Craig Mullins and computer technology in a changing world.
Museum-going is not always a pleasurable experience — not only do you have get there, once you d,o you are greeted with lines, large buses of foreign tourists, perpetually frigid air temperatures, and an eerie, unnatural quietness which, if broke, provokes a hasty rebuke from the watchful gallery monitors. Yet there is something to be said for seeing a painting up close with your own eyes, rather than taking the more convenient option and ‘Googling’ it from the comfort of your own home.
The same is true of art making: handling paint or clay or pencils yourself is one experience, while using a computer program to draw is quite another. The mistakes are fewer and fixable, no studio is necessary, and all one need do to graduate from the stick-figure-drawing stage is become familiar with the program. Concept Art, a new movement based on creating images using only computer software, does just that, and its eager participants are multiplying quickly.
Concept Art’s roots run deep; it is an offshoot from two previous movements that challenged assumptions of what ‘art’ was. Dadaism, the grandfather of concept art, was founded in Switzerland in the 1920s and was renowned for its anti-war sentiments — expressed through anti-art cultural works pieces created out of non-traditional materials and aimed at rejecting the contemporary artistic values and standards. Marcel Duchamp’s ‘readymade’ work was particularly critical to this rebellion. Artworks were no longer the unique results of traditional practices. The artist did not need to manually create the piece; he merely needed to nominate it.
Forty years after the birth of the Dadaist movement, Conceptual Art came into bloom. Conceptual art endorsed the notion that the idea behind a work of art takes precedence over its materialization. The concept, not the medium, was key. In a 1967 article in Artforum, notable conceptual artist Sol LeWitt wrote, “when an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.” Traditional and more tangible artistic processes lost their appeal completely — painting and sculpture were pushed aside while art that could be reproduced by anyone took center stage. Artists such as Joseph Kosuth, Yves Klein, Piero Manzoni, and Robert Rauschenberg helped to propel this movement forward. Not only did Conceptual art further endorse the idea that anyone could decide what ‘art’ was, but it also made everyone an artist. As the movement gained momentum, the traditional artist became more removed from his art, since the production process no longer involved specific training or handling, but rather the ability to come up with a concept. While the idea was crucial, the creation of a piece of art could be done by anyone, meaning that any and everyone had the potential to create high art.
The latest development in this artistic trend is the onset and growth of the Concept Art phenomenon. Concept Art began to gain momentum in the 1970s and has never slowed down since. Thanks to advances in technology, concept artists create realistic images using only computer software. In today’s world, anyone at all with a laptop and the necessary software can create any image by clicking a mouse. What makes concept art different from its ancestors is the lack of any formal training. No tangible process is involved, and the distance between art and artist is expanded even more. The manual aspect is severely scaled back; Leonardo used his hands to paint, Donatello to sculpt, and Duchamp to take real objects and nominate them, but concept artists only use their hands insofar as they need to type on a keyboard or manipulate a computer mouse. Screens and keyboards replace easels and paintbrushes. Formal artistic training, or even an eye trained to recognize what to nominate and how to nominate it, is supplanted by knowledge of Adobe Photoshop. Further, since any novice with a mouse can create an image with a few clicks, everyone has the potential to become one of the greats and the standard for ‘good’ art becomes muted.
Still, some concept artists have a talent that clearly stands out. Craig Mullins is one of them. A California native, Mullins was classically trained at Pitzer College and the Art Center College of Design. He worked as an industrial designer and illustrator in Los Angeles and was introduced to computer graphics in the 1980s. In an interview with Leonard Teo of Ballistic Publishing, Mullins explained that he “first used Photoshop to touch up some physical mattes for a British Petroleum commercial, remarking what a cool program it was.” A friend suggested that he try to create the entire image in Photoshop. “I had no idea of how to paint with it, or even if you could”, Mullins went on, “It was an experiment for all concerned but it worked OK.” Since then, he has become a household name in digital art. His movie credits include The Matrix Revolutions (2003) and the animated Disney flick The Prince of Egypt (1998). He also contributed to the popular digital computer games Halo and Age of Empires and has designed a number of sci-fi book covers. In 2003 Mullins was awarded the first “Grand Master” award by Expos 1, an annual publication of the best computer graphic artwork. Now 39, Mullins now works exclusively using computers. His decision to use technology exclusively means that he is free from his previous geographic constraints. He manufactures all of his work on his Dell desktop from his home in Hawaii.
Now a well-established concept artist, his website (curiously called ‘goodbrush’. com) displays hundreds of sketches, pieces and commercial work all created using computer software. Mullins’ talent is evident from the very first image that pops up on the screen. Goodbrush.com’s opening image depicts a crowded hall in a Baroque style building — anonymous commuters bustle back and forth in the dark, highlighted here and there by the misty yellow light streaming in through the three-story windows. The air is misty, created by large swooping brushstrokes in pale yellow and ochre hues. The rendering is hasty, using short and sharp energetic brushstrokes to emulate the energy of the hordes within the frame. Mullins’ handling of the mouse is expert. Even close up, the faces are roughly sketched, with few facial features, if any. A painting such as this would, in a gallery, allow a curious onlooker to take a step forward, to lean in, squint, and try to pick out the nitty-gritty details. An image on a computer screen does not allow for the same kind of intimacy, yet Mullins encourages his viewers to take an active role in the work. His keen eye for structure and interesting use of framing deliberately places us in the place of someone in the crowd; we see what they would see. He knows what he is doing with the ‘crop’ option in the toolbar. Slightly out of the way and masked by shadow, the viewer is invited to scrutinize the people on their right and left to their heart’s content.
Inside his virtual gallery, Mullins fans are treated to several categories of concept art. His ‘Sketches’ folder contains his more experimental works, featuring historical battle scenes, provocative nudes and mythological creatures. Despite his use of a non-traditional medium, Mullins’ sketches demonstrate a solid understanding of form, of color and light and of balance in his work. His images are structurally balanced, the light coordinated from a carefully calculated light source, with shadows rendered to bring his complex two-dimensional creations to life.
Image “3/344” in the ‘Sketches’ folder is no exception. It depicts a Roman gladiator in the ring, mid-fight. Even without brushstrokes to guide the eye, Mullins’ treatment of shadow gives his image depth. Regardless of the lack of opacity and of layers of paint the rendering of the body and of the reflective surfaces shows talent. The gladiator is carefully positioned on the right and balanced by the crowds to his left. The shine on his shield is carefully placed to draw our eye; his aggressive stance, muscled body and face masked by shadow are intimidating and thrilling. Once again, Mullins’ viewers are drawn into the work — he positions us as the gladiator’s prey — and then puts us on the defensive. He forces us to take an active role in the images we could so easily be rid of with a single sweep of the mouse. It’s as if, having exposed us to digital art, Mullins challenges us to ignore it.
Mullins’ website also displays his more finished pieces. The ‘artworks’ folder is a salad of personal science fiction images tossed together, with something for every taste: an outfitted Samurai warrior posed with a bow, ready to strike; mythical mermaids staring up from out of the water, their eyes fantastical shades of purple and pink; convoys of pirate ships battling each other in the distance while a storm approaches. The ‘commercial folder’ includes a selection of images from Mullins’ professional portfolio; his contributions to film, television and videogames include the fantastical, the real, and the revolting. Images of mythical creatures and futuristic cities are interspersed with those of obese Jabba-the-Hutt type villains and horrifying skeletons and monsters, while here and there are images so fine they might have been captured with a photograph. One image in the folder shows man first setting foot on the moon. There is not a single brushstroke to be seen, the lighting is realistic, and the rendering pays close attention to detail. This image is totally removed from the artist who created it; it stands alone, with no brushstroke nor signature nor trace of the artist at all save the fact that it exists. The last folder contains Mullins’ more traditional work. A series of watercolor paintings are a testament to his classical training. Watercolor number 24 depicts a group of lily leaves and although the hasty brush marks suggest it was quickly done, it is well-rendered, the light works, and the choice of subject matter shows an appreciation for the painters who came before him. Monet’s legacy, it seems, has not been totally eradicated.
Although his education may have helped him learn to create images on a computer, Mullins finds painting too slow. If Conceptual Art was all about ideas, Concept Art is about implementing as many of them as quickly as possible. “It is not fine art,” Mullins posted on the popular science fiction website No Mutants Allowed. “Whether or not I could paint some of these objects from scratch is not relevant. What is relevant is it would take more time to do so and that time could be spent toward the end goal of illustrating an idea or feeling.”
Concept Art is not intended to be fine art; it is created quickly and for mass appeal. For anyone with traditional training, the medium used is key. Programs like Photoshop come with a preset menu of options and a pre-mixed palette with pre-selected brushes and types of surfaces. The user simply needs to follow the computer instructions a la ‘paint by number’ to become the next Craig Mullins. While the idea behind a work is important, its execution, up until now, has been equally so — learning to create art is about more than learning to click. The gradual phasing out of traditional practices made obsolete by technology available to any and everyone not only threatens the existence of formal training, it also raises a number of issues as to the function of art in the world today.
Innumerable concept artists exist today, using websites, blogs, and social networking tools like MySpace to display their work and comment on their peers’. One of the most popular of such venues is ConceptArt.org, an online community for artists to share and critique each other’s creations. Absolutely no artistic training is necessary to create concept art. There is no cost for materials, other than that incurred when buying the necessary computer software. And there is no limit to the number of critics, supporters, and fellow artists an individual can reach out to. All you need do is create a profile for yourself. An artist no longer exists as a real person; rather, he can choose how to manipulate his image by altering his online persona. Some choose to set up profiles and create their work in the shadow of the greats, picking pseudonyms like ‘Raphael’ and ‘da Vinci’ in homage to their idols.
‘What makes good art?’ The answer to this question proves difficult to pin down, but up until recently, I hope you agree, one correct response answer seemed to be settled on: good art was produced by good artists. What sets Mullins apart from your average Joe is his traditional training. Despite the growth of the recent Concept Art trend, there is still something to be said for classical training which has historically set the standard for artistic practices. Everyone should be allowed to create art, of course, but that does not mean that the standard should be lowered to accommodate everyone. Mullins’ artistic education demonstrates his commitment to these values, and illustrates that classical training can sometimes even enhance a Concept Artist’s success — part of the reason why Mullins’ works have done so well is because he has a trained eye. But the hundreds of thousands of amateur artists who post their work online are not necessarily in the same situation. Yes, they can manipulate a mouse. Granted, they have a solid understanding of Microsoft programs. They are able to produce decipherable images quickly and easily, without the hassle or cost of paint, pencils or clay and a mistake is easily erased without too great of a loss. But I guarantee that if Rembrandt had an ‘edit/undo’ button every time he started a painting his pieces would not be considered nearly as highly as they are today. There is still something to be said for manual control of media and a real, not a virtual eye for composition and color. Mullins can do both but chooses computers over paint. However the majority of today’s Concept Art’s color outside the traditional lines; rather than using their hands, they head straight for the Microsoft help manual and get to work. For better or for worse, computer technology is quickly propelling the Craig Mullinses of the world to the forefront of the arts scene.
Allegra Richards ’09 (amrichar@fas) is coloring outside the lines.