Digital Art is real art, but is it FINE art?
I fell in love with digital art making during the early weeks of Covid. As soon as I realized that this was no two week quarantine, I invested in an iPad, an Apple Pencil and the Procreate app. Turns out, I had lots of time to develop my own painting process on it and to try out all of the bells and whistles in the various menus.
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Today, I use Procreate to make promotional materials, lay out greeting cards, sketch, experiment with compositions, test painting problem solutions and also to create fine art paintings. I've even started teaching Digital Painting on Procreate.
It has been slowly dawning on me that most people still lump Digital Painting in with -computer generated/enhanced art, -A.I. art (known in the art world as "intellectual property theft") -commercial art or -comics and graphic novels full of huge-eyed cartoonish characters, ordinary folks with unusual superpowers and some terrifying monsters.
I knew that there was a Fine Art movement under the umbrella of Digital Art, but I did not know how to define it or how to characterize some of the art I was making in Procreate. |
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So I said "yes" when one of the local art organizations invited me to demo Digital Painting. This was a suprise to me. Die Kunstler von Fredericksburg (DK for short, the long name is German for "The Artists of Fredericksburg") currently does not allow any digital media in its annual show. In my opinion, this is the best local-art show in the Texas Hill Country, an area known for the kind of natural beauty that makes it a magnet to artists. I believe that including Digital Fine Art in the DK show would be win-win because it would bring more art collectors to the show. |
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I took the opportunity to learn all I could about Digital Art, including a deep dive into the various definitions of plain old Fine Art. Then I used the ideas to compose a set of boundaries around Digital Fine Art that seemed like it would uphold the high standards of DK's annual show.
On the evening of my demo, I talked quite a bit about those ideas, then demonstrated my process on a floral painting and gave away greeting cards of digital art to the people who asked the best questions.
The definition that I created and shared: Digital Fine Art is -Art created by an artist using digital tools for mark making. -The artist must select each color themselves and make each mark by hand. -If a reference photo is used, 0% of it may be in the final artwork -The artwork must be printed on a substrate (surface) and of a print quality that is acceptable to the show committee. -The artist must certify in writing that there is only one print of this artwork. If the artwork does not sell at the show the artist is released from this promise. |
The group gave plenty of positive feedback, so my next step will be to meet with the DK board and see if the proposed definition covers all of their concerns. Then perhaps draft a modified definition and/or a process for implementation. Wish me luck!
As always, thanks for your interest in my art journey,
Nan
P.S.
-Yes, all these are digital fine art paintings, click on any one to see them and more on my website. To find an actual price, you'll have to go to More Info and then View Available Prints because you might want the image printed on 8x8 paper or a 24x36 deep canvas.
-Yes, there is more: check the Digital Archive for older images.
-No, these were not made for a show that requires unique originals, so I am currently experimenting with limited editions of 50 each.
-Yes, if I do a digital fine art commission for you, I can quote you a "unique original" price or the price for 1/3 of an "Edition Variee" which is French for a limited edition of 3 where each are different in some way. You can even choose after all 3 images are complete.
