When artists make art using digital tools, is there an “original” we can talk about? I am conducting a test
My relationship with digital art making
The 11" iPad Pro came out in 2018 featuring the Apple Pencil 2. I immediately bought one. It wasn’t my first one, but the new pencil and specs made it a big thing. I knew I’d end up swapping my Photoshop + Wacom setup and it took me only a few months to do ALL my client and personal work on the iPad. I even wrote a piece about using the ipad as a sketchbook that still gets lots of readers today (it’s actually due for a review).
In the 7 years I have worked digital only, I have mostly encountered pleasure and advantages. By making all my drawings on the iPad, I can do so much I can’t when working with ink and paper:
- Send work to my international clients in seconds after completion
- Amend illustrations from wherever, whenever, if needed
- Keep things tidy; an original paper archive is a nightmare to keep
- Desk stays clean too
- Change, mix or try new techniques on the fly, without needing to go to the art supply store or the nightmares of trying for instance watercolours on a too thin paper, or painting over an ink that is not water resistant
- Being able to draw anywhere with the lightest setup. Even in the dark.
But of course artists will find thousand reasons to keep using analogue media, and I will vehemently agree and applaud their decision. Especially the last stage of making something analog: having a final piece in your hands has a charm, a innate power that is hard to beat.
To be able to hold, smell and touch it, that is ✨magic✨.
And this is one of the shortcomings of working digital; it’s what holds many back to go fully digital when creating artworks. Something I can fully understand… of course you want to have an original to show for the work you’ve put in.
The $ Factor vs the What It Takes Factor
If you are a drawer like me, it seems impossible to sell your work for the same price someone would ask for similar art on paper or canvas. The end result seems to be “not there” in a physical form: it’s just a file, a computer sandwich of zeros and ones. Something as trivial, priceless and fragile as any of the 3.2 billion images that are posted online every day (by 2020 data).
But I see that file as the negative of a not-yet developed photographic image. It’s very important for sure, but it’s not the photo.
If we set all the market considerations aside and just look at the work an artist has put in to finishing a piece, I think it’s unfair to create a distinction between analog and digitally made art. I am confident to say both the analog and the digital artist have put the same amount of effort, sweat, love and tears into their work.
Perception
In my humble opinion — and I am not an expert by a long long shot, the problem stems from the perception of value vs the real value of art. From what I have learned, art is only worth what others (usually not the artist) think it’s worth. Many factors like career, earlier exhibitions, awards, museum shows etc will elevate the cache of an artist and that will determine the price of an artwork. Obviously the price will also be prone to be inflated, elevated (or sunk) for the interests of all the parts involved in the buying and selling side of art, with little regard for the artists or the work themselves.
“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”
Oscar Wilde in The Picture of Dorian Gray
I think we can establish most artists that are successful, they are good at doing business too — or have someone helping them doing so. Many talents are to be needed if you want to be a successful artist.
The value of a print
When a digital artist tries to sell their work there’s a lot of reticency for buyers to pay the same for a print as they would for an oil on canvas or a watercolour on paper. Naturally; a print is by definition a copy of the artwork. There is no such thing as an original and in theory you could make endless exact copies of it, hence the value is perceived as less.
For me, if you really like an artwork and you know there’s only one copy of it, it would have the same value wether it’s a high quality print on paper or a oil on canvas.
The maths of UNIQUE prints versus limited editions
Unique prints by Hockney can sell for millions of dollars at auction. The auction record is Piscine De Medianoche (Paper Pool 30), which sold in 2018 for $11.7million. Editioned prints, meanwhile, can sell for six-figure sums. In 2022, signed limited edition of an iPad made David Hockney drawing sold for anywhere between around $1,270 and $640,000 at auction. (Source)
Of course, we are talking about a master as David Hockney, but the point is, there’s a way to make a unique piece from a digital painting. Other artists will print a limited edition and embellish the prints by hand separately, resulting in different artworks in fact. This seems to be equally valid way of giving more value to a print.
How I intend to sell my one-of-a-kind art pieces
We understand the originality and uniqueness of an artwork as the introduction of new or unique ideas, as well as the fact that the work is created entirely by the hand of an artist and exists in a single copy.
These points determine the uniqueness of an art piece:
- Its provenance (which links the physical object of art to its creator),
- the creative process prior to the creation of the piece,
- its connection to tradition and authenticity,
- and the fact that the final piece is unique, ergo no other copies are available.
Having all these into account and for my upcoming show in Paris* I made 14 drawings and 10 sculptures which will be only available for sale at the Un Jour Une Illustration Gallery in a limited edition of ONE. That’s it. They will never be printed in other editions or ways. Sure you will see them on instagram and on my website, even there will be postcards available, much as you will find Van Gogh’s sunflowers on umbrellas. But the person who buys this print will own the original to all effects. It’s a matter of trust that they believe my solemn promise tthat I will keep the edition at just this one print.
Naturally all prints are numbered 1/1 and signed by me. They are all coated with a protective spray to fix colours and prevent fading, fingerprints, scratches and damage caused by UV light. I am making all possible efforts to make them as unique and durable as technically possible.
Wish me luck.
I wrote this all to clear my head but also to share with the world that there might be more ways to reward artists for their work according to their effort. The tools they use should be of no importance.
*BONJOUR PARIS show will run at the Un Jour Une Illustration Gallery in Paris feb 10th — 29th. 3 rue Augereau in Paris (5 minutes away from the Eiffel Tower), where you will be able to find 14 unique prints and 10 unique scultpures amongst other limited edition prints, books and some clothing. You can download here the Collector’s Catalogue.