Art Evolution is a new look at digital art. It attempts to answer some age-old questions about the relationship between art and technology. In many ways it is a continuation of discussions that have been ongoing for several years about the role of art and technology in society. One theme that has been discussed is whether or not technology has replaced art.
In general, art evolution is most noticeable in evolving artistic character designs, however, even more subtle things can evolve as well, such as more detailed backgrounds and better shading. Each long standing series featuring art usually tends to reflect the change over time in the artist’s work. This is most apparent in artists who have created recognizable faces such as Mickey Mouse or Iron Man. These iconic figures have always had a distinct look that hasn’t changed over time, yet they still look powerful and charismatic.
However, when discussing art evolution we must also discuss what is often called “the signature style”. The signature style is a signature color or pattern on an artwork. This can happen to any piece of art, whether it is a portrait drawing, or sculpture. This signature style can be used to mark a beginning or end point in an artwork, to mark a transitional area, or to simply mark a specific style that an artist uses on all of their work.
An example of art evolution is the use of shadow as a prominent feature in character designs. A common example would be water colors mixed with reflections to give an impression of flowing water. In almost every famous work of art you will see this technique applied, from Sand painting to impressionism. This technique can be applied to almost every subject and it has become almost necessary for nearly every artist to use it. Another thing to notice about modern art is that nearly every piece of artwork features harsh contrasting color schemes. From black and white drawings to bright colors such as red, yellow and blue almost every artwork you will see is marked by the artist’s use of contrasting colors.
This brings us to another important part of art evolution, the marked decrease in shading and blur. Shader means to create a more realistic or exact rendering of a scene or object. The more realistic a scene is the more convincing an artist will be to draw that scene as realistically as possible. As years have gone by so have the artists drawing their subject and as soon as the “shader” phase is past, artists tend to draw as much as they can with straight edges and minimize the lines. The result is that by the time a piece of art is drawn for the first time it will most likely be very sharp and clean.
There are several other things that happen to create this kind of art. One is that while artists always strive to make their pieces the best that they possibly can be, they also understand that if they don’t capture a buyer’s interest, then they won’t make any money. Over the years artists have learned to draw what they want to draw and then figure out how to bring it to life on paper. They’ve learned to draw gradual shifts in shading and light instead of the jerky, chaotic, free-flowing movements that are common in cartoon characters. When an artist tries to capture what they want in a drawing they learn a lot about perspective and about how to play with lines to get the look they want.
