Cross-Cultural Blog

Liza: Computer Graphics

To create an impressive drawing a person should have years of experience and should not only be talented but also have a number of skills.
Fortunately, the use of computer software like Adobe Photoshop or some other program does not demand many skills to produce a picture, it is not even necessary to be good at drawing to make an impression on your friends with the use of digital art.
When I want to paint a picture, I think over the idea, to start with. I am inspired by non-typical or even shocking creators. Artist’s intention reflects his or her emotional experience. In most cases, people understand authors’ ideas in their own way. This effect is achieved mostly by technique. However, a person can master the technique of the computer processing perfectly, but it is not enough to be a real artist.
In our city, it is difficult for an artist to find a job without knowing computer graphics. I am a third-year student of the Department of Fine Art and Graphic design. We are taught painting, drawing and computer graphics. We also study such programs as Photoshop, Corel Draw, 3ds MAX. In school and sometimes even since elementary school, we begin mastering some computer programs. Children can create posters, cards, titles etc.
More and more people become interested in computer design and graphics, but less and less people keep painting in oil or watercolours or drawing. I think it is not very good, because people lose their ability to make something with their hands. I’m afraid computer graphics and design are taking too much place and time in our life and in our society

Tanya: The Internet for the artists

I am not a professional artist, but art has always been my hobby. That is why this topic is so interesting to me.
Internet provides artists and people, interested in art, with huge number of various resources and services. Network gives us two opportunities: to get and to present information. There are special searching systems and portals, specialized in art. Internet helps people to keep track of art events in a particular city, region, and country and in the entire world. You can be aware of exhibitions in museums and galleries all over the world, and to get information about festivals, contests and grants. When in network, it is possible to find colleagues, like-minded people and business contacts. Most galleries and museums of modern art have their own sites. In addition, there are large virtual national and international collections of modern art in Internet.
However, how can artists present their works in Internet? The basic way for most artists is joining at least one art community or gallery, which supports art in one of the networks. With the help of such databases, artists can sell their works, as well as be invited to exhibitions and thus to become famous.

Dmitry: Problems of Computer Technologies in Art

I think modern technologies bring some problems into the art, and these problems need to be solved.
One of the most important, as I think, is the copyright problem. With Internet, it is very easy to steal artworks, and to use them without author’s permission. If you upload the artwork to Internet, you cannot provide its 100% safety.
It is a complicated task for an artist to keep his/her intellectual property safe (he/she can present his/her works in a low resolution, as well as add text or digital signatures and forbid the right-mouse-button click on a web page, but still that is not enough). When artists find solutions to that existing problem, the new ways of stealing appear.
Another problem with the digital art implication, I think, is that too many people think they are true artists, even if they only can click buttons on their mouse and use the keyboard. We can see many works of digital art in Internet, but some of them are really of a bad quality. Computer graphics programs give their users wrong understanding of what their abilities really are, because they provide too simple ways to do some complicated things. Some people mistake technical skills of using the computer software with the artistic abilities to express feelings. I think that if one wants to be a digital artist, he should start learning traditional art firstly.
One more problem I want to mention is about losing the traditional art. Since more people choose computers as their tools to create pieces of art, less people preserve traditional ways of artwork, history and traditions of traditional art. People change values and tastes. It is hard to make new generations of people love old works of art. Changes are not bad, but humankind may just forget the art of the past

Questions

Do you think that computer graphics is an independent art or it is a supplementary one?

Are you interested in computer graphics? (If so, can you share some of your works with us?)

What advantages or disadvantages in globalization of computer graphics do you see?

Do you think computer graphics will supersede other kinds of art? If yes, in what way?

Do you think new 3D cartoons are better than old-style hand-drawn ones (like classical Disney cartoons or new looking-like-hand-drawn cartoons of DreamWorks)?

One of globalization effects is comic books becoming a part of culture for the whole world. We didn’t have many comics in Russia for a long time to compare with the US, but now we can see more and more Marvel, DC and other comics here as well. Many people in Russia do not like this new culture, they say that comics bring violence into kids’ culture and contribute to the decrease of moral values. What is the attitude to comics in the US?