materials and much more.
Make sure you sign in or register to join the discussions.
Hang on Studio Wall
This is a Studio member-only feature!
Join our Studio membership and save your favourite Painters Online content, from gallery artwork to step-by-step guides, to your own online mood boards. Create your go-to place for inspiration and learning. Plus, members can also enjoy a range of exciting features including monthly art videos and a digital magazine library.
If you are already a Studio member, simply login to your account.
Not a Studio member? Why not try our free 30-day trial - no commitment, no credit card required
Message
Posted
I apologise in advance if this has already been discussed and people are sick of hearing about it...if so please stop reading.
To me a painting is something done by smearing a viscous coloured liquid onto a surface, generally using a brush.
A piece of artwork done digitally on a computer is not a painting. It is art, it is a piece of artwork, it is often breathtakingly good, but it's not a painting which is why I never comment on digital pictures. They are not paintings.
Is it just me? Should something that has not used paint be called a painting? I don't call something a cheese sandwich if there is no cheese in it!
I'd be interested to hear what others think, and again apologies if this is old news.
Peter
Posted
I don't practise digital art but from what I've seen the term covers a wide spectrum of generation techniques, from things one might justifiably call 'virtual painting' (mixing and picking up virtual paint with a virtual brush and applying it to a virtual canvas in lieu of the real physical counterparts), all the way through to artefacts generated via high-level commands (eg "tesselate this space with these objects and apply reflectance from a light source over there").
David Hockney has done a fair amount of virtual painting with his iPad and having seen the results I regard that as a form to which the term 'painting' could accurately be applied. I've only ever commented on pieces of this type on POL. I would find it useful if people exhibiting digital art were to say something about their processes.
Edited
by Martin Cooke
Posted
I personally don’t do digital artwork, I love the brush in my hand and the colours I front of me so I can mix as I want to.
I tend to think of them as digital artwork as opposed to a painting , I do comment on the ones I like occasionally I say well painted, but tend to say beautifully done . They are not paintings in the traditional sense ie oil , watercolour paint and brush etc but they are paintings created by another means . It’s the creativity of them that I enjoy and a admiration for how they are achieved.
Posted
I bet many years ago artists had a similar discussion and thought about cubism, abstracts etc . I know they used actual paint etc , but it must have been very much against their views of paintings. As I have said I don’t do them and like you admire how they are done and look I understand you view about digital paintings being referred to as a painting, I sometimes think it’s not actually a painting as I know it. Then it doesn’t matter as long as we enjoy what we are looking at and respect the skill needed to achieve the artwork.
Posted
There has been a very interesting discussion today about using AI to create art but it has been shut down before I had the chance to comment. I'm a simple chap, if it was created using a gooey liquid called paint it's a painting, if it wasn't it isn't.
Would the answer be to have a new section of the gallery for digital art so it is separated out from the traditional stuff? I do feel the gallery at times can be a bit overwhelmed with digital stuff. There's nothing wrong with it but at the moment we do seem to be mixing chalk and cheese,
Peter
Posted
A good suggestion Peter but it would mean a refurbishment of the hole gallery unfortunately it would not be cost effective and would be very disruptive. I’m not going to start the discussion over again about digital artwork v conventional art , the issue was with photos manipulated to look like paintings a lot different from digital work . Hope this helps without going into a long discussion.
