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The easiest way that I've found to silence the crowd that says it's not art since you're not creating everything yourself is to tell them to get off their backsides and to harvest and process the raw pigments for the paints and, while they're out there, they can tackle and shave that wild boar. :P
Found this on the web.... all art is improved by adding a cat.
I prefer squirrel hair...but it needs to be freshly combed, from live squirrels...
that's what I love about being artistic.. Art isn't always about the your process to the end result.. it's about your end result!! I can't draw to save my life, story board etc. but I can model/sculpt and design an awesome scene.. bang out a sweet render and I have created my art!!
Don't get caught up with people who want to debate what is/isn't art or if your process takes away from art. Those people are like wine snobs and in my opinion those people ant their attitudes take away from art and cramp my creativity!!!
P.S if 3D rendering wasn't art then there wouldn't be much of a CG revolution.. and as you can see.. CG is the future!! Look at any DVD cover photo of A Dream Works or Pixar movie.. Tell me it's not a piece of creative art!! :)
If your 3d scene renders are intended to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power, than you have created art!
Referenced from the authoritative source of all wisdom and knowledge, Google's definition of Art.
Now I have this mental image of a mad artist chasing squirrels around a park with a tiny comb. XD
I think the ones that bother me the most are the the traditional artist that, for whatever reason, continuously refuse to understand that a computer is no more or less of a tool then their brushes or pencils, and insist that any digital artist, 3D or otherwise, is somehow "cheating" by using some magical "Make Art" button that exists in all art programs.
Now I have this mental image of a mad artist chasing squirrels around a park with a tiny comb. XD
Render possibility there. :coolgrin:
I have a friend who used to be a club DJ. He toured extensively for a while performing in clubs in several continents. He would take bits and pieces of music from various sources and remix them into something new and a lot of fun to listen to. I asked him once if he considered himself a "musician". He said that he didn't, but he did consider himself a "recording artist".
Likewise, I wouldn't call myself a "painter" because I can render images in DAZ Studio (and do a bit of light postwork in GIMP). But I don't have a problem saying that I'm an amateur 3D artist when it comes to listing my hobbies.
In the end, the judgement of whether something is "art" or not is a personal one. I'll guarantee you that there are things on display in art museums all around the world that I don't feel have a lot of artistic value to me. But I can accept that others do see the merit in them.
For my definition, Art should invoke an emotional response in the beholder / audience. My judgement on whether I feel that something is "good" art or not is how effective the artist is in accomplishing that goal. Not what tools they used to create their work.
My argument for the 3D rendering being art is not dissimilar to the other comments, but since it is a debate that makes my nerves stand up on the back of my neck, I have to comment.
I saw a beautiful face shot of Marilyn Monroe HERE:http://www.biography.com/imported/images/Biography/Images/Profiles/M/Marilyn-Monroe-9412123-1-402.jpg,
Now the photographer did not create Marilyn, he did not create the light, although he manipulated it (God gets credit for its creation, along with Marilyn, or pure luck if you are not a believer) The artist did not create the makeup, more than likely another artist applied it, more than likely he bought the camera, the film, and the backdrop yet his angle in this simple picture is striking and in my opinion .... art.
You may not create the Application, the tools, the 3D Objects, However if you position the camera, and manipulate the artificial light, as well as the objects in the scene, and apply a makeup (texture, even one someone else created) to the character, then when it is done rendering one can consider it art. Just like a photograph.
And you will see there are different caliber renderers just like there are different caliber photographers, or painters. So I think yes it can be and is art as much as any other medium. :D
In my opinion it is wrong to compare 3D art (rendering) with painting. One has nothing to do with the other and it is a very different skill, no matter if you paint on your computer or on a real canvas.
I think rendering is best compared with photography. Why? Because it is a very similar "workflow". You choose a model, dress her, pose her, set up a scene and lights and shoot a photo - or render. Really very similar. And postworking is also a very common use in photography today. No matter which kind of photos you look at in magazines, posters or advertisments, you will very rarely find one that has not been "photoshopped". Same in rendered images. Most time, postwork brings them to life and enhance the images.
And as far as art is concerned, I think it is also the same with 3D and photography. Some see it as a "simple technical skill", some see it as art.
Ansel Adams...
I'm with you guys , it's a tool like any other . I got my first copy of Poser in 1997 I think as a tool to help me with figure poses ( I wanted to draw comics at the time) . From then on 3d art just felt right . About the only time I draw on paper now is to lay out a quick sketch for a new image . Recently I placed 5th in the Renderosity halloween contest , a fact that I am very pleased with as I had never won anything . I had my picture on my phone and showed it to a few people where I work , they always say the same thing " thats really good , You drew this ? " And then I have to explain to them what I do .
To me though , I feel like I need to make more of my own assets . At times I am forced to change the way I want an image to look simply because I don't have what I need or what I have doesn't quite look like I want .
Well, I did a render years ago just trying out Poser. It was very time consuming. Yes, it looked better than anything I could ever paint. I was never a great artist with traditional media but I liked doing it. I still do. But you never know who edited a texture or added the perfect shadows or had to do serious touchups to the render. And certainly the content creators are artists. I am new to this. I am more an art fan than an artist. I am going to have fun and support a community of artists. I can play with the art work here and even add a little me to the renders. Traditional works can be done faster in my opinion than building a 3d outfit, morphs, scenes, etc. I won't tell people I'm a great artist. I'll tell them I'm a nerdy art buyer who keeps my art collection on a hard drive and does renders to show it all off. You know, the way art snobs hang there traditional art on the living room wall. You don't need to be a great artist to appreciate artwork and want to support the people who do make some great art. But I have to admit, some renders do look better than others, so we all get to put a little ourselves into the renders for better or worse.
Let me bought SETH Godin qoute about ART .
Many sources told us about definition of art ,sadly most of all onlly making us flaming each others .Since I like every words from Seth Godin I choose to follow his definitions ;)
As long we could make great impact/resonance for audiences .. yes we could called us ARTIST
If you had use canvas or traditional media and produce excellent but meaningless pictures ... I think you should call yourself Painter
If you had produce crappy render BUT ..telling yours or someone stories which everyone could understand ..yes I think You are ARTIST
I didn't read all the answers as there were to many... But your question really makes me want to answer you.
I studied arts, sculpture. And I draw pretty well, but not from head, I have to have a model.
Once a drawing e sculpture teacher told me something that I never forgot:
"Don't be silly. In arts, what most matter is that you can be able to materialize your ideas. The means are all acceptable. Great artist from renaissance, world wide recognized, "cheated". They not only used models for everything, but they actually draw them through glass which is no different of you draw on a light table or with a projector from a photo, or in a dark chamber, or through a lot of other technics that would made realistic art more easy. So if you can't draw a figure from your head, go find a picture and draw from that, copy in a light table... everything you want. In draw classes you have to do the exercises as I ask. To everything else, use everything that maximize and fasten your capacities of materialization."
I actually started to work with 3d so that I can pose my models and then project them on paper to draw. And I'm doing it to create all the characters of my book and illustrate the book. As it is a fantasy book, photos would not help.
I also want to use it to make works of digital painting, completing the work in photoshop or manga studio just like you.
But even most important... I found a new way of art!! I'm loving 3d art and I'm going to dedicate myself to it.
Render art it's not that easy... It's easy to do some funny works. But to make real good works, that you can take to an exhibition, it takes lot of learning and training... and artistic talent!
This stuff is hard!
I have a working idea for one of the contests. It requires three recognizable figures, and maybe one or two silhouettes or low-detail figures too, all presented in a simple three-frame comic scene.
Well, a "seemingly simple" scene, that is! I just realized that the more I add to the scene, even if it's just background or props, the more complexity it adds. Even the phrasing and "who says what" dialog decisions can ultimately dictate the number of frames needed and could make for a exponential growth in the amount of work to do. Really, a comic strip is more than the sum of its parts. It's not "just three" pieces of art, one for each frame. For each frame with multiple characters in it, that frame is a piece of art for each character or point of interest singly, AND the whole frame as a whole. The frame has to "work" both for the parts and for the whole, and then the whole episode must work as a whole, too!
Been working on it off and on since about New Year's Day, and I'm still just working with the characters and their wardrobe and individual lighting options! Sure, I'll get faster with continued practice and a development of my own workflow, but right now this is a lot of work and I've gained even more respect than ever for anybody who works in this medium, even if they don't paint their own textures!
Yes, it's art. Now let's all get back to work! ;-)
Pencils, pens, camera, oil paint, 3d software. None of these things are art, they are media. Art is what you make with them. 3d rendered art is as much art as music made by an electric guitar, synthesizers, or digital remix and mashups.
The path you travel is not the destination.