Tradigital art
Encyclopedia
Tradigital art most commonly refers to art
(including animation
) that combines both traditional and computer-based techniques to implicate an image. It is related to digital art
, traditional art, information art
, new media art
, video art
, interactive art
, and internet art
.
Artist and teacher Judith Moncrieff first coined the term. In the early 1990s, while an instructor at the Pacific Northwest College of Art
, Moncrieff invented and taught a new digital medium called "Tradigital". The school held a competition between Moncrieff's students, who used the medium to electronically combine everything from photographs of costumes to stills from videotapes of performing dancers. Moncrieff also referred to her business entity (formerly "Moncrieff Studios") as "Tradigital Imaging" around the same period.
Moncrieff was one of five founding members of the digital art collective called "Unique Editions". These five artists—Helen Golden, Bonny Lhotka, Dorothy Krause, Judith Moncrieff, and Karin Schminke—combined their expertise in traditional studio media and techniques with digital imaging
to produce original fine art and editions. The artists met in June, 1994, at "Beyond the Digital Print", a workshop organized by Krause at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. The artists' varied backgrounds are evident in their mixed media approach to using the computer as an art-making tool. Although every image is conceived and executed at least in part on the computer, the range of work includes one of a kind paintings, collages, Polaroid and image transfers, monotypes and prints on such varied substrates as canvas, handmade paper, and embossed metal. Moncrieff used the term "Tradigital media" to describe this merging of traditional and digital tools and "tradigitalism" as a name for this emerging movement. Unique Editions also served as a research and public relations entity for exploring technologies and promoting digital art. The group forged links with hardware and software developers in an effort to provide feedback on their products from the artist's perspective. It served as a demonstration to the rest of the art world of the role of digital technologies in the artist's studio. Unique Editions became inactive in 1997; however, Golden and Moncrieff continued to work together under the name, "Tradigital Fine Art".
Independently in the early 1990s, artist Lisa Wray
was developing the fine art style she calls "Renaissance of Metaphysical Imagery". Prototypes were made for each work from color copies, color photos or film negatives made in her graphic arts darkroom. In 1990, she visited the only two places in the country with proprietary computer systems capable of assembling her prototypes: Raphael Digital Transparencies in Houston Texas, and Dodge Color Laboratories in Washington D.C. The first two prototypes, Brew of Life and Fantasy, were assembled by Dodge Color Laboratories on a Superset machine that was first developed by the Department of Defense. The final art was archived on 1" magnetic tape, and then output as an 11x14” color film transparency. Lisa discovered Judith Montcrieff and her pioneering efforts with Unique Editions and Tradigital Fine Art, in the early 1990s, found the term, "Tradigital", and also used the term to describe her own work.
In 2002, "tradigital" went mainstream when Jeffrey Katzenberg
used the term tradigital animation to refer to the blending of computer animation with classical cell animation techniques, "a seamless blend of two-dimensional and three-dimensional animation techniques". He mentioned as examples such animation films as Toy Story
, Antz
, Shrek
, Ice Age (film)
, and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
. He believed that Walt Disney
(a traditional art animator) would approve of the changes in the way cartoons are made today. Animation World Magazine describes tradigital television, and the impact of tradigital animation on pre- and post-production processes for television shows.
Tradigital printing is an experimental approach to printmaking
with contemporary technology. In one form of tradigital printing, printmakers use computers to generate positives for UV photo transfer to plates and screens. In another form, digital print output incorporating silkscreen, relief or intaglio
techniques is the focus. For example, the Josephine Press uses a process that combines the use of archival digital prints with traditional techniques such as intaglio, woodcut
s, lithographs, and all of the other traditional printmaking methods. The process allows the artist to create a multi-color image without using a four-plate process. In addition to more efficient registration, the artist can work with collage and other mixed media works that can be scanned and reproduced in an archival manner. Tradigital printing greatly expands the possibilities of image-making while still producing an original hand pulled, limited edition, fine art print.
A recent Wall Street Journal article hailed tradigital creatives as the "voice of tomorrow", contrasting them with both "traditionalists" and "digitalists", and identifying several distinguishing characteristics of the new art/marketing medium: voices not eyeballs; experience not messages; community not communication; utility and solutions not cleverness; collaborative not silo thinkers.
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
(including animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
) that combines both traditional and computer-based techniques to implicate an image. It is related to digital art
Digital art
Digital art is a general term for a range of artistic works and practices that use digital technology as an essential part of the creative and/or presentation process...
, traditional art, information art
Information art
Information art is an emerging field of electronic art that synthesizes computer science, information technology, and more classical forms of art, including performance art, visual art, new media art and conceptual art...
, new media art
New media art
New media art is a genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology...
, video art
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
, interactive art
Interactive art
Interactive art is a form of installation-based art that involves the spectator in a way that allows the art to achieve its purpose. Some installations achieve this by letting the observer or visitor "walk" in, on, and around them; Some others ask the artist to become part of the artwork.Works of...
, and internet art
Internet art
Internet art is a form of digital artwork distributed via the Internet. This form of art has circumvented the traditional dominance of the gallery and museum system, delivering aesthetic experiences via the Internet. In many cases, the viewer is drawn into some kind of interaction with the work...
.
Background
Pacific Northwest College of Art
The Pacific Northwest College of Art is a private fine art and design college in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Established in 1910, the art school grants bachelor of fine arts degrees and master of fine arts degrees and has an enrollment of about 550 students...
, Moncrieff invented and taught a new digital medium called "Tradigital". The school held a competition between Moncrieff's students, who used the medium to electronically combine everything from photographs of costumes to stills from videotapes of performing dancers. Moncrieff also referred to her business entity (formerly "Moncrieff Studios") as "Tradigital Imaging" around the same period.
Moncrieff was one of five founding members of the digital art collective called "Unique Editions". These five artists—Helen Golden, Bonny Lhotka, Dorothy Krause, Judith Moncrieff, and Karin Schminke—combined their expertise in traditional studio media and techniques with digital imaging
Digital imaging
Digital imaging or digital image acquisition is the creation of digital images, typically from a physical scene. The term is often assumed to imply or include the processing, compression, storage, printing, and display of such images...
to produce original fine art and editions. The artists met in June, 1994, at "Beyond the Digital Print", a workshop organized by Krause at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. The artists' varied backgrounds are evident in their mixed media approach to using the computer as an art-making tool. Although every image is conceived and executed at least in part on the computer, the range of work includes one of a kind paintings, collages, Polaroid and image transfers, monotypes and prints on such varied substrates as canvas, handmade paper, and embossed metal. Moncrieff used the term "Tradigital media" to describe this merging of traditional and digital tools and "tradigitalism" as a name for this emerging movement. Unique Editions also served as a research and public relations entity for exploring technologies and promoting digital art. The group forged links with hardware and software developers in an effort to provide feedback on their products from the artist's perspective. It served as a demonstration to the rest of the art world of the role of digital technologies in the artist's studio. Unique Editions became inactive in 1997; however, Golden and Moncrieff continued to work together under the name, "Tradigital Fine Art".
Independently in the early 1990s, artist Lisa Wray
Lisa Wray
Lisa Wray is a Pennsylvania-based artist, and one of the early pioneers of visual graphic media arts. Her works can be viewed as tradigital art and metaphysical art. Wray graduated from the Hussian School of Art, Philadelphia in 1979, where she studied commercial and fine art. She was a freelance...
was developing the fine art style she calls "Renaissance of Metaphysical Imagery". Prototypes were made for each work from color copies, color photos or film negatives made in her graphic arts darkroom. In 1990, she visited the only two places in the country with proprietary computer systems capable of assembling her prototypes: Raphael Digital Transparencies in Houston Texas, and Dodge Color Laboratories in Washington D.C. The first two prototypes, Brew of Life and Fantasy, were assembled by Dodge Color Laboratories on a Superset machine that was first developed by the Department of Defense. The final art was archived on 1" magnetic tape, and then output as an 11x14” color film transparency. Lisa discovered Judith Montcrieff and her pioneering efforts with Unique Editions and Tradigital Fine Art, in the early 1990s, found the term, "Tradigital", and also used the term to describe her own work.
Other uses of the term
Since then, use of the term has greatly expanded to include other art forms.In 2002, "tradigital" went mainstream when Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg
Jeffrey Katzenberg is an American film producer and CEO of DreamWorks Animation. He is perhaps most famous for his period as chairman of The Walt Disney Company's film division, and for producing DreamWorks animated films such as Shrek, Antz, The Prince of Egypt, The Road to El Dorado, Chicken...
used the term tradigital animation to refer to the blending of computer animation with classical cell animation techniques, "a seamless blend of two-dimensional and three-dimensional animation techniques". He mentioned as examples such animation films as Toy Story
Toy Story
Toy Story is a 1995 American computer-animated film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is Pixar's first feature film as well as the first ever feature film to be made entirely with CGI. The film was directed by John Lasseter and featuring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen...
, Antz
Antz
Antz is a 1998 American computer animated action adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation. It features the voices of well-known actors such as Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Bancroft, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, and Danny Glover as...
, Shrek
Shrek
Shrek is a 2001 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!...
, Ice Age (film)
Ice Age (film)
Ice Age is a 2002 American computer-animated film created by Blue Sky Studios and released by 20th Century Fox. It was directed by Carlos Saldanha and Chris Wedge from a story by Michael J. Wilson. The story follows three Paleolithical mammals attempting to return a lost human baby to its parents...
, and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is a 2002 American animated film that was released by DreamWorks. It follows the adventures of a young Kiger mustang stallion living in the 19th century wild west. The film, written by John Fusco and directed by Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook, was nominated for the...
. He believed that Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
(a traditional art animator) would approve of the changes in the way cartoons are made today. Animation World Magazine describes tradigital television, and the impact of tradigital animation on pre- and post-production processes for television shows.
Tradigital printing is an experimental approach to printmaking
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
with contemporary technology. In one form of tradigital printing, printmakers use computers to generate positives for UV photo transfer to plates and screens. In another form, digital print output incorporating silkscreen, relief or intaglio
Intaglio (printmaking)
Intaglio is a family of printmaking techniques in which the image is incised into a surface, known as the matrix or plate, and the incised line or area holds the ink. Normally, copper or zinc plates are used as a surface, and the incisions are created by etching, engraving, drypoint, aquatint or...
techniques is the focus. For example, the Josephine Press uses a process that combines the use of archival digital prints with traditional techniques such as intaglio, woodcut
Woodcut
Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...
s, lithographs, and all of the other traditional printmaking methods. The process allows the artist to create a multi-color image without using a four-plate process. In addition to more efficient registration, the artist can work with collage and other mixed media works that can be scanned and reproduced in an archival manner. Tradigital printing greatly expands the possibilities of image-making while still producing an original hand pulled, limited edition, fine art print.
A recent Wall Street Journal article hailed tradigital creatives as the "voice of tomorrow", contrasting them with both "traditionalists" and "digitalists", and identifying several distinguishing characteristics of the new art/marketing medium: voices not eyeballs; experience not messages; community not communication; utility and solutions not cleverness; collaborative not silo thinkers.
Tradigital artists
- Judith Moncrieff
- Helen Golden
- Lisa WrayLisa WrayLisa Wray is a Pennsylvania-based artist, and one of the early pioneers of visual graphic media arts. Her works can be viewed as tradigital art and metaphysical art. Wray graduated from the Hussian School of Art, Philadelphia in 1979, where she studied commercial and fine art. She was a freelance...
- Dorothy Krause
- Bonny Lhotka
- Belle Twigg
- Karin Schminke
- Merrill Kazanjian
- Nathaniel SternNathaniel SternNathaniel Stern is an interdisciplinary artist who works in a variety of media, including interactive art, public art interventions, installation, video art, net.art and printmaking...
See also
- Art softwareArt softwareGraphic art software is a subclass of application software used for graphic design, multimedia development, specialized image development, general image editing, or simply to access graphic files...
- Computer artComputer artComputer art is any art in which computers play a role in production or display of the artwork. Such art can be an image, sound, animation, video, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, videogame, web site, algorithm, performance or gallery installation...
- Digital artDigital artDigital art is a general term for a range of artistic works and practices that use digital technology as an essential part of the creative and/or presentation process...
- New Media ArtNew media artNew media art is a genre that encompasses artworks created with new media technologies, including digital art, computer graphics, computer animation, virtual art, Internet art, interactive art, computer robotics, and art as biotechnology...
- Internet artInternet artInternet art is a form of digital artwork distributed via the Internet. This form of art has circumvented the traditional dominance of the gallery and museum system, delivering aesthetic experiences via the Internet. In many cases, the viewer is drawn into some kind of interaction with the work...
- Electronic artElectronic artElectronic art is a form of art that makes use of electronic media or, more broadly, refers to technology and/or electronic media. It is related to information art, new media art, video art, digital art, interactive art, internet art, and electronic music...
- Systems artSystems artSystems art is art influenced by cybernetics, and systems theory, which reflects on natural systems, social systems and social signs of the art world itself....
- CyberartsCyberartsCyberarts or cyberart refers to the class of art produced with the help of computer software and hardware; often with an interactive or multimedia aspect...
- Computer art sceneComputer art sceneThe phrase computer art scene, or artscene for short, refers to a community of individuals and groups that are both interested and active in the creation of computer-based artwork.-Early computer art:...
- Computer graphicsComputer graphicsComputer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....
- Digital illustrationDigital illustrationComputer illustration or digital illustration is the use of digital tools to produce images under the direct manipulation of the artist, usually through a pointing device such as a tablet or a mouse. It is distinguished from computer-generated art, which is produced by a computer using mathematical...
- Digital paintingDigital paintingDigital painting is an emerging art form in which traditional painting techniques such as watercolor, oils, impasto, etc. are applied using digital tools by means of a computer, a digitizing tablet and stylus, and software. Traditional painting is painting with a physical medium as opposed to a...
- Software artSoftware artSoftware art refers to works of art where the creation of software, or concepts from software, play an important role; for example software applications which were created by artists and which were intended as artworks. As an artistic discipline software art has attained growing attention since the...