How Being Cheap and Lazy Made Me "Realistic"

In the post “Digital Traditional Painting” I took a stab a defining the style of digital painting that I enjoy and want to promote in this blog. Why am I so interested in it? It comes from a character flaw, or two.

The rush to “realistic” digital painting

In his video “How to Make Digital Paintings Look Traditional” the award-winning caricature artist and illustrator Court Jones says he only uses digital brushes that make marks with “realistic” texture. It seems the software companies aim to please. Escape Motions, the creator of Rebelle, the software I use mostly, promises users can create “realistic” art; Corel promotes “Real Watercolor” brushes in its Painter software; Ambient Designs wants Artrage to be “as realistic as possible”; and so on.

Let’s be clear. When software companies claim their digital painting tools, processes, or products are “realistic,” it means they are (sufficiently) like the tools, processes, or products found in traditional painting with material media. For example, the digital brush behaves like a “real” watercolor brush, or colors move around and blend on the screen like “real” watercolors do on paper, and so on.

The main point is your final painting can have a traditional style; it can look (sufficiently) like artwork made with traditional material media, if that’s what you want.

None of this implies your final painting will look like the objects, people, buildings, landscapes, and so on referenced in it; that is, it need not be in a realist style. It might be impressionist, cubist, minimalist, or any other “-ist.” In other words, your artwork may be as abstract as you like, but it’ll be “realistic” in the sense of looking (sufficiently) like the abstract paintings made with traditional material media.

I applaud this attempt to provide “realistic” digital painting tools. In my experience, Rebelle offers the most realistic watercolor and acrylic tools, and Artrage has very realistic oil brushes and knives.

Why I became “realistic” (in my digital art)

I really enjoy watercolor painting, But, I’m lazy. (OK, that's the first character flaw, if you’re counting.) I’d rather not take a lot of time to set up my easel and arrange my workspace but would rather start painting immediately. Digital painting allows me to do that. I just turn on the laptop and paint. This gives me freedom to make a little progress on a project when I have just a few minutes to spare, or when I have a sudden inspiration to solve a painting problem. With “realistic” digital watercolor tools, I can enjoy (something like) the traditional process of watercolor painting, but without the fuss of setting up a workspace and cleaning up afterwards.

Furthermore, I want to learn traditional painting techniques with other media—oils, acrylics, and pen and wash—and incorporate them into my watercolor projects. But, I’m cheap. (Perhaps you think that’s a second character flaw.) Not only do I not want to buy a lot of new gear, I don’t want to take the time to set it up (see the first flaw above!). So, once again, reasonably priced digital software with a variety of “realistic” tools comes to the rescue.

Of course, digital painting can never be totally “realistic”; it can’t fully mimic traditional painting with material media. So, if realism (in this sense) is an unreachable ideal, why pursue it? I think it’s fun to reach for it, and when I do, I learn more and more about the potential of my digital tools as well as their limits.

One of my goals in this blog is to craft, explore, and share with you increasingly “realistic” digital painting processes and tools—brushes, papers, textures, erasers, palettes, and so on. Even if you’re not cheap and lazy, please join me.

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Thanks for reading!

I hope that you enjoyed this post and that it inspires you to enjoy digital painting. If you find this post helpful, please share it with your friends. And please send me your insights on digital painting and suggestions for Digital Paint Spot.

Bob Kruschwitz