IS DIGITAL ART
ORIGINAL ARTWORKS?
Cleopatra's Macabre Wedding
From the first more "complicated" painting with digital tools. It started with five individual faces I painted seperately, then placed them arbitrary here and there in the digital canvas. From there I created the bodies to the heads. Painted digitally with Corel Painter and Wacom Mobile Studio Pro
From the first more "complicated" painting with digital tools. It started with five individual faces I painted seperately, then placed them arbitrary here and there in the digital canvas. From there I created the bodies to the heads. Painted digitally with Corel Painter and Wacom Mobile Studio Pro
Original artworks created digitally still face resistance
—not just from “the general public” (forgive them, for they know not better) but also from more serious galleries, where outright falsehoods and lack of insight sometimes emerge (do not forgive them, for they should know better).
Mixing colours digitally
To mix colours digitally can be just as mixing physical colours, I even mix black digitally from the 3 main colours - just as in the "real" world (-:
To mix colours digitally can be just as mixing physical colours, I even mix black digitally from the 3 main colours - just as in the "real" world (-:
Let me quote Norske Grafikere (The Norwegian Printmakers Association):
"Artists have always adopted new techniques and opportunities, and in recent years, digital tools have become increasingly prominent in printmaking. When it comes to digital graphics, the data file is considered the printing plate. It is worth noting that digital graphics are regarded as original prints when they are original works created digitally—it cannot be a reproduction of an existing artwork."
One Norwegian gallery wrote to me that they had banned digital painting because the gallery does not sell reproductions (eh?).
Personally, this means nothing to me, as most serious galleries are not stuck in such prejudices. The gallerist clearly did not know the basics of art (see Norske Grafikere above). Far more concerning is that this so-called "serious" gallery is likely misinforming its clients with the same false facts.
Hardly anyone today uses analog photography—unless for specific reasons. Every smartphone contains a camera, which means digital cameras and digital images.
If, for instance, you take a beautiful nature photo, does that suddenly make the result a reproduction rather than an original?
Woman with flower... in her eye
In the beginning was the primal line – and it was through line that I also began my journey into digital art.
In the beginning was the primal line – and it was through line that I also began my journey into digital art.
So, what is a digital painting or drawing?
For a digital painting to be considered original, it must be created using digital tools and not be a photo of, say, an analog painting.
Let me use myself as an example:
To create a digital painting, I personally use a Wacom drawing tablet, where I draw/paint on a glass surface. The pen I use detects the angle I hold it at any given moment and registers over 8,000 levels of pressure sensitivity.
As my app/software, I use Corel Painter. Here, I can choose whether the pen’s interaction with the glass surface behaves like a brush with acrylic, oil, or watercolor paint. The pen can also act like a spray can, ink, ballpoint pen, or pencil—with various levels of hardness.
I mix all the colors digitally in the same way I do with physical paints. As in my physical paintings (see the screenshot above of my mixing on the digital palette). I only use the three primary colors plus white, while I mix black from the three primary colors, same way as in "real life."
Some Cats like Art
This is the cat Jasmine looking at "Cleopatras Macabre Wedding" as a full wallpaper
Photo: A. Aakre
This is the cat Jasmine looking at "Cleopatras Macabre Wedding" as a full wallpaper
Photo: A. Aakre
DAVID HOCKNEY is one of the most important living artists on the planet, born 1937 and “still going strong.” One of his major paintings was sold a few years ago at Christie’s auction house for 90.3 million USD. He originally sold it through his gallerist in 1972 for 18,000 USD.
Hockney has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to adopting new techniques. In the 1980s, he started using photocopiers, and by the end of that decade, he used fax machines to send images across long distances. His first experiments with digital images were with the Quantel Paintbox in 1985—a machine that then cost 250,000 USD.
Hockney switched to the iPhone in 2009 and the iPad in 2010 for digital drawing and painting (both somewhat more affordable than the Quantel Paintbox, you might say).
Unaware that David Hockney was interested in creating digital images, I bought an IBM ThinkPad in 2007, newly rebranded under Lenovo’s name by its new owners.
It also had a pen, and I brought drawing and painting into the digital realm.
Rather than moving entirely from physical painting to digital, Hockney sees the two mediums as complementary.
I say both have their advantages and disadvantages—as well as their similarities—and I can easily echo David Hockney’s statement about working digitally: David Hockney says that working digitally is the closest he has ever come to physically painting via a printing technique.
ARE YOU DIGGING DIGITAL ART NOW?
Let me add some other pieces of my art with digital drawing and painting, from the line to where I could add my experience from my work on canvas and brushes.
The Newspaper Reader
While the circulation of printed newspapers is declining, digital readership is on the rise.
But here we have a newspaper reader from before the tabloid format took over.
P.G. Wodehouse wrote the books about the butler Jeeves. When the newspaper arrived in the morning, one of Jeeves’ tasks was to iron every page to prevent the ink from rubbing off onto the young bachelor Bertram Wooster.
From England, we also know Fish and Chips, which used to be sold from small stands much like hot dogs in Norway. Fish and Chips were wrapped in newspaper until someone realized that printing ink might not be so healthy to ingest. There was an outcry when it became illegal to wrap Fish and Chips in newspaper – because, apparently, the ink made the food taste better! (-:
This line drawing exists in an extremely limited edition – there is only one image (1/1) of it. The buyer once belonged to Andy Warhol’s Factory in NY – and wanted it that way.
While the circulation of printed newspapers is declining, digital readership is on the rise.
But here we have a newspaper reader from before the tabloid format took over.
P.G. Wodehouse wrote the books about the butler Jeeves. When the newspaper arrived in the morning, one of Jeeves’ tasks was to iron every page to prevent the ink from rubbing off onto the young bachelor Bertram Wooster.
From England, we also know Fish and Chips, which used to be sold from small stands much like hot dogs in Norway. Fish and Chips were wrapped in newspaper until someone realized that printing ink might not be so healthy to ingest. There was an outcry when it became illegal to wrap Fish and Chips in newspaper – because, apparently, the ink made the food taste better! (-:
This line drawing exists in an extremely limited edition – there is only one image (1/1) of it. The buyer once belonged to Andy Warhol’s Factory in NY – and wanted it that way.
THE WOMAN FROM BALCHIK
I saw her on the promenade in the small Bulgarian town of Balchik on the Black Sea.
She was well aware of her beauty, walking with her head held high – to the delight of all who saw her.
I saw her on the promenade in the small Bulgarian town of Balchik on the Black Sea.
She was well aware of her beauty, walking with her head held high – to the delight of all who saw her.
THE TERRIBLE LOTTERY
This painting has its origin in Christian Krohg’s Albertine at the Police Doctor’s Waiting Room.
When I painted this image digitally, the statistics were as follows: Only 10% of all rape victims reported the crime.
Of these, only 10% had their case brought to court (regardless of the outcome). That means only 1 percent of rape cases ever reached court.
In England, the statistics were the same.
In front of the door in this image stand three figures – a police officer, a judge, and a politician. Around them are the rape victims.
Hence the name: The Terrible Lottery.
Several of the people in the image have multiple lines – this is the ancient Egyptian way of indicating that there are even more of them in the digital picture.
Hans Petter (HP) Gundersen had invited me to his home to explore the possibility of working together.
I had made a video from this image, and he had a recording he thought might fit. We both pressed play – HP with his music, and I with the video for this image.
Strangely, both files ended at exactly the same time. From that meeting until today, we have worked together.
– Fortunately, we’re still only at the beginning of our unique collaboration.
Here is Link to the video with HP’s composition. Nora Yuyue Zheng on guzheng and Maesa Pullman, vocals.
This painting has its origin in Christian Krohg’s Albertine at the Police Doctor’s Waiting Room.
When I painted this image digitally, the statistics were as follows: Only 10% of all rape victims reported the crime.
Of these, only 10% had their case brought to court (regardless of the outcome). That means only 1 percent of rape cases ever reached court.
In England, the statistics were the same.
In front of the door in this image stand three figures – a police officer, a judge, and a politician. Around them are the rape victims.
Hence the name: The Terrible Lottery.
Several of the people in the image have multiple lines – this is the ancient Egyptian way of indicating that there are even more of them in the digital picture.
Hans Petter (HP) Gundersen had invited me to his home to explore the possibility of working together.
I had made a video from this image, and he had a recording he thought might fit. We both pressed play – HP with his music, and I with the video for this image.
Strangely, both files ended at exactly the same time. From that meeting until today, we have worked together.
– Fortunately, we’re still only at the beginning of our unique collaboration.
Here is Link to the video with HP’s composition. Nora Yuyue Zheng on guzheng and Maesa Pullman, vocals.
IN THE FORECOURT OF THE ULTIMATE NIGHT
This painting is actually belonging to my next article, and is the second painting in the !st LP the LooP. But it's added here as it represent my development in painting digital.
This painting is actually belonging to my next article, and is the second painting in the !st LP the LooP. But it's added here as it represent my development in painting digital.
