Real Art?

This is my latest digital artwork.
My question in the title refers to this picture and others I have digitally manipulated. I think I first need to explain briefly how the picture was made and then offer arguments for and against it as art.
I first took a picture on and iPad then imported it into and app called ArtRage. ArtRage allows me to use the colours in the photo as wet paint, I then use a virtual palette knife to spread the paint around. As long as I don't move the paint too far I can keep the integrity of the image. I then made a few adjustments to sharpness, contrast and finally applied a couple of filters in an app called Snapseed.

The case for:
It is art because it is an original work. In order to get the look I had to spend time achieving the final image. Although the tools for creating the work are available to everyone I used them in a way personal to me, other people may use the same tools in a totally different way. Although not a painting it is intended to look like one because I like that look even though I am not proficient in that medium. I am an artist and I use different tools for different pieces of work, some real world, some virtual.

The case against:
Without the digital tools this artwork could not be produced to this standard by the artist. The artwork could easily be produced by someone else with the same tools and a copy of the original photograph. Drawing with a stylus on a glass screen is not real art nor is any kind of tracing of a photo. Photography and art are two different disciplines and should not be mixed.

I'll leave you to decide whether the picture has merit or not. As for me, I think it's art and art from a new medium, that of the new generations of portable devices. I could quite happily view digital art alongside traditional forms such as pencil and paper or paintings with oils or watercolours.

There most definitely is a place for both.

Dark And Moody Happy Me

I took this picture today.

It has everything I'm looking for for my next drawing. It is industrial and architectural. It has a strong perspective and lends itself to be portrayed in a dark manner. It's far and away removed from the practise work I have been doing which has included a watercolour of a tree on a field's edge.

What I want to be doing is drawing and painting. The two can sit side by side but I can't make that work. It doesn't work in my head so it'll never work on paper. The drawing part I'm happy with. Hours and hours of working my pencil has paid off. I've been re-united with my graphite stick and I couldn't be happier, we work well together.

I've come to the conclusion that painting will be something I do for fun, maybe I'll get better, maybe not. So how do I quell the need to bring brush to hand? The answer is water soluble graphite sticks and ink. I can use the graphite in the same way I always have but with the option of getting a wet brush and further blending and experimenting. The ink was a happy coincidence. I read a blog called 'Drawn To Life'. Sian who writes the blog was working with ink and I thought I'd give it a go. I liked it. It's like watercolour but less forgiving but I seem to have got used to that quite quickly.

So I have settled at last. Graphite, water soluble graphite and ink. Now that I'm comfortable I've raised my own standards and in doing so my work will be larger and take more time which I like the sound of.

There will be results and I'll post them here just not in quite the volume of the last six months.

By the way Sian's 'Drawn To Life' blog is worth taking a look at whether you're thinking of getting artistic or you already are.

Slow Burn

So who fancies a game of chess?
This is me sending out an open invitation to a game of correspondence chess. I'll explain then you decide if it's for you.
For a start it's really quite old fashioned. It's all done via snail mail on postcards. I've designed special postcards because the official correspondence chess ones require way too much information. This is a game, not a test! The rules are quite simple. You and I play chess at our own pace, no clocks, no pressure. There's also no space for technology. No using a chess computer of any sort. My brain against yours. The games take as long as they take. You make your move in the time it takes for you to do so, same for me.
So there you go. If you like the idea then comment on this post or if you have my email address then contact me directly and we'll start a game.
I'll go first and be white for our first game but after that we'll come to a decision somehow.
This is life in the slow lane.
It'll be fun.

No More Blank Canvas

I'm a stickler for detail.
Planning and preparation play a big part in my personal projects. I need to know that something can be done and if so how it's done before I make it part of my work. As you know since last year I've been drawing a lot, playing with real and virtual mediums including 3D. I now know what can and can't be done by myself and my software. This gets me to planning and in this case it's my rough storyboard sketches. This is worthwhile because as I have found out the positioning I did in my head for each frame was a bit off. It's much better to see it all on paper and make the necessary corrections.
With that done it's time to go into production of my first comic strip which will be on Wednesday.
It's a day I'm looking forward to.

My First Character Sheet

My eyes are square.
I've just spent the last seven and a half hours making stencils for ArtRage.
The idea is that I can produce precomposed layouts for my Skint comics. I'll still need to draw a lot by hand and then turn that drawing into vector art for print and the web but the scaling and positioning can all be done on the PC prior to getting my pencils out. The character sheet above is an example of what my stencils look like and as time goes by I'll add different shots and poses to my arsenal.
At the beginning of this cartooning mission I'm on I wanted to do everything by hand with only the final inking done digitally but as time has gone by I've realised that the look I want is way too precise for pencil and paper alone, besides, I'm good with software so I should use everything at my disposal.
I'm at the stage now where I'm ready to start on my first strip as my method is pretty much nailed down. The final result will take time and as usual it'll look effortless but that's what all the hard work so far has been for.
I'll let you know when the first comic strip goes online.
It won't be just yet but it's definitely on the horizon.