Is digital art worth learning?-The Most Important Pros and Cons of Digital art

I’ve been doing traditional art since I was a kid, and I feel pretty comfortable with it, therefore, my question is, is it worth it to learn digital art?

What are the pros and cons? Is digital art gonna take over traditional art? Is some of the Questions I had in my mind before ( almost 10 Years back )I started learning Digital art.

In this article, I will tell you all about the pros and cons of Digital art.

Let’s discuss The pros and cons of digital art

Pros of digital art

Digital art is largely more convenient than traditional but it’s an almost entirely different skill set that both informs and is informed by a traditional skill set.

I think it ultimately boils down to the type of work you do. I’d wholly recommend digital art but if you’re a traditional artist I wouldn’t say give up on that either. Spending time on both will lead to a lot of growth.

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Even though both Digital art and traditional art need you to know about the basics of art, the strokes, and the Colouring  –Digital Art can be much more relaxed mainly because if you make any mistakes you can always correct them.

This helps you to create almost perfect Art without wasting much time( In Traditional art, you may want to start from the beginning if you make any major mistakes or mess).

As many people are using the internet digital art is the primary way to reach out to more people.

It’s easy to replicate Digital work and easy to sell prints. It’s also a little easier to reuse.

Like if you paint or illustrate a tree, you can put that tree on greeting cards, a tee-shirt, on a book cover, etc.

  1. It’s more cost effective than traditional painting. 
  2. It’s so easy to share your work on social media and other digital mediums and get discovered on the web.
  3. It’s more portable and less messy than traditional mediums. 
  4. You can take part in a growing digital creative community.
  5. It’s a fun, productive, and relaxing hobby that you can enjoy in the evenings and weekends
  6. It doesn’t take a huge time commitment to get into.

You can in theory do all this with traditional work, but you have to go through more steps and have a scanner.

Cons of digital art

Digital art is all over the place nowadays- in book covers, comic books, editorials, t-shirts, posters, album covers, stickers, and postcards you name it.

However,  You will need at least to learn Photoshop and maybe InDesign and Illustrator to get thorough as a digital art specialist.

I do think people monetarily value traditional work more than digital art at the moment.

It’s really hard for the general public to grasp how much time goes into digital work; or that any time at all goes into it.

Is digital art going to take over Traditional art?

Traditional art will not be replaced by digital art, particularly in the fine art world.

While digital art has begun to be used in many creative professions, there will always be a market for original, one-of-a-kind artworks created by artists.

Now, I totally get that digital art is making some big headway in the art world (and we’ll discuss this below).

But just like acrylic paint didn’t completely replace oil paint, similarly, digital art will never completely replace traditional media.

Traditional art is too important in history to be replaced.
Traditional artworks have been celebrated for centuries and have been displayed in museums for hundreds of years. People do not visit Ikea to gaze at their best-selling paintings.

People visit art museums and galleries.

Traditional Art Will Never Lose Popularity in the Art Collectors’ Market

Let me be the first to admit that the prices of some artworks have gotten a little out of hand. In 2017, one of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s paintings, “Untitled,” sold for $110.5 million (Basquiat didn’t even title it, lol). What a legend).

How much money can be made with digital art

The price of one oil painting versus another can differ greatly, and the same is true for digital art.

The amount of money you can make with digital art is determined by a variety of factors, including:

What exactly you’re selling – are you selling commissions, t-shirts, prints, tutorials, or all of the above? All of these earn very different amounts of money.

How popular your work is. The greater the demand for your work, the higher the price you can charge.

The industry in which you work, as well as the intended use of the art. Novel covers frequently sell for tens of thousands of dollars, whereas pet portraits rarely sell for more than a few hundred dollars.

What are the rights to the work being transferred from you, the artist, to the purchaser?

Just because someone purchased your art does not give them the right to start printing it on t-shirts and mugs. If they want that right, it usually comes at a cost.

How quickly you can create art – obviously, the more art you create, the more customers you can have!

How much time do you have to devote to your art and business? Art and marketing both take time, so the more time you have for them, the more money you can make.

Some examples of various types of successful digital artists
Artists who work as freelancers in the entertainment industry can earn a good living.

How Has Digital made a Name for Itself?

While traditional art will always exist, many professions have shifted more toward the digital side of things:

Writing on Signs

Large-scale digital printing (and sometimes even digital displays) have become far more popular in many countries than traditional paint-and-brush signage.

However, there has been a resurgence of traditional sign-writers for cafes, local businesses, and guerrilla marketing in recent years.

Nowadays, artists who create illustrations for advertising almost exclusively use digital art (think of food packaging mascots, billboards, and digital display adverts). Nonetheless, despite the fact that digital is widely used in advertising,

Graphic Design

Graphic design is one of those industries where digital is an absolute must.

You’re going to get in trouble if you submit logos drawn with crayons as a graphic designer.

Conceptual Art

Traditional artists such as Syd Mead, Frank Frazetta, and H.R Giger will always be idolized by concept artists. However, nowadays, concept art is almost always digital.

One reason for this is that digital art is simply faster to create (and deadlines are frequently tight!).

Professional concept artists, in my opinion, are the most skilled, talented, and versatile artists on the planet.

One reason for this is that they are trained to understand the fundamentals of art, which (you guessed it) requires a LOT of training in traditional art.

In other words, concept art must almost always begin with traditional art and end with digital art.

I hope my rock-solid facts have persuaded you. Despite the fact that digital art is fantastic, traditional art is not going away.

Graphic design, illustration, concept art, and sign writing are among the professions that have shifted a large portion of their work to digital.

Even so, the majority of artists must begin somewhere, and that somewhere is with a pencil, paper, and possibly some paint.

Traditional arts have a long and illustrious history. Paintings can be found in museums and galleries all over the world.

And people with far too much money continue to pay exorbitant prices for da Vincis and Basquiats.

Traditional art is a digital art gateway. And sometimes digital art is also a portal to traditional art. Let’s just enjoy both and be sure traditional and digital art will stay here.


About the Author:

Manny Acharya is the co-founder of Artmellows. Your go-to place for Design, Digital Art, Digital sculpting, Photography, Design Tools and gears Info, and Product Reviews. Manny is a Digital Artist, 3D Sculpt Designer, Ardent Photography, Drone flying Enthusiast, and tech Lover. He supercharges Digital Art and design by crafting memorable 3D sculptures & 2D Design and art. Learn more About Manny:

PS: Manny has created a Beginner Friedly ebook to Learn the Nomad 3D Sculpt App. Know More about the eBook. Know more about Manny

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