The Wonderful World of Digital Art

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The Wonderful World of Digital Art by Anita Stanhope

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uploaded by Anita Stanhope

Digital art is very misunderstood, sometimes even scorned by traditional artists.  We are surrounded by it all the time, on tv, online, on printed matter, billboards, etc.  We love to see special effects in the movies, fabulous glitzy websites, and photoshopped models.  Reality is a thing of the past in some cases. Most people, even people who use graphics programs, find it hard to detect what is real and what isn't.

I'm an artist both traditional and digital.  Right now, digital fits my lifestyle, fast, no clean up, very portable, and affordable.  After discovering some art online, I just had to know how to do it myself.  I started using a mouse, later got a Wacom tablet and pen, Corel software, and just started experimenting. 

The best part I guess was meeting so many people who also do digital art, sharing my work, learning tips from others, and having fun. I joined Innographx Forum and was amazed at all the ways you could "paint" using a computer.  After a while, I wanted to know more and discovered the Digital Nuts Yahoo group.  They have so much fun taking photos and turning them into all kinds of art, paintings, sketches, etc. 

After a while, I started accumulating a lot of "paintings" and after a computer crash, decided to store them on pbase and flickr.  People started noticing my work and after a while, people from all over the world became my friends.  I had fun painting children from other countries.  Other flickr members would email me snapshots and I would take them and create a painting from them. 

I had so much fun and wanted other people to experience it.  I suggested various software to people based on their budget and wrote tutorials to help them get started.  I spent a lot of time talking on the phone and emailing assistance. 

Digital art is a great hobby, can be a great career.. If you have a computer, there are a lot of free programs out there, tons of online tutorials, and plenty of people who love to help.

I discovered that when painting portraits, printing them on real canvas and coating them with a protective gloss, makes for some surprisingly beautiful and hangable art.

If you ever wanted to just splash some paint on a 'canvas'  or glamorize a photo, there is something out there for you.  You can try it using a mouse and then when you decide you love it, invest in a pen and tablet.  There are lots of affordable tablets out there now.  Just try it!