Don’t limit your options
As a reader of ImagineFX since the very first issue hit the newsstands, I find the letter in the September 2018 issue titled ‘No traditional art’ has incensed me sufficiently to finally write in.
I find it a sadly limited position for any artist to take, requesting you remove traditional media from the magazine. Leaving aside that the tactile and often unpredictable natures of traditional media bring with them joys in use that digital tools only attempt to replicate, when you look at the leading artists of the field you find they’re all still well involved in production via traditional media.
Why is this? If for no other reason that, at the end of the process, you have a physical piece of artwork, which continues to exist away from the moment of printing of the commissioned job. There’s a beauty to a physical oil painting and glazed layers with their shimmering opalescence, which simply can’t be replicated in a digital painting.
Your favourite brush with dog ears will give you results no custom digital brush will. And at the end you have a physical artefact that can be hung and displayed, sold or printed. A thing of beauty and depth and presence, not a flat image on a display.
I would encourage ImagineFX to keep producing articles on traditional media, because it’s traditional media that always shows the way forward for the emulated environments of digital media tools. Indeed, I would love to see coverage of an even wider range – fantasy/sci-fi sculptors and jewellery makers whose efforts are worthy of inclusion. This is a community of creative souls, and ImagineFX has a role in the cross-pollination of the many and diverse tools those creative souls use. The future is never served well by limiting your options. Des Embrey, via email
Claire replies A community of crosspollinating creative souls. I couldn’t have put it better myself, Des. I believe that we represent all creatives. I know from emails that I receive that not all of our readers even paint, they just enjoy the creativity of others. Are you (yes you!) one of those readers? Let me know why you buy ImagineFX…