What is CG or digital painting basics

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The human need for art is one of the essential factors of human nature. At different times, there were different ways and approaches to create new masterpieces, which subsequently influenced the development of this industry. The digital age offers new ways to express human creativity. Let's look at one of these using digital art as an example.

CG - what is it?

Digital painting or CG painting (CG - computer graphics) is a modern art form that is characterized by the fact that traditional painting methods are applied in a digitized form. The progress of technologies for creating animation, as well as graphic works, directly influenced the rapid development of this branch of fine art. Nowadays, it is very popular due to its wide range of features and accessibility.

What is CG drawing

The artist creates a painting directly on the computer. All programs designed for this activity includenecessary arsenal of tools. CG artist brushes are a traditional style of painting in oils, watercolors, ink, pencil, as well as airbrushing. There are also certain effects that are characteristic of various means and styles of drawing in the traditional sense. In most programs of this type, artists can find or recreate the style of drawing they want through combinations of shapes, textures, colors, tints, effects, and so on. This largely blurs the line between traditional and graphic arts.

How to become a CG artist

So, let's define where we can start our journey as a digital artist. Like any creator, a CG artist needs basic skills that include knowledge of academic drawing and classical painting. Fine lines, a firm confident hand, a sense of color reproduction and composition are the main companions of the artist. So, here we delve even more into the question of what CG is. To start your journey in this area, get the necessary tools for creating work. You will need a digital drawing tablet, a stylus (digital pencil) and a computer.

Your machine needs to be powerful enough to handle a digital studio, so consider adding some RAM if needed. Next, install the program to work. Good options are Adobe Photoshop or Coral Painter. looka few video tutorials on the internet so you can understand how to work with studios. Perseverance, patience and practice are the key to creating your masterpieces.

Comparison of digital and traditional painting

The main difference between digital and traditional painting is the non-linear workflow. The artist has the ability to edit all layers of his drawing, regardless of each other. In addition, the ability to undo and repeat strokes also frees the creator from the linearity of creating a composition. This is the defining factor of what CG is. But the disadvantage of digital painting is the lack of actual interaction of paint with a physical surface, which limits the degree of experimental approach to using paint to create a composition. In turn, the digital artist has at his disposal several tools that are inaccessible to the traditional one. Some of these include a virtual palette of millions of colors, a choice of virtually any canvas or media size, and the ability to correct errors. The graphics tablet allows the artist to work with precise hand movements, simulating a real pen and drawing surface. Drawing tablets can have various sensitivity features, up to the point that the device responds to the slightest touch. In general, both ways of creating paintings have their positive and negative sides, the point is only in what the artist feels and how he wants to convey it.

History of CG-devices

The very first digital drawing device was the Sketchpad, created in 1963 by Ivan Sutherland. Over time, Sketchpad led to the creation of the Rand Tablet to work on the GRAIL project in 1968, which ended up being the very first digital tablet. This device has set the course for the development of digital fine arts, as well as the modern understanding of what CG is.

All early tablets or digitizers such as the ID (Intelligent Digitizer) were commercially successful and used in CAD (Computer Aided Design) programs. Modern tablets come in a variety of shapes, structures, and functions to suit any type of artist. WACOM is the industry leader in tablets that range in size from 4"x6" to 12"x19" and are less than an inch thick. Other brands of pen tablets include Aiptek, Monoprice, Hanvon, Genius, Adesso, Trust, Manhattan, Vistablet, DigiPro, and more. All these pen tablets also have basic mouse functionality and are compatible with almost all Windows and Macintosh software.