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Many can make digital art now - including you!

Ranked #1,319 in Arts & Design, #15,101 overall

New tools let many make digital art

~ YOU CAN MAKE DIGITAL ART, WITH THESE NEW TOOLS ~
Have you previously tried your hand at art, but couldn't hack the traditional manual tools and difficult skills - like pencil drawing, mixing pigments, etc.? Or maybe you've recently retired and now have time to realize your dream of a more creative life?
Whatever kept you from making art - perhaps your time has come!
My lens is about the new popular online digital art images. Images you can make, submit to online galleries and (sometimes) sell via your personal computer and the web.

I hope to be of help to those who want to get into digital art. FYI, I'm most expert in Photoshop for 2D and Silo 2, Poser and Vue for 3D. My strongest area of expertise is lighting.
What I can't help you with is character development, character modeling, video or animation.

_jim coe
My 'Art Head Start' home study art lessons ebook
My 'Art Head Start' web site

Table of Contents

Another art revolution

Your computer can give you revolutionary creative power

making digital art and publishing it online is the art revolution of this century


~ A century ago... ~


An amazing thing happened in the art world.
Photography was introduced.


Suddenly anyone could make pictures, not just those who spent years learning to draw and paint! And those who applied themselves to photography, nurtured a keen eye and grew their personal vision, could even make art with their cameras.

~ REVOLUTION AGAIN, ONLINE ~


In the past few years, the kinds of things you see Hollywood special effects professionals do on the big screen became available to anyone who wants to apply themselves a bit - on their personal computer.

Not everyone has the time or patience (or the computing power) to make such pro-quality animations. But it is very practical for you to make digital art still images with these tools. And if you're not interested in "photo-realism" (or realistic surrealism), there are also great tools for making abstract or geometric images.

With a bit of geek work and cash (and lots of free time), you can even make pro-quality short films and film clips.

How does it work?

computer art version of the Earth, with digital art code and a 3D mesh, Image by jim coe


Basically, you can make digital art of 4 types, using one of 4 tools:

1. PHOTO EDITING TOOLS: Using photos (or other images), you can make collages or composite scenes.
Example artist: Photos by ges

2. DIGITAL DRAWING TOOLS: Using a digital tablet and stylus, you can draw or paint in a way that simulates the traditional manual methods
Example artist: Image by Alex Tsurper

3. PATTERN GENERATORS: You can set a number of dials and your computer then generates interesting mathematical or fractal patterns.
Example artist: Images by Psion005

4. 3D MODELING AND 3D SCENES: You can sculpt or buy 3D models of figures, vehicles, etc. and then pose them in 3D scenes - applying props, terrains, atmospheres, water bodies, vegetation models and such. Then you light your scenes and render them (using a "virtual camera" inside your scene) as 2D images.
Example artist: Images by Trepz

This last is the digital art type used by Hollywood effects houses, along with character creation, backdrop "painting" and animation - all of which you can now do on your personal computer.

And #4 is also my favorite type of digital art, though I have yet to tackle animation seriously.

Naturally there is some overlap of tools in one's chosen image type. And naturally some digital artists use a mix of tool types to create "hybrid images". 3D modelers and 3D scene creators establish their own "work-flow" - moving from one program to another as their projects progress. Sometimes this involves exporting work from one program and importing it into another. When your programs are not totally compatible you may also have to convert images or 3D models from one format to another.

That sounds expensive! $$$

So, how much does it cost to make digital art?
For making your images (and/or 3D models) you can start with some excellent free programs. Those could easily see you through your first couple year or two and let you get your feet wet for free.

But for the most creative power with the least hassles, you'll want to eventually move up to more professional level software tools. You could end up spending $1,000 or more - similar to the kind of money a serious but frugal amateur photographer might spend, Still it's a lot less than many hobby or sports participants spend.

"But I can't make art!"

Almost anyone can make art and everyone is naturally creative.
Actually, you probably can.
Are you afraid you don't have the talent to make good art?

I don't believe in talent, or perhaps I believe everyone has talent and creativity - after all, those are natural human survival skills.


~ YOU'RE EXTREMELY CREATIVE - REALLY! ~


You are creative - and you can learn to be even more so.
Certainly everyone (who hasn't had it "disciplined" out of them) is extremely creative. And even those with blocked creativity can restore it.

You doubt that?
Do you remember your night time dreams? Think about a recent dream. Remember all that wild and crazy stuff in your dream? Well, your very own creativity came up with all that! So you really are very creative.

Learn to Make Art

You could learn a lot about basic art design skills and Visual Communication from my $19.95 'Art Head Start' ebook.

And not only that, but...

..the more images you make, the more you'll learn and the better you'll get.
..it's great fun!
..it can put you in touch with your unique nature, kind of like a bridge between your hidden inner self and the cosmos.
..you'll make lots of online friends who are on the same path.

Show and sell your art online!

Make your mark

Publish your computer art online and be seen!
Once your work is good enough that you want to start showing it around, you can upload it to the galleries of any of several free online digital art portals.

There you can get to know others who are doing what you're doing and exchange comments and critiques. And there are plenty of experts to help you with whatever software tools you use, or to guide you on art principles and methods.

Many digital artists (me included) like to create free tutorials, models and materials and make them available on those art portals. It's all pretty exciting and friendly!

Sell your digital art!

Check out FineArtAmerica.com and other Art Portals

You can sell your digital art online, on posters and prints, or on products like T-shirts and mouse pads.
Once your images are good enough that people want to own them, there are also free (or under $50 per year) "Print-On-Demand" (POD) online galleries, where the public can choose from your gallery images and have high quality prints made and shipped to them. You can also have your images sold on T-shirts, mouse pads, greeting cards and such at some Art Portals.

If you get into sculpting your own 3D models (big fun!), those models are also much in demand by digital artists who don't know how to model, but need characters, clothes and other objects for their 3D scenes.

So, your art making activities can pay for themselves, once you get proficient.

I hope you'll be joining the digital art revolution and partaking of all the fun and creativity!

Feel free to get in touch, if you'd like some help getting into digital art making.

_jim coe
My 'Art Head Start' web site

About Print-On-Demand art sales

A POD (Print-On-Demand) art site sells an artist's work as a fine quality art print, poster or greeting card - usually using the so-called "giclee" process. The "..On-Demand" part means the artist doesn't have to stock physical inventory or ship prints to buyers. At a POD web site, when a buyer orders a print or greeting card, it is made and shipped rapidly (perhaps it's also framed) more or less automatically by the POD web site owners.

In most cases the POD web site also handles the financial transaction, saving the artist a huge time and expense sink in outfitting their own online shopping cart and paying for an online credit card approval gateway. To say nothing of the potential financial liabilities and security issues of handling their transactions themselves in some of the other possible ways.

All this leaves the artist more time and energy to create more art. All they need to do is market their personal gallery, which will be hosted at their POD art portal of choice - to attract prospects (like I'm doing here).
Fine Art America.com - the best I've found!
You can buy Jim Coe's digital art on his 'Art Head Start' site - through a shopping cart at Fine Art America.com.
Fine Art America is only a few years old, but is the best POD web site by far, as there over 65,500 artist members demonstrate. And it's the only site (according to the owner, and I believe him) which actually gets more visits from non-members than from members. Most such site are very "cloistered", with more visits from other artist members than from potential art buyers.

FAA Is set up to sell fine quality art prints (framed or not) or cards, or original artworks - rather than decorated products (T-shirts, etc.), such as CafePress or Zazzle sells.

You can use FAA's own shopping cart, or link it into your own art web site. FAA offers many marketing tools and a very active, friendly and helpful community.

You can join FAA and show your images for free, but there is a very reasonable charge of $30 per year to join the POD service. Unlike other art portals that's the complete cost to you! They take no sales commissions! And you can set your own prices.

FAA gets great natural search positions on Google Search for your artwork, if you use their image tagging system correctly.
Jim's 'Fine Art America' Galleries
I have a POD gallery with Fine Art America, where you can purchase posters and prints of my own digital art. If you make art, you really should consider joining FAA.

Best place to sell digital art online?

If you buy or sell digital art online, what's your #1 favorite sales site?
Please add it if you don't see it in my list!

1

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Fine Art America

2 points

2

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CafePress

1 point

3

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Etsy

1 point

4

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ImageKind

1 point

5

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Right here at Squidoo

0 points

6

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Deviant Art

0 points

Are you selling digital art?

Selling digital art online is not easy.
Please let the newbies and wannabes know if there's hope.

Your comments are pre-approved and should show up here right away. But I do delete all spam or abusive posts immediately.

Thanks for participating! :o)

How are your digital art sales?

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Poorly: Few or no sales here.

maurissam says:

I've tried but its not working for me....no sales

Posted November 09, 2011

jennabee25 says:

I sell something here and there. I wish it were more.

Posted April 20, 2011

ChristopherInMexico says:

I'm just getting started with digital art, but I've seen a couple sales :-)

Posted June 20, 2009

leonrott says:

bad!!

Posted May 03, 2008

jim_coe says:

I'll go first.
Just started late last month (Fine Art America, Cafepress, Diviant Art). Nothing yet.

Posted January 10, 2008

Not bad! Significant sales here.

aaanativearts says:

I sell at several POD websites and do quite well at Zazzle and Cafe Press, and pick up some extra cash at several others. If you treat it like a part time or full time job, it is possible to eventually quit your day job. Your earnings will be comensurate with the time and promotion you put into it. Designing the art and creating products is just have the job. You can't rely solely on the POD to promote your work. What works for me is to build regularly updated niche websites, then design products readers of those sites would be interested in. Spend at least half an hour a day on promotion and link building. Learn basic SEO, (it's not rocket science), and you will be far ahead of 99% of your competion. It's possible to pay the rent with your earnings in a few months and go full time in a few more months, if you treat it like a regular job.

Posted January 07, 2012

olgahutsul says:

Actually Zazzle works out the best for me. I also started with society6, very neat layout, and a lot of my works were accepted to their store in the matter of hours, but the prices seem to be on the lower side. I just want to warn everyone about getting illusion that all these sites can become significant source of income. They are only small and unreliable part of building your business in art. I plan to concentrate more on getting real-world connection. Blogging and posting promoting my work consumes way too much of time that could have been better invested in actually creating, and bidding for projects.

Posted September 29, 2011

MrsZ says:

Not doing too bad. Selling about half and half...prints of paintings and digital originals.

Posted August 02, 2011

peterw1usa says:

You illustrate the possibilities of using Computer Graphics tools to express the Artistic design trapped in us. I like it very nice lens.

Posted June 28, 2011

jim_coe says:

One thing is sure - you can't sell art online by just getting your work put on a few art portals for sale. You have to have a decent online marketing campaign going as well. Publishing lenses here on Squidoo should be one component of that campaign - fine folks here and an easy user interface.

Posted May 13, 2011

 
view all 13 comments

Tools of the Trade

My favorite Digital Art tools

Check out the excellent digital art tools listed below.

Some excellent digital art tools are free, but usually the best will cost you something. However, you can do digital art for a lot less money than many other avocations.

My favorite digital art tools

e-on Software's "Vue" - versions for artists
Vue 3D is a fantastic digital landscape and natural or other environment application!
e-on makes the "Vue" series of 3D landscape and 3D model staging software. There is a free "Learning Edition" (somewhat crippled, of course) that let's you check out the product and several retail product levels from hobbyist up to professional.

I use the top product, "Vue Infinite" (but not the "xtreme" edition, with it's extensions for (very expensive) pro 3D modeling programs). Vue Infinite Is not cheap, at over $700. But I've never regretted breaking my piggy bank, because of the extreme creative power Vue Infinite gives me.

Check out the demo reels for Vue Infinite.
Hey! Almost forgot: Vue makes movies - as Hollywood has been discovering in some major releases. The video show reel was created and animated entirely in Vue Infinite (except the titles and audio) and is a set of animated 3D scenes. View the Home page. Here's the Vue Infinite product page with the usual fine show reel.

Vue is quite superior to Carrara, Bryce, Terragen and other older or less developed 3D landscape modelers. And it integrates closely with Poser for importing Poser human figures, animals and props.

As I write this,Terragen has just (finally) released their new version. It does create great clouds and terrain, but lacks Vue's ability to add vegetation, forests, and all the vast number of other things one needs in most scenes. If you only do empty landscapes with maybe a body of water and lovely clouds, check out the latest Terragen version.
"Silo 3D" - 3D modeling from scratch
Silo 2 is an incredible 3D modeling tool, for only $159.

There's nothing quite like being able to sculpt your own 3D models from scratch! Picture yourself creating any object you can dream up - hot, hot, hot!

Like any skill, it takes time and patience to learn 3D modeling. It's a fun and exciting time though.

Silo is what's called a "Box" or "Polygon" modeler, which uses "Subdivision" modeling to support up to millions of polys.

What's a polygon? Think of making models out of chicken wire mesh, where each opening in the mesh has 4 sides - those openings are the "polys".

Silo is incredibly intuitive and fast to use. Unlike most 3D modelers, it does exactly what you expect every time and it's interface stays out of your way.

Is Silo 2 hard to learn? You might think so, because it doesn't try to teach you HOW to model - that's not it's job. So, if you already understand box modeling, you'll grok Silo right away. If not, you'll have to learn elsewhere (see my links).
DAZ|Studio - Posing/Surfaces/Lighting/Renders - on the cheap
Years ago, I used to use the only available popular program for posing and clothing human and animal 3D figures - Poser.

Then DAZ 3D came out with their superior free DAZ|Studio software and I never looked back.

DAZ|Studio is into their brand new version 4 now (get it while it's still free!) and it just keeps getting better. Has improved materials, a killer surfaces shader, improved lighting and a better render engine and exporter. When the advanced (paid) version comes out, that will be even better.

It's still not as advanced as e-on Software's Vue products, but it's much less expensive than most of the Vue lineup. Try DAZ Studio 4, if you want to learn some of the basics and see if you're serious enough to spend serious money on one of the top Vue products.

Free or inexpensive tools for beginners

A fine free figure posing, lighting and rendering tool

DAZ is a great place to buy DAZ|Studio, Poser figures, Poser clothes and Poser props!
Many digital artists prefer the free "DAZ|Studio" application over the traditional $250 "Poser" program. And DAZ|Studio has just had another major upgrade, moving it into even farther past Poser.

Personally, I've given up on that old, difficult Poser user interface and now use DAZ|Studio exclusively. And DAZ keeps improving it constantly.

  Free DAZ Studio

More free or inexpensive tools for beginners

Free Blender
DAZ is a great place to buy DAZ Studio, Poser figures, Poser clothes and Poser props!
A free and open source 3D modeling program with a reputation for a lot of power and features and one of the hardest to learn interfaces ever.

Those who make the (reportedly large) effort to learn Blender tend to love it. All that fierce loyalty must have a cause, right? I gave up pretty fast, myself.
Free Google SketchUp
A free and easy 3D modeling program for mechanical shapes (seems not suited for organic shapes, like people or vegetation).

A favorite for 3D modeling beginners, or even advanced users who just need a quick architectural model.

Has the unique ability to integrate your 3D models with Google Earth.
Ultimate 3D Links site
Ultimate 3D Links has a good list of free 3D tools. Check their left column navigation menu.
25 free 3D programs
Here's an interesting compilation of free 3D programs.

More recommended digital art tools

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Where to get 3D figures and environments

Most 3D hobbyists buy 3D models. Here's how to save money.

3D modeling is not for the faint of heart, and it takes months or years to get good at it. Because of this, there is a thriving online market for pre-built 3D models of all kinds.

If you get into 3D scene making, you'll soon want your own library of characters, animals, architecture, vehicles, props and environments.

There are 2 major online sources for these, the Marketplace at Renderosity and the models at DAZ 3D.

Which 3D store do I recommend?
Both actually, although DAZ can save you considerable money in the long run. Rendo and DAZ have different groups of 3D modelers selling their work, and a slightly different approach. So, you won't find the same models on both. And only DAZ sells the "base" human and animal figures that are the foundation to which you add hair, clothing props and environments.

Usually, you know what you're looking for to complete a scene you have in mind and you'll search both sites.

The way you can save big bucks on your models is to join what DAZ calls their "Platinum" program. 3D models cost something like $5 to $40 each, but for a $99 annual Platinum membership, you can get many fine models for $1.99 each and get discounts on many others. You can see that with an "average" model costing maybe $15, $99 is equivalent to fewer than 10 model purchases. Believe me, if you make very many 3D scenes, you'll want a lot more than 10 models in a year.

At a guess, I probably bought at least 40 DAZ models in 2010. If they averaged $15 retail, that's $600. So my Platinum account saved me over $420!

        Visit DAZ

My recommended digital art tools

These are products I use myself or my colleagues like.

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Excellent art how-to books on Amazon

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Digital art portals, forums, galleries

Show or sell your artwork online

These are my recommended online digital art portals and art selling sites
Renderosity - digital art portal
Renderosity.com will help you learn art.
Renderosity is the oldest and largest digital art portal. Has many forums (yeah, I know it should be "fora", but not everyone learned Latin), one for each major digital art application, as well as many other topical forums. Gives you your own gallery and lets you upload images to the main gallery. Has a store where you can buy or sell digital goods. Several other good features.

The down side for Rendo (and the other most popular digital art portals) is that there is a lot of poor work shown. Rendo in particular has a lot of amateur soft porn. Still, there are many excellent images and lots of friendly help there.

If you're interested in digital art, you should get your free membership.
Computer Graphics Society Forum
Has several galleries and many forums. No store and fewer private features. Has jobs list. A bit heavy on product ads.

What sets "CGTalk" way apart from the rest is the professional quality of the images. This is a good place to get pro level inspiration and calibrate your own digital goals up a few notches. Definetly another "must join".
Cornucopia 3D - 3D art portal
C3D is the digital art portal of e-on Software, the makers of my favorite 3D scenery and staging program. With a very friendly community a store for both buying and selling, which specializes in Vue content and great topics and galleries, Cornucopia is a must for Vue users.
Fine Art America - Artist's portal/sales site
Fine Art America

As a digital artist and fine art photographer, I recommend becoming a member of Fine Art America. I've tried Deviant art, Cafepress and many of the others - and found Fine Art America to be far superior. And I've sold work on FAA and never was able to on those others.

FAA is free to join and only U$30 per year for Print-On-Demand sales (with framing, gift card sales, etc.). There are several ways to get your images seen on FAA:
* Add your images to community discussion posts, maybe ask for critiques. See their novice sticky post for how to show your images in discussion posts.
* Add your images to various FAA contests
* Join and share in specialized discussion groups
* Comment on the images in galleries of others - they may comment on your work in return
* Use the FAA email system to develop an email list of fans
* Use the automatic FAA link to Facebook, plus create a Facebook business page (not just a user "Profile" page)
* And of course market your free FAA artist's personal web site online

Fine Art America offers:
* A great community of helpful artists of all ages and media
* A free web site and gallery of your own
* Automatically have your images uploaded to your Facebook page
* Your images rank well on Google and other search engines, if you add decent "tags"
* For $30 a year FAA sells your work via POD (Print-On-Demand). No other charges.
* FAA takes 0% of your selling price, you set your prices and keep it all.
* You can sell prints (paper posters or canvass) or gift cards, or both.
* There are artists of all ages and media on FAA
* Several other awesome features...
Seventh Complex - Artist's portal
I'm pretty new to 7th Complex, which I think is also new. Seems a good site though, with some excellent work on display. No store and few pesky ads.
Ultimate 3D Links
This is a digital art portal with most of the usual features and a store for buying or selling 3D goods. It has lots of links to resources and freebies - including a list of free 3D software tools.

Digital Art News

From the Blogs...

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My favorite digital art blogs

Mark's "Impworks" (stereo 3D also)
Mark is a Vue 3D artist and Python programming expert. You can use Python scripts to customize Vue, my favorite 3D program. Several free useful scripts are available, e.g. in the Cornucopia 3D forums, in the Scripting topic. Cornucopia

If you want to use Vue to create stereo 3D images (real 3D you view with stereo LCS glasses), check his right column listing under "Python", for "Vue Stereo Image Camera Creation Script" This is a free Python script that gives you 2 cameras inside your Vue scene, one for the left eye and one for the right.

Shameless self-promotion

Why I'm promoting digital art making

Two reasons. First, my degree is in fine art and I taught at a fine art college for some years. This led me to other teaching gigs from time to time and I found that I really enjoy teaching and sharing what I've learned.
Art lessons ebook for artists and art students.
Reason two is that I wrote a $19.95 ebook to help art school students, and those who can't get to art school, to learn about Visual Communication and basic art principles and skills. I'd like you to check it out to see if it might be useful to you.
It's my 'Art Head Start' ebook.

You Vue 3D modeling fans will also find many free tutorials, free Vue materials and free info at my 'Art Head Start' web site.

My own 3D scenes and models - so far

My Galleries

See my art galleries at FineArtAmerica.com
Yes, I've found a great place where you and I can show and sell our artworks!
here is my little part of Fine Art America:

Art Prints

Here is the link to the FineArtAmerica.com Home Page.
Jim's "Art Head Start" site
My site has a lot of freebies and tutorials for Vue 3D users.

It's also the home of my 'Art Head Start" $20 ebook - which is for all art students (and artists who didn't make it to art school) who want to make stronger, more dramatic images.

It's all about Visual Communication, Visual Grammar and art principles.
Now with a "Fan Page" on FaceBook...
I've started "Jim Coe's Images", a non-profile page on FaceBook. If you like my stuff, please consider becoming my FaceBook "Fan" - thanks :o)
Jim Coe's YouTube videos
Have made a few videos for YouTube, including my video artist's portfolio.

I also have several more tutorial videos for 3D scene making in Vue at my 'Art Head Start' web site - see that link above.

Feedback please...

Your comments here are automatically approved and should show up right away. However, I do immediately delete any spam or abusive comments.

Thanks for participating! :o)

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jim_coe

Digital artist, art instructor, fine art photographer, geezer and writer.

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