The Four Ways in Which People Have Defined Art in the Past
Marking Rothko, an American artist who described himself every bit an "abstruse painter", one time said well-nigh art that he was not the kind of person interested in the human relationship of form, color or similars. He didn't define himself as an abstractionist, but rather as a person interested only in expressing bones human emotions such as doom, tragedy, ecstasy and so on. This was one person's vision of art, just what do we mean by art today? Why is defining the concept and so difficult?
This article is an exploration of the meaning of fine 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 Fine art Is Alive: Classics and Modernistic Artworks
- Milton Glaser on Fine art & Design
- 8 Inspiring Stories Of ASCII Art
- Modern Art Movements To Inspire Your Logo Blueprint
- Icons Of Digital Design
one. About Art - What Is Information technology?
This question pops up often, and with many answers. Many argue that fine art cannot be defined. Nosotros could go nearly this in several means. Art is often considered the procedure or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. Information technology encompasses a diverse range of man activities, creations and ways of expression, including music, literature, film, sculpture and paintings. The meaning of fine art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics. At least, that's what Wikipedia claims.
More after leap! Continue reading below ↓
Fine art is by and large understood as whatever activeness or product done by people with a communicative or artful purpose—something that expresses an idea, an emotion or, more than generally, a earth view.
It is a component of culture, reflecting economical and social substrates in its design. Information technology transmits ideas and values inherent in every civilization across space and time. Its role changes through time, acquiring more of an aesthetic component here and a socio-educational function there.
Everything we've said then far has elements of truth but is mainly opinion. Co-ordinate to Wikipedia, "Art historians and philosophers of art have long had classificatory disputes about art regarding whether a detail cultural form or slice of work should be classified equally art."
The definition of art is open, subjective, debatable. There is no understanding among historians and artists, which is why we're left with so many definitions of art. The concept itself has inverse over centuries.
The very notion of art continues today to stir controversy, being so open to multiple interpretations. Information technology can be taken merely to hateful any human activity, or any set of rules needed to develop an action. This would generalize the concept beyond what is commonly understood as the fine arts, now broadened to encompass academic areas. The word has many other colloquial uses, too.
In this commodity, we mean art every bit a grade of human being expression of a creative nature.
ii. The Evolution Of The Concept Of Art
While the definition of art has changed over the years, the field of art history has developed to let us to categorize changes in art over fourth dimension and to better understand how art shapes and is shaped past the creative impulses of artists.
Having a solid grasp of fine art history, then, is important. I spoke with Alexander Daniloff and Jonathan Brawl most the concept of art through history and nigh whether tracing a line through traditional and contemporary fine art is possible.
Alexander Daniloff is a Russian artist who lives and works in Italia. His focus is painting, although he has worked in several media. Lately, he has worked on children's illustrations. He has participated in various events and analogy competitions and has illustrated three books. He has held numerous individual and group exhibitions in Italia, Russia, Holland, Spain, Finland and the U.s..
Jonathan Brawl is the creative backside Poked Studio, an innovative company committed to developing creative visual solutions. That's not all: amongst its services, Poked Studio offers illustration; Web, graphic and blog design; 3-D rendering and visualization; motion graphics; children's volume illustration; Wink websites; and games.
Question: Can we trace a line from traditional to contemporary fine art?
Alexander Daniloff: I don't recall we can say annihilation without falling into controversy, even me. I have a traditional view and prefer artwork that speaks for the creative person or menstruation. I tin can't explain what contemporary fine art is, or at least what it'due south meant to be. Yeah, you tin can trace a line from traditional to contemporary art, only not a directly i. Perhaps it is a parabola that goes upwardly so down, or a screw. We don't know. All we can say is that the art market has developed, which affects the art itself. With what we phone call gimmicky art, words and explanations are always worth more.
Visual arts have been transformed by articles and critical essays; meanwhile, the works themselves take get mute. In the theater, the curators and critics accept taken upwardly the front row. This is my view on the difference between gimmicky and traditional art.
I personally adopt fine art measured in man dimensions: art that whispers and doesn't shout, fine art that covers me and makes me wing and does not beat out. But I must confess, some of these modern things attract me; for instance, mural painting (graffiti) and abstract things.
Jonathan Ball: Yes, about definitely [we tin can draw a line from traditional to gimmicky art]. Many of the same techniques are used, just in slightly different means and with dissimilar tools. The aforementioned principles apply, however you create fine art.
I come across a line particularly running through the stylized course of Japanese fine 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) art?
Jonathan Ball: Digital art has obviously adult much more rapidly than the thousands of years of hand-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 fine art is yet in its infancy. Despite what seems an enormous amount of progress in reckoner hardware, general calculating and fifty-fifty the computing available to near design studios is just non fast enough to hands reproduce fine art on the calibration and level of detail possible with traditional media. Get to whatsoever national gallery, and y'all will run across works on an enormous scale. Try reproducing a ten-foot canvas with the resolution of a manus-painted work of fine art in a three-D program, and yous'll observe information technology can't cope. In fact, most programs will struggle to render a detailed picture at, say, 300 DPI at just A4 size.
While a painting may announced to exist only splotches and blobs, when y'all go up to it close, the patterns are cute by themselves, total of color, intensity, saturation and texture. Go close to digital art or a Television receiver screen and you'll run across a mess of distortion and artifacts.
One time screen resolution is on par with printed media, and once computer technology allows us to hands create big, highly detailed work at speed, and so digital volition have defenseless up to traditional media.
Nearly digital fine art of the early-21st century is designed to be viewed on low-resolution devices. Much of this art volition be obsolete when college-resolution screens and devices are adult over the next century. And much that has been stored simply on hard drives will be lost forever equally drives neglect and websites close or are redeveloped.
I find information technology a shame that so much great work is reproduced at such a limited resolution and scale and not stored in a fashion that keeps it safe for future generations.
Question: Tell us about art and your favourite art motion.
Jonathan Ball: Difficult, because I like so many styles. But I find that if I'm in an art gallery, I honey contemporary painting because it holds so many surprises and is less predicable than previous eras.
I love quirky contemporary illustration, 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 fine art can describe upon aesthetics from many other fields. But various criticisms have been fabricated against it: for example, given the multifariousness of tools at their disposal, how much endeavour practise digital artists really accept to put into their piece of work?
I asked Jan Willem Wennekes, too known as Zeptonn, for his opinion on this. He is a freelancer who specializes in illustrative design and art management, with a focus on eco-friendly and environmental projects.
Jan Willem Wennekes: The question seems a chip ambiguous. On the one hand, there seems to be a question most the endeavour required to create digital art. That is, some people may call up that using digital media to create fine art is easier than using traditional media. On the other hand, there seems to be a question of whether digital fine 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 computer, mouse, Wacom, scanner, software, etc.) does not have to differ from creating fine art in other media. The computer and all the tools generated by the software are still what they are: tools! Yous accept to main those tools just equally y'all accept to master any other tools. For example, if you lot do not understand how light works, you lot won't be able to create artwork with correct lighting, and so on. If you don't know how the pen tool works in Illustrator, then you won't be able to create skillful artwork, just like a traditional creative person who doesn't know how to utilize a pencil. You nevertheless have to principal color theory and all the other things that are essential to creating a good or stunning slice of fine art. In that sense, it doesn't matter whether it is a painting or a print. Simply put, you take to master all the tools and theory, simply as you lot had to principal them before. And the better you main them, the better your artwork tin can exist.
Jan Willem Wennekes: At present, i can wonder whether digital art is a distinct art course. This is a hard question and not easy to answer. I think the difference hither is that "digital art" is more of a grouping term than simply ane art form. At that place are many types of digital art: some expect a lot like paintings, some look similar photographs, some await like drawings, while others announced quite new and unique (eastward.thou. estimator generated artwork). And so in a sense, digital art consists of both overlapping and new kinds of fine art.
Photography was in one case viewed as a competitor to portrait painting, but in the terminate it became its own art class, with many directions and fields of interest. In effect, painting benefitted from the rise of photography, and each added to the other and renewed interest in art in general. Nowadays, we don't view photography as a competitor to painting; we see them as different media, with different benefits and drawbacks. I think the same holds for newer digital art forms.
4. Art As We Know It Today
The 20th century was a turning point in our conception of art, which is mainly why contemporary artists frequently reach for new concepts, suspension with tradition and pass up classic notions of dazzler. All these factors accept given birth to abstract art. The artist no longer tries to reflect reality, simply rather tries to give expression to their inner world and feelings.
The former definitions of art have 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, as well known equally Alexander Bluish, is an artist, illustrator and designer from the The states. He has extensive feel in various facets of the illustration industry, and he has a broad diversity of clients. His illustrations are aimed at both adults and children. He has also worked in the advertizement earth and in publishing, music, mode, textiles, dwelling decor, merchandising, posters, press and social expression.
Travis Lampe is an illustrator who currently lives and works in Chicago. He worked equally an art director in advertising. Afterwards a two-year stint in Warsaw, he returned to Chicago and tried his hand in the art and analogy scene. He enjoys making art and toys, and he has shown in fine galleries throughout the US and in Europe.
Question: How much influence does new media accept on your work? What is your relationship to digital art? Do yous consider yourself a traditional creative person?
Jonathan Brawl: It has a lot of influence. I think because of my noesis of programming, it influences my work. I retrieve in terms of modular parts and variables.
Travis Lampe: I'chiliad a traditional artist—I piece of work in acrylic—just I wouldn't exist able to operate without computers. When I design toys, for case, I utilise computers to browse and create vector art from my original paintings. I don't create digital fine art in and of itself, though. Purely digital work can be cute, but for me at that place is value in having a tangible and unique product, equally opposed to a set of data.
No doubt, though, I've been influenced in my traditional art by being exposed to ideas that I've discovered on the Internet. It's a dandy place to discover old-timey cartoons, for example.
Question: Travis, if the purpose of art was once to create dazzler and to imitate nature, today the concept has evolved dynamically and is constantly changing. In your stance, how has the Internet and new means of communicating influenced the evolution of visual arts, its conceptual bounds and its physical execution?
Travis Lampe: The Cyberspace most influences the development of art simply by exposing more people to more art. Unfortunately, a lot of it is really, really crappy, as you would expect. Anyone with a ballpoint pen and digital photographic camera can post their art for the earth to come across. And that'southward okay. I remember the cream just naturally rises to the tiptop. Ideas are still what'due south of import, far more so than technical skill, and the Internet hasn't changed that at all. I've seen a lot of ballpoint pen fine art that I really like.
As far as physical execution goes, information technology's evolved the fashion information technology always has: as soon equally a new medium arrives, there's a scramble to use it in new and creative ways. I don't know that the Internet has afflicted the concrete execution of art and then much as computers themselves take. Information technology'due south merely made it easier to disseminate.
More communication is great for PR and in that way is a great help to artists. And more communication should equal more ideas billowy effectually, which ideally should result in meliorate conceptual thinking. But most of the "communication" is fluff. And I recall there'due south a threshold beyond which the constant connectedness ceases to be helpful. Artists need some disconnected time for the creative ideas to coalesce. Successful artists are the ones who are disciplined and able to balance all of this, I approximate.
Question: Would you say that art and the new, social Spider web take a connection? Are social media a viable way to improve artistic communities?
Jonathan Ball: Of course. Art has a connection to anything in our surround that influences its creators. As far as social media goes, I think being able to communicate better is always an improvement.
Travis Lampe: Social media is slap-up for sharing results; it's allowed me to connect with and see the work of other artists who I admire on a constant ground. And it makes working long hours in a basement a chip less of a lonely enterprise when you can show the world what you've done the moment you've finished. On the other hand, social media are a constant distraction. When I want to become piece of work washed, I disconnect. So I love it and hate information technology equally.
Visual arts incorporate many forms of art—painting, drawing, sculpture, music, literature and performance fine art beingness the most widely recognized. Withal, with the technological revolution, others forms accept emerged.
And then, what exactly is the human relationship betwixt these new forms of expression and contemporary artists? Max Kostenko and Pine Lamanna kindly answered my questions, giving usa insight into the topic.
Max Kostenko is a Russian illustrator. He specializes in iii-D digital illustration and character design. He works as a freelancer for many Russian studios and agencies worldwide, such as Kotetkat and Lemonade.
Pine Lamanna, likewise known as SchakalWal, is an illustrator and graphic designer from Germany who specializes in corporate design, character design and typography.
Question: Delight introduce yourself and your piece of work. How did you get started in the field?
Max Kostenko: My name is Max Kostenko. I'1000 23 years erstwhile, and I am an creative person and illustrator from Moscow. I have been doing illustrations for most i year. Before, I worked for three years every bit a Web designer in diverse Moscow Web studios.
Pino Lamanna: Hello. My name is Pino Lamanna. I am a 27-year-old half-Italian, half-German language digital artist living and working in the city of Wuppertal, in Frg.
I currently work as a freelance designer, specializing in unique branding, handmade typography and character design. Most of my work is highly influenced by graffiti and street art, old-school cartoons and the music I heed to. My aim is to create stylish, unique and useful designs with an urban twist.
I took my beginning steps as a designer as a little child, drawing comic strips with my ain superheroes. Afterward, in my teenage years, I became interested in the graffiti and street art movement.
The commencement matter that attracted me to digital 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 about your artwork. What software practise you lot use? How difficult was it for yous to larn?
Max Kostenko: In my work, I use only Photoshop. I started studying it when I wanted to start working every bit a Web designer. Just as years passed, I understood what I really wanted to work on, because I constitute the job of designer boring, so I started drawing some silly little men; that is, I tried to sympathize many of the principles by drawing them. In Photoshop, I practice non utilize many tools to make my work look artistic—I but choose my normal round brush and start 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 piece of work in Photoshop. That might audio foreign, simply I can't assist it. There isn't much of a deviation at all, considering Photoshop has vector editing capabilities, too.
Once I am happy with my pattern, I copy and paste to Illustrator to create the final output.
I cannot say that mastering Photoshop was hard, considering working in it has e'er been fun. The very first steps were kind of difficult, though. I remember existence overwhelmed past the gazillion options. It 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, considering I was already used to the Adobe interface and I knew a lot of stuff almost vector editing from Photoshop. And of course, there are tutorials for Illustrator everywhere.
Question: What is the chief inspiration for your pieces? And how has the digital fine art community influenced your work?
Max Kostenko: My inspiration comes in unlike ways: sometimes after watching a pic, sometimes from something I see in the street or on public transport. I ever look for the work of known artists: it stimulates me to grow and ameliorate my skills. I became acquainted with digital art through the Society of Digital Artists, and the first thought that came to mind was, "I could never describe similar that." But then I gradually drew things like leaves. Still, I've only began to walk the path of the creative person and withal have much to larn.
Pine Lamanna: Inspiration tin come from anything, whether a cloud in the sky, an old movie or a box of sushi. My manner has always been influenced by urban culture, music, movies, cartoons, etc. As a matter of fact, the digital art community has influenced my work a lot. Thanks to the Internet, I've gotten to know many interesting people and designers from all over the world, and in the end those communities have helped ascertain me equally an artist.
Question: How would you describe your creative procedure? What are some of its most important aspects?
Max Kostenko: The near important thing is a basic idea, I guess—a plan. If yous have 1, you can start drawing. Sometimes I go in my caput a general sense of the upshot, and and so I begin with the big shapes, placing them in a composition. When I've got the event, I start to color information technology, the most difficult thing for me. At the end, I consummate the final details.
Pino Lamanna: I always take pen and newspaper past my side, fifty-fifty in my bedchamber. Yous never know when ideas volition pop in your mind, and you amend salve before you forget.
Brainstorming and sketching are crucial for me. If ideas pop up while working on my computer, I'll usually put aside all the stuff I am doing and try to directly realize that thought in a design.
When working for clients, inquiry is very of import. Without a detailed cursory, finding a design to match the customer's needs and expectations can be tricky. Therefore, I always ask clients to fill out my design questionnaire.
Another important aspect of my artistic process is patience. Oft, I find a skillful menses and can't stop working on a particular pattern until I am happy (and exhausted). Still, before publishing, I always force myself to wait till the side by side mean solar day. I'll often find things that need to be changed, tweaked or tuned upwards, when I am looking at my piece of work with a little distance.
Question: Have you ever gotten into traditional art? If so, tell us something near that experience.
Max Kostenko: The affair is, I wasn't trained in an art schoolhouse. Merely since childhood, I have liked drawing and thinking of stories. I've ever drawn with a unproblematic pencil. After schoolhouse, I tried to enter the Automotive Pattern Higher but was rejected… fifty-fifty having passed the drawing exams marvellously well.
Pino Lamanna: As mentioned, I was into comic cartoon every bit a child, and I trained hard to create the earth's nigh powerful superheroes and villains. I tin can recall only a single grapheme from these days: Super-Frog. (I know that's lame, so don't be hateful!)
Later, I got some experience with graffiti and street art. Never made it to the All City Kings, though.
So, I don't have much experience with traditional art, because my main focus for the final couple of years has been on digital.
Question: How would you ascertain your human relationship to traditional art? Who is your favourite creative person?
Max Kostenko: I often visit the Tretyakov Gallery, and I tin't believe people could draw like that on a canvas centuries ago. I am surprised every time past the talent of classical artists.
I similar Russian landscape artists. Vasily Polenov and Ivan Shishkin are top in skills for me.
The artist's life is non every bit uncomplicated as information technology may seem. Standing out from the crowd is non like shooting fish in a barrel, which is why cocky-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 analogy, comics and blitheness. He currently resides in Boston, where he works as an animator and game designer for the children'southward media company Fablevision. His 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 home town, he dedicated some years to painting and teaching illustration and comics. After working for some time by and large in Web design, Alex decided to go back into illustration. At the moment, he's working mostly on children'southward 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: Practise you have a portfolio website? And which social networks are you currently on?
Bob Flynn: I have a website, but I'grand very lazy most updating information technology. And I observe I get less traffic there compared to, say, my blog, which is infinitely easier to add to. A portfolio website is more of a structured presentation, which is bully for fine art directors and people looking to make a professional cess of your piece of work. Information technology's oftentimes static, and information technology offers little to no opportunity for two-mode advice. You become piddling to no interaction with the art community except for a friendly email or two a calendar month. A web log is dynamic and opens that dialogue. I at present think of my website every bit a hub to help straight people where they demand to get.
In add-on to having a blog (my primary indicate of communication), I'yard currently on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and, about recently, Google Buzz. Is being on all of them worth it? Probably. I've found that yous really 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 accomplish the most people is to be everywhere.
Twitter is currently the best place to track people in the industry and to communicate with your peers—just non everyone is there. Facebook is where virtually anybody else is, although juggling friends, family and business is admittedly cumbersome. Yous have to weed through the ataxia (I'm less a fan of its increasingly unwieldy interface), but you tin can certainly get traction over at that place. Flickr is the most straightforward: upload artwork, exit and receive comments. Buzz is new to the game and all the same hasn't adult an identity of its own. But it's another identify you should probably be.
I tin can rails about job leads and connections back to a tweet here or a annotate at that place. Non to mention great friendships. Simply by spending time in these spaces, saying "Howdy" and participating in a positive style, you really tin't go wrong.
Alex Dukal: Yes, I have had a portfolio online since 1998, and I currently use Facebook a lot, Twitter not so much. I actually like Flickr. I used Orkut when information technology outset came out. I tried Google Buzz and did not similar it. Every at present then I take a await at Google Wave to run into if information technology'll ever plow into something interesting. I take a Netvibes account that I inappreciably use. I accept an account on Distill. Every bit you can see, I like to test new tools.
Jayme McGowan: Aye, I accept 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 you write articles for your ain web log or for other blogs and publications? Would you consider either an effective fashion to get your name out there?
Bob Flynn: I regularly post artwork to my weblog, and I have written a few Flash cartoon tutorials. Simply having an online presence is a good start, only think of the impact y'all could have by sharing data, ideas and helpful tips. People enjoy reading about procedure, so document your methodology as yous work, and it will make for more interesting posts.
I wouldn't exist in this just to get my name out, though. If yous're all for evidence and cocky-promotion, you risk turning people away. Participation is key: I enjoy reading about what anybody 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. Then I switched to Textpattern, and finally I separated my portfolio and weblog (now in Blogger) equally a matter of convenience. In the blog from time to fourth dimension, I'll write an commodity or tutorial. Judging from the feedback I get, I'd consider it an effective method of promotion.
Jayme McGowan: I have a weblog where I mail service images of my piece of work in progress and updates on current projects I'm involved in. I employ it to give readers some insight into my process. I think it definitely gets people more than involved in my work. Most of the visitors to my primary portfolio website were directed there either from my ain blog or from someone who did a mail about my work on their blog. I recollect if you lot keep your weblog upwardly to date and postal service regularly, it will be an invaluable tool for getting your name out in that location.
Question: What are the challenges of creating a cocky-promotion strategy? Have you implemented a self-promotion strategy for yourself? Has it worked? If i 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 can't say I've ever architected a real strategy. You lot're talking to a guy who'due south never even sent out a promo bill of fare. My approach has been to put myself out there and see what happens. Sort of the similar old adage, "Just be yourself"—that'south how you stand out from the rest of the pack. I endeavor to update my blog at least once a week to keep people coming back. Keeping upwards with your website's stats is a good way to see what'southward sticking (i.due east. where your traffic's coming from and what your most popular posts are).
Alex Dukal: Yep, of course, as a freelance artist, self-promotion is absolutely necessary. I think the outset 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 blog, which allows me to maintain other kinds of contact with people: social networks, forums, contacts database, etc. Information technology's a big garden; one must h2o and have care of it every 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 practice happen).
Jayme McGowan: My self-promotion strategy is fairly elementary and involves social networks, as I mentioned before. 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 practise something similar. I was fortunate enough to generate interest in my work early on just by posting photos on Flickr and becoming an agile fellow member of the Etsy community. Many people who committee work from me say they plant me on i of those two websites.
Now I employ Facebook and Twitter (and my blog, of course) to keep people posted on what I'm up to. Merely to succeed in promoting yourself on any of these networks, y'all have to be truly interested in making friends and business contacts. You can't just scream, "Hey, wait at me!" all the time without giving anything dorsum. I guess I have a subtler approach to self-promotion: let people know what y'all're up to from time to time, and trust that they'll follow you if they like what they meet.
Question: Exercise 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 chosen Illustration 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, besides known as SchakalWal, is an illustrator and graphic designer from Germany who specializes in corporate blueprint, character design and typography.
Question: Delight innovate yourself and your work. How did you get started in the field?
Max Kostenko: My name is Max Kostenko. I'm 23 years one-time, and I am an artist and illustrator from Moscow. I take been doing illustrations for about one year. Before, I worked for 3 years every bit a Web designer in various Moscow Web studios.
Pino Lamanna: Howdy. My name is Pino Lamanna. I am a 27-yr-onetime half-Italian, half-High german digital artist living and working in the city of Wuppertal, in Federal republic of germany.
I currently work as a freelance designer, specializing in unique branding, handmade typography and character design. Most of my piece of 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 starting time steps as a designer as a fiddling child, cartoon comic strips with my own superheroes. Subsequently, in my teenage years, I became interested in the graffiti and street art motion.
The start thing that attracted me to digital art was photo manipulation. Through that, I was introduced to Adobe Photoshop and several digital art communities. Later on, I switched my focus to illustration, branding and typography, which I think suits me best.
Question: Tell u.s. a bit most your artwork. What software do yous use? How hard was it for you to learn?
Max Kostenko: In my work, I use only Photoshop. I started studying information technology when I wanted to start working as a Web designer. But equally years passed, I understood what I really wanted to work on, because I found the chore of designer boring, then I started drawing some silly little men; that is, I tried to empathize many of the principles by drawing them. In Photoshop, I do non use many tools to make my work expect creative—I only cull my normal circular castor and start 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 most of my work in Photoshop. That might sound strange, but I can't aid it. There isn't much of a difference at all, because Photoshop has vector editing capabilities, too.
One time I am happy with my blueprint, I copy and paste to Illustrator to create the final output.
I cannot say that mastering Photoshop was difficult, considering working in it has always been fun. The very first steps were kind of hard, though. I remember being overwhelmed by the gazillion options. It was learning past doing. I did a lot of tutorials, which I plant online, to become comfortable with different techniques and methods.
Learning Illustrator wasn't hard, either, considering I was already used to the Adobe interface and I knew a lot of stuff about vector editing from Photoshop. And of course, in that location are tutorials for Illustrator everywhere.
Question: What is the principal inspiration for your pieces? And how has the digital art community influenced your work?
Max Kostenko: My inspiration comes in dissimilar ways: sometimes after watching a film, sometimes from something I encounter in the street or on public transport. I always look for the work of known artists: it stimulates me to grow and meliorate my skills. I became acquainted with digital art through the Gild of Digital Artists, and the first thought that came to listen was, "I could never describe like that." Merely and then I gradually drew things like leaves. Yet, I've just began to walk the path of the artist and yet have much to learn.
Pino Lamanna: Inspiration can come up from annihilation, whether a deject in the sky, an old movie or a box of sushi. My style has e'er been influenced by urban civilisation, 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 world, and in the end those communities accept helped define me as an artist.
Question: How would you describe your artistic process? What are some of its most important aspects?
Max Kostenko: The about of import matter is a basic idea, I guess—a plan. If yous have one, you tin can start drawing. Sometimes I get in my head a general sense of the result, and and then I brainstorm with the big shapes, placing them in a composition. When I've got the outcome, I start to color it, the most hard thing for me. At the end, I consummate the final details.
Pino Lamanna: I always take pen and paper by my side, even in my bedroom. Yous never know when ideas will pop in your mind, and you better save before y'all forget.
Brainstorming and sketching are crucial for me. If ideas pop upward while working on my computer, I'll normally put bated all the stuff I am doing and try to directly realize that idea in a design.
When working for clients, inquiry is very of import. Without a detailed cursory, finding a pattern to match the client's needs and expectations can be tricky. Therefore, I e'er ask clients to make full out my pattern questionnaire.
Another important aspect of my creative procedure is patience. Often, I find a good flow and tin't stop working on a particular pattern until I am happy (and exhausted). However, before publishing, I ever strength myself to wait till the next twenty-four hours. I'll oft discover things that demand to be inverse, tweaked or tuned upward, when I am looking at my work with a trivial distance.
Question: Have you always gotten into traditional art? If and then, tell u.s. something nearly that feel.
Max Kostenko: The matter is, I wasn't trained in an art school. But since babyhood, I take liked cartoon and thinking of stories. I've always fatigued with a simple pencil. After school, I tried to enter the Automotive Design College just was rejected… even having passed the cartoon exams marvellously well.
Pine Lamanna: Equally mentioned, I was into comic cartoon as a kid, and I trained hard to create the world'southward most powerful superheroes and villains. I can remember merely a unmarried character from these days: Super-Frog. (I know that'due south lame, so don't be mean!)
Afterwards, I got some experience with graffiti and street art. Never fabricated it to the All City 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 can't believe people could draw like that on a canvas centuries ago. I am surprised every time by the talent of classical artists.
I like Russian landscape artists. Vasily Polenov and Ivan Shishkin are superlative in skills for me.
The artist's life is not as elementary as information technology may seem. Standing out from the oversupply 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 affect of this kind of marketing.
Bob Flynn is a cartoonist who is interested in illustration, comics and animation. He currently resides in Boston, where he works as an animator and game designer for the children's media company Fablevision. His work has appeared in publications such equally Nickelodeon Magazine and Improper Bostonian.
Alex Dukal is an illustrator who was born and raised in Patagonia, Argentine republic. From a very young age, Alex has published comics and illustrations in the legendary Fierro magazine.
Back in his habitation town, he dedicated some years to painting and teaching illustration and comics. After working for some time mostly in Spider web design, Alex decided to get back into analogy. At the moment, he'due south working generally on children'south books and creating illustrations for pattern agencies.
Jayme McGowan is a freelance creative person and three-D illustrator based in Sacramento, California. She works with cutting paper.
Question: Do you 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 it. And I find 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 cess of your piece of work. It's ofttimes static, and it offers little to no opportunity for two-style advice. You get little to no interaction with the art community except for a friendly email or two a month. A blog is dynamic and opens that dialogue. I now think of my website every bit a hub to help direct people where they need to go.
In add-on to having a blog (my primary indicate of advice), 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 lot really tin can't be in as well many places—though there is certainly a sanity threshold. A unlike audience traffics each social space (with some overlap), and so the fashion to reach the near people is to be everywhere.
Twitter is currently the best place to rail people in the manufacture and to communicate with your peers—but non everyone is there. Facebook is where most everyone else is, although juggling friends, family unit and concern is absolutely cumbersome. You have to weed through the clutter (I'1000 less a fan of its increasingly unwieldy interface), but you tin certainly get traction over in that location. Flickr is the nigh straightforward: upload artwork, leave and receive comments. Buzz is new to the game and still hasn't adult an identity of its own. Just it's another place you should probably be.
I can track nigh job leads and connections back to a tweet here or a comment there. Not to mention great friendships. Merely by spending time in these spaces, maxim "Hi" and participating in a positive manner, y'all really tin't go wrong.
Alex Dukal: Yes, I have had a portfolio online since 1998, and I currently use Facebook a lot, Twitter non so much. I actually like Flickr. I used Orkut when it first came out. I tried Google Fizz and did not similar information technology. Every at present and and then I take a look at Google Wave to encounter if it'll ever plough into something interesting. I accept a Netvibes account that I hardly utilize. I have an business relationship on Dribble. As you can encounter, I like to exam 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 too.
Question: Do yous write manufactures for your ain blog or for other blogs and publications? Would you consider either an constructive way to get your proper name out there?
Bob Flynn: I regularly post artwork to my web log, and I have written a few Flash drawing tutorials. Simply having an online presence is a good start, but remember of the affect yous could have by sharing information, ideas and helpful tips. People enjoy reading about procedure, so document your methodology equally you work, and it will make for more interesting posts.
I wouldn't be in this just to get my name out, though. If you lot're all for show and self-promotion, yous risk turning people away. Participation is key: I enjoy reading about what everyone else has to say. In that location'south more value in that, really.
Alex Dukal: I started writing little news on my website using Grey Matter, an old tool for blogging. Then I switched to Textpattern, and finally I separated my portfolio and weblog (now in Blogger) as a matter of convenience. In the weblog from time to time, I'll write an article or tutorial. Judging from the feedback I become, I'd consider it an effective method of promotion.
Jayme McGowan: I take a web log where I mail images of my work in progress and updates on current projects I'yard involved in. I use it to give readers some insight into my process. I think information technology definitely gets people more involved in my work. Most of the visitors to my master portfolio website were directed there either from my own blog or from someone who did a mail about my work on their blog. I think if yous keep your web log upwards to date and postal service regularly, information technology volition be an invaluable tool for getting your name out there.
Question: What are the challenges of creating a self-promotion strategy? Have you implemented a cocky-promotion strategy for yourself? Has information technology worked? If one is starting from scratch, how long does it take for a strategy to outset working in their favor?
Bob Flynn: To be honest, I tin can't say I've ever architected a real strategy. You're talking to a guy who's never even sent out a promo carte du jour. My approach has been to put myself out in that location and run across what happens. Sort of the similar old adage, "Just be yourself"—that's how you stand out from the rest of the pack. I try to update my blog at least in one case a week to keep people coming back. Keeping up with your website'south stats is a good fashion to run across what'due south sticking (i.e. where your traffic's coming from and what your most popular posts are).
Alex Dukal: Yes, of course, as a freelance artist, self-promotion is absolutely necessary. I remember the first claiming is having something to say, something to prove, a reliable portfolio to back up that promotion.
Personally, I placed my bet on a portfolio that shows my all-time piece of work, something that showcases the illustrations rather than the website interface and that makes it accesible and simple. And 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 large garden; 1 must water and take care of it every day.
I recollect a strategy of this kind should be thought of in different phases. And you can't expect a miracle earlier six months (though miracles do happen).
Jayme McGowan: My self-promotion strategy is adequately 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 do something like. I was fortunate enough to generate involvement in my work early on but by posting photos on Flickr and becoming an active member of the Etsy customs. Many people who commission work from me say they constitute me on one of those ii websites.
At present I employ Facebook and Twitter (and my blog, of course) to go on people posted on what I'm up to. Just to succeed in promoting yourself on whatsoever of these networks, you have to exist truly interested in making friends and business contacts. You tin't just scream, "Hey, expect at me!" all the time without giving anything back. I guess I have a subtler approach to self-promotion: let people know what you're up to from time to time, and trust that they'll follow you if they like what they run into.
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 Illustration Mundo a few years back, but I've never put my work in an online gallery (or paid for anything of the sort). I judge I view my blog as having that purpose. Flickr is a kind of gallery, though.
Alex Dukal: Non at all to both questions. Ten years ago, if someone invited you to show some of your work in an online gallery, it was cute, flattering. Today, I call back we have to be careful, because the selection criteria is often non that great, and ane must pay attention to those details as well. If yous display your work in the wrong identify, information technology could have a negative result. In principle, brownie should come from the work itself.
Jayme McGowan: I have a contour on Illustration Mundo, which is a slap-up website that functions mainly as a directory of illustrators, non a gallery per se. Honestly, I don't participate in any online galleries. I'1000 certain that'due south a great way to get feedback from your peers, but I don't know that information technology will give you added credibility as a professional. I tin maintain simply then many Web pages myself, then I endeavor to limit them to the ones I get the most benefit from, those where I believe fine art directors and buyers might find me.
Chris Piascik is a freelance designer and illustrator who is active in the design community. With half dozen years of professional experience at accolade-winning firms in New England, he has had piece of 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 work in book. Her work is used in books, magazines, advertisements and online marketing.
Question: Are you lot an active participant in every social customs you have joined? How much fourth dimension do you set bated to interact in social media? Do yous commit to posting new work and personal updates regularly?
Chris Piascik: I stay active in quite a few social communities. I admit that I have joined some that I couldn't keep up with though! I don't really schedule fourth dimension for social networking, although that's probably a good idea. Instead, I scatter information technology throughout the solar day, whether it's browsing Twitter on my iPhone while exporting a big file on my computer or procrastinating the start of a new project. Information technology'southward all nigh multi-tasking! I think the biggest thing that has helped me with social networking is my daily drawings. I post a new drawing Mon to Friday on Flickr, and from at that place I post it to my personal website, and those updates flow to my Twitter and Facebook accounts.
Irma Gruenholz: Yes, I accept a weblog, and I participate in some social communities, such as Flickr and Behance. Unfortunately, I don't take much time for a very active presence. I would like to devote more time because information technology is a good way to keep upwards with and see the work of other artists.
Question: At the moment, which customs is the nearly valuable for finding job opportunities?
Chris Piascik: I think about of the networks out at that place take value. I practice retrieve Flickr works really well, though. My Flickr page seems to go the virtually traffic out of all my websites. Flickr is so vast that a lot of people use it for epitome research. I think my daily updates aid my work non go lost.
Irma Gruenholz: Based on personal experience, Behance is a skillful platform for showing your piece of work to art directors and art buyers. I've gotten some work through information technology.
Question: How important is crafting the messages you send out and keeping your website looking professional person?
Chris Piascik: I don't censor myself that often. I remember keeping things honest is a good thing. My work has some personality; much of information technology has a loose quality—pairing that with a cold or professional Web presence would seem odd. Expanding your social networks requires yous to exist yourself… just as long equally "yourself" is interesting!
Irma Gruenholz: Internet presence is very important for the artist. It is the best way to exhibit your work to the rest of the globe. So, continue your website updated, and make it easy to communicate with people who want to follow your work.
Question: How do you brand time for social networks? Are you lot committed only to websites from which you tin can get some professional person benefit?
Chris Piascik: I have completely given up sleep. I really just sprinkle it throughout my mean solar day. It'south a nice style to start my day while drinking my java or eating some dejeuner. I wouldn't say that I limit myself just to websites that I benefit from, though my stance is that all networks assistance. Visibility is visibility. I apply social networking to stay in touch with friends as well, so it's not strictly business organisation for me.
Irma Gruenholz: I have little time to devote to social networks, then I adopt to focus on communities related to my profession.
Featured Artists
To grasp the meaning of fine art and how it has evolved over time, I interviewed Alexander Daniloff and Jonathan Brawl. To explore the aesthetics of digital fine art, I spoke with Jan Willem Wennekes, who touched on some important points related to the differences between digital artists and other artists and the nature of digital art itself.
I besides feature Nate Williams and Travis Lampe, in an endeavour to acquire more nigh their work and their relationship to technology, including digital art tools and social media, and to explore the way the Internet influences the development of art.
To meliorate sympathize the human relationship betwixt 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 feel with social media and online art communities.
Each of these artists has a detail style and is an active member of the creative customs. Every bit such, they could be a source of inspiration to many. I hope their insights are helpful.
What about yous? 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/
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