Why is digital Illustration so popular?

Digital art, better known as digital Illustration, is the artistic work or practice where digital technology is used as part of the presentation or creative process. This phenomenon came to be back in the 60s and was embraced as a new form of art. Some artists and historians tend to believe that digital Illustration was initiated at the beginning of the 20th century and that it is a new way in which machines are used to create art. 

Different types of Digital Illustrations

With the advancement of digital illustrations, you will learn that there are different types that you will come across. This is also evident when you learn about illustrators, where an illustrator will focus on one form. Illustrators take help from illustration agencies to license their artwork. From a study by the Architecture Lab, they did an in-depth overview of fifteen types of digital art. Some of this entails digital collage, 3D printing, 2D digital painting, pixel art, digital photography, 3D computer graphics, and photo painting in a myriad of more. 

With digital art, different characters make it different from traditional art. When it comes to digital Illustration, it is done on a drawing tablet where a stylus is used as a pencil, brush, or blender. Digital art will also have elements like blend modes, paint bucket tools, reshaping, magic rulers, resizing, clipping masks, and layers. With these characters, the artist can add unique effects and have a new process for creating their art. This is why digital Illustration is used in doing animations, unlike traditional art. 

In this post, we will discuss why digital illustrations are being used more than ever and how they have become popular among corporates, schools and artists. 

Used as a Tool for Education

Did you have a picture book when you were young? That is a form of Illustration which aids a lot in educating a child and growing the human mind. Through Illustration, a child learns since a human brain perceives an image better than text and will probably stick to the mind for longer. This is the reason children’s books are colorful and vivid. Through illustrations, a child will learn sentences, actions, and words. 

When it comes to adult learning, illustrations are used in developing flowcharts or infographics. This kind of education will help learn more about a concept, scientific idea, or product. Illustrations are used in advertisements to create unique adverts that would be expensive if human beings were to be used. 

There is no need for art supplies

Artists will not need to order art supplies like canvas, paints, or brushes. This is one of the reasons you find new-age illustrators preferring the digital illustration way compared to traditional ways. These tools used in traditional Illustration are consumables, and one will need to order more with time than when you use the software. 

We cannot ignore that digital illustration tools are expensive at the beginning, but you will hardly be required to replace them. Compared to traditional Illustration, the only tool you might be required to replace from time to time will be the pen nib. It is clear that with digital Illustration, you will have less recurrent cost after the initial cost of acquiring the drawing tablet and software. 

Digital Illustrations in Advertising

The marketing department in any company spends millions in coming up with brand awareness campaigns and advertisements. This money is spent hiring celebrities and famous people in society to be their brand ambassadors or get featured in commercials. This can change if digital illustrations are to be used. You will end up spending less, and your creativity will be limitless. 

Digital illustrations were used a long time ago in marketing, and this is in the form of logos, websites, brochures, billboards, and animated videos. This has improved with time, and new methods are learned with more illustrators coming on board. 

Selfridges did a campaign where they brought on board some of the best creatives in the industry to come up with digital projects for their fashion line. This sparked a sprawl in the world of fashion and opened up the world of digital Illustration. These creatives were used to develop different Instagram and Facebook featured items available to buy online and in-store. The creatives that were developed gave an unusual take compared to traditional pictures of products. Selfridges used digital illustrations to give the developers freedom to allow for creativity and make things different compared to when they used images from the brand’s website to develop their ads for Facebook and Instagram. 

With the Coronavirus pandemic, digital illustrations have shown that businesses can still interact with their shoppers and offer a great experience. New possibilities and opportunities are still there to explore and learn even when physical boundaries are removed.