Sometimes art patrons become confused when they see creations facilitated by drawing programs on the computer. Is this real art or merely computer generated graphics easily composed with a digital paintbrush? Ah, if it were only so simple! I have to admit that early on I too was a sceptic. But years of utilizing graphics programs have taught me that the programs, both vector and rastor, are genuinely tools of the art trade and can be used as intuitively and viscerally as any brush, pen or pencil. It is only a different medium; a different canvas. (Not so much clean-up either...)Here is a sketch that I have hand drawn with pencil and paper. Scanned into the computer I can use this composition as a template to re-draw my design with vector graphics in Adobe Illustrator. The execution of the "second drawing" is much like the process of applying paint to a ready canvas. There is no quick solution to the end process. But the results are satisfying.
Will computer art replace other fine arts mediums? Of course not. And it would be a travesty if this were to happen. It's simply a different technique just as oils are different from pen and ink. In this day and age of clip art though, one needs to be reminded that not all images generated with computer tools are cheap and ill-made.
