Digital Art Rules!

It's an industry that's growing every day, and even Kolkata is in the loop. TOI explores the trend

Gone are the days when artists spent months or even years in a paint-spattered studio, applying deft brush strokes on a canvas. Now, like most things creative in this world, even painting is going digital. All an artist needs to create fascinating works of art now is knowledge about the nitty-gritty of painting and proficiency in using specific software.

The artistically inclined few in Kolkata's college-going crowd, which is no stranger to computers and the digital world, have found in digital art a means to explore their creative side. Says Arka Chakraborty, a student of graphic design and web development: "It expands my creative boundaries and I draw whatever interests me. I also draw portraits, as it's a part of my curriculum. From the very beginning, my prime focus was to build a career out of it."

Arka and others like him use specific software to create their artworks. The benchmark for such software is a realistic painting experience, in which you can choose the method (watercolour, oil, acrylic, airbrush, etc) and the brushes. One of the most popular softwares in use is the Corel Painter, which boasts of more than 700 brushes, along with a wide variety of painting options. PostworkShop is another software that offers a large selection of brushes along with many customization tools and so is Autodesk SketchBook Pro. Among the other oft-used software are Pixarra TwistedBrush and ArtRage Studio Pro 3.5, which also provide a wide variety of creative options to artists.

With so many tools around to boost your creativity, it's no surprise that most youngsters are being drawn to this art form. Anirban Saha, a student of mass communication at Calcutta University, is one on the bandwagon. "Digital painting gives me the opportunity to blend my imagination and realism to create futuristic artwork," he says. The same is true for Ipsa Roy Chowdhury, an animation student. "I came to know about digital painting after joining the institute. I am basically into concept art and spit painting. The works of digital artists like Arnaud Pheu, Wojtek Fus, MV Renju, Tapan Kumar Roy have inspired me immensely," she says.

On the other hand, Sourav Chakraborty, a student of mass communication and journalism at Calcutta University, feels that digital painting offers him the advantage of being able to modify the artwork "in case you change your mind." As for his style, Sourav, who aspires to be a concept artist in the gaming industry, says, "I love figurative paintings. Fantasy and eroticism are also my favourites."

All these aspiring digital artists have one thing in common ¡ª all of them want to make a difference in a world that is rapidly going the digital way. And Satyaki Sarkar, another graphics and animation student, is no different. "I love the ease with which I can just sit down with my computer and start painting. And it's very easy to share the finished works online and get instant feedback!" he says.

(By Manali Basu)