The times have changed but the definition of art as the expression of one’s creative thinking, a substantiation of the ideas going on in one’s head, has remained the same. But then, the medium of expressing art has increased in modern times due to the increase in human general knowledge, the production of more art tools, and the invention of computers. Art expression has moved from cave art to oil painting on canvas down to computer arts. So, to keep up with modern art trends you need to know how to use one or more of the computer applications I am about to give you, very well. Having the knowledge of using these applications is going to give your portfolio a magnificent boost.
The list below includes apps in these categories – Graphics design, Image processing, Video editing, Game engine, Animation, Compositing/ Motion graphics, and Computer-generated imagery (CGI). The applications you should learn first as a computer arts beginner who wants to become a proud freelancer or get his or her first computer arts job are listed below with the main category they belong to in brackets.
- Adobe Photoshop (image processing/graphics design)
- Adobe Illustrator (graphics design)
- Adobe After effects (compositing/motion graphics)
- Krita (graphics design)
- Premiere pro (video editing)
- Corel draw (graphics design)
- Moho (2d animation)
- Microsoft word (word processing and simple graphics design)
- Blender (CGI)
- Unity (Game engine)
I will be talking about three of them here. One after the other, starting with Photoshop.
1. Adobe Photoshop
Do not be deceived its name, Photoshop is not in any way limited to usage photographers for editing pictures. The versatility of Photoshop is unrivaled in the creative industry. Adobe Photoshop is an all-in-one solution for many computer artists. Its usefulness spreads across various areas of art. Adobe Photoshop was primarily created as a tool to edit and enhance the quality of digital images, but it has evolved over time to become an essential tool in animation, 3d modeling, graphics design, web design, storyboard creation, character concept art design, digital painting, etc. In fact, it is also a very important tool used in filmmaking, you heard me right! A lot of people do not understand how Photoshop could be relevant in video making and animation, but when you remember that videos are a combination of a series of images taken in quick succession, Photoshop’s role becomes more visible.
Photoshop is used on raster art forms e.g., Jpeg image format files, but it now has some vector capabilities. It is true to say we now have numerous contenders (similar applications) that want to snatch the crown from Photoshop as the most versatile computer art tool of all time. e.g., Krita, but these computer art applications will have a hard time dethroning the all-time champion because of its seamless integration with other Adobe applications in their master collection of applications e.g. After Effects, Illustrator, Adobe premiere pro, etc.
Photoshop’s documentation is easily accessible online and there are countless numbers of study materials to choose from, ranging from free YouTube videos to lots and lots of free eBooks. Learning Photoshop comes with the reward of having plenty of learning materials at your fingertips. There are tons of free photoshop tutorials on YouTube for you if you have a monstrous appetite for freebies like most of us. You also have the option of getting more professionally created paid tutorials from most of the tutors who offer these free tutorials on YouTube, It’s often available for purchase on their websites. Many tutors on YouTube who offer free tutorials also offer more videos to those who support them financially on Patreon, an online service that allows content creators to get paid for any content they share with their subscribers.
So, if you are overwhelmed the number of applications you need to learn in order to be an independent computer arts generalist, just go for Photoshop.
This is the first part of this blog series, In the next part I’ll be introducing you to Adobe Illustrator, the next application on my “should learn” list.
Click here for the second part of this blog series