Reply #8: Philosophy aside.....It's a painting IMO

[Armstead]

I'll leave definitions of art aside and focus on your question about whether it is painting or not.
I do a lot of digital painting, and I've wrestled with whether or not it's legitimate "painting" or not.

Here's my own thoughts and arbitrary definition. I've decided that using digital paint tools IS painting IF one does as much of it by hand and with as little cheating as possible. Then it is similar to the variations among non-digital tools. It's just using a different medium and material, like the difference between a watercolor and an oil painting.

First, it does look like your picture is a painting, because you created the picture and did the physical work of finishing it up.

What it boils down to, IMO, is whether the process relies on the work of others or if it is the result of your own eye, ideas, skills and physical creative process.

By painting "by hand" I mean that you manually conceive of and create the shapes and do the finish work manually using a mouse or digital pen as you would a physical brush or pen. Or starting with a pencil sketch, scanning it in and manually painting over that digitally.

By "cheating" I mean using automated processes, such as settings that automatically create pre-defined textures or shapes for you, or which create lighting and color shapes.

For example, cheating is when you paint a hillside by making a raw shape, and then easily fill it in with a foliage brush that automatically lays down the look of leaves. But if you use a straight brush (or variant of traditional brush) to create the colors and shadings and variations of form yourself, that's genuine painting.

It's not necessarily either/or, of course. I think it's still painting if you tweak the colors or other minor refinements. The degree is what defines it.

In other words, it's like the difference between writing on a typewriter and a word processing software. The word processor can make the process of writing much easier, and it gives a lot more flexibility and ability to correct mistakes. But it is still writing, as long as you are using your own thoughts and words. Same with digital paint software.