Ways To Make Better Art With The Help Of Technology

Ever since cameras got the autofocus functionality decades ago, there have been naysayers who pretend that it isn’t a good photograph unless you manually nailed focus. This way of looking at the world is stifling your creativity and potential.

Whether you draw, take pictures, write, or make films, technology is simply a tool that allows you to create your vision more readily.

In fact, the best way to look at it is this: if technology makes some steps easier, you have more time and energy to pour into the idea and execution of the final piece.

Best Ways To Look Better Art with the Help of Technology

There are considerable benefits to utilizing technology in your art. This guide will explain why you need to switch away from a pure paint and paper format.

Choose the Right Tools

When you make a drawing, you will take the time to consider whether you need a ballpoint pen or a rather sharp pencil to realize your vision. In a painting, you would choose between oil, acrylic, and watercolors, between sable marten and squirrel fiber paintbrushes. These tools affect your creative process and define how you grow as an artist.

When you’re using technology to help you create, you will start with getting a graphic drawing tablet, but the big question is, which is the right one to buy? You can find a variety of high-end to mid-range products that boast unique features. Be sure to check online reviews and user ratings.

When buying a drawing tablet, you’re entering an ecosystem, so several factors are to consider. You need to know the type of pens compatible with the tablet, the levels of pressure sensitivity offered by the pens, the angles of use, the sizes available, and if any quick keys can speed up your workflow.

Consider Available Drawing Apps

When choosing between tablets, you aren’t just looking at the features they offer, but the apps you can use on them. For example, the iPad offers the largest app market of any operating system, which would allow you to experiment with several drawing and animation options to find one that best suits you.

With that being said, the tried and tested apps like Adobe Suite, ProCreate, and PicsArt will be available on most platforms, whether you choose iPadOS, Wacom, or Windows.

Since each app will have a different layout of settings, a unique feature set, and different optimization, you would ideally want to choose one and stick to it. After all, it will take some time to learn about the various settings you can tweak and how far you can push the software.

Therein, you’d want to consider the cost of the app as well. Most professional, fully-featured digital art apps are paid, but you would get to choose whether you’d prefer a one-time or subscription model.

Abode is a monthly payment, but that usually includes access to their desktop apps and cloud storage as well, allowing you to work on multiple devices. Meanwhile, ProCreate is limited to the device you buy it on, but it is only a one-time payment.

As a bonus tip, there are subreddits like r/AppHookUp, which feature deals and sales on various apps, including options like PicsArt and Affinity Studio. It might be useful to keep an eye on them.

Enhance Your Workflow

Once you’ve settled on a drawing tablet, you’ll be able to use the technology to cater to your creative process. For example, let’s say you’re working on a webcomic, and it often features repeating backgrounds, like the main character’s house.

Instead of needing to draw it anew every time, you’d be able to save the first drawing as a template and add it to the layers of your comic wherever need be. Moreover, you won’t have to worry about color, as you can access every color in existence through these apps.

If you need to create a symmetrical face, draw one half and flip it. Digital art can allow you to create hues, textures, and detail on a level that was almost unattainable or economically impractical for most artists just a decade ago.

If you need to add Easter eggs in the background or minute details, you can simply zoom into that part of the project and have it fill up the screen, allowing you to add the details without straining your eyes.

Easier to Share Online

In this day and age, most aspiring creators will agree that there is no better way to get yourself out there than by sharing your work online. After all, you don’t have to worry about taking a good picture of your painting, hoping that the image is color accurate, and then uploading it. You’d be able to create a digital artwork that will look the same on nearly every screen it is shared on.

Social media like Instagram and Pinterest can allow you to engage with large audiences and build your following. This can aid you in making money off your artwork by selling commissions or becoming popular enough to catch the eye of major brands and studios.

However, you must have a strategy for sharing online. For example, Instagram has recently started to focus more on immersive video content, such as its reels.

Once again, this is where digital art has a leg up on the traditional competition. You can easily add small animations and movements to your drawings and paintings in most apps, which will significantly improve your reach. If you don’t feel like putting in the effort of creating an animation, you can simply record your screen as you create and make that into a time-lapse.

Conclusion

The world of art is about your vision, not which tools you use to get the job done. Technology is only as useful as you make it out to be. After all, no paintbrush will let your paint like da Vinci, nor is there a chisel that will automatically teach you how to make sculptures.

You are putting in the time and effort to learn how to best use these tools. Yes, it can make some parts of the process easier once you have a handle on them, but that is meant to be used to your benefit. If you have more time to create, that is more time to perfect your craft and more time to innovate and experiment.