Traditionally a painting's graphical prowess has been determined solely by the number of hues it was able to push on the canvas. Everything was about the latest and greatest technology and the everlasting quest to attain life-like graphical output in real-time. While this quest is a noble one, I don't feel that it will truly pave the future of graphics in painting.
The oil-on-canvas with its underpowered graphical prowess has already provided painters with some of the best looking paintings of this generation. How is this possible, one might ask? Simple, outstanding art direction. We have seen pictures like The Kramer, Monet Bridge, Madonna & Child, de cubism, and the upcoming Kinkade Cottage by the Stream. Every one of these paintings oozes with style and has a very distinctive artistic style that allows its lackluster graphics to outshine the palette-pushers of some of the other mediums.
Of course this isn't anything new, but only now has it become clearly apparent with the paper napkin and sketch pad significantly underpowered when stacked against their rival easels. Not only will the stylistic presentation of paintings with great art direction outshine most "realistic" portraits, but they will likely stand the test of time as well. As technology pushes forward, these paintings will simply be seen as relics of the past, artifacts of a time when shader technology was only capable of doing so much.
I think the perfect example of this can be seen when looking at Potato Eaters and Starry Night. Granted Potato Eaters still looks great, but Starry Night is literally breathtaking and its stylistic approach to the sky will always be remembered and revered.
I can only hope that more paint designers start to see this simple fact and adjust their goals to achieve great art rather than great graphics. While this approach shouldn't and won't work for everyone, it would be nice to see a longer list of artists who take the stylistic approach rather than the realistic one.
Topic: Painting's Graphical Future (Read 2620 times)
