The Digital Canvas is a visual celebration of onscreen creativity, encompassing everything from the imaginative manipulation of basic lines, shapes, textures, colours, and even text and interface elements, to bold artistic statements that utilize the full range of Photoshop, Illustrator, and Painter’s realistic pens, pencils, brushes, markers, and other tools. Drawing inspiration from a rich heritage of computer art – original Mandelbrot fractals, the work of groundbreaking experimental digital artists such as John Maeda, as well as today’s interactive art installations – it opens up a world of creative possibilities and reveals the computer as a truly creative tool.
Most importantly, The Digital Canvas shows that anyone can use a computer to make art. It demonstrates how easy it is to produce art on screen, either starting from scratch by drawing with a mouse or a graphics tablet, or by employing digital photographs or scanned images and objects as jumping-off points. And the book ranges in scope from simple techniques that employ inexpensive everyday software applications to more advanced methods that unveil hidden or overlooked features in popular imaging programs such as Photoshop and Painter.
The Digital Canvas is aimed at both beginners and accomplished artists, and will appeal to anyone who wants to transform photographs into works of art, create exciting digital images and animations, or experiment with the computer’s almost unlimited graphic potential.