My late mom was about as traditional as a traditional artist comes, and I grew up surrounded not only by her incredible talent in various mediums but also her great love and appreciation for art - so much like gardening and cooking, I grew a deep connection with all of the above too.
She would probably give me a good clip on the back of my head for saying this, but I never really considered myself an artist. Just a designer, which as I saw it was an entirely different thing altogether and did not mean I had any real “traditional art talent”. Yes, I have learnt that this train of thought was grossly inaccurate (not to mention demeaning to myself) and my mom is the one who got me to let go of that negative self-talk by attending her art classes.
These days I spend a fair amount of social media time in a space which is occupied by a lot of artists, both traditional as well as digital, and a lot of the time I cannot help but get the feeling that for some reason, some of the really staunch traditional artists hold a relatively high level of distaste for anything but.
As an artist that works predominantly digitally, this really gets under my skin because it is like there is this unspoken opinion that what I create (or other digital artists) is not as special as what they do, or that it is not “real art” and it somehow "holds less value", "takes less time", "is easier" - and that is such utter rubbish!
I still hold a “pen” in my hands, have to conceptualise and create, draw and paint the piece of art, layer by layer just like any traditional artist would. On one side of the coin and with all due respect, I would actually say that in some respects, digital artists surpass the skill level of traditional artists because not only do they create the piece of art, but they also require the technical knowledge and skill of working digitally in order to do such.
I am not trying to start any kind of traditionalist versus digital argument here - I am merely expressing the fact that I am getting a little tired of the stigma which so many hold towards digital art - and I am referring to traditional digital art… where the artists still physically creates the art, with their hand and with a digital pen or paint brush.
I have a great love and deep respect for traditional artists and when I get the time, I love to step into those shoes myself, but I chose to head down the digital road because it suits my lifestyle better.
First of all, I don’t really have the space (yet) to be able to make a mess and the luxury to leave it lying around for the duration of its creation. Secondly, I can take my art wherever I go which is great when killing time out and about… and last but definitely not least - I am a graphic designer by trade… I have a huge passion for technology and working digitally and it is simply better suited for the intended purposes of my art.
I have always taken great pride in creating digital works of art that many onlookers often cannot tell the difference and are not sure whether it has been created digitally or traditionally. My love for layering and texture is probably where that end result stems from, but I love the fact that people appreciate that aspect of my work.
Creating a piece of art digitally takes as much time and creative passion as any other piece of art and I really wish that more people would open their eyes (and minds) to this fact. In the bigger picture, the reality is - art is a personal journey of expression and it really should not matter what medium you choose to do that through because the greater purpose is the joy it brings you as a creator as well as the viewer.
The fact that I mostly choose not to create traditionally, does not mean I can’t and it does not make me any "less" of an artist.
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Until next time...
Much Love from Country Bumpkinland, South Africa xxx
Jaynielea
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