People across the world have been making art for millennia, spanning from etchings on cave walls, to detailed paintings on a computer screen. Students and teachers across SCHS have their own opinions about whether digital art should be seen in the same light as traditional, hand made art.

Traditional art teacher Jason Fery believes that digital art should not be held to the same standards as traditional art but has value nonetheless.

“There is so much more to the traditional way of making art and images with your own hands that allows a person to make it truly what they want it to be,” Fery said.

Contrary to Fery, some believe that digital art is the way of the future and will become more popular traditional art. Junior Sophia Kvartskahava believes that digital art is the better medium but people should remember the history and importance of traditional art.

“I think in the future, everything mostly is going to be on the computer instead of paper. But I also think we should continue drawing on paper because it’s very historical,” Kvartskhava said.

The Renaissance proved to be an ultimate turning point in art’s history, even influencing digital art today. In an article by Filippo Lorenzin, a staff writer at Hyperallergic, points out that recent advances in the art market, as well as deeper shifts in contemporary society, have prompted this approach to art creation.

Fery believes that in the Renaissance, artists like Michelangelo and da Vinci also created art that highlighted a turning point in history and the way people lived, such as some believe digital art has adapted to the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“He (da Vinci) was a painter, he was an illustrator, he was an inventor, you know, and I mean, he documented all that stuff,” Fery said. “He was going into surgeries in the medical field and doing illustrations of things like the muscles and how they attached to the bones and stuff like that.”

Unlike Fery, Intro to Art and Digital Media teacher Abbey Sinclair believes that digital art should be held to the same standards as other mediums, and that artists need to focus on modern art history as well as old.

“I thought it was important to understand how art developed over the years, all the way back from ancient history up till now, but I think it’s actually more important now to learn how contemporary art is developing today,” Sinclair said.

Digital art has been on the rise since Apple. According to AppleInsider, Apple released the Apple Pencil in 2015, along with many apps that let users draw and paint on their iPads. The use of apps like Corel Paint and Procreate have been turning many mediums, such as pen and paper and even using a mouse on a computer, obsolete to younger generations.

Throughout the 21st century, artists and art enthusiasts have doubted digital art as a medium, but many feel the art created on screens is a strong counterpoint to this idea. Art will adapt over time, as it has done in the past, and artists will continue to create more and more amazing art, senior Tyler Louie believes.

“I would definitely consider it (digital art) to be on the same level as traditional art. I know some people think it’s cheating a bit because you can go back and undo things” Louie said. “But I mean, we’ve had the same thing with traditional art, right?”