You might be wondering what is digital art, and you might wonder if this is all I know?
Today, these questions get answered.
I have taken some college level art classes, but I have learned the most by sitting under some
great artists. I can draw and paint with traditional media, but I enjoy digital media, and this is why…
- It is less to clean up. I have five kids, and I have always had to battle little fingers wanting to
pick up everything and do what I am doing. Totally unconducive to art exploration when you
have to constantly say, “No, don’t eat that….”
This meant I did a lot of work at midnight.
It is hard working that late. You have to constantly go outside to spray fixative on papers when
working with pastels, or you need to leave a lot of windows open when painting with oils. If I
left the windows open it meant turning the air off, which made the house hot, which made me
hotter, and I can’t work when I am sweating.
Digital media allows me to work in oils, pastels, watercolors, charcoals, and even pencils. I
only have to put away my art pen and Wacom when I am done. I never have to worry about
fumes, and I can do it at any time of the day.
- Many people complain about the expensive of Corel Painter. I laugh. These people obviously
do not work in traditional media. This is my latest traditional art purchase. I don’t have that
many things. I picked up some new charcoal pencils, restocked my paint, and I grabbed
some glaze. This cost me $385, and I don’t have canvas or paper. On top of that, this was a
sale. At the time of this blog post, Corel has a sale on Painter for $359. I think the cost
comparison drives home the point. Ah, I can sense another question…
You might be now factoring the cost of upgrades for Painter. People become obsessed with how
much they might have to pay for upgrades.
True, Painter can be upgraded yearly, but it doesn’t have to be. Nevertheless, I will tell you a secret.
If you keep your notifications turned on, Corel, usually, gives a special upgrade price to you through
your program within the first few weeks of the new edition. You will load up Painter and poof. You
will find a notice telling you that you can have Painter for X amount of dollars. Two years ago it
was $99, and this year I think it was $129 (or something close to that). It is always much cheaper
than through their website.
In my mind, updating yearly is still cheaper than buying traditional media. Let’s face it, those little tubes
of paint do not last long. Painter never runs out of paint.
- I love the flexibility of it all. I can truly work with mixed media, and I don’t have to constantly be bringing
out different supplies. If I want to paint, I flip to that category. If I want to add pastels over it, I move to
that category. At my finger tips, I have so many choices. Not only do I have all these choices, but I never
have to factor in paint drying. It is frustrating to work in traditional media paint for 20 minutes and find
you have messed up. The only course of action is to let it sit for a couple of days to dry. Who wants
to wait? Corel Painter never makes me wait for paint to dry.
If you are skeptical, you might be thinking it can’t be that great or every artist would be using Corel Painter.
There are many reasons many traditional artists don’t use Painter, but I will save that for another day
and another blog post.
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