David Apatoff at Illustration Art has a wonderful essay on what may be lost with digital art. I flip back and forth. A mental list of my favorite contemporary illustrators is a mix of digital and traditional....in fact, many fo them mix the two within the same work. As someone that loves to experience original paintings, I am sad to see exhibits of print-outs and posters, but as someone that also loves to see wonderful illustration out in the world, digital or traditional doesn’t matter to me.
I realize that, eventually, illustration will move and project and spin like a Bladerunner set.....but I do find it interesting that most of the digital artists I know regret, to some degree, that they are not painting traditionally. Certainly not all, but, many want to return to oils "at some point."To my mind, this does not diminish their digital accomplishments but it does testify to the idea that there is something so deeply personal about being able to stand in front of a hand made object....something that cannot be duplicated by a machine.