Friday, September 17, 2010

BP_8 Web 2.0 Art Rage 3


Art Rage 3 is the best draw/paint program I have ever used!  It is clearly evident that the developers modeled their digital tools from real life studio paraphernalia.  I’m impressed by the marks created by the paint tube, palette knife, and gloop pen tools.  Honorable mentions also go to the canvas positioner, trace function, and reference pin.  Many of the Art Rage tools carry several attributes of their analog sources.  Paintbrush actually runs out of paint.  Dry brushes are even capable of spreading preexisting paint.  When you are down you can share you work with the rest of the 11,000 images on the Art Rage online community site. 

Is this better then painting?  Yes, for one reason you have more tools to use for the cheap price of $80.  Compared to the cost of the real tools, this is a bargain.  Also With Art Rage 3 I was learning and producing at a faster rate of speed compared to analog work.  In addition, Art Rage has no clean up, no preparation time, and leaves zero carbon footprints.

What is Art Rage 3 missing?  Although the creativity is limitless by design, the media sufers a few limitations.  One example is the lack of a physical tactile experience with the surface.  This happens because you are limited to 2-D tools on a 2-D surface.  This is not a two-hands hands-on activity.  Values mix well but colors not so.  In one instance I was able to get yellow and light blue mixed to make green.  That can be seen in the top right corner of this blog’s picture.  In my opinion a strong arts background would consist of both analog and digital mediums.  Art Rage 3 would be one my choices for a digital medium.

1 comment:

  1. Torrey, this is a great find! I love this program too! It is so much easier to use that Illustrator and other professional programs. the graphical interface makes the functions much more accessible and relative to what you want to do. How easy it would be to have your students do a project at home without having to buy expensive software.
    I am not an artist but do design a fair amount of documents and sites and this tool will help me add some pop to what I can already do. maybe I'll even learn to make a painting suing digital media!

    ReplyDelete