Art begins and ends with emotion. Everything in between is the technology of creating art.
There are many forms of art. Novels tell stories with words. Graphic novels are stories with words and pictures. Movies tell stories via pictures and sound. Plays tell stories on stage. Music bring art through sound. Dancers create art through movement.
Art is the creative expression of our ideas and feelings.
There are many periods of art, such as Classical, Byzantine, neo-Classical, Romantic, Modern and post-Modern. Today, we are in the period of pluralism; where art is depicted in multiple mediums. And, Today’s style of art incorporates the styles of the masters from the previous periods — but, using modern tools.
The tools and medium — the technology we used to create art — have evolved with the artists. We don’t have to use charred sticks to draw figures on a cave wall. Artists don’t need to create their own brushes or mediums, such as canvas and paint. We no longer need to use film to create a beautiful photograph.
It is not about how the art is created — whether we chisel it from stone or use a 3D printer. Art is about the content and intention. It’s not about how the artist mastered their tools; but more about how well the artist used the tools to deliver the images from his/her soul.
Modern tools free up artists of the tedious tasks — such as using a ruler to create straight lines or drawing 24 frames to produce one second of moving pictures –to allow them to focus more on the intent and content of their work.
Graphic novels represent the earliest form of story telling. It combines words and drawings to form the story. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a page full of pictures is worth thousands of words.
Printing technology and graphic software has given the graphic novelist the ability to push the medium to new heights. Enabling the graphic novel to be more about its artistic value and storytelling, and less about how to get all of those drawings onto printing plates.
For the graphic novelist, like any artist, it’s about getting that story and its artwork out their heads and into books for people to enjoy. Today’s tools help us streamline the workflow to make it happen faster.
