Hi,
I'm an artist and I'm working both digital and traditional for many years now.
Please don't read this post as an aggressive reaction. I'd like to share my point of view and experiences with you to give you an insight about the position of an artist. (Although I sure don't speak for all artists.)
I understand why people are still having the idea that digital art is less worth than traditional. Computers in general were created to simplify work, to create stuff more easily and to storage and copy large ammounts of information. Computers make things easier, so painting with them must be easier, too, right? No mess with color blotches on the clothing, no need to buy tons of new colors and many tools in graphic programs you would need many different brushes for in traditional artwork. Also you can correct stuff as often as you want without damaging the paper or accidently mixing colors. So, not such a big deal, right?
No.
When I started drawing digital more often, around 1-2 years ago, I felt like being in the kindergarden again, having huge thick color pencils and nearly no motoric skills. It was a completely new medium just like painting with acryl in comparison with pencil artwork. It took a while to handle the tool itself, not to mention the time I needed to make something which looked good.
Everything works completely different, from mixing colors to making clean outlines. Sure, the basic anatomy you know, the theory behind your motives, color contrast and all this stays the same but that's it. You also have to manage new problems you don't have with traditional methods.
Additionally, the program still doesn't do your work. Planing the motive, working with different perspectives, research for information about anatomy, choosing the right colors,.. you can't just skip that by telling the program what you'd like to have.
For EF20 I planned to make three pictures fitting to the CSI topic. All of them digital. None of them were ready in time because I underrated the problems I would have to deal with, based both of the perspective/motive and the digital tools. Especially one large picture took me already way more time with the preparation, sketches and the outlines than any completed traditional artwork before. And it's not even ready yet.
Digital art is a lot of work you just don't see when the picture is done. It means also many costs with expensive programs, graphic tablets, a fast computer, printing fees and so on.
But more important: Digital art is medium just like colored pencils, water color, pencils or oil is. It has as many advantages and disadvantages like the others and it is hard to learn drawing with it like it is with every new medium.
And most important: The quality of the picture depends on the artist, not the tool.
Of course, digital art can easily be reproduced and I myself don't like the idea of selling dozens of prints in nearly the same quality and size as the "original" limited prints which were sold for much more money. (That's why I wouldn't do this.) But with this thinking that digital art is not so much worth like traditional I wouldn't wonder if people wouldn't want to reward a digital picture the same way, so the artist tries to get at least an equal ammount of money by selling it e.g. 3 times than just one. (Don't have a proof for that though as I just started selling digital art and can't really compare it. Also I can't look into other artist's heads.
)
I hope this little very long post helps you to understand what it means to draw and sell digital artwork.
Oh, and about that frames: One of the EF20 pictures was planned to use a special frame aside from the typical photo formats. I looked after it in around 6-8 different shops of different price ranges.
1) Ikea had one: 6 Euro
2) A special story for frames had one: 30 Euro
3) No other shop had it.
I hate the one from Ikea because it's so thick but I doubt anyone would have payed me 30 Euro + the actuall worth of the picture inside. Maybe 30 for the complete package. So I have to go with the Ikea product now, although it's not as pretty and high quality ad the professional one.
There are many nice frames for a low price which don't make your pictures ugly as hell and I recommend rather using these ones instead of some cheap glass-only frame. It won't look really individual though if you don't paint it other, decorate it or whatever.
