I finally noticed how much digital art changed since my first tablet

Three years ago I got a basic Wacom and my stuff looked flat, but last month I tried a new brush pack from a Denver artist and it added crazy texture. Last week I saw a whole gallery show online that used similar techniques for character designs. Do you think tools or artist skill drives new styles more now?

2 comments

2 Comments

christopher_ross1d ago

Wish I could tell you... my own art still looks like it was drawn with a mouse in MS Paint from 1998. Honestly, it feels like the tools open the door for new ideas, but you still need the skill to walk through it and make something good. That brush pack didn't make the art for you, it just gave you a new way to put down what was already in your head. The gallery show proves the style is catching on because artists are skilled enough to use those tools in cool ways.

park.tara1d ago

Honestly, Christopher's point about the brush pack not making the art for you is so true. Tbh my own first tries with fancy new brushes just looked like a fancy mess, like I let a toddler loose in a texture factory. The skill has to be there to control the tool, or you just get noise. It feels like the cool new tools let skilled artists run way faster down new paths they already wanted to explore.