On Born Digital Artwork, New Drawing Applications, and New Opportunities

The case for preserving time-lapse in Procreate and Clip Studio Paint

Abstract

Most scholarship surrounding digital art has focused upon established artists whose work is already being preserved; their value canonized either by inclusion in museum collections or digital repositories like Rhizome. Scholars tend to focus upon “complex digital artworks” like net art, time-based media, and electronic art, but these are only part of the larger ecosystem of born-digital artwork. A growing, major genre of digital art is drawings, paintings, and comics—often which are produced by younger, independent, and freelance artists who have amassed large followings on social media but have yet to garner the attention of museums. The cultural value of digital drawings and comics is evidenced by their popularity on social media (which can be interpreted as larger public interest), necessitating their preservation. This article is intended as a brief introduction to Procreate and Clip Studio Paint, providing comparisons of their features in respect to Adobe Photoshop, which has long been the industry standard in creative fields. Many scholars have expressed concerns about the complexity of preserving born-digital artwork and the contextual files that document its creation; however, this process may be simplified by taking advantage of newly introduced features in Procreate and Clip Studio Paint.

Please note: as a work by a federal employee, this article is in the public domain (CC0).