judee3d
8th April 2006, 13:05
Hi all,
Members of IT, speak up!
Mods, if you read this, please keep your comments in the mod room and reserve the discussion for our members (Unless of course a question needs answering or you need to break up a fight!)
We here at Inner traveler are always trying to figure out the best way to please our members. However, we need your input! As you may have seen, there has been some discussion (and confusion) as to what is 2d art and in what ways is Mixed Media different from it. So our question is, do you, our members, have any confusion about this? When you go to place an image inthe galleries, do you have to ask yourself if it goes in 2d because you used a Paint Program to put it all together - or does it go in Mixed Media because you used some tubes that were made in Poser? Or do you have your own ideas of what is or is not Mixed Media?
If you will bear with me a moment, I will share some of my/our thoughts on this - but ultimately, what we need is your input. You are the ones who need to understand and feel comfortable.
Before the advent of computers, Mixed Media was considered to be any artwork that used several different Medias to make up a work of art - for example, combining collage with paint or acrylics. But in the computer world things are different. We have Paint programs that can not only combine many kinds of brushes and filters, but we can literally mix any kind of image into our scene - combine a Bryce background with a Fractal sky while adding plants made by tubes that were originally created from images made in Poser. Now that is what I would called really mixed! Heck lets go ahead and add a photo superimposed and made halfway transparent. Get the picture?
Wouldn't most of you consider that such an image is indeed "Mixed Media"? And yet, one could argue that it is 2d because after all, you downloaded that Bryce background as a 2d image, and the same for those Poser-made tubes, and the fractal, well it was made in Apophysis which for the moment is also 2d. And it was all put together in ONE program! A 2d paint program.
In the 3d section of forums, we have our sub-forums divided according to programs. Logical. And while yes, some people will import a Daz figure into Bryce, then render it all in Bryce, I think most agree this goes in bryce because that was the final place of rendering. Even then, of course, the image is usually re-saved in one of the 2-d programs as a .jpg, and sometimes a frame added, a signature. But we'va all pretty much assumed, and correctly, that the main rendering program is the Gallery of choice.
So why do some members seem confused about the forums and galleries when it comes to 2d? I know that part of the problem has been recent name changes, and a bit of mixup on the gallery names. So let's look at it - what do we have in 2-d right now?
We have Fractals, which incorporates all fractal programs.
We have Traditional and Fine-Art, which is for your paintings and drawings, and sculptures - anything made by hand in the traditional ways, with no computer input aside from scanning and uploading (and possibly addition of frame and signature as is done in the other galleries)
We have Paint Programs that incorporates the use of pen-tablets and mouse-drawn/painted images, multiple brushes available in the programs, filters, plugins, and yes, tubes and everything else available in those programs. (This section could easily have two sub-categories, one that is strictly for hand-art with mouse or pen, the other that is the whole shebang of filters, tubes, etc.)
And finally there is Mixed Media which is supposed to represent the use of two or more Programs, 3d and/or 2d, in making your image. As with the others, simply adding a frame and a sig in the 2d program is not actually considered as one of the Media being mixed in - it would require a Primary use of two or more programs.
So what happens with the example I gave above? John pulls out his Photoshop, grabs a .jpg he picked up in a background pak originally rendered in Vue and uses it as a background. He adds some fractal lightning, and uses some tubes he found online that were originally rendered in Poser and made into tubes. He didn't make them - they're just tubes. A little filter work here and there, maybe an old photo scanned and made semi transparent, all of this properly layered and filterized and whatever else. He is being creative, and original. He is creating a beautiful work of Art. And he is using one program to do it. Where does he post it? Digital Art? Paint Programs? Mixed Media?
Does it matter?
You know, now that I have written all this (thank you for your reading indulgence!!) I have come down to that last question. Does it matter? Maybe it does. maybe most of you really do need to have clear definitions of where you want to post your art, what gallery, what should be allowed in challenges, etc. But, regardless of where we put it, it is still Art, right?
How do you feel about it - you, our members, our reason for being here.
How do you see the roles of the different areas of 2-d and what is it about Mixed Media that makes it Mixed? What is important to you, and what doesn't matter? What areas do you find confusing and where might you need more clarity?
Your turn to express yourself now, IT Members, so please, speak up!
Members of IT, speak up!
Mods, if you read this, please keep your comments in the mod room and reserve the discussion for our members (Unless of course a question needs answering or you need to break up a fight!)
We here at Inner traveler are always trying to figure out the best way to please our members. However, we need your input! As you may have seen, there has been some discussion (and confusion) as to what is 2d art and in what ways is Mixed Media different from it. So our question is, do you, our members, have any confusion about this? When you go to place an image inthe galleries, do you have to ask yourself if it goes in 2d because you used a Paint Program to put it all together - or does it go in Mixed Media because you used some tubes that were made in Poser? Or do you have your own ideas of what is or is not Mixed Media?
If you will bear with me a moment, I will share some of my/our thoughts on this - but ultimately, what we need is your input. You are the ones who need to understand and feel comfortable.
Before the advent of computers, Mixed Media was considered to be any artwork that used several different Medias to make up a work of art - for example, combining collage with paint or acrylics. But in the computer world things are different. We have Paint programs that can not only combine many kinds of brushes and filters, but we can literally mix any kind of image into our scene - combine a Bryce background with a Fractal sky while adding plants made by tubes that were originally created from images made in Poser. Now that is what I would called really mixed! Heck lets go ahead and add a photo superimposed and made halfway transparent. Get the picture?
Wouldn't most of you consider that such an image is indeed "Mixed Media"? And yet, one could argue that it is 2d because after all, you downloaded that Bryce background as a 2d image, and the same for those Poser-made tubes, and the fractal, well it was made in Apophysis which for the moment is also 2d. And it was all put together in ONE program! A 2d paint program.
In the 3d section of forums, we have our sub-forums divided according to programs. Logical. And while yes, some people will import a Daz figure into Bryce, then render it all in Bryce, I think most agree this goes in bryce because that was the final place of rendering. Even then, of course, the image is usually re-saved in one of the 2-d programs as a .jpg, and sometimes a frame added, a signature. But we'va all pretty much assumed, and correctly, that the main rendering program is the Gallery of choice.
So why do some members seem confused about the forums and galleries when it comes to 2d? I know that part of the problem has been recent name changes, and a bit of mixup on the gallery names. So let's look at it - what do we have in 2-d right now?
We have Fractals, which incorporates all fractal programs.
We have Traditional and Fine-Art, which is for your paintings and drawings, and sculptures - anything made by hand in the traditional ways, with no computer input aside from scanning and uploading (and possibly addition of frame and signature as is done in the other galleries)
We have Paint Programs that incorporates the use of pen-tablets and mouse-drawn/painted images, multiple brushes available in the programs, filters, plugins, and yes, tubes and everything else available in those programs. (This section could easily have two sub-categories, one that is strictly for hand-art with mouse or pen, the other that is the whole shebang of filters, tubes, etc.)
And finally there is Mixed Media which is supposed to represent the use of two or more Programs, 3d and/or 2d, in making your image. As with the others, simply adding a frame and a sig in the 2d program is not actually considered as one of the Media being mixed in - it would require a Primary use of two or more programs.
So what happens with the example I gave above? John pulls out his Photoshop, grabs a .jpg he picked up in a background pak originally rendered in Vue and uses it as a background. He adds some fractal lightning, and uses some tubes he found online that were originally rendered in Poser and made into tubes. He didn't make them - they're just tubes. A little filter work here and there, maybe an old photo scanned and made semi transparent, all of this properly layered and filterized and whatever else. He is being creative, and original. He is creating a beautiful work of Art. And he is using one program to do it. Where does he post it? Digital Art? Paint Programs? Mixed Media?
Does it matter?
You know, now that I have written all this (thank you for your reading indulgence!!) I have come down to that last question. Does it matter? Maybe it does. maybe most of you really do need to have clear definitions of where you want to post your art, what gallery, what should be allowed in challenges, etc. But, regardless of where we put it, it is still Art, right?
How do you feel about it - you, our members, our reason for being here.
How do you see the roles of the different areas of 2-d and what is it about Mixed Media that makes it Mixed? What is important to you, and what doesn't matter? What areas do you find confusing and where might you need more clarity?
Your turn to express yourself now, IT Members, so please, speak up!