Three pictures were pulled up on Emma Vallee’s computer screen: one of a cactus, one of the sun shining through a glass window of her parent’s Laguna Beach home and one of the sunset over surfers in the ocean. With the click of a mouse, Adobe Photoshop blended these three very separate pictures together into one.
Adobe programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, Publisher and InDesign are typically used programs among graphic designers and media artists. But in this case, Vallee is using her Photoshop picture for a painting class.
Vallee, a sophomore pre-graphic design student, is working on her final painting for a class. The altered image must be painted on a 36-inch-by-36-inch canvas using oil and acrylic paints.
Computer-generated images, like the one Vallee has created, became much more common as personal computers became increasingly accessible throughout the 90s. But as technology advanced and continues to advance, several artists and art educators have started to get worried that computers will someday replace all other forms of art.
“All the work on computers – it’s almost like the computers do all the work for you,” said junior pre-graphic design major Kari Szentesi. “It’s like you don’t even have to be creative to get a graphic design degree anymore.”
The fear that computers will someday replace all forms of art, however, does not exist with drawing professor Domenic Cretara.
“I remember hearing that computers were going to make paper obsolete. Now that we have more computers all over the place, I have more papers to deal with than ever before,” Cretara said. “I don’t know that [drawing and painting] are important to keep around, but I don’t think they will ever go away because we are human beings. I think [drawing] is just as natural as people talking and eating.”
Vallee also said she feels some forms of traditional fine arts will never be phased out and said she enjoys learning other forms and techniques because they help her in other aspects of her artwork.
“I’m taking gesture drawing right now and that’s something that people have been doing for hundreds and hundreds of years. And it’s something that never gets old because you need to have a foundation in order to go on,” Vallee said. “Art is just something that keeps continuing on.”
As a fine artist, Cretara said he has seen technology influence the art world in both a positive and negative way.
“If you can draw then you can very quickly imagine some of these images that you want to create,” Cretara said. “But I’m talking about it from the point of view as somebody who is using it as a tool for a painting and there are lots of people who use it as an end in itself.”
However, not understanding does not mean that Cretara doesn’t appreciate some of the works produced on computers.
“Manipulating images on a computer – I don’t do that, but I don’t see why you can’t do that,” Cretara said. “It’s a tool like any other, and a tool is only as good as the person using it.”
Cretara said he uses such technologies as a digital camera and an LCD projector in his some of his artwork but does not think he will ever be able to understand computers as well as his kids.
“I think that if you work and interact with computers every day, maybe you really yearn for and long for something that isn’t computer art,” Cretara said. “I think people are attracted to the more traditional media as a way of maybe keeping their feet on the ground in a world that’s becoming so electronic.”
Whether a person is computer savvy or computer illiterate, Cretara said what matters the most is how the artist feels about his or her work in the end.
“Whether the thing is printed up on the computer, whether it is painted with oil paint or whether it is rubbed sand on a rock, in the end what matters is whether the thing that you made is meaningful and coherent,” Cretara said.
Graphic design program head Tanya Cummings said she believes that all art, whether done on a computer or in a studio, gives people a better understanding of how society was built.
“Not necessarily just fine art, but all art and music and dance, I think all of that is very important to understanding a lot about how society was built,” Cummings said. “Without society having art – all arts – it’s really almost like a soulless society.”
computers were going to make paper obsolete. Now that we have more computers all over the place, I have more papers to deal with than ever before,” Cretara said. “I don’t know that [drawing and painting] are important to keep around, but I don’t think they will ever go away because we are human beings. I think [drawing] is just as natural as people talking and eating.”
Vallee also said she feels some forms of traditional fine arts will never be phased out and that she enjoys learning other forms and techniques because they help her in other aspects of her artwork.
“I’m taking gesture drawing right now and that’s something that people have been doing for hundreds and hundreds of years. And it’s something that never gets old because you need to have a foundation in order to go on,” Vallee said. “Art is just something that keeps continuing on.”
As a fine artist, Cretara said he has seen technology influence the art world in both a positive and negative way.
“If you can draw then you can very quickly imagine some of these images that you want to create,” Cretara said. “But I’m talking about it from the point of view as somebody who is using it as a tool for a painting and there are lots of people who use it as an end in itself.”
However, not understanding does not mean that Cretara doesn’t appreciate some of the works produced on computers.
“Manipulating images on a computer – I don’t do that, but I don’t see why you can’t do that,” Cretara said. “It’s a tool like any other, and a tool is only as good as the person using it.”
Cretara said he uses such technologies as a digital camera and an LCD projector in his some of his artwork but does not think he will ever be able to understand computers as well as his kids.
“I think that if you work and interact with computers every day, maybe you really yearn for and long for something that isn’t computer art,” Cretara said. “I think people are attracted to the more traditional media as a way of maybe keeping their feet on the ground in a world that’s becoming so electronic.”
Whether a person is computer savvy or computer illiterate, Cretara said what matters the most is how the artist feels about his or her work in the end.
“Whether the thing is printed up on the computer, whether it is painted with oil paint or whether it is rubbed sand on a rock, in the end what matters is whether the thing that you made is meaningful and coherent,” Cretara said.
Graphic design program head Tanya Cummings said she believes that all art, whether done on a computer or in a studio, gives people a better understanding of how society was built.
“Not necessarily just fine art, but all art and music and dance, I think all of that is very important to understanding a lot about how society was built,” Cummings said. “Without society having art – all arts – it’s really almost like a soulless society.”
