Today we have a lot of applications to paint with the computer. Brushes, pencils, airbrushes, paint buckets and feathers have been developed to make drawings and paintings as if we were working in the traditional way. The big difference is that the creation is a digital file and also the materials and tools are digital.
Vectors and Bitmaps
Vectors and Bitmaps are two different digital image systems.
Bitmaps are used to digitize photographic images that have many variety of tones, colors, gradients, etc.. (as the pictures of reality).
Vector files are better for drawings or paintings with reduced inks and flat color, because they are memorized from areas of similar color.
We can work with both, mixing the advantages of each system.
Advantages of the digital painting techniques
1- There are many different applications with which painting and drawing.
2- You can tweak endlessly.
3- There is a huge variety and freedom. A very big ability to mix pictures, colors, visual textures, visual effects, drawing, photography, painting, 3D, typography… all kinds of items that you can scan as an image and use within the application.
4- Experimentation with certain purely digital tools.
5- There are many facilities inside the creative process, such as cloning, contouring, transform, layers, transparencies, color range, variety of fonts, lighting, etc..
I would never finish finding benefits. In addition, each artist gets some visual effects and sensations, emerging a wide variety of digital styles.
Vectorial drawing
Disadvantages of digital painting techniques
1- It is difficult to master the digital technology, focus it on our desires and not to let the computer doing the work.
2- It requires a lot of practice, hours with the computer and continuous search for new applications that serve us best, new plugins, effects, filters, digital brushes, patterns or textures, or other items that can be integrated into the application to make it work better and to add creative capabilities.
3- Because it is a digital technique your Artwork only exists inside your computer until you print it. Printing systems are required to do it, for example: normal printing, laser printing, monoliths and lithographs, etc..
For some people it is an advantage not to touch the painting materials and for other people this is a disadvantage.
About the disadvantages, extended by Vicente Ortiz:
“From my point of view if there are two drawbacks or rather problems to develop and improve.
-One theme of the screens and how they are configured. Not all have the same brightness, color balance, etc.. The same file is not seen tha same way in all the computers. It has often happened that I worked in a paint with the laptop and when I see it on the desktop or pc it was not the same …
Another drawback is the subject of printing. As screens have, the printers have different calibrations. The “digital printers” do not work usually as art printers because interestingly they do not value the digital painting. Hard to give a good impression. In my opinion and experience the best impression you get in on vinyl which in also is mounted on a stand, pvc foam board etc.. In any case, whether vinyl or paper always shine, never dull materials. Applications are almost the least or have a relative importance. For example, I started with the digital drawing tools in Excel. ” Vicente.
Computer software for painting and drawing
Highlights of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects and Fireworks. Corel Draw and Painter is also used.
And the applications of three dimensions: 3D Studio Max, AutoCad, Poser and many more.
These are the tools used by digital artists from my entry “Artists paint and digital illustration”.
Of course all these programs are worth money.
But there are other free software or open source, plus many websites which allow you to download the entire program or a demo tah only lasts a month.
You just have to search, select the program you want and download.
