Yes

by Jay O'Toole

Created on: January 18, 2011

To argue intelligently any concept, the terms must be clearly defined.  

What is a computer box artist?  In many cases, such an artist is the digital darkroom editor.

What is a digital darkroom editor?  Whereas a darkroom-trained photo-processor/editor has a certain amount of leeway in how the negative is processed for accuracy or artistic effect, the "digital darkroom" (or software-experienced) photo-processor/editor has a great deal of liberty in the processing of a RAW file, a TIFF file, or a high-quality JPEG.  Using myriad top-quality software programs, like Photo Shop, Photo Shop Elements, iLife, Picasa, and even Picnik, the digital darkroom artist can truly shine in ways that include a great deal of WOW-factor.

(From personal experience, Picnik is an on-line photo-editor for the editing of web-sized photos, as a rule.  "Web-sized photos" means that the size is generally too small for printing and framing, but most excellent for usage on social-communities, like FaceBook and My Space.)

Digital darkroom editing has a wealth of opportunities, looks, and expressions for aspiring artists.  Some enjoy the ability to meld color and/or black & white at 100% opacity of many levels of opacity.  Others will enjoy the appearance of the complete transformation of a photo to watercolor aspect or that of an oil or acrylic painting, or the effect of the hand-painted/hand-tinted look as merely of a partially-opaque layer embossed over the photo or an opaque layer of the same, placed partially over the photo, as a cameo with opacity feathering between photo and effect.

Heretofore, digital darkroom editing as art has been just faintly scratched.

Traditionally, artists have been considered those who place oils, acrylics, watercolors, pastels, charcoal, or pencil media on treated or untreated canvas or paper of myriad types, weights, thicknesses, and base coloration.  At the outset, computer software artists can do none of these things.

Is the manipulation of bits, bytes, megabytes, pixels, and megapixels, without the introduction of traditional forms of artistic expression-media to traditional forms of receptive-media, the negation of artist expression?  Absolutely not!

Sculptors do not traditionally add any of these expression-media to any of these forms of receptive-media, but sculptors have been considered artists for centuries.  What is the method of expression for sculptors?  Digital manipulation.  ;)  Fingers are called digits, and sculptors use their fingers effusively in the manipulation of the clay or chipping-away at stone, like granite or slate.

To underscore the fact that granite sculptors do not add to, but take away from the medium of expression, let us consider the expression of one such sculptor from years ago.  When asked how he created his magnificent equestrian sculpture, he responded, "I just kept chipping away everything that didn't look like the horse."  (The quote is reconstructed from a sermon heard in churches more than once to illustrate the way that The LORD sculpts the lives of believers.  At present it must remain"author unknown," since origination-point could not be found.)

What is the truest definition of an artist?  An artist is an individual who uses some form of visual, tactile, auditory, or olfactory-lingual expression that draws out of one or more of the five senses some above-average response as to give pleasure or to give the feeling of aesthetic admiration/awe in the appreciation of the end-result of the artist's expression for the sake of the artist's expression, even though there is no other practical usage of the expression.  

In short, ART for the sake of ART is ART.  

To those, who believe The Bible, ART gives validity to the truth of The Bible, since the Creation is the fullest expression of the Greatest Artist's Skill.  Since HE declares that HIS Highest Creation is Man, made in HIS Image, every time a human creates anything for any reason, that human is demonstrating his likeness to The Creator.

Visual artists include Rembrandt, Monet, Renoir, Thomas Kincaid, Mary Englebreit, as well as myriad others.

Auditory artists include Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Itzac Perlman, Midori, and Michael Jackson, as well as myriad others.

Tactile artists include Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Picasso, Rodin, Leonardo da Vinci, as well as myriad others.

Olfactory/Lingual artists include Emeril Lagasse, Julia Child, Antoine Careme, George Auguste Escoffier,  Martha Stewart, Beringer, Baldacci, Ballentine,  as well as centuries of precedence to credit entire countries for the artistic skills of both chefs and vintners, like France, Italy, and Germany.   http://www.articleswave.com/articles/famous-chefs.html  http://napavintners.com/home/index.asp

Digital Darkroom artist must begin with Scott Kelby of Adobe Photo Shop fame.

Yours Truly aspires to greatness in Photo Shop as well as writing.  

Hmmm, writing as ART?  May, I suggest a website, such as Helium.com, to begin one's search for such artists?  :)

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