If an artist doesn’t choose the best creative tool out of the gate, you open yourself up to a world of hurt.
Once a piece of software becomes the standard look in the market, you need to fly it like Razorcrest zapping TIE Fighters in the trench. Clients won’t wait for you to figure out how to engage the plutonium vaporizing turbotoobs.
Plus, on the high art side, if you’re creating art for your eye, exclusively ala fine art, the quicker you get comfortable with the controls, the faster you’re able to fall into creative flow.
Software and apps define an artist’s style.
Even when you try and hide the tech, we know.
Subtlety and misdirection are an artist’s best friend.
We also know for certain that it’s incredibly difficult to choose a long-term victor when it comes to art software. Usually, development money for coders talks, but over the last few years heavyweights like ADOBE have been chased in dogfights by small enterprises that are cheaper, easier to use, lean, and mean. Blockchain tech and IPFS throwing shade on HTTP on or off the distributed web are the types of advances artists need to stay competitive and dream-state creative. AI and machine learning round out the assault. Generative art represents a paradigm, just like the Boston Dynamics dancing robots.
The other challenge is that a NEW digital warrior shows up almost every week, and most art apps and software come with free trials that hook artists like cold crack-in-a-can on a hot night.
The solution;
TAKE YOUR TIME
Research the bones, and make sure the app can grow as fast as you move.
There’s nothing worse than taking off and discovering that your software is sputtering on the launch pad. Time is our most valuable asset, but surprisingly it’s something that too many artists waste the most. Learning a new app takes time, and refining it as a creative extension takes even longer.
Everyone and their crew writes app reviews today, so we don’t want to duplicate their hard work. We can however interpret what they’re saying to help you explore it at a macro level. Using software is not exclusively a tech thing, especially when it comes to art. There’s a whole layer of unconscious flow to deal with that is hard to fathom until you hit nirvana with it at four in the morning.
My personal rule of thumb; are you flying the app, or is it flying you? Sometimes I need both, but always I need to control when I put it into auto overdrive. I hate apps that drag me around before I find the sweet spot, and I ditch them in a rollover loop like Mando scrubs MoffG.
Another challenge is that some of the new apps are small, and specialized. Not every developer has coin to create an entire suite. Add-Ons, Plug Ins and workarounds are powerful too as long as they work smoothly and you know how to tweak them for your style.
When choosing an app or software to create art, take your time and do your homework because it will pay off handsomely in the long run. Also, talk to artists who use these apps daily, and don’t just rely on faceless reviews.
Does software improve much over the years?
You tell us. Here’s a troop of dancing robots from 2010 …
