Is digital art a fine art? Digital art has long not been considered ‘real art’ because it’s easy to reproduce. This argument is part of the so-called ‘digital art debate’ that has been going on for quite a while. But what is actually the difference between fine art and digital art? These are the questions we are going to address in this post. So feel free to dive straight in if you want to find out whether fine art can be digital!
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Art is a reflection of our lives and the artist’s personality. With the rise of technology, art has taken new technological forms. While traditional art used to be dominant before the development of computers and software programs, many artists have long since been exploring the realm of digital art.
Nowadays, digitally made creations are a fixed part of contemporary art.
Back in the day, ‘fine art’ only referred to traditionally made pieces. However, the dominance of digital media in the art world now begs the question whether fine art can be digital. This is what we want to talk about in this post.
Visual art is as important as before, and there’s a huge market for digital art. This just goes to say how popular digital artworks are.
In fact, when it comes to creating visual art in 2020 and beyond, the most powerful and versatile medium to do so is the computer.
Anyone who has some experience with Photoshop or a similar image editor knows that the digital editing possibilities surpass traditional methods by far. You have the option to assemble your digital image through an unlimited amount of layers, add masks, filters, layer styles, blending modes, and much more. (Check out the free Photoshop tutorials on this website if you want to learn more.)
This is not to say that traditional art is any less valuable. Among others, traditional art offers the advantages that you can touch the media you work with, smell the paint, and use your hands to create an original piece of art.
→ How Is Digital Art Different From Traditional Art? | 10 Differences
But before we actually address the question whether fine art can be digital, let’s take a quick look at the so-called ‘digital art debate’ and see why digital art wasn’t considered ‘real art’ at its beginnings.
Does digital art count as art?
As far as the ‘digital art vs traditional art debate’ is concerned, purists didn’t count digital art as art when it came up.
They argued that digital art wasn’t a fine art because it is easily reproducible, made with the help of a computer, and required less skill than traditional methods.
Just on a side note: Even the Mona Lisa that you can view in the Louvre is a replication – still, it’s considered fine art!
Why is digital art not real art?
The reason that digital art is done with a computer prompted critics to say that digital art is not real art. They concluded that digital art is faster and less complex because the computer would do all the work for you.
By now, however, the large majority of the art community agrees that digital art is as much an art as any other. It requires as much artistic skill and practice as traditional art. It’s just another way – a new and technological way – to express your creativity and imagination.
Digital artists need an as proficient understanding of the software program they are using as traditional artists of the physical instruments. In order to produce good digital art, you need to be just as aware of lighting, perspective, composition, color, texture, etc. as traditional creatives.
Learn more about lighting and color:
What is the difference between fine art and digital art?
Computer technology has been with us for more than 25 years, and for almost as much time, computers have been used to create art. Since then, the amount of digitally created images has been constantly increasing.
At the same time, digital art has become more and more popular and revolutionized art in all fields – from photography, mixed media, film, and music. It can no longer be ignored and has found its way into fine art.
In that much, there is no difference between fine art and digital art.
The only difference is the creative method. Even though digital art software can easily mimic natural media, such as paint, watercolor, acrylic, chalk, ink, etc., the actual artwork is usually created with a drawing tablet and stylus.
Good styluses are able to detect the pressure and tilt that you apply. The software then translates everything to the digital canvas, making strokes drawn with a lot of pressure look thicker and more opaque and vice versa.
If you are on the lookout for some good and affordable drawing tablet to dive into the field of digital art, I recommend checking out the Wacom Intuos Pro Medium (a drawing tablet without screen) or the Wacom Cintiq 16 if you prefer to work directly onscreen. Or, for all those who like to work both digitally and traditionally, the Wacom Intuos Pro Paper Edition.
Wacom Intuos Pro
Medium
- Workflow booster with ExpressKeys, Touch Ring & Multi-Touch capability
- Pro Pen 2 with industry-leading pressure and tilt responsiveness, excellent precision and lag-free tracking
Wacom Cintiq 16
Pen Display
- 4K screen with ample drawing space while still being lightweight and portable
- Etched glass surface with anti-glare coating to reduce reflections and provide tactile resistance to the stylus
Wacom Intuos Pro
Paper Edition
- Perfect combination of digital drawing and traditional sketching with ink on paper
- Wacom Pro Pen 2 & Finetip Pen with high pressure sensitivity, tilt response and virtually lag-free tracking
Is there a market for digital art?
Initially, digital art was considered less valuable than traditional art because there is no real ‘original’.
When you create a traditional piece of art, it is absolutely unique. Even if you try to reproduce the same piece, it will always turn out slightly different. Digital art, on the other hand, may be reproduced as many times as you wish, without any divergence from the original creation.
That’s why digital art tends to sell for a slightly lower price than traditional works.
Nevertheless, there is a market for digital art and you have the opportunity to sell high-quality prints of your digital artwork.
How much should you charge for digital art?
The digital art selling price depends on a range of factors. First of all, the printing paper determines the price.
You should only choose archival photographic papers to sell your digital art because they offer the best quality and last the longest. The best printing paper is ‘giclée’. Giclée is a sophisticated inkjet printing process that provides extra-fine image resolution and a high degree of detail. One of the best printing services for Giclée prints is Giclée Today.
Apart from the printing paper, there are a couple more things you can do to raise the digital art selling price. Here are some suggestions (from lowest to highest price):
- Prints that are signed and not numbered.
- Prints that are signed and numbered.
- Original art prints less than 20 copies, signed and numbered.
- Large prints with even fewer copies, signed and numbered.
- Hand-embellished prints.
- Unique prints, one copy only.
→ How To Start A Digital Art Business (w/ FREE Art Business Startup Checklist)
In conclusion: Is digital art a fine art?
The boundaries of fine art are constantly expanding, and it’s important to remember that even art styles that were previously deemed ‘unworthy’ have found their way into fine art. Just think of the surreal art or the lowbrow art movements in their beginnings.
Nowadays, both genres of art feature digital artwork and are generally considered ‘fine art’.
By the same token, digital art is fine art.
With all the technology around, artists have countless options to use new tools in creating their artworks and explore new ways to express their creativity.
Even though digital art may be reproduced more easily than traditional art, the virtual file still incorporates the original idea of the artist.
For the interested collector, there is a huge market for digital art to explore. With the sheer amount of new digital work being produced every day, there are new digital artists and artworks to discover everywhere.
To all artists who are just thinking about starting off on the digital journey – it’s not so hard! Here are 5 tips for beginners to get started with digital art.
In conclusion, can fine art be digital? Yes, because no kind of digital artistic expression may be excluded from fine art.
Digital art has been with us for more than a quarter of a century and it’s not going to go away any time soon. It is an advancement of traditional methods and as such, digital art is fine art!
I really enjoyed reading about the history and advancements in digital art. It’s fascinating to see how far we’ve come and to imagine where digital creativity will go next. Thanks for this enlightening post!
Hi Lucas, I agree, it’s really amazing what you can create digitally. I’m sure there will even be more possibilities in the future!