Is painting worth it?
polycounter lvl 13
I am pursuing a career as an environment artist, 14 weeks from now I graduate and enter the job search.
I'm taking a still life painting class where I work with oil paint, in my attempts to produce still life paintings. I took the class because I felt it might help me in some way with texture painting.
So, is it worth it as a digital artist to learn to paint, with paint?
Though, I got to admit, it's nice to have a break away from the computer screen, chair, keyboard, mouse, wacom, and desk... and just get my hands dirty doing some art.
I'm taking a still life painting class where I work with oil paint, in my attempts to produce still life paintings. I took the class because I felt it might help me in some way with texture painting.
So, is it worth it as a digital artist to learn to paint, with paint?
Though, I got to admit, it's nice to have a break away from the computer screen, chair, keyboard, mouse, wacom, and desk... and just get my hands dirty doing some art.
Replies
I think you answered your own question?
Also, maybe someday you can sell some canvas' and make some extra scratch.
I actually did this backwards... I learned to paint digital first, and now I'm trying to get into the traditional side of it. painting is so much fun though.
All that fun you're having, the skills and experience you're gathering isn't worth it at all. No employer will hire an "artist" who is artistic. ONLY focus on the technical side of things, don't worry about how stuff looks only that it is done to technical perfection.
You're getting dirty for no good reason, take a shower, surf the web for a few days and forget you ever thought about enriching your transitional skills, its a total waste of time. No real "artist" uses those skills...
WHAT!? It's what he wanted to hear...
As most have said, definitely worth it.
Really, I've found that working in various mediums tends to help me gather more observation skills and makes me better at all the other mediums even though I'm only working on one.
For instance, for 3 years I did nothing but create 3d meshes and textures, but when I went back to play with some pencils and paint recently I found I had gotten a lot better. Works the other way around too.
Not really...
different things work for different people. What works for one doesn't necessarily work for others, so it's all about what's best for you.
If you find you work digitally for a while and your work isn't as strong as you'd like it to be, then you may want to try real mediums and see if that helps your digital skills.
seaneg: painting traditionally and digitally are different mediums. I wouldn't say there's a downside to either, they're just different. I love my acrylics to death, but they work very differently from digital paint software and it's usually pretty clear to me which one I want to use when I feel like makin something.
Not only will you have an easier time transitioning to digital painting, but you will gain other benefits that will cross over into various facets of your day-to-day tasks. A solid grasp on composition, for instance. I also find that traditional painting has always allowed/forced me to take a step back and really think about my approach, on anything, not just texture painting. Whereas, digital painting is infinitely forgiving.
also...Gouache4LyfeSuckas!
I think you'll find that most digital artists (including myself) neglect traditional media and wish they had more time to do it.
So before you get sucked into the infinite loop of having to learn new software all the god damn time. Use brushes, pencils, crayons, finger painting, macaroni shapes, playdoh, etc as much as possible.
You might be tempted to just focus on your digital portfolio once school is done which is fairly natural, but I think continuing to develop traditional skills alongside the digital will help you in the long run.
Both mediums will help you improve with both mediums. A medium is just a tool you use to communicate an idea. Every aspect of painting, from lighting and composition, to expanding your style and workflow, can be experimented with and improved upon both in digital and traditional mediums. They are different mediums, and so you can obviously benefit from doing them both - but I wouldn't say the order you start in or the ratio of which you use more than the other is particularly important in the long run if you're smart about it. It's different for everyone. I'd say, if there is one, the only real danger of working digitally starting out is that people tend to get caught up in the tricks and shortcuts potentially available. But so long as you're aware of that, I don't see the big deal.
To simplify the overall scenario, just look at it this way - traditional painting is a different medium with different possibilities. It's certainly not going to make you worse, so why would you ignore another possible source of knowledge and experience? And the same could obviously be said in the vice versa.
Long answer: Hell yes.
Try out acrylics; they dry fast and they're fairly easy to work with. Once you find your feet, move to oil. Acrylics are more like drawing because of how quickly they set up. Oil takes a very long time to dry, but that also means it's very easy to rework something on the fly if it isn't going right.
I personally prefer oils. The consistency, how easy they are to mix (you don't have to worry about them drying on your palette knife), the different ways you can thin them and change their texture (oil, varnish, thinner, etc.) and just the general workflow all really appeal to me. Mixing paint and working your canvas also becomes kind of meditative once you really get into it, so it's good for relaxing, at least when using oils.
One thing to note though. Painting with real paints is quite costly. It is an expensive hobby. Nevertheless, start off with as few color tubes as possible.
a) you will be more efficient with your digital painting if you do it traditionally; you won't be guessing as much, and will less likely fall into over-rendering shit at 400 % zoomed in scale
you will also appreciate the value of your digital tools more (no freaking paint spills or weird consistency)
b) your understanding of colour and rendering of form with broad strokes will grow up exponentially, but make sure you spend a great deal of drawing to see values and how light works too; painting might be painful and disappointing if your basic value and form perception is not quite there yet
speaking of mediums, I absolutely loathe acrylics, and paint mostly in gouache+watercolour and oils.
gouache is quick drying and allows painting in layers, and you don't need solvents and shit for it;
acrylics tend to kill my brushes, and I hate its consistency, and overall feeling
hope that helps