Digital art

Digital art is a broad category of creative work that uses digital technology. This technology can be part of the creative process or the way the art is presented. It can also refer to computational art that engages directly with digital media. Because it covers so much ground, people have used many different names for it. These names include computer art, electronic art, multimedia art, and new media art. Digital art is significant because it has expanded the creative domain for everyone. It provides new opportunities for both professional and non-professional artists to express themselves.

Artists create digital work in several distinct ways. Some art is made using digital tools, which means technology helps the creation process. This includes digital painting, where an artist uses software on a computer to mimic traditional painting. They might use a mouse or a graphics tablet with a stylus to draw. Other works are considered "art made for digital media." This type of work is highly computational and explicitly engages with digital technologies. It is presented through digital media rather than existing outside the digital world.

Visual computing offers different methods for generating imagery. The simplest form is 2D computer graphics, which is similar to drawing with a pencil on paper. These images often use raster graphics as their primary data. Another method is 3D computer graphics, where the screen acts as a window into a virtual environment. In 3D graphics, artists arrange objects that the computer then "photographs" through perspective projection. These works often use vector graphics to create immersive virtual reality installations. Some artists even use algorithms coded into programs to generate art entirely through math.

The history of digital art began in the early 1960s. In that decade, John Whitney developed the first computer-generated art using mathematical operations. In 1963, Ivan Sutherland invented Sketchpad, the first interactive computer-graphics interface. Later, in the 1970s, Salvador Dalí used computer processes to create portraits of Abraham Lincoln. These works used techniques similar to photographic mosaics. In July 1985, Andy Warhol used an Amiga computer to create digital art. He used a program called ProPaint to add color to a digitized image of Debbie Harry.

Modern digital art includes many specialized forms like artificial intelligence (AI) art. Artists have used AI since the 1960s, but new tools have changed the field. Since 2014, artists have used generative adversarial networks, or GANs. A GAN is a machine learning framework where two algorithms compete and iterate with each other. This can create images that look like traditional fine art. Today, people can even use text descriptions to let AI convert language into visual content.

Digital art also includes immersive and networked experiences. Digital installation art can create environments that surround an audience. Some installations use projections to create a sense of sensory envelopment. An example is Scott Snibbe's "Boundary Functions," which uses augmented reality to draw lines between people on a floor.

There is also internet art, which is exhibited specifically on the web. Furthermore, some artists use blockchain technology and Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs, to establish provable ownership. This became a major trend during the NFT boom of 2020-2021.

Digital technology also helps scholars study and preserve art. Large-scale digitization allows researchers to use AI to analyze collections. They use two main methods: close reading and distant viewing. Close reading focuses on a single piece to analyze brushstrokes or texture. Distant viewing uses statistical methods to look for similarities across an entire collection. Additionally, 2D and 3D digital scans can preserve history. These scans can protect the memory of objects that might be destroyed by war or natural disasters.