"REFLECTIONS"
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Digital Art
by
C.J. Peiffer
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This piece of digital art started as a simple photograph of trees, not reflected in water. After changing and manipulating the image many times in many ways, I came up with the above design.
For more than a decade, I have felt like an explorer in a new land. Switching from drawing and painting to computer design has been both formidable and thrilling. The transformation process I undertook to become a computer artist is much like the process I use to created much of my work.
That is, I begin with a sketch, drawing, photograph or scanned object and utilize the computer to make it into something else, sometimes similar to the initial image and sometimes so different, the source material is unrecognizable. I turn earrings into metallic abstractions and fish into colorful patterns. Or I use the background from one image to place behind the foreground of another. Harvested parts of buildings become surrealistic floating sculptures and the Mona Lisa steps into the Twenty-first Century.
The assumption that digital art is created by a computer with no human input is mistaken. A computer cannot create art any more than it can write a novel. Software can facilitate some steps, such as adding a texture, but the computer is merely a high-tech substitute for brush and paint.
Mastering digital possibilities is time-consuming and arduous, as with any art form. Yet, no matter how demanding, the creative process is both fun and uplifting for me. As Salvador Dali once said, “There are some days when I think I am going to die from an overdose of satisfaction.”
The computer allows me to create with incredible flexibility and freedom. I can save an image, retaining its lines, shapes and colors. Then, I can add, delete, or change any design element while playing with textures, transparencies, colors, and filters. These techniques permit experimentation that would be prohibitively time-consuming and expensive with paint and brush. Practicing digital art, I am free to take risks. Such exploration generates new ideas and further experimentation.
While the technology of computer-assisted design continues to evolve, I have barely scratched the surface of this medium. I learn while creating each new project, thus expanding the scope of my future work.
That is, I begin with a sketch, drawing, photograph or scanned object and utilize the computer to make it into something else, sometimes similar to the initial image and sometimes so different, the source material is unrecognizable. I turn earrings into metallic abstractions and fish into colorful patterns. Or I use the background from one image to place behind the foreground of another. Harvested parts of buildings become surrealistic floating sculptures and the Mona Lisa steps into the Twenty-first Century.
The assumption that digital art is created by a computer with no human input is mistaken. A computer cannot create art any more than it can write a novel. Software can facilitate some steps, such as adding a texture, but the computer is merely a high-tech substitute for brush and paint.
Mastering digital possibilities is time-consuming and arduous, as with any art form. Yet, no matter how demanding, the creative process is both fun and uplifting for me. As Salvador Dali once said, “There are some days when I think I am going to die from an overdose of satisfaction.”
The computer allows me to create with incredible flexibility and freedom. I can save an image, retaining its lines, shapes and colors. Then, I can add, delete, or change any design element while playing with textures, transparencies, colors, and filters. These techniques permit experimentation that would be prohibitively time-consuming and expensive with paint and brush. Practicing digital art, I am free to take risks. Such exploration generates new ideas and further experimentation.
While the technology of computer-assisted design continues to evolve, I have barely scratched the surface of this medium. I learn while creating each new project, thus expanding the scope of my future work.
To see more of my art work, click HERE.
(art and text, ©2009, C.J. Peiffer)
1 comment:
What a great piece! I enjoyed reading about your process with digital art and I love the color!!
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