Digital art is created using digital technologies. The technique has had many names, such as computer art and multimedia art, and faced prejudice at first but slowly taken its place as one of the cornerstones of art.
The term digital artist is used to describe a person who uses digital technologies to create art. Digital artists can be either 2D or 3D artists or both and are often employed by the entertainment industry like game development companies. Some artists work as freelancers and are employed by several companies for projects, or as entrepreneurs and sell products like art prints and other merchandise.
For years Adobe's Photoshop has been the industry-standard tool for digital art. However, Photoshop requires a license that costs. If working for a company, the company provides the licenses, but for people who can't get the license, open-source software is an option.
Software like Krita and GIMP are free digital art software and easy to learn. The demonstration videos of this course are mainly done with Krita, but you can use any software of your liking. Photopea, for example, is Photoshop-lookalike and browser-based.
Getting the hang of digital drawing takes a little time, but don't worry. Even the professional artists are learning something new every day, so the learning doesn't ever stop.
The course teaches you some tips and tricks on Krita. Here is a list of tools and methods with which you should familiarize yourself before starting the next lesson.
So, get to know your digital art tool, but don't stress it as most of the learning happens during the upcoming practices. You should also watch tutorial videos on YouTube and study other artists' work.
If you are new to digital drawing and are curious about it, Krita is a great software to start with. It's completely free and has multiple tools that compete strongly with apps like Photoshop.
One essential hardware that digital artists must have is a digital drawing tool. Beginner artists often start with a simple drawing tablet. The tablet's surface registers the stylus’ movements and works as a mouse. The surface recognizes pen pressure and the drawing software's brush size will change depending on the brush's features.
Check out what the stores have to offer and experiment with different hardware to find the one that works for you. Remember that most of the work is done by you. Certainly, tools matter, but how you use them matters more.
Everything starts with art fundamentals, such as shapes and forms, on which we’ll focus next.