Digital Art in its various forms

If any of you are like me, you probably wonder what digital art is exactly... Put simply, any art created utilizing digital tools, such as a computer, qualifies as digital art. But what about the various types of digital art? and what about art that is only half done on the computer, or art that is altered in photoshop or using a similar program.

Wikipedia defines digital art this way:

"Digital art is an umbrella term for a range of artistic works and practices that exploit digital technology. Since the 1970s various names have been used to describe what is now called digital art including computer art and multimedia art but digital art is itself placed under the larger umbrella term new media art."

Here is a brief introduction to the main types Digital Art you will run across in the realm of computers:

Computer generated visual media can be broken down into two basic categories in terms of source data representation. Raster graphics (or bitmap) and Vector graphics. Raster graphics are generated using colorized dots called pixels that compose an image and is generally used for 2d Art. Vector graphics rather, are generated using mathematical algorithms to represent images using lines, curves, polygons, and shapes. Generally used in 3d Art.

Application:

Vector graphics are often used in flash animation, 3D graphics and print illustrations and graphics. Raster graphics are often used in mobile phone video games, web pages, and in creating textures for 3d Art. Bitmap art does not scale well because resizing them enlarges the original pixels and they become blocky or fuzzy looking. Vector art will scale indefinitely because it uses formula based methods to redraw the image as it is resized. Vector images are often more simplistic than pixel images however. Vector images are often used in creating images for the web, but must first be converted to raster before being uploaded to the web. The exception to this is flash files which often contain vector-based images. Because vector images are scalable they are used in print advertising and logos which often need to be scaled to large sizes.

Still art

We'll assume for now that you're interested in still art (as opposed to animation or movies) so you'll most likely want to be doing digital painting, or vector illustration. The most popular programs used for these kinds of art are Adobe Photoshop for digital painting and Adobe Illustrator for Vector Illustrations. Below is an example of each:

Vector

click image for full view

Bitmap

click image for full view

(There is also a 3rd type - 3d art stills, which is art created using 3d software and captured in still format, which is sort of a combination of two data types, vector is used for the generation of the 3d models and bitmap textures are used to apply color, texture and detail. But I will save that for a future post as it is quite an in-depth subject by itself.)

As you can see, the vector image has much crisper edges and in general consists of fewer colors with the exception of gradient schemes. It is characterized by blocks and shapes of color, and very sharp lines.
If you are looking for something that more approximates the look of traditional painting or the idea of coloring your existing artwork on the computer appeals to you, you'll want to stick with the bitmap data structure. If you are interested in very clean simple and colorful illustrations that pop, or you want to get into commercial art/ logo design, then vector illustration may be the correct route for you. Each have pros and cons and are different to work with. If you are unsure, then as an artist, I recommend you try both. Here are some great free software alternatives to get you started:

Illustrator Alternative -http://www.inkscape.org/
Photoshop Alternative -http://www.gimp.org/