Recently, I heard the comment "What has art got to do with computing?" The answer to this question is clear to me but may not be so clear to everyone else. So I decided to start putting this in writing. Firstly, regarding digital art, there is no clear dividing line between traditional mediums ie oil paint and digital mediums ie 2D or 3d animations. Most professional digital artists start out their designs with a traditional medium and then convert to digital. For example in the 3D animated movie Avatar Avatar 
the artists who designed the Pandorians started with sketches, then sculpted clay models, and finaly created the 3D animation. This is mostly due to process.
The natural creative processes are severely hampard by the user interface and entry process in todays 3D animation programs such as Maya and 3DS Max both owned by Autodesk http://www.autodesk.com/. They are difficult to use and tedius and are more akin to programming than art. I have used both programs and find them impossible to use as a creative tool reverting back to charcoal and newsprint to begin the creative process and then replicate the sketch in clay and finally in the 3D program. In the future, 3D scanning technology will eliminate the need to enter and use the 3D programs such as Maya and 3D Max to create new models. Instead these programs will be used to maintain or modify models that started in clay, were then scanned, and finally finished in a 3D program. Secondly, my students offen ask what careers are the best careers for them to train for. Remember their time horizon is usually at least two years into the future (a long time in computer technology time.) I usually refer them to Dan Pink's book "A Whole New Mind" A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. In this book Mr. Pink talks about the need for right brain thinking skills. The arts are the best way to develop these skills and this side of the brain. But first, let me explain the difference between right and left brain thinking and skills. The left side of the brain which controls the right side of the body is the literal and logical side. That is, it remembers and uses computational and logic skills to make decisions and to learn and process.
The right brain, however, is quite the opposite and much more powerful, using intuition and higher self type thinking to learn and create. For more information on this see Betty Edward's book: The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
For example, an Artist creates their best work after making the "shift" into right brain thinking while creating. In our daily lives we spend most of the time in left brain thinking asa result it tends to dominate the right or creative side. In fact, many people cannot make the shift at all and have no understanding of it. They live each day in a rather mundane uninspired fashion while having the nagging feeling that something is missing in their lives. Some of these people never find it and wander from place to place, relationship to relationship, looking for that missing something.
There have been times when I have made the "shift" that the high has been so enjoyable as it must be similar to the high experienced by drug users. I have often thought that might be one of the reasons I have never needed drugs or alchohol is I was able to achieve a natural high by listening to my favorite music (italian classical) and grabbing my paint brush. Once I was lost in my painting hours would fly by until I emerged to stand back and appraise by work from a left brained point of view (technical things such as composition and color.)
the artists who designed the Pandorians started with sketches, then sculpted clay models, and finaly created the 3D animation. This is mostly due to process.The natural creative processes are severely hampard by the user interface and entry process in todays 3D animation programs such as Maya and 3DS Max both owned by Autodesk http://www.autodesk.com/. They are difficult to use and tedius and are more akin to programming than art. I have used both programs and find them impossible to use as a creative tool reverting back to charcoal and newsprint to begin the creative process and then replicate the sketch in clay and finally in the 3D program. In the future, 3D scanning technology will eliminate the need to enter and use the 3D programs such as Maya and 3D Max to create new models. Instead these programs will be used to maintain or modify models that started in clay, were then scanned, and finally finished in a 3D program. Secondly, my students offen ask what careers are the best careers for them to train for. Remember their time horizon is usually at least two years into the future (a long time in computer technology time.) I usually refer them to Dan Pink's book "A Whole New Mind" A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. In this book Mr. Pink talks about the need for right brain thinking skills. The arts are the best way to develop these skills and this side of the brain. But first, let me explain the difference between right and left brain thinking and skills. The left side of the brain which controls the right side of the body is the literal and logical side. That is, it remembers and uses computational and logic skills to make decisions and to learn and process.
The right brain, however, is quite the opposite and much more powerful, using intuition and higher self type thinking to learn and create. For more information on this see Betty Edward's book: The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
For example, an Artist creates their best work after making the "shift" into right brain thinking while creating. In our daily lives we spend most of the time in left brain thinking asa result it tends to dominate the right or creative side. In fact, many people cannot make the shift at all and have no understanding of it. They live each day in a rather mundane uninspired fashion while having the nagging feeling that something is missing in their lives. Some of these people never find it and wander from place to place, relationship to relationship, looking for that missing something.
There have been times when I have made the "shift" that the high has been so enjoyable as it must be similar to the high experienced by drug users. I have often thought that might be one of the reasons I have never needed drugs or alchohol is I was able to achieve a natural high by listening to my favorite music (italian classical) and grabbing my paint brush. Once I was lost in my painting hours would fly by until I emerged to stand back and appraise by work from a left brained point of view (technical things such as composition and color.)
