The life and death of traditional art.

THIS WEEK IN ARTWEEK:

Is traditional art becoming a lost art form? From the looks of it, yes. Scanning the front page on dA, one seems to see less and less traditional art every year. Of course, times and methods change- but doesn't this put disadvantaged creators at a well, disadvantage? Is there a bias against traditional art developing on deviantart? Where did the idea come from that going from paper to digital is a "step up"? We see this in other media as well. We ditch hand-drawn 2D animation for 3D, then wonder why the quality suffers. We inject our lines with stabilizers and homogenizers, then wonder why it tends to look the same. We force talent- instead of allowing it the time to grow naturally, we want to be good right now-- and take shortcuts to get there.

Maybe it's the fact that everyone started with paper, and familiarity breeds contempt. Maybe it's because all the big artists almost exclusively use digital art. Or something else entirely-

But one artist I know rebels. To hell with "trading up" they say. Sometimes it takes one piece of art to change my mind, and this one does it.



Look at this picture. Some people might see a poorly drawn sketch, but I don't. I see progress. I see beauty. This picture is the antithesis of everything dA stands for today, and that's a good thing. Their art isn't shiny. There are no sparkles nor dogs here. It's simple, straightforward- something you might have drawn when you were younger. And it connects.

Nobody should ever be ashamed of a picture like this. It's classic. Timeless. It reminds me of lazy summer days spent in front of the tv, paper on the ground with colored pencils scattered all over the floor. It makes me want to pull out a box of crayons and DRAW. Isn't that what art  is all about anyway? Inspiring people?  

My fear is this: Soon, we won't be able to see the beauty in art like this picture. Soon, if not already, we will want everything to be shiny and polished, and if it isn't then you're SOL and never will amount to anything. New artists will feel discouraged and dejected, then just give up and leave. The lack of artists supporting traditional art may make them simply feel inadequate. All this won't happen right away of course, but I can see the signs. Some of it is already happening right now.

So what can we do?
For one, I would like to see the classic artistic development paradigm turned on it's head. What about more digital artists trying traditional art? Who says that one art form is lower than the other? How about more support and help? I'm not attacking digital art. I just want people to not close their minds to artists just because they don't do digital. I think everyone should try both if possible. These are little things that are discriminatory against traditional art, but they add up to make a big difference.

What do you think? Please comment below.