Digital art between computer graphics and painting

The main purpose of this section of the site devoted to digital graphics is to illustrate the methods and possibilities offered by the latest software of graphics but especially of 'digital painting' . While traditional graphics software such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw make possible both the manipulation of images and their creation and interpolation according to a technique defined as 'raster graphics' i.e. operating on two dimensions ; other more sophisticated software such as for example Krita, Clip Studio Paint or Autodesk Sketchbook allow instead to emulate the traditional processes of the painting technique, i.e. the overlapping and mixing of different layers (layers) of paint (called here 'digital paint'). With them, it is then possible to operate according to the classical mechanisms and stylistic features of oil and acrylic painting, thus also making it possible in a second stage to reproduce them on physical media through on-demand printing of framed canvases and posters. The purpose of digital art implemented through such software can thus be purely artistic, such as the creation of true pictorial works ; either their use for commercial and craft purposes, with the creation of custom graphics for books for example, or for printing flyers, logos, trademarks, and so on. Digital painting undoubtedly, thanks in part to lower costs also fulfils a social role, namely to democratise art and digital painting, putting its prerequisites within the reach of those who have neither the time nor the financial resources to procure canvases, paints and brushes. Which - said here incidentally - will never be completely replaceable by digital media, as the physical transposition of digital art onto material media is only in its initial stages, is very expensive and has not yet reached the complete emulation of the original oil on canvas. However, this will perhaps be possible in the future, while in the meantime, the practice of painting on screen and the creation of even very beautiful works, which have so far remained limited to the video game, fantasy and comic book industries, is still possible.