You Can Make Great Art with Tech You Already Have

If you are thinking about Steve Jobs quotes, you are the winner. Here is part of the quote:

“We’ve always tried to be at the intersection of technology and liberal arts, to be able to get the best of both…”

You don’t have to be a personal computing visionary to echo this sentiment. It is an undeniable fact that technology and art have been on a collision course for a while. Rather than think of it as an inevitable collision, it is probably better to think of it as a marriage made in heaven. 

It is not a new phenomenon. Technology and art have always been inextricably entwined. One cannot sketch out a simple carving on a cave wall without having a tool that could leave a lasting impression on the rocks. Tools used by artists have always been among the most interesting technologies available at the time. We have made art out of every material we can. Some forms of art such as architecture require the highest forms of technology available. To be a contemporary artist, we have to also be comfortable with contemporary tech. Here are a few examples of high-tech art tools you might already have:

Drawing Tablets

You can get professional digital drawing tablets from companies like Cintiq. Artists swear by them. Artists also swear by the iPad Pro. It is a reasonable bet that more artists incorporate the iPad and Apple Pencil into their workflow than other options. It is the tablet they already have. You can see their work all over YouTube. What you don’t see on YouTube is the pain all stylus users have after a long session of drawing. RSI and carpal tunnel are among the greatest threats to the artistic enterprise. Good art hurts to produce. No one tells you about that when you are new to the field.

It is common for users of this tech to have at least one opiate prescription. It might start out with something as basic as tramadol. But after the first surgery, it escalates. Eventually, the doctor stops prescribing anything and that’s when you discover you might have a problem. If you need help, learn how rehab works with insurance. The key to working with this tool is to set limits. It is so fun and easy that you want to use it all the time. Change hand position frequently. And be sure to take frequent breaks. Do not allow yourself to be consumed by your art. A little balance and perspective go a long way.

Smartphone Cameras

You can make amazing photo books for the coffee table with pictures you took from your smartphone camera. If you want to do something a bit more advanced, try making a movie. 

These 11 films shot on smartphones do not exhaust the category. They don’t even include the latest award-winning offerings. It goes to prove that you don’t need a multi-million dollar equipment budget and an overpaid director to tell compelling stories using video as your medium. Your camera need not be exorbitantly expensive. What you really need is talent in front of and behind whatever camera you have, and an instinct for good storytelling. 

You should probably spend more on software than your camera equipment. A good exercise for the aspiring videographer is to take whatever camera you have and make a compelling film that your bone-headed friends would actually want to watch. If you can pull that off, you probably have what it takes to justify your next camera purchase. 

Social Media

Once you have created your masterpiece, how will you get the word out? In the ago times, that was quite the challenge. Today, it is as easy as Pinterest, TikTube, Instabook and Twittergram – something like that. You can gain a following without getting picked up by an art gallery. There are social media outlets for all kinds of art. Let’s not even bring up NFTs. Even artists are rethinking the definition of art. Every tool from a paintbrush to a chainsaw is a state of the art tool of art for creating the next work of art. If pilots can write calligraphy with airplanes, you can make a film with a budget smartphone. 

Whether you use a drawing tablet, a smartphone camera, or a website, just remember it is not the tool or the tech that makes art. It is the soul of the artist.