This is the kind of question I get when I tell people that some of my art has been done on my iPad. I get so many remarks like “so you haven’t drawn this, if it’s on a computer?’ Or “did you paint this or was it on the iPad” my reply is always “yes I painted it….on the iPad”. And the looks I get are of confusion and complete disbelief.
It’s hard to explain to someone that using a tablet to draw on is still as tricky as painting on canvas, both are hard and come with positives and negatives. and both are amazing to create works of art. I’ve been painting and drawing for about 37 years and I’m still learning new techniques.
At the age of 37 I had to learn how to use an iPad and how to draw with it. I watched countless YouTube videos and even enrolled in some online classes. I still have so much to learn and I love it. Don’t get me wrong I still love painting no drawing on a physical canvas or paper etc it will always be my first love.
A year ago I would have got quite angry and frustrated when someone would comment about my work asking how I had painted/drawn it. Does it really matter? ‘But it’s not proper art”. Don’t get me wrong there’s that little feeling of frustration in the pit of my tummy, I feel like they are discrediting my work, like the time effort and talent I’ve put into each piece isn’t worth it. I’ve now started to ask why they think it’s not “proper art” if I’ve hand drawn it on a tablet? Surprisingly they can’t give me an answer. I actually handed my iPad over to One person (who is also a family member) to see if they could draw something and surprisingly they declined.
So, is digital art, art? That’s the question. The way I look at it, is anything that creates something beautiful is art, no matter how it’s been created. It could be a building, a car, a painting, a textile, a pot anything that’s needed someone to come up with a design, think about what they need to use to create that, and actually go through all the ups and downs of getting it wrong making mistakes and then that glimmer of a break through – that’s art and that still applies to digital art.
Above is my new collection La Mer, these prints have been done digitally on my iPad. They are inspired by holiday pictures taken by myself or some inspirational friends photos who have given me permission to use their photos for this collection. If your interested in purchasing any prints please contact me at jofrancesarts@yahoo.com