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How To Convert Traditional Artwork And Illustration To Digital Art

Creating digital art is a pretty popular way to get into artistic photography or illustration. It’s easy to start creating designs online, but what most people don’t realize is that you can make some serious money as an artist by translating your skills onto paper. There are many ways to do this outside of selling […]

By
LNGFRM Team
Published December 21, 2022

Creating digital art is a pretty popular way to get into artistic photography or illustration. It’s easy to start creating designs online, but what most people don’t realize is that you can make some serious money as an artist by translating your skills onto paper.

There are many ways to do this outside of selling your work directly from yourself. By offering your artistic talents as a service, you can create artwork and sell it either quickly or even remotely. This article will talk about two types of services that artists offer others: creative outsourcing and creative freelancing.

This article will also talk about another form of creative business- the t-shirt design company! As seen in the example below, t-shirts are quite popular marketable products that can be designed and printed professionally. But how would you go about designing your own shirt? Let us discuss.

Take a photo of your artwork with the digital camera

how to convert traditional artwork and illustration to digital art

After you have determined which styles of art are going to be converted, it is time to take some more specific steps. The first thing we will do is take a picture of your piece!

This can be done either with your smartphone or using an external hard drive and software that allows you to connect to your device via USB.

If taking photos with your phone, make sure to hold the device up next to the artwork so that you get quality pictures. There are many free apps available for both iOS and Android devices that allow you to easily edit and upload pictures.

And don’t forget to quickly swipe across the screen to remove any unwanted shadows.

Use a photo editing program to edit your photo

how to convert traditional artwork and illustration to digital art

There are many great free or low cost software programs that can be used to edit, enhance, and transform your pictures. Most of these have a variety of features such as color filters, special effects, textures, and even graphics you can add onto the picture.

Some of the most well-known image editing softwares include Photoshop, Gimp, and Pixlr-Whoa! These apps all offer different levels of customization for art lovers who want more control over their images.

There are several ways to use these applications to make beautiful digital artwork. Some artists start with a plain background and then layer additional styles and decorations on top. Or they may choose to work with one element like a person’s face before adding other touches.

Whatever style you prefer to work in, there are always tools available to get you started.

Use a photo editing program to convert the photo to grayscale

how to convert traditional artwork and illustration to digital art

Converting artwork into digital art is more than just taking a new picture of the artwork! There are several ways to do this, one of which is by converting the image into greyscale. Grayscale images are not colorized like normal pictures, they are simply shades of gray.

Most photo editing software has an option to go through all colors in an image and turn them into nothing but shades of grey. This makes your image look very clean and smooth! Some people even use only white or black as colors for the image to make it feel more artistic.

There are many apps that can be used to edit photos. Many have free versions that are enough for most people. By experimenting with different settings, you will find what works best for creating beautiful digital art.

Use a photo editing program to convert the photo to black and white

how to convert traditional artwork and illustration to digital art

Many creative professionals start their career as artists. Becoming an artist means learning how to express yourself through painting, drawing or sculpting your favorite mediums.

Some people never make it past this initial stage because they can’t translate their artistic talent into something more professional-looking.

Artists are trained in using different textures, colors, shapes, and styles to produce beautiful work, so why not take some of those skills and apply them to your own artwork?

You can learn how to turn all sorts of traditional art into digital pieces by starting with colorization. That is, converting a monochromatic image (an illustration that contains only one color) into a full-color image.

Use a photo editing program to apply a texture to the photo

how to convert traditional artwork and illustration to digital art

When creating digital artwork, there are two main components: textures and colors.

Textures are an integral part of artistic design. They add depth to your piece by acting as coverings or layering for the picture. For example, if you take a look at the hood of a car, you will notice it has some sort of wrinkled material that covers most of the surface. This gives the vehicle more shape and appearance.

Texture is also an excellent way to conceal poor quality pictures. By adding some layer of texture over the image, it can hide areas where the image is not very clear.

A common place to use a texture is in painting. Artists use textures such as paper, oilcloth, or even their own brushes to create a painted effect.

There are many ways to achieve this effect digitally. One easy way to do so is to get yourself a good texturing tool and experiment with it. There are several free ones available online and in software stores.

Another way to add a texture to your art is to take a normal photograph and then edit the photo using a texture application. Some examples of these types of applications include Photoshop, Gimp, and other similar programs.

Use a photo editing program to apply a filter to the photo

how to convert traditional artwork and illustration to digital art

There are many ways to learn how to create digital art. One of the most common starting points is applying a toner or gel-like layer onto your image to give it an interesting texture or pattern.

Many artists use gels as a way to add depth to their artwork by adding various textures across the picture. These can be solid colors, patterns, or even light beams that reflect off different materials in the scene being painted!

There are several types of gel filters you can use to try out new techniques. You do not have to stick to natural looking gels, however. Technically advanced gels contain computer controlled micro particles that allow for some very cool effects.

Some examples of these are fluroscents (layers of colored lights) and iridescent shades (where the color changes with the angle it faces). Both of these effect creating really beautiful looks.

Combine the photo with a background image

how to convert traditional artwork and illustration to digital art

When creating your new artwork, you will want to start by choosing an easy way to combine your piece with another element. Most likely, there is already a pre-made or general style template for digital art that you can use as a starting point.

By using this method, it becomes much easier to add additional features such as shadows, text, and other decorations. There are many free online tools that can help you create these additions.

There are several different ways to do this. For example, you could easily choose to blend into the existing design with just a layer of Photoshop or Gimp. You could also cut out the item and place it onto the picture yourself, or find one of these tools to do so for you.!

Reminder: If you are looking to learn more about designing in photoshop or gimp, check out our dedicated pages here: https://www.teacherbeachgoals.com/designing-in-photoshop-for-absolute-beginners/ and here:https://www.teacherbeachgoals.com/graphic-design-software-for-absolute-newbies/. These two articles contain very helpful information.

Use a photo editing program to reduce the image size

how to convert traditional artwork and illustration to digital art

Reducing the file size of an artwork or illustration is one of the most important things you can do to make its sharing possible. Most digital art softwares have built-in functions that allow you to do this, but not all are equal!

Some take much longer to perform these tasks than others, so it’s best to use the ones that seem quick enough unless you really want high quality results. Luckily, we have some tips here for you!

There are two main ways to reduce the resolution of your artwork; you can either retain the original pixel dimensions (resolution) while reducing the number of pixels in each dimension, or reduce both at the same time. Reducing the number of pixels will result in a lower quality piece due to loss of information, whereas lowering the resolution removes crisp details which may be unimportant to some people.

This article will talk about how to reduce the size of images using Photoshop.

Author

  • LNGFRM Team

    Frank DiBernardo handles LNGFRM's Foodie and Miscellaneous writing tasks. He's always getting ideas from users, so don't be afraid to send an email to the editor.

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