Fine Art with Photoshop

Signing Your Art - Where, How, and Why to Add a Signature
By Marion Boddy-Evans

Adding your signature to your art is like adding a stamp to it that reads "finished". It's a sign that you're satisfied with the piece and it is no longer consider it a work in progress.

Is It Really Necessary to Sign Your Work?
It's not a legal requirement, but if you don't add your name to the art how will anyone know who the artist is? You may argue that you've a very familiar style that people will recognize, but what if it's the first time someone's encountered your work? How will they find out who the artist is then? If it's hanging in a gallery it'll have a label with your name on it, but what if it's in the lounge of someone who's bought the piece and they can't remember who the artist was? Think about the works by famous artists which are 'rediscovered' every now and then; is this a fate you want to risk for your hard work?

What Should My Signature Look Like?
The most important thing is that it must be able legible. An illegible signature isn't a sign that you're extremely creative and it doesn't add a level of intrigue. You're the artist, so let it be known. But at the same time, don't make it look like you're using a stamp. You don't have to sign your whole name on the front, you could just put your initials but it's wise to put your full name on the back. The same applies if you use a symbol or monograph; people have to have some way of knowing what it stands for.

Should I Put a Date With My Signature?
Yes. The reason: when you first start creating you'll probably be able to keep track of your pieces - what went where - but wait until you've several years' worth of work, then you'll simply be unable to remember and will have to guess. Serious collectors and galleries like be able to see how an artist's work has developed over the years, so get into the habit of dating your work now. You don't have to put the date on the front, but could write it on the back (though once it's framed you may not be able to see it). Or put only the year on the front and the month and year you completed it on the back.

I don't buy the argument that putting a date on an art limits your potential to sell it. Art isn't like food, a product with a sell-buy date. If anyone asks why a piece from a few years back hasn't sold, tell them you'd kept it in your personal collection until now because you regard it as a key work.

Where Do I Put My Signature?
It's up to you, though traditionally a signature is put towards one of the bottom corners - either right or left side. A signature should be an integral part of a piece BUT NOT detract from the artwork. Be consistent about where you put your signature as then when someone next encounters a piece they think is by you, they know exactly where to look to check.

Matching the Work?
Having your signature 'match' the piece, rather than it looking like a later addition, also makes it less likely that someone will question the authenticity of the work at some future date (most likely after you're dead and your pieces have increased in value enormously). Keep it relatively small and/or put your full signature on the back as desired.

. What About Limited Edition Prints?
When you create a limited edition print, always indicate how many prints were made and the number of that particular print, for example 3/25 (the third print of a total of twenty-five), as well as signing it.

Source: About.com

A SIGNATURE POST-SCRIPT from MARY --
1. Whatever you do, DON'T sign the piece in an area that will INTERFERE WITH THE IMAGE. It is best to place it along the margin, preferrably in the lower right or left corner.

2. If you choose to sign the back, make sure that you use an archival material/ink/pencil to sign your pieces after production - avoid having the signature leech through the paper or canvas over time. You can also opt for a archival "label of authenticity" that includes an original signature on the back.

3. AVOID making the © COPYRIGHT emblem so large that it detracts from the work. Legally it doesn’t have to be large (or for that matter even visible), the key is to be able to prove the “creation date.” If worse comes to worse and your image is stolen, your digital file dates will confirm the origin of the artwork. If this seems inadequate to you, consider adding the © date and a typed version of your name to the image just below your signature in a much smaller font size. [Protect your images further with appropriate Copyright prose on each page of your website.]

An Insightful Conversation with the Author of “Digital Art Revolution:Changing Fine Art with Photoshop“
By Scott Ligon

MOCA: Where and how does digital fine art fit in to the long fine art tradition stretching back to the Renaissance and beyond?

SL: The principles of visual communication and self-expression haven’t changed. We arrange line, shape, color, etc. in a unified composition and it conveys a general quality or feeling that can be understood by the viewer, even while remaining something unique and personal, created by an individual. If we’re creating visual art on a computer, we’re still working with these same principles. What has changed is that digital technology has created revolutionary new possibilities in the way that these elements can be used.

MOCA: Why does Surrealism seem to have such a conspicuous place in digital art?

SL: This is a pretty non-intellectual answer, but I don’t think it has much to do with the philosophy of surrealism. Software such as Photoshop makes it possible to manipulate photographs in any number of ways. When surrealists created paintings they were manipulating paint to create the illusion of light and shadow. If we’re starting with photographic materials, which already contain light and shadow, we’re working “backwards”. A photo is already a representational depiction of objects in space. I think that the idea of starting with photographic materials makes it very inviting to put them together in strange ways and create surreal images. It’s a satisfying approach that can express an inner reality. There’s also humor in a picture that looks real but depicts an impossible situation or distortion of reality. That’s why people are emailing each other pictures of giant kittens attacking a city or something similar.

MOCA: Is there a market of any real or substantial size for digital print art? Can a fine artist make a living at it?

SL: The short answer to the second question is yes. Anything is possible, and making a living selling digital prints is not the most unlikely thing that could happen. Selling any kind of art for a living is a difficult proposition that requires a lot of hard work and persistence.

I think digital prints might be harder to sell in general for a few reasons. There’s no definable, tangible, one-of-a-kind original. Also, any “rarity” is artificial. You can make an infinite number of copies of any digital image and never lose any quality. We have to create artificial scarcity by printing a limited edition. This is basically the case with traditional printmaking too, of course, so it is a workable model.

What’s exciting to me is that there are other models for making a living as an artist that have been made possible by digital technology. This technology is not only a powerful tool for making art it’s also a powerful vehicle for the dissemination of ideas and the distribution of creative content. More and more, people are creating things that they are passionate about without thinking about money at all. They use digital tools to create things. They use digital means of distribution or social networking to make people aware of their work and then opportunities (and money) starts coming in as a result.

A few years ago, I created a short film called “Escape Velocity”. I sat in the living room with my family and, using a laptop, worked very hard for a couple of years creating this little animated film about my family. It was just something that interested me and I had absolutely no ambition, plan or hope to make any money with this digital film. The film toured all over the world, won a few awards and was picked up for distribution. I was able to travel all over the place with film festivals and the film started a career momentum that was indirectly responsible for my teaching job, my book, many lecture and exhibition opportunities and a lot of good friendships and collaborations. My success was very modest, of course. The only reason I use myself as an example is that I can truthfully say that I never expected the movie to be a path to material success. The film was just something I was intensely interested in and I wanted people to see it. If I‘d thought in terms of money or career I’d have never chosen the path I did. In fact, it’s very likely I would’ve made a more “practical” decision that would have resulted, ironically, in less success and opportunity. Doing something you love and giving it away is, I believe, rapidly becoming a realistic approach to a career in the arts. Uniqueness is the valuable commodity of the 21st century.

MOCA: It would seem that the taste-makers of modern art (museums such as MOMA, Whitney, SF Museum of Art, Walker Art Center, etc., curators and critics) don't give much credence (or exhibition space) to digital fine art, despite occasional and notable exceptions. How do you account for this?

SL:I hear complaints from both perspectives. Non-digital artists complain that digital art is new and hot and given precedence over traditional mediums. Digital artists complain about not being taken seriously or being excluded from various shows or venues. I’ve personally been interested in shows only to discover that there is a “no digital art” rule on the entry form. While there is some truth to both arguments, the larger truth is that there is room for everyone. Painting, drawing, sculpture, and traditional mediums in general, have intrinsic value and will never be replaced. There are countless opportunities for digital artists as well. There are many opportunities that are exclusively for digital artists.

Additionally, digital technology offers new ways for both traditional and digital artists to gain exposure for their art and by-pass traditional “gate keepers”. Digital technology has created an art market that is simultaneously fragmented and far-reaching with the result that there is at least a niche audience for just about every genre and approach.

MOCA: What of so-called web art and programmed art (often interactive, engaging the viewer) wherein the digital artist relies on HTML, Java Script and computer language to create his art? Does it not seem that university digital art departments, at least on the graduate levels, are forsaking fine digital art for the presumed higher intellectual and creative ground of programmed art?

SL: I have a couple of points on this subject. The first is that I have a pretty liberal definition of what constitutes fine art. Fine art, as I use the term in “Digital Art Revolution”, means art whose primary function is to communicate a quality or emotion to the viewer…art that uses the visual language as a means of self-expression, as opposed to art whose primary purpose is to sell real estate, for example. Programmed art, interactive art, and video art can still be classified as fine art as far as I am concerned. To the extent that these works are offering a visual experience, they are still using the same time-honored elements of the visual language as any other work. One of the revolutionary benefits of digital art is that it blurs the boundaries between mediums to the point of indistinction. When I am using my laptop I can create a still image or a moving image. It can have sound, it can tell a story, it can interact with the viewer. It could be ONLY sound, for that matter. These become choices in our toolbox rather than examples of different mediums.

Max Chandler, one of the artists whose work is featured in “Digital Art Revolution” builds little Lego robots and writes programs with variables that enable these robots to make very organic-looking physical paintings. The aesthetic judgment took place within the code, but the result was still a visual experience.

I think that you’re right, that grad programs tend to emphasize interactive or programmed art to a greater degree. I’ve noticed that too. Perhaps it’s regarded as more purely digital?

In any event, this leads me to my second point, which is that digital art is still a comparatively new idea. It is unique and unprecedented in art history because digital information has no inherent characteristics and yet it has vast and far-reaching potential. This potential is simply too new and too big for people to have formed a consensus of opinion. I am constantly surprised and delighted by the incredible, innovative ways that people are applying digital technology to creative endeavors. As artists explore and refine certain approaches to digital art, they are showing us what’s possible. It’s artists that are defining digital art. Museums, schools, galleries, art patrons will respond and catch up. I’m appreciative of organizations like yours that are drawing attention to digital art.

SCOTT LIGON is the author of “Digital Art Revolution, Creating Fine Art with Photoshop” available at AMAZON . He is an award-winning digital artist who frequently lectures on the subjects of creativity, filmmaking, and digital art. Ligon is the coordinator for the digital foundation curriculum at the Cleveland Institute of Art. www.digitalartrevolution.com

Interview conducted by Don Archer, Director, Museum of Computer Art

"Digital Art Revolution"
Book cover art, by Cindy Jerrell

A Cheap Way To Copyright

An “old-fashioned” but still effective way of safeguarding your copyright is to “mail” yourself - via your national postal service - a copy of your art on a DVD and/or via a print copy. The official postal date is a legal and binding date of ownership, but whatever you do, don’t open the package when it comes back to you! Note the contents within on the back of the envelope and file it away. Once opened the contents are no longer legally secure and therefore not viable.

What is a Museum?

"Museums collect and care for objects of scientific, artistic, or historical importance and make them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary.

Although most museums do not allow physical contact with the associated artifacts, there are some that are interactive and encourage a more hands-on approach. With the advent of the Internet, there are growing numbers of virtual exhibits, i.e. web versions of exhibits showing images and playing recorded sound.

Museums are usually not run for the purpose of making a profit, unlike private galleries which more often engage in the sale of objects. They are reputable and trusted sources of information about cultures and history.

Definitions include: 'permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits the tangible and intangible heritage of humanity and its environment, for the purposes of education, study, and enjoyment', by the International Council of Museums; and 'Museums enable people to explore collections for inspiration, learning and enjoyment. They are institutions that collect, safeguard and make accessible artifacts and specimens, which they hold in trust for society,' by the UK Museums Association."
[Source: Wikipedia]

The Museum of Computer Art (aka. MOCA) is the only digital art/web-museum of its kind. We are proudly dedicated to the presentation and preservation of all things digital art; Displays on MOCA are cultivated with the purpose of promoting and protecting the blossoming digital arts movement.

The museum is not your typical art community website. At MOCA the goals are to educate and motivate through visual exploration and resources, keeping current on today's art trends and needs. At the core of the museum is a secure and comprehensive array of magnificent art images having been protected and showcased now for nearly 20 years. The site is maintained and updated frequently assuring that the art received will get prompt public attention.

Our doors are always open -- So keep connected. Join us in making this a "living" site. Share your experiences, thoughts, questions and ideas -- we'll listen!
-- M

This page posted 27 April 2010
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