What Art Program Do You Use in Art College
Mark Rothko, an American artist who described himself as an "abstruse painter", once said about art that he was non the kind of person interested in the relationship of form, color or similars. He didn't define himself equally an abstractionist, but rather as a person interested only in expressing basic human being emotions such as doom, tragedy, ecstasy so on. This was one person's vision of art, only what practice we mean past art today? Why is defining the concept so difficult?
This article is an exploration of the meaning of art and an attempt to understand the relationship between art and artists, with some useful insights via interviews with both traditional and digital artists.
Further Reading on SmashingMag:
- Pop Art Is Alive: Classics and Modern Artworks
- Milton Glaser on Art & Design
- Eight Inspiring Stories Of ASCII Art
- Mod Art Movements To Inspire Your Logo Design
- Icons Of Digital Design
1. Near Fine art - What Is Information technology?
This question pops upwards frequently, and with many answers. Many fence that fine art cannot be defined. We could go about this in several ways. Art is often considered the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human being activities, creations and ways of expression, including music, literature, picture show, sculpture and paintings. The pregnant of art is explored in a co-operative of philosophy known as aesthetics. At least, that'due south what Wikipedia claims.
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Art is generally understood as whatsoever activeness or product done by people with a communicative or artful purpose—something that expresses an idea, an emotion or, more generally, a world view.
Information technology is a component of civilization, reflecting economic and social substrates in its design. It transmits ideas and values inherent in every civilization across space and time. Its role changes through fourth dimension, acquiring more of an aesthetic component here and a socio-educational function there.
Everything we've said so far has elements of truth simply is mainly stance. According to Wikipedia, "Art historians and philosophers of art have long had classificatory disputes nearly art regarding whether a particular cultural grade or piece of piece of work should be classified as fine art."
The definition of art is open, subjective, debatable. At that place is no understanding among historians and artists, which is why we're left with and then many definitions of art. The concept itself has changed over centuries.
The very notion of fine art continues today to stir controversy, being so open to multiple interpretations. It can be taken just to hateful any human activity, or any set up of rules needed to develop an activeness. This would generalize the concept beyond what is normally understood as the fine arts, at present broadened to cover academic areas. The word has many other colloquial uses, too.
In this article, we mean art equally a form of human being expression of a creative nature.
2. The Evolution Of The Concept Of Fine art
While the definition of art has changed over the years, the field of fine art history has developed to allow us to categorize changes in fine art over time and to better understand how art shapes and is shaped by the artistic impulses of artists.
Having a solid grasp of art history, and then, is important. I spoke with Alexander Daniloff and Jonathan Ball about the concept of art through history and about whether tracing a line through traditional and contemporary art is possible.
Alexander Daniloff is a Russian artist who lives and works in Italy. His focus is painting, although he has worked in several media. Lately, he has worked on children'south illustrations. He has participated in various events and illustration competitions and has illustrated iii books. He has held numerous individual and group exhibitions in Italy, Russia, Kingdom of the netherlands, Espana, Finland and the US.
Jonathan Ball is the creative behind Poked Studio, an innovative company committed to developing creative visual solutions. That'south not all: among its services, Poked Studio offers analogy; Web, graphic and blog design; 3-D rendering and visualization; movement graphics; children'southward book analogy; Wink websites; and games.
Question: Tin nosotros trace a line from traditional to contemporary art?
Alexander Daniloff: I don't think nosotros can say anything without falling into controversy, even me. I accept a traditional view and prefer artwork that speaks for the artist or period. I can't explain what contemporary art is, or at least what it'south meant to be. Yes, you can trace a line from traditional to contemporary art, simply not a straight one. Peradventure it is a parabola that goes up so downward, or a spiral. We don't know. All we can say is that the fine art market has adult, which affects the fine art itself. With what we call contemporary art, words and explanations are always worth more.
Visual arts take been transformed by manufactures and critical essays; meanwhile, the works themselves have become mute. In the theater, the curators and critics have taken upwards the front end row. This is my view on the departure between contemporary and traditional art.
I personally adopt fine art measured in human being dimensions: art that whispers and doesn't shout, fine art that covers me and makes me fly and does not crush. But I must confess, some of these mod things attract me; for case, landscape painting (graffiti) and abstract things.
Jonathan Ball: Yep, most definitely [we can draw a line from traditional to contemporary art]. Many of the same techniques are used, but in slightly different ways and with different tools. The aforementioned principles use, nonetheless you create art.
I see a line particularly running through the stylized form of Japanese art such as Hokusai and contemporary stylized graphic illustration.
Question: Compared to the evolution of traditional art, how would you describe the development of digital (or new media) fine art?
Jonathan Ball: Digital fine art has obviously developed much more speedily than the thousands of years of mitt-crafted techniques. A whole generation has been brought up on "Photoshop" and other tools, whereas before generations used pen and pencil.
Still, I believe that digital art is still in its infancy. Despite what seems an enormous amount of progress in figurer hardware, full general computing and fifty-fifty the computing available to about blueprint studios is merely not fast enough to easily reproduce art on the scale and level of particular possible with traditional media. Go to any national gallery, and y'all will encounter works on an enormous scale. Effort reproducing a x-pes canvas with the resolution of a hand-painted work of art in a three-D program, and you'll detect it can't cope. In fact, nigh programs will struggle to return a detailed motion-picture show at, say, 300 DPI at merely A4 size.
While a painting may appear to exist just splotches and blobs, when y'all go up to it close, the patterns are beautiful by themselves, full of color, intensity, saturation and texture. Go close to digital art or a TV screen and you'll encounter a mess of distortion and artifacts.
Once screen resolution is on par with printed media, and once computer engineering allows u.s.a. to easily create large, highly detailed work at speed, and so digital will have defenseless upward to traditional media.
Virtually digital art of the early-21st century is designed to be viewed on low-resolution devices. Much of this art will be obsolete when college-resolution screens and devices are developed over the next century. And much that has been stored only on hard drives will be lost forever as drives neglect and websites shut or are redeveloped.
I find it a shame that so much keen work is reproduced at such a limited resolution and scale and non stored in a way that keeps it safe for hereafter generations.
Question: Tell us well-nigh art and your favourite art movement.
Jonathan Brawl: Difficult, because I similar so many styles. Just I find that if I'm in an art gallery, I dearest contemporary painting because it holds and so many surprises and is less predicable than previous eras.
I love quirky gimmicky analogy, particularly low-brow art forms and gothic-mythology mixtures.
3. Aesthetics In Digital Art
Moving into the mid-20th century, the conceptual transformations that arose from new approaches to art led to a crisis of aesthetics, as was manifested in new art media.
While borrowing many of the conventions of traditional media, digital art can describe upon aesthetics from many other fields. Simply various criticisms have been made against information technology: for example, given the variety of tools at their disposal, how much endeavor do digital artists really accept to put into their piece of work?
I asked Jan Willem Wennekes, too known every bit Zeptonn, for his opinion on this. He is a freelancer who specializes in illustrative blueprint and art direction, with a focus on eco-friendly and environmental projects.
Jan Willem Wennekes: The question seems a flake cryptic. On the i hand, in that location seems to be a question about the effort required to create digital art. That is, some people may think that using digital media to create art is easier than using traditional media. On the other paw, there seems to exist a question of whether digital art is an art form in itself (or maybe at all?).
With respect to the first question, I think that working with digital media (mostly the reckoner, mouse, Wacom, scanner, software, etc.) does not accept to differ from creating fine art in other media. The reckoner and all the tools generated by the software are still what they are: tools! Y'all have to master those tools simply as you accept to master any other tools. For instance, if you exercise not sympathise how light works, you won't be able to create artwork with correct lighting, and and so on. If you don't know how the pen tool works in Illustrator, then you won't exist able to create good artwork, just like a traditional creative person who doesn't know how to apply a pencil. Y'all however have to chief color theory and all the other things that are essential to creating a good or stunning piece of art. In that sense, it doesn't matter whether it is a painting or a print. Simply put, you accept to master all the tools and theory, merely every bit y'all had to master them before. And the better you master them, the better your artwork tin be.
Jan Willem Wennekes: Now, one can wonder whether digital art is a distinct art form. This is a difficult question and non like shooting fish in a barrel to answer. I think the difference here is that "digital art" is more of a group term than just one fine art form. At that place are many types of digital art: some look a lot like paintings, some expect like photographs, some look like drawings, while others appear quite new and unique (due east.g. figurer generated artwork). And so in a sense, digital art consists of both overlapping and new kinds of art.
Photography was once viewed as a competitor to portrait painting, but in the end information technology became its own art form, with many directions and fields of interest. In issue, painting benefitted from the rise of photography, and each added to the other and renewed interest in art in general. Present, we don't view photography as a competitor to painting; we see them as different media, with different benefits and drawbacks. I call up the same holds for newer digital art forms.
four. Art Equally We Know Information technology Today
The 20th century was a turning point in our formulation of art, which is mainly why contemporary artists frequently reach for new concepts, break with tradition and reject classic notions of beauty. All these factors have given birth to abstract fine art. The creative person no longer tries to reflect reality, but rather tries to requite expression to their inner world and feelings.
The quondam definitions of art accept get obsolete. Today, art is an evolving and global concept, open to new interpretation, too fluid to be pinned downward.
I interviewed Nate Williams and Travis Lampe to explore new elements of contemporary art and to answer the question, what new elements and principles are evident in today's art.
Nate Williams, also known every bit Alexander Blue, is an artist, illustrator and designer from the United states. He has all-encompassing experience in various facets of the illustration manufacture, and he has a wide multifariousness of clients. His illustrations are aimed at both adults and children. He has also worked in the advertising world and in publishing, music, fashion, textiles, home decor, merchandising, posters, press and social expression.
Travis Lampe is an illustrator who currently lives and works in Chicago. He worked as an art director in ad. After a 2-year stint in Warsaw, he returned to Chicago and tried his hand in the art and illustration scene. He enjoys making fine art and toys, and he has shown in fine galleries throughout the U.s. and in Europe.
Question: How much influence does new media have on your piece of work? What is your relationship to digital art? Do you consider yourself a traditional artist?
Jonathan Ball: Information technology has a lot of influence. I think because of my cognition of programming, it influences my work. I think in terms of modular parts and variables.
Travis Lampe: I'thou a traditional artist—I work in acrylic—simply I wouldn't exist able to operate without computers. When I design toys, for example, I employ computers to scan and create vector fine art from my original paintings. I don't create digital art in and of itself, though. Purely digital work tin be beautiful, merely for me at that place is value in having a tangible and unique production, as opposed to a set of data.
No doubt, though, I've been influenced in my traditional art past existence exposed to ideas that I've discovered on the Internet. It'due south a keen place to find old-timey cartoons, for example.
Question: Travis, if the purpose of fine art was in one case to create beauty and to imitate nature, today the concept has evolved dynamically and is constantly changing. In your opinion, how has the Internet and new means of communicating influenced the development of visual arts, its conceptual premises and its physical execution?
Travis Lampe: The Net well-nigh influences the development of art simply past exposing more people to more than fine art. Unfortunately, a lot of information technology is really, really crappy, as you lot would expect. Anyone with a ballpoint pen and digital camera can mail service their art for the world to see. And that'southward okay. I think the cream just naturally rises to the height. Ideas are nevertheless what's of import, far more then than technical skill, and the Net hasn't changed that at all. I've seen a lot of ballpoint pen art that I really similar.
Every bit far every bit physical execution goes, it's evolved the way it always has: as soon equally a new medium arrives, in that location's a scramble to use it in new and creative ways. I don't know that the Net has affected the physical execution of fine art then much as computers themselves take. It'south only fabricated it easier to disseminate.
More communication is great for PR and in that manner is a great help to artists. And more communication should equal more than ideas billowy around, which ideally should effect in better conceptual thinking. Only most of the "communication" is fluff. And I think there'due south a threshold beyond which the abiding connexion ceases to be helpful. Artists need some disconnected fourth dimension for the artistic ideas to coagulate. Successful artists are the ones who are disciplined and able to balance all of this, I estimate.
Question: Would you say that art and the new, social Web have a connectedness? Are social media a feasible mode to better creative communities?
Jonathan Ball: Of course. Art has a connectedness to anything in our environs that influences its creators. As far as social media goes, I think being able to communicate better is e'er an improvement.
Travis Lampe: Social media is corking for sharing results; it's allowed me to connect with and see the work of other artists who I admire on a constant basis. And it makes working long hours in a basement a bit less of a lonely enterprise when you can bear witness the world what you've done the moment you've finished. On the other paw, social media are a constant lark. When I want to become piece of work washed, I disconnect. So I love information technology and hate information technology every bit.
Visual arts comprise many forms of art—painting, cartoon, sculpture, music, literature and performance art being the well-nigh widely recognized. However, with the technological revolution, others forms have emerged.
And then, what exactly is the relationship betwixt these new forms of expression and contemporary artists? Max Kostenko and Pino Lamanna kindly answered my questions, giving us insight into the topic.
Max Kostenko is a Russian illustrator. He specializes in 3-D digital illustration and character design. He works as a freelancer for many Russian studios and agencies worldwide, such as Kotetkat and Lemonade.
Pino Lamanna, also known as SchakalWal, is an illustrator and graphic designer from Deutschland who specializes in corporate design, character design and typography.
Question: Please introduce yourself and your work. How did you go started in the field?
Max Kostenko: My proper noun is Max Kostenko. I'chiliad 23 years erstwhile, and I am an artist and illustrator from Moscow. I have been doing illustrations for nigh one yr. Before, I worked for iii years as a Web designer in various Moscow Web studios.
Pino Lamanna: Hello. My proper noun is Pino Lamanna. I am a 27-twelvemonth-old one-half-Italian, half-German digital artist living and working in the city of Wuppertal, in Frg.
I currently work every bit a freelance designer, specializing in unique branding, handmade typography and grapheme design. Nearly of my work is highly influenced by graffiti and street art, onetime-schoolhouse cartoons and the music I listen to. My aim is to create stylish, unique and useful designs with an urban twist.
I took my get-go steps as a designer as a little child, cartoon comic strips with my ain superheroes. Later, in my teenage years, I became interested in the graffiti and street art movement.
The commencement thing that attracted me to digital art was photograph manipulation. Through that, I was introduced to Adobe Photoshop and several digital art communities. Later, I switched my focus to illustration, branding and typography, which I recollect suits me all-time.
Question: Tell us a bit near your artwork. What software practise you utilize? How hard was it for y'all to learn?
Max Kostenko: In my work, I apply merely Photoshop. I started studying it when I wanted to start working as a Web designer. But as years passed, I understood what I really wanted to piece of work on, because I found the task of designer boring, and so I started cartoon some silly little men; that is, I tried to understand many of the principles past drawing them. In Photoshop, I do not use many tools to make my work look artistic—I just choose my normal round brush and get-go drawing.
Pino Lamanna: Even though for the kind of work I specialize in, working in Illustrator or other vector tools would be common, I create nearly of my work in Photoshop. That might sound strange, simply I can't help it. There isn't much of a difference at all, because Photoshop has vector editing capabilities, besides.
In one case I am happy with my design, I copy and paste to Illustrator to create the final output.
I cannot say that mastering Photoshop was hard, because working in it has always been fun. The very showtime steps were kind of hard, though. I retrieve being overwhelmed past the gazillion options. It was learning by doing. I did a lot of tutorials, which I institute online, to go comfortable with different techniques and methods.
Learning Illustrator wasn't hard, either, because I was already used to the Adobe interface and I knew a lot of stuff about vector editing from Photoshop. And of course, at that place are tutorials for Illustrator everywhere.
Question: What is the main inspiration for your pieces? And how has the digital fine art customs influenced your work?
Max Kostenko: My inspiration comes in different ways: sometimes after watching a moving-picture show, sometimes from something I see in the street or on public transport. I always wait for the work of known artists: it stimulates me to grow and improve my skills. I became acquainted with digital fine art through the Society of Digital Artists, and the first thought that came to mind was, "I could never depict like that." But and then I gradually drew things like leaves. Still, I've simply began to walk the path of the artist and still have much to larn.
Pine Lamanna: Inspiration can come from annihilation, whether a cloud in the sky, an old moving picture or a box of sushi. My style has always been influenced by urban culture, music, movies, cartoons, etc. As a matter of fact, the digital art community has influenced my piece of work a lot. Thanks to the Internet, I've gotten to know many interesting people and designers from all over the globe, and in the finish those communities accept helped define me as an creative person.
Question: How would you draw your creative process? What are some of its nigh important aspects?
Max Kostenko: The most important matter is a basic thought, I guess—a plan. If you lot take one, yous can offset drawing. Sometimes I go far my head a general sense of the result, and so I begin with the large shapes, placing them in a composition. When I've got the result, I starting time to colour information technology, the most difficult thing for me. At the end, I complete the concluding details.
Pino Lamanna: I e'er have pen and newspaper by my side, fifty-fifty in my bedroom. You lot never know when ideas will pop in your mind, and you improve save before you forget.
Brainstorming and sketching are crucial for me. If ideas pop upwards while working on my computer, I'll unremarkably put aside all the stuff I am doing and try to directly realize that thought in a blueprint.
When working for clients, research is very of import. Without a detailed brief, finding a design to match the customer's needs and expectations can exist tricky. Therefore, I always inquire clients to fill out my design questionnaire.
Another of import aspect of my creative process is patience. Often, I find a good menstruum and can't stop working on a particular design until I am happy (and exhausted). However, before publishing, I e'er force myself to await till the next mean solar day. I'll ofttimes detect things that demand to be changed, tweaked or tuned up, when I am looking at my work with a little altitude.
Question: Accept yous ever gotten into traditional fine art? If so, tell us something about that experience.
Max Kostenko: The affair is, I wasn't trained in an art school. Simply since childhood, I have liked drawing and thinking of stories. I've always drawn with a simple pencil. Afterward school, I tried to enter the Automotive Blueprint Higher but was rejected… fifty-fifty having passed the drawing exams marvellously well.
Pine Lamanna: Every bit mentioned, I was into comic drawing as a child, and I trained hard to create the world'due south nigh powerful superheroes and villains. I can recall only a unmarried character from these days: Super-Frog. (I know that's lame, then don't be hateful!)
After, I got some experience with graffiti and street art. Never made it to the All City Kings, though.
Then, I don't have much experience with traditional art, because my chief focus for the final couple of years has been on digital.
Question: How would you define your relationship to traditional fine art? Who is your favourite creative person?
Max Kostenko: I ofttimes visit the Tretyakov Gallery, and I tin can't believe people could draw like that on a canvas centuries agone. I am surprised every time by the talent of classical artists.
I like Russian landscape artists. Vasily Polenov and Ivan Shishkin are pinnacle in skills for me.
The artist's life is not as simple as it may seem. Standing out from the crowd is non easy, which is why self-promotion is essential.
I queried Bob Flynn, Alex Dukal, Jayme McGowan, Chris Piascik and Irma Gruenholz for their thoughts on the art of self-promotion; on how to spread ideas, concepts and a deeper vision of their work; and on the touch on of this kind of marketing.
Bob Flynn is a cartoonist who is interested in illustration, comics and blitheness. He currently resides in Boston, where he works every bit an animator and game designer for the children's media visitor Fablevision. His piece of work has appeared in publications such as Nickelodeon Magazine and Improper Bostonian.
Alex Dukal is an illustrator who was born and raised in Patagonia, Argentina. From a very young age, Alex has published comics and illustrations in the legendary Fierro magazine.
Back in his domicile town, he dedicated some years to painting and teaching illustration and comics. Subsequently working for some fourth dimension mostly in Web blueprint, Alex decided to get back into illustration. At the moment, he's working mostly on children'south books and creating illustrations for design agencies.
Jayme McGowan is a freelance artist and 3-D illustrator based in Sacramento, California. She works with cut paper.
Question: Do y'all have a portfolio website? And which social networks are you currently on?
Bob Flynn: I have a website, only I'm very lazy about updating information technology. And I discover I get less traffic at that place compared to, say, my blog, which is infinitely easier to add together to. A portfolio website is more of a structured presentation, which is great for fine art directors and people looking to brand a professional assessment of your work. It'south often static, and it offers niggling to no opportunity for two-manner advice. Yous get little to no interaction with the art customs except for a friendly email or ii a month. A web log is dynamic and opens that dialogue. I at present recall of my website as a hub to help directly people where they need to go.
In addition to having a blog (my primary point of communication), I'm currently on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and, nigh recently, Google Buzz. Is beingness on all of them worth it? Probably. I've found that you really tin can't be in too many places—though there is certainly a sanity threshold. A different audience traffics each social space (with some overlap), so the way to reach the about people is to be everywhere.
Twitter is currently the all-time place to runway people in the industry and to communicate with your peers—just non anybody is in that location. Facebook is where near everyone else is, although juggling friends, family and business is absolutely cumbersome. You accept to weed through the clutter (I'm less a fan of its increasingly unwieldy interface), but you tin certainly get traction over there. Flickr is the most straightforward: upload artwork, leave and receive comments. Buzz is new to the game and still hasn't developed an identity of its ain. But information technology's another identify you should probably be.
I tin track about chore leads and connections dorsum to a tweet here or a comment there. Not to mention great friendships. Simply by spending time in these spaces, saying "Hi" and participating in a positive manner, y'all actually can't become wrong.
Alex Dukal: Yeah, I take had a portfolio online since 1998, and I currently use Facebook a lot, Twitter not so much. I really similar Flickr. I used Orkut when information technology outset came out. I tried Google Buzz and did not like it. Every at present and so I accept a look at Google Moving ridge to see if it'll always turn into something interesting. I have a Netvibes business relationship that I inappreciably use. I have an account on Dribble. As y'all can encounter, I like to exam new tools.
Jayme McGowan: Yeah, I have a website for my portfolio, and pages on Facebook, Flickr and Etsy, and I recently caved and am now on Twitter as well.
Question: Practise y'all write manufactures for your own blog or for other blogs and publications? Would you consider either an effective way to become your proper noun out there?
Bob Flynn: I regularly post artwork to my web log, and I have written a few Wink drawing tutorials. Merely having an online presence is a good start, but think of the impact y'all could take by sharing information, ideas and helpful tips. People bask reading most procedure, so certificate your methodology as you work, and it will make for more interesting posts.
I wouldn't exist in this just to get my proper noun out, though. If you're all for show and self-promotion, yous hazard turning people away. Participation is key: I enjoy reading about what everyone else has to say. There's more value in that, really.
Alex Dukal: I started writing fiddling news on my website using Grey Thing, an old tool for blogging. And so I switched to Textpattern, and finally I separated my portfolio and blog (now in Blogger) as a matter of convenience. In the web log from time to time, I'll write an article or tutorial. Judging from the feedback I get, I'd consider it an constructive method of promotion.
Jayme McGowan: I have a blog where I postal service images of my work in progress and updates on current projects I'm involved in. I utilise it to give readers some insight into my procedure. I think it definitely gets people more involved in my work. Most of the visitors to my main portfolio website were directed there either from my own blog or from someone who did a postal service virtually my piece of work on their blog. I recall if y'all keep your blog up to date and post regularly, it will exist an invaluable tool for getting your proper name out there.
Question: What are the challenges of creating a self-promotion strategy? Have you implemented a self-promotion strategy for yourself? Has information technology worked? If one is starting from scratch, how long does it take for a strategy to start working in their favor?
Bob Flynn: To exist honest, I tin't say I've ever architected a real strategy. You're talking to a guy who's never even sent out a promo card. My arroyo has been to put myself out there and see what happens. Sort of the like former adage, "Merely be yourself"—that's how you lot stand out from the rest of the pack. I try to update my blog at least once a week to go along people coming back. Keeping upwardly with your website'due south stats is a practiced way to see what's sticking (i.e. where your traffic'south coming from and what your near popular posts are).
Alex Dukal: Yes, of course, every bit a freelance artist, self-promotion is absolutely necessary. I think the showtime challenge is having something to say, something to show, a reliable portfolio to back up that promotion.
Personally, I placed my bet on a portfolio that shows my best work, something that showcases the illustrations rather than the website interface and that makes it accesible and simple. And then there's the web log, which allows me to maintain other kinds of contact with people: social networks, forums, contacts database, etc. It's a big garden; one must water and take care of it every solar day.
I call back a strategy of this kind should exist thought of in different phases. And you tin't expect a miracle before six months (though miracles do happen).
Jayme McGowan: My self-promotion strategy is fairly simple and involves social networks, as I mentioned earlier. When I got started creating a presence online, I came up with a plan by looking at the networks that successful artists who I admired were involved in, and I tried to exercise something similar. I was fortunate enough to generate interest in my piece of work early but by posting photos on Flickr and becoming an active member of the Etsy customs. Many people who commission piece of work from me say they plant me on one of those 2 websites.
Now I employ Facebook and Twitter (and my weblog, of class) to keep people posted on what I'm up to. Simply to succeed in promoting yourself on any of these networks, you have to be truly interested in making friends and business contacts. You can't only scream, "Hey, wait at me!" all the time without giving anything back. I guess I take a subtler approach to self-promotion: permit people know what yous're up to from time to time, and trust that they'll follow you if they similar what they come across.
Question: Do you regularly submit your work to online galleries? Is that useful for gaining credibility and getting feedback on your work?
Bob Flynn: I created an account on a great website run by Nate Williams called Analogy Mundo a few years back, but I've never put my work in an online gallery (or paid for anything of the sort). I guess I view my blog as having that purpose. Flickr is a kind of gallery, though.
Pino Lamanna, also known as SchakalWal, is an illustrator and graphic designer from Germany who specializes in corporate design, character blueprint and typography.
Question: Please introduce yourself and your work. How did you lot get started in the field?
Max Kostenko: My name is Max Kostenko. I'm 23 years old, and I am an artist and illustrator from Moscow. I accept been doing illustrations for about one yr. Earlier, I worked for three years as a Spider web designer in diverse Moscow Web studios.
Pino Lamanna: Hi. My name is Pino Lamanna. I am a 27-year-one-time one-half-Italian, one-half-German digital artist living and working in the urban center of Wuppertal, in Germany.
I currently work every bit a freelance designer, specializing in unique branding, handmade typography and character design. Nearly of my work is highly influenced by graffiti and street art, old-school cartoons and the music I listen to. My aim is to create stylish, unique and useful designs with an urban twist.
I took my first steps as a designer as a little kid, drawing comic strips with my own superheroes. Later, in my teenage years, I became interested in the graffiti and street art movement.
The get-go thing that attracted me to digital fine art was photo manipulation. Through that, I was introduced to Adobe Photoshop and several digital art communities. Later, I switched my focus to analogy, branding and typography, which I think suits me all-time.
Question: Tell us a bit nigh your artwork. What software exercise yous use? How hard was information technology for yous to acquire?
Max Kostenko: In my work, I use only Photoshop. I started studying information technology when I wanted to beginning working every bit a Spider web designer. But as years passed, I understood what I really wanted to work on, because I found the job of designer boring, and so I started cartoon some lightheaded fiddling men; that is, I tried to empathize many of the principles by cartoon them. In Photoshop, I exercise not utilise many tools to make my work expect artistic—I simply choose my normal round brush and offset cartoon.
Pine Lamanna: Even though for the kind of work I specialize in, working in Illustrator or other vector tools would exist common, I create most of my work in Photoshop. That might audio foreign, only I can't help it. There isn't much of a difference at all, because Photoshop has vector editing capabilities, besides.
One time I am happy with my pattern, I re-create and paste to Illustrator to create the final output.
I cannot say that mastering Photoshop was difficult, because working in it has always been fun. The very first steps were kind of hard, though. I call back being overwhelmed by the gazillion options. Information technology was learning by doing. I did a lot of tutorials, which I constitute online, to get comfortable with different techniques and methods.
Learning Illustrator wasn't hard, either, because I was already used to the Adobe interface and I knew a lot of stuff well-nigh vector editing from Photoshop. And of grade, there are tutorials for Illustrator everywhere.
Question: What is the main inspiration for your pieces? And how has the digital fine art community influenced your work?
Max Kostenko: My inspiration comes in different ways: sometimes after watching a film, sometimes from something I see in the street or on public transport. I always expect for the work of known artists: it stimulates me to grow and better my skills. I became acquainted with digital fine art through the Society of Digital Artists, and the get-go thought that came to mind was, "I could never depict similar that." But then I gradually drew things like leaves. Still, I've only began to walk the path of the artist and still accept much to learn.
Pino Lamanna: Inspiration can come from anything, whether a cloud in the sky, an old movie or a box of sushi. My style has always been influenced by urban culture, music, movies, cartoons, etc. As a matter of fact, the digital fine art community has influenced my piece of work a lot. Thanks to the Net, I've gotten to know many interesting people and designers from all over the globe, and in the end those communities take helped define me as an artist.
Question: How would y'all depict your artistic procedure? What are some of its most important aspects?
Max Kostenko: The about important thing is a basic idea, I guess—a plan. If you lot have one, yous tin start cartoon. Sometimes I go in my caput a general sense of the result, and so I brainstorm with the big shapes, placing them in a composition. When I've got the effect, I kickoff to color it, the most difficult matter for me. At the end, I complete the final details.
Pino Lamanna: I always take pen and newspaper by my side, even in my bedroom. You never know when ideas will pop in your mind, and y'all meliorate save before yous forget.
Brainstorming and sketching are crucial for me. If ideas popular up while working on my computer, I'll unremarkably put bated all the stuff I am doing and try to directly realize that thought in a blueprint.
When working for clients, research is very important. Without a detailed brief, finding a pattern to match the customer'due south needs and expectations tin exist tricky. Therefore, I ever enquire clients to fill out my design questionnaire.
Another important aspect of my creative process is patience. Often, I find a skilful flow and can't stop working on a item design until I am happy (and exhausted). However, earlier publishing, I e'er force myself to look till the next day. I'll often find things that need to be changed, tweaked or tuned upwards, when I am looking at my work with a little altitude.
Question: Have you ever gotten into traditional art? If so, tell us something virtually that feel.
Max Kostenko: The matter is, I wasn't trained in an art school. But since babyhood, I take liked drawing and thinking of stories. I've always drawn with a simple pencil. Subsequently school, I tried to enter the Automotive Design College only was rejected… even having passed the drawing exams marvellously well.
Pine Lamanna: As mentioned, I was into comic drawing every bit a kid, and I trained hard to create the earth's most powerful superheroes and villains. I can think simply a single character from these days: Super-Frog. (I know that's lame, and then don't exist mean!)
Later, I got some experience with graffiti and street art. Never made it to the All Urban center Kings, though.
So, I don't take much experience with traditional art, because my main focus for the last couple of years has been on digital.
Question: How would you define your relationship to traditional art? Who is your favourite artist?
Max Kostenko: I ofttimes visit the Tretyakov Gallery, and I tin can't believe people could draw like that on a sail centuries agone. I am surprised every fourth dimension by the talent of classical artists.
I like Russian mural artists. Vasily Polenov and Ivan Shishkin are acme in skills for me.
The artist'south life is non every bit simple as it may seem. Standing out from the crowd is not easy, which is why self-promotion is essential.
I queried Bob Flynn, Alex Dukal, Jayme McGowan, Chris Piascik and Irma Gruenholz for their thoughts on the art of self-promotion; on how to spread ideas, concepts and a deeper vision of their work; and on the impact of this kind of marketing.
Bob Flynn is a cartoonist who is interested in illustration, comics and blitheness. He currently resides in Boston, where he works as an animator and game designer for the children'south media company Fablevision. His work has appeared in publications such as Nickelodeon Mag and Improper Bostonian.
Alex Dukal is an illustrator who was built-in and raised in Patagonia, Argentina. From a very young age, Alex has published comics and illustrations in the legendary Fierro magazine.
Back in his home boondocks, he dedicated some years to painting and teaching illustration and comics. After working for some time mostly in Spider web blueprint, Alex decided to get back into illustration. At the moment, he's working mostly on children's books and creating illustrations for design agencies.
Jayme McGowan is a freelance creative person and 3-D illustrator based in Sacramento, California. She works with cut newspaper.
Question: Do you lot have a portfolio website? And which social networks are you currently on?
Bob Flynn: I have a website, but I'm very lazy about updating it. And I observe I get less traffic in that location compared to, say, my web log, which is infinitely easier to add to. A portfolio website is more of a structured presentation, which is great for art directors and people looking to make a professional assessment of your piece of work. It'southward often static, and it offers footling to no opportunity for 2-way communication. You get little to no interaction with the art community except for a friendly email or 2 a calendar month. A web log is dynamic and opens that dialogue. I now think of my website as a hub to help straight people where they need to go.
In addition to having a blog (my primary point of communication), I'm currently on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and, most recently, Google Buzz. Is being on all of them worth it? Probably. I've found that you really can't exist in too many places—though at that place is certainly a sanity threshold. A unlike audience traffics each social infinite (with some overlap), and then the way to accomplish the near people is to be everywhere.
Twitter is currently the all-time place to track people in the industry and to communicate with your peers—but not everyone is there. Facebook is where nearly everyone else is, although juggling friends, family and business concern is admittedly cumbersome. You accept to weed through the clutter (I'thousand less a fan of its increasingly unwieldy interface), only you can certainly get traction over there. Flickr is the most straightforward: upload artwork, go out and receive comments. Buzz is new to the game and nevertheless hasn't developed an identity of its own. Just it'due south some other place you should probably exist.
I can track most chore leads and connections back to a tweet here or a comment there. Not to mention great friendships. But past spending time in these spaces, saying "Hi" and participating in a positive mode, y'all really tin't become wrong.
Alex Dukal: Yes, I have had a portfolio online since 1998, and I currently use Facebook a lot, Twitter not and so much. I really like Flickr. I used Orkut when information technology offset came out. I tried Google Fizz and did not like it. Every now and then I have a expect at Google Moving ridge to see if information technology'll ever turn into something interesting. I have a Netvibes account that I inappreciably utilise. I have an account on Dribble. Every bit you tin can see, I like to test new tools.
Jayme McGowan: Yes, I accept a website for my portfolio, and pages on Facebook, Flickr and Etsy, and I recently caved and am now on Twitter equally well.
Question: Practise you write manufactures for your own blog or for other blogs and publications? Would you consider either an constructive fashion to get your name out there?
Bob Flynn: I regularly post artwork to my web log, and I accept written a few Flash drawing tutorials. Simply having an online presence is a good start, merely call up of the bear upon you could have by sharing information, ideas and helpful tips. People bask reading about process, so document your methodology equally you work, and it will make for more interesting posts.
I wouldn't be in this just to go my proper noun out, though. If you're all for show and cocky-promotion, you gamble turning people away. Participation is key: I savour reading about what anybody else has to say. There'southward more value in that, really.
Alex Dukal: I started writing trivial news on my website using Grey Thing, an old tool for blogging. Then I switched to Textpattern, and finally I separated my portfolio and blog (now in Blogger) every bit a affair of convenience. In the blog from time to time, I'll write an commodity or tutorial. Judging from the feedback I get, I'd consider information technology an effective method of promotion.
Jayme McGowan: I have a web log where I post images of my work in progress and updates on current projects I'm involved in. I use it to give readers some insight into my process. I recollect information technology definitely gets people more involved in my piece of work. Most of the visitors to my primary portfolio website were directed there either from my own blog or from someone who did a post virtually my piece of work on their blog. I think if yous keep your blog up to engagement and mail regularly, it will be an invaluable tool for getting your proper name out in that location.
Question: What are the challenges of creating a self-promotion strategy? Have you implemented a cocky-promotion strategy for yourself? Has it worked? If ane is starting from scratch, how long does it take for a strategy to commencement working in their favor?
Bob Flynn: To be honest, I can't say I've e'er architected a real strategy. You're talking to a guy who'due south never even sent out a promo carte. My approach has been to put myself out there and see what happens. Sort of the like old adage, "Just be yourself"—that'southward how y'all stand up out from the rest of the pack. I endeavour to update my blog at to the lowest degree once a week to keep people coming back. Keeping up with your website's stats is a good fashion to see what'due south sticking (i.due east. where your traffic's coming from and what your nearly popular posts are).
Alex Dukal: Yes, of course, as a freelance artist, self-promotion is absolutely necessary. I think the first challenge is having something to say, something to show, a reliable portfolio to back up that promotion.
Personally, I placed my bet on a portfolio that shows my best piece of work, something that showcases the illustrations rather than the website interface and that makes it accesible and simple. And then there'southward the blog, which allows me to maintain other kinds of contact with people: social networks, forums, contacts database, etc. It's a big garden; one must water and take care of information technology every day.
I think a strategy of this kind should be thought of in different phases. And y'all can't look a miracle before six months (though miracles do happen).
Jayme McGowan: My self-promotion strategy is fairly uncomplicated and involves social networks, equally I mentioned earlier. When I got started creating a presence online, I came upward with a plan by looking at the networks that successful artists who I admired were involved in, and I tried to practise something similar. I was fortunate enough to generate involvement in my piece of work early on but past posting photos on Flickr and becoming an agile fellow member of the Etsy community. Many people who commission work from me say they institute me on one of those two websites.
Now I utilize Facebook and Twitter (and my weblog, of course) to proceed people posted on what I'm up to. Merely to succeed in promoting yourself on whatever of these networks, y'all have to be truly interested in making friends and business contacts. Yous can't just scream, "Hey, wait at me!" all the time without giving annihilation back. I guess I have a subtler approach to cocky-promotion: let people know what y'all're up to from fourth dimension to time, and trust that they'll follow yous if they like what they see.
Question: Do you regularly submit your work to online galleries? Is that useful for gaining credibility and getting feedback on your work?
Bob Flynn: I created an business relationship on a great website run by Nate Williams called Analogy Mundo a few years back, but I've never put my work in an online gallery (or paid for annihilation of the sort). I judge I view my web log equally having that purpose. Flickr is a kind of gallery, though.
Alex Dukal: Not at all to both questions. Ten years ago, if someone invited you to evidence some of your work in an online gallery, it was beautiful, flattering. Today, I think we have to be careful, because the selection criteria is often not that great, and i must pay attention to those details as well. If you display your work in the wrong place, information technology could have a negative result. In principle, credibility should come up from the piece of work itself.
Jayme McGowan: I have a profile on Illustration Mundo, which is a great website that functions mainly equally a directory of illustrators, non a gallery per se. Honestly, I don't participate in whatever online galleries. I'm sure that's a great way to get feedback from your peers, merely I don't know that it will requite yous added credibility every bit a professional. I tin maintain just so many Web pages myself, so I try to limit them to the ones I get the most benefit from, those where I believe art directors and buyers might find me.
Chris Piascik is a freelance designer and illustrator who is active in the design community. With six years of professional feel at honour-winning firms in New England, he has had work published in numerous books and publications, including the Logo Lounge series, Typography Essentials and Lettering: Beyond Computer Graphics. He currently posts drawings on his website daily.
Irma Gruenholz is a Spanish illustrator who specializes in clay and other materials, allowing her to piece of work in volume. Her piece of work is used in books, magazines, advertisements and online marketing.
Question: Are y'all an agile participant in every social community you have joined? How much time do you set bated to collaborate in social media? Do you commit to posting new work and personal updates regularly?
Chris Piascik: I stay active in quite a few social communities. I acknowledge that I have joined some that I couldn't proceed up with though! I don't actually schedule time for social networking, although that's probably a expert thought. Instead, I scatter information technology throughout the 24-hour interval, whether it'due south browsing Twitter on my iPhone while exporting a large file on my computer or procrastinating the start of a new project. It's all about multi-tasking! I think the biggest affair that has helped me with social networking is my daily drawings. I post a new cartoon Monday to Fri on Flickr, and from at that place I mail information technology to my personal website, and those updates period to my Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Irma Gruenholz: Yes, I have a web log, and I participate in some social communities, such as Flickr and Behance. Unfortunately, I don't have much time for a very active presence. I would like to devote more time considering it is a skillful mode to keep upwardly with and see the work of other artists.
Question: At the moment, which community is the most valuable for finding job opportunities?
Chris Piascik: I think well-nigh of the networks out there have value. I do call up Flickr works really well, though. My Flickr page seems to get the near traffic out of all my websites. Flickr is and so vast that a lot of people use it for image research. I recall my daily updates help my work not get lost.
Irma Gruenholz: Based on personal experience, Behance is a good platform for showing your work to art directors and art buyers. I've gotten some piece of work through it.
Question: How important is crafting the messages you send out and keeping your website looking professional?
Chris Piascik: I don't censor myself that frequently. I think keeping things honest is a good thing. My work has some personality; much of it has a loose quality—pairing that with a common cold or professional person Spider web presence would seem odd. Expanding your social networks requires you to be yourself… simply as long as "yourself" is interesting!
Irma Gruenholz: Net presence is very important for the artist. It is the best way to exhibit your work to the remainder of the world. Then, keep your website updated, and go far easy to communicate with people who want to follow your work.
Question: How do you make time for social networks? Are you committed only to websites from which you can become some professional benefit?
Chris Piascik: I have completely given upward sleep. I really just sprinkle it throughout my twenty-four hours. It's a nice manner to commencement my day while drinking my coffee or eating some lunch. I wouldn't say that I limit myself merely to websites that I benefit from, though my stance is that all networks assist. Visibility is visibility. I use social networking to stay in touch with friends as well, so it's not strictly business for me.
Irma Gruenholz: I have fiddling time to devote to social networks, so I prefer to focus on communities related to my profession.
Featured Artists
To grasp the meaning of art and how information technology has evolved over time, I interviewed Alexander Daniloff and Jonathan Brawl. To explore the aesthetics of digital art, I spoke with Jan Willem Wennekes, who touched on some important points related to the differences betwixt digital artists and other artists and the nature of digital art itself.
I as well feature Nate Williams and Travis Lampe, in an try to learn more about their work and their relationship to engineering, including digital art tools and social media, and to explore the way the Internet influences the development of art.
To better understand the relationship between contemporary artists and new methods and tools for creating art, I've interviewed Max Kostenko and Pino Lamanna. I focused on their creative process and professional feel, from their entry into the field right up to their current sources of inspiration.
Finally, I interviewed Bob Flynn, Alex Dukal, Jayme McGowan, Chris Piascik and Irma Gruenholz, asking their opinion of the challenges that artists face when promoting themselves and their work in the new Web, trying to capture their experience with social media and online art communities.
Each of these artists has a particular style and is an active member of the creative community. As such, they could exist a source of inspiration to many. I hope their insights are helpful.
What nearly you? What does fine art mean to you lot?
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Source: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/07/what-do-we-really-mean-by-art/