Traditional Artist tries Digital Art for the first time!

I usually need a ton of different things to create one single painting. Brushes, paints, mediums, but today I'll be switching all of this for a much simpler setup. In this video we are not only going to find out what happens if you give a traditional artist digital art tools, but also why after this experiment I believe that every artist needs to try their hands at making digital art. So Clip Studio Paint reached out to me like, you know it's cute and all that you can push a bit of paint around with your little brushes, but we bet there is no way you can create something digitally. Well maybe the conversation wasn't exactly like that, but when they asked me to sponsor a video and if I wanted to create a digital work of art for them I was immediately all game. You know how much I love me a good challenge and since I'm an absolute amateur when it comes to digital art I thought it would not only be a fun experiment, but also a super interesting learning experience for everyone. And oh boy did we learn a ton. Even though I've used Clip Studio Paint and other painting software before to paint over my work in progress paintings or for drawing, I've never painted a portrait. So the first thing I did was to test out the brushes and paint a couple of studies to find out how everything works. And I have to admit this worked out much better than I anticipated. After a couple of hours of testing and fooling a bit around I actually already felt confident enough to get started on my painting. And the way I approached it is actually not that dissimilar to how I would approach a physical painting. Except for one tiny difference. Instead of starting with the darkest areas first I started the image by filling parts of the figure with a solid color. This is one of the great advantages of digital art because you can paint on top of that base color and only have to add highlights and shadows to it. If I did this with physical paint every color I put on top would instantly mix with what's already on the canvas and I would probably be left with a muddy mess. I have to say even though Clip Studio Paint looks incredibly intimidating and has a gajillion of different functions, if you just want to paint simple pictures with a few brushes and effects you totally can. It's actually super straightforward and if I can understand it I guarantee you everyone can. So since I like to keep things simple I tried to approach this like a regular painting. No fancy textures or any adjustment layers or effects. I only used a few brushes, the eraser tool and some of the blending brushes. I generally tend to get overwhelmed with too many options and tools anyway so I was super happy that I could make the whole experience as simple as just using a few brushes and then focusing on the process rather than anything else. And to be honest I didn't really need anything else. The brushes you can choose from can already do quite a few things. Some can create canvas textures to emulate a more traditional painting. You also have brushes that allow you to mix and blend colors as if you were using wet paint and then you have brushes that allow you to blend and soften areas. Since I didn't want to create a digital looking work of art but rather see if I could create something similar to my regular paintings I mostly use the canvas textured brush and I have to say I really like the texture. One thing I've realized about making art digitally is that you have complete control over everything. You can have every color you like and use every brush size you want. You can even decide if you want your colors to mix or if you want to work in layers and put them on top of each other. Which believe me for a traditional artist is kind of wild. Imagine painting with oil paint but before you put down a brush stroke you can decide if you want it to dry instantly or if you want it to stay wet so you can paint into it. That would be a complete game changer. But with digital art you have that kind of freedom. Which makes the whole painting process very fast and also very controlled. Another thing that I came to appreciate is that unlike painting with traditional media you can take your painting wherever you want and continue working on it. This might sound trivial to some digital artists but believe me this concept is completely alien to me. Having everything you need to work on a piece of art in one single electronic device is very convenient. You can just take your painting project with you wherever you want basically and continue working on it and you don't have to worry about any drying times or turning everything into a huge mess because there's paint everywhere. But one of the major things that I realized about digital painting is how much you can actually learn from it. And how much it can translate into regular painting. The thing is working digitally has one major advantage over working traditionally. That for some people can really make a huge difference and that is the fact that you cannot do wrong. Literally everything you do is reversible and you don't have to worry about messing anything up because you can always make a copy and try stuff out or just undo things. In terms of motivation, stress, frustration this makes a huge difference. But not only that the fact that you can't mess up also allows you to be more experimental and try stuff out. One of the most essential parts of any creative process. This is of course easier said than done when working traditionally. For many artists without experience the next brush stroke that is going to completely ruin the painting is often just around the corner. But with digital art you don't have that problem at all. You can try things out, experiment, create variations of one and the same painting or just enjoy the safety of the undo button and paint away. It's a fantastic way to learn new things, to explore and also adapt a more laid-back attitude when it comes to making art which in my book is absolutely essential. Now i have to say that i'm probably not using the program to its full potential. I mean i'm pretty sure i'm not. There are many things that i would have liked to do but i just couldn't figure out how to create some effects. As i already mentioned when it comes to digital art i'm a total beginner and amateur. But you know what? I also think this kind of played out to my advantage in the end because i didn't feel overwhelmed by all the endless options and i could focus on what's really important. Another great thing about working digitally came into play when i painted some of the hair strands and some of the details. The cool thing is that you can put some of the details on top of your painting without running the risk of ruining anything. While painting the hair for example this was especially helpful because i could just try out brush strokes until i found the perfect ones. And one of my absolute favorite features has got to be the time-lapse recording. Clip Studio allows you to record a time-lapse video of your process that you can then share online or use and study your own progress and how you can improve on it. It's super useful and it's incredibly satisfying to watch. I have to say i'm quite surprised how similar this painting turned out to my regular paintings. Sure it's not perfect and there are a ton of things that i could improve on but hey this is my first digital work of art so what can you expect? If you have any tips or tricks for creating art digitally feel free to let me know in the comments down below. Check out Clip Studio Paint if you want to give it a try yourself. You can find a link in the description below and much thanks to them for sponsoring this video. I had a blast creating this work of art and yeah stay creative have a wonderful inspiring day and i'll see you in the next video friends. Have a good one.