Still-Life.jpg, September 2021
Digital media
In the Still-Life.jpg series, I experimented with technology and digital tools in an endeavor to create an artwork. Through the process of constructing drawings with computer technology, I tried various techniques to develop a cohesive visual experience for this collection of works. In general, the digital medium is attributed to images from photography or video, where such content produced can be duplicated, edited, manipulated, and rearranged according to a linear sequence. Rather than using captured images that are digitalized, I sought to create the works from scratch, making the first mark with a single color applied through pen and tablet on a new blank file in the SketchBook app. By utilizing media dependent on technology to draw the subjects, I wanted to observe the characteristics of a digital medium through the process of creating these computer-based works.
Unlike more traditional forms of media, like graphite or oil paint, the digital works were drawn with a device that transfers data to perform the functions constituting the software interface. As qualities of oil paint allow for colors to be mixed to make a palette and qualities of pastel allow for kinds of blending methods, the digital medium also exhibits certain traits distinctive to technology. Through the medium, I found that colors remained unaltered even when different layers were applied and that I could use pure color and unblended brushstrokes very easily without the marks reacting to another. Instead, opacity and sequence were the main factors that influenced my digital media experimentation. The series can be viewed as attempts of trying to produce an artwork through a digital medium.
