Digital Art: The New Medium Humanities Connections Portfolio

Digital Art, as a medium, has not been featured as an art movement or the staple of the next generation of artists. However as time progresses and these artists become more skilled in their art form, the medium will become more widely regarded. Although traditional art will always have it's place, digital art will soon take the proverbial torch and bring us a generation of unprecedented works.

"Hope" Wang Ling 2014
"Moon Keeper" Drudy 222. 2016

Many styles, such as surrealism, are prevalent in digital art. They pull from what has been done and take it to extremes.

"Le Voyage Dans la Lun (A Trip to the Moon)" by Georges Méliès 1902

Surrealism, designed to go against the rational, was a style developed in the early 20th century and is still present in art today.

"Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" Kai Carpenter 2011

Like Caravaggio, Carpenter is taking a classic story and applying it in a new light. However, unlike the Baroque painter Carpenter applies it to another time period. Re imagination of old legends and stories lead to powerful lessons that appeal more to younger generations.

"Calling of Saint Mathew" Caravaggio 1600
"Friendly Mammoth" Goro Fujita. 2015

The demand for digital artists is rising in the movie industry. Companies such as Pixar, Disney, Paramount Pictures, Ghibli Studios, etc all employ these artists to form the movies we watch and show our children.

Finding Nemo 2003
Howl's Moving Castle 2004
Beowulf 2007

The indefinite lines and the bright colors are characteristic of impressionist painting,developed during the late 19th-early 20th centuries. Famous artists include Monet, Van Gogh and Renoir.

"Haystack. End of Summer" Monet 1891
"What Only Exists in the Mind" Jeffrey Smith 2015

Like other forms of art, digital art requires an immense understanding of emotion, shading, form, lighting, perspective; it employs these techniques to get a reaction out of the viewer. It is a combination of surreal and landscape, it draws on both styles to create a breathtaking style.

"The Oxbow" Cole Thomas 1836

Both pieces are viewed from an eagle eye perspective, and both note the curve of the land and the action of the water.

"The Traveler" Fiona Hseih. 2015

The work is unrestrained by convention or any physical method of painting. There is brush strokes when they are wanted and none when they are not.

"Mahana no atua" Gauguin 1894

Gauguin utilizes bright neon colors to make his paintings pop. Hseih uses the bright colors to achieve this effect herself, giving the piece an early surrealist/post impressionism style.

"Low Poly Bird on a Branch" Punimor 2014

This art is extremely streamlined. Mistakes are corrected at the click of a button. All colors are accessed through an electronic pallet. Resources are unlimited. However, this process still takes a large chunk of time.

"Factory" Picasso 1909

This Low Poly style is directly influenced by cubism. They both reduce the subject to its base shapes and colors to draw reactions out of the onlooker.

"Just Another Day at Work" Jacob Rozalski

The subject matter is diverse and appeals to all kinds of audiences.

"Napoleon Crossing the Alps" David 1801

Although the man depicted is not a real political leader like Napoleon, the juxtaposition of man and beast is still a theme originating in ancient civilizations and recreated by neoclassical artists like David.

Digital art, like other mediums, can inspire adventure

"Americas" Brian Edward. 2014
"Airship Dock" Min Nguen 2014
"Sea Village" Daniil Kovlovsky 2016

Adventure into a new and brave world is reminiscent of Romantic art. Depicting nature as something to be appreciated and traversed is a theme stemming from the Industrial Revolution.

"Wanderer above the Sea of Fog" Freidrich 1818

Horror

"Nightmare" Koveck. 2015
"80.5000 Degrees South, 94.0000 Degrees West" Alex Konstad
"The Big Bad Wolf" Ivan Kishivan 2014

Horror is not a new emotion, and has been created through art in the past.

"Saturn Devouring His Son" Goya 1819

Supplementing literature with art has been a popular method to draw the reader into the work.

"Book Of Hours" Paris, c 1410

It bears a striking resemblance to the illuminated manuscripts of the 15th century, which were often the life work of a monk due to the absence of the printing press.

Awe

"The Sentinel" Edward Howard 2012
Untitled. MisterAwesomeSauce 2015
"The Tourists" by Vincent Joyal 2016
"Blue Skyscrapers" Reishin 2015

Art used to inspire and humble the viewer was utilized during the Baroque period to draw patrons back into the fold after the Protestant reformation. Art with massive scope and humbling effects has been a tool of the artist since then.

"Glorification of Saint Ignatius", ceiling fresco in the nave of Sant'Ignazio, Pozzo. Rome, 1691-94

Digital Art has also inspired a new generation of entertainment. Video Games are a industry based on digital art, and the like the advent of film, they have had a huge influence on the art and spawned its own styles.

Shadow of the Colossus, Bioshock, Bioshock Infinite, Dark Souls, Mirror's Edge

Digital Art is the medium of the future. It has reaches into film, literature, and video games. However it is not a medium free of influences. Throughout the new medium there are ties to past themes and forms that are classical, romantic, impressionistic, and many others. It is a culmination of all past styles being reborn using tools strictly modern. One day the origins of the wide spread art will be studied thoroughly. Like all things in the day of lightning speed information, art was soon to follow, and the change is substantial. There will always be a place for traditional art, but Digital Art will carve itself a new niche.

Daniel Sinclair 04/27/2016

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