After reading other people’s posts I noticed that like a lot of people in the class, the collage workshop was much more enjoyable for me than the digital illustration. I am not a really good artist and I doubt anything will change that, but collaging actually allows me to create some type of art by just being creative and combining small parts from different sources. There are really no limits to what you can create with a collage and I will definitely by using this method for my final illustration.
However, I found the digital workshop challenging, in part because there were a lot of glitches and because unlike manual art making, if you’re not very technologically apt like me, it was quite frustrating not being able to create what I was picturing in my head and would have been able to produce on paper. I think another reason the process was difficult was that we got a short tutorial and that one class period is obviously not enough to master the whole program. I had never done anything like it before so I felt I faced a lot of limitations in what I was trying to create. Overall though, digital illustrations are perhaps the most modern way of making art and I really enjoyed the experience and getting to try it.
Hi Julia,
I totally agree. I am always very impressed by people’s skills on electronic editing applications since I am very unfamiliar with these mediums myself. This is especially true with people who do professional art through these means — I think they may even argue that there’s fewer limits and more you can do with computer renderings. But I would, with my limited skills in that department, have to agree with you.
The tangibility of the collaging process makes the artist feel as if they own and control their decisions. Messing something up with your hands doesn’t have the same feeling of doom as an accidental delete or unintended line through your work — of course, ironically, these are the mistakes that you can reverse with a simple click, while with smudged glue or a shaky scissor cut, you cannot.
I also struggled to create exactly what it was I was imaging in my head during the digital illustration workshop. I was limited as I was often unable to find the right shapes or tools that I needed. While I believe the medium is an interesting way to create art, I found it was not the best for me. I think I will also be using collage for my final illustration, as it is the medium I feel the most comfortable using.