I truly believe that the best artists are those who can envision what they want to create. Paint and brush is not for the average person who lacks the talent to create something that draws the attention in such a way that it captivates the imagination.
I was blessed with several talents that I never had to work at, and when I realized how much work others put into a beautiful piece, I then realized that I was truly lucky to have been blessed with a natural ability to visualize exactly what it was I wanted to see on canvas.
No, I'm not the famous Richard Serra the artist, but rather a person who shares the name of that artist, and I would never claim to have his talent for the type of art he does. You won't find any of my work in a gallery, nor in a department store. Paint and brush is not the type of art I'm going to write about here, but rather how computer art can give almost anyone with a little patience and practice, art that when viewed. takes the viewer on a journey of sorts.
The computer can generate worlds that are so far removed from reality, so much that it simply captivates ones imagination when viewing them. I realize that a computer doesn't create these works of art all by themselves, so it is important that the artist has a sense of what he or she is trying to create.
Since computer art is so far removed from what a typical paint artist does to create works of art, it is essential that they become familiar with any of the programs that would allow them to bring out the creative artist in them so as to get the most out of what they try to do.
Even a free program can be used to create some dazzling artwork if you know how to push the envelope beyond what the program was originally intended. I have always maintained that it's not the equipment you use, but rather the talent you have to use the equipment, and if you have an artistic eye, it can be applied to almost anything from designing a house, a car, or anything else that would catch others attention.
I've see photographers with cameras that cost thousands produce work that is mediocre, whereas some with the least expensive equipment used by a photographer with an eye, produce some of the finest photographs imaginable. Sure, the better the equipment, the better the results if it is used by the right person. But in the hands of someone without that artistic eye, they may as well have saved themselves the money and buy something more affordable, because if they expect to get paid for their work, it would take an awful long time before they make buying the all bells and whistles cameras worth their while.
So if your one of those who have a special talent for art, then prepare yourself for a who new world of self entertainment as well as a following of those who appreciate spectacular images. A computer can in minutes do something that would take an artist with a brush hundreds of hours to produce, and there would be no comparison as far as the effect it has on those who view the work.
I started with a simple free program that had a major flaw in their early versions, and of course they corrected the flaw with later releases, but they had no idea of how great of an effect that flawed program would produce if you knew what to do to get the results.
I even sent some of my work to the creator of the program, and their response was that it wasn't done with their program, and that it would be impossible to do so, and they asked why I would even bother to convince them that it was.
Oh well, so much for the experts I thought. So what if they don't believe what I told them, I have the proof, and I know I did it with their program. I did download their most recent replacements, but always kept the original flawed version where I can always load it into any PC I may want to use.
Over the course of a couple of years, I have produced thousands of unbelievable works of art using the free program as a start, and then finishing up with a more elaborate program that provides a wide variety of effects and features. These computer art works I've produced have given me a new found respect for the power of a computer and what it can do to expand ones ability to create works of art that are simply out of this world. Almost any computer savvy person can do the same with some trial and error, and the beauty of a computer is that errors are corrected simply by using the "undo" button. Once a person begins to see that there is no limit to being creative, it then becomes an addiction to find how much can be done before even coming close to reaching that limit.
Sometimes it is almost like feeling as though we become God like in creativity, because when finished, it looks like God did indeed have a hand your creation. Little steps at a time allow you to do work that does not make you lose patience. The more complex the program, the more you can do, but only if you take the time to understand how each feature works to get the effects you want.
So often many of us try to use a complicated program only to find that it takes too much effort to get the best results, and we then give up, and the program just sits on the hard drive doing nothing. It just may be too complicated to comprehend for the average user, even though the user does have a lot of artistic talent.
That is why I opted to try the most simple of programs first so as to gradually progress to the more sophisticated. But once you have, and once you unlock the potential of your artistic ability on the computer, you will never look back, because there is virtually no limit, and that is what drives us in our lives. We always want to know what is beyond what we already know, and when it comes to computer art, we may as well just hang up the notion that we will see it all.
No such thing I'm afraid. The unlimited artwork that can be produced will never get to a point whereas the artist will claim "is that all there is?"