Is Digital art Easier than Traditional Art?

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Photo by Polina Tankilevitch from Pexels

Is digital more or less difficult than traditional art? Though the general consensus has begun to change over time, there is still a pervading thought that digital art is easier than traditional. Though my experience with digital media is very limited, I aim to bring some clarity as well as allow you to question what you may have thought prior to reading this. 

Digital does have its shortcuts

When people argue that digital is an easier and therefore an inferior art medium, they typically point to these shortcuts. For one, when making art digitally you can undo with just the click of a button. When making art traditionally, depending on the medium, there may not be any way for you to undo a mistake. Next, the ability to easily bring references on screen and trace them gives some traditional artists a lot of grief. I could sit here forever and tell you all of the tools that digital artists have that make their job easier but I'll just name a few. Blending, infinite brush selection, transparency changing, layers, stretch and pinch, and plenty others.

A Fair shake for Digital

Yes, it is very true that digital has shortcuts and things that make its experience less 'difficult' than traditional art. But, at the same time, I think that we should still be fair to digital artists. For one, digital art still requires that same basic skill set as traditional art. Digital artists Still need to know how anatomy works, what colors make sense, how to shade an object and so on. Just because digital artists work on advanced computer systems, it doesn't mean that they have a magical art making machine. 

If It Truly is SO Easy

For traditional artists who dislike digital art because of it's perceived ease, I'd recommend giving digital a try. Very quickly you will realize that you are a fish out of water. And of course, some of that will be because of the learning curve of switching mediums, but the point still reigns true. If digital makes it so easy to create masterpieces, why aren't you already a digital artist. 

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