Digital Arts

Art historians often categorize digital art as twofold: object-oriented artworks and
process-oriented visuals. In the first scenario, digital technologies are a means to an
end, and function as a tool for the creation of traditional objects like paintings,
photographs, prints, and sculptures. In the second case, the technology is the end itself,
and artists explore the possibilities entailed to the very essence of this new medium.
This latter category — often associated with the term “new media” — refers to all
computable art that is digitally created, stored and distributed. In other words, while
some works rely on digital tools to magnify an already-existing medium, others use
digital technology as an intrinsic and indissociable component in the making of the
artifact. With these definitions in mind, the list below presents current practices linked to
the digital medium.

1. ANIME

The word anime — pronounced "ah-knee-may" — is an abbreviation of the word

animation. In Japan, the word is used to refer to all animation. However, outside of
Japan, it has become the catch-all term for animation from Japan.

For decades, anime was produced by and for Japan — a local product, with a distinct
look-and-feel to not just the artwork but the storytelling, the themes, and the concepts.
Over the last forty years, it has become an international phenomenon, attracting millions
of fans and being translated into many languages. A whole generation of viewers in the
West has grown up with it and are now passing it on to their own children.

Because all things anime tend to be lumped together, it's tempting to think of anime as a
genre. It isn't, at least no more than animation itself is a genre, but rather a description
of how the material is produced. Anime shows, like books or movies, fall into any
number of existing genres: comedy, drama, sci-fi, action-adventure, horror and so on.

What Makes Anime So Special?

Most anime fans can sum this up in two words: "It's different." Anime is as unlike most
American cartoons like "Batman" and "Spider-Man" are different from the comics that
run in daily papers. These differences show up in many ways including the artwork
storytelling, breadth of material and even cultural nuances exhibited by the characters.

Anime art styles range from the flamboyant and outlandish in shows like "Samurai
Champloo" and " FLCL" to the simple and direct in shows like "Azumanga Daioh!." That
said, even shows with more "basic" artwork can still be visually striking. Anime has this
way of making everything look fresh and new.
It doesn't shy away from epic storylines, either, which often run for dozens (sometimes
hundreds) of episodes. The best anime, though, no matter what their length, all demand
great emotional involvement from the viewer.

The sheer range of anime shows out there means a fan of most any other kind of TV or
movie can find an anime series that mirrors its style. For fans of hard science fiction, the
show "Planetes" would be perfect for you; romantic comedy fans will love "Fruits
Basket" while crimefighting lovers will enjoy "Ghost in the Shell." There are even
adaptations of classical literature like "The Count of Monte Cristo."

Not only that, fans of anime also get an intimate look into Japan's history, language and
worldview, woven into a great deal of anime on many levels. Some shows are takeoffs
on Japanese history like "Sengoku Basara" or raid Japanese mythology for story ideas
like "Hakkenden" or "Hell Girl." Even shows that are outwardly non-Japanese in their
presentation like "Claymore" and "Monster" have tinges of a Japanese sensibility to
them.

What's most striking is how anime's impact is coming full circle. Some recent American
cartoon productions, like "Avatar: The Last Airbender," are openly inspired by anime
itself, and live-action English-language versions of anime titles are starting to come into
production more frequently.

Is Anime Okay for Young Kids?

Because anime's so broad-reaching in its subject matter, it's possible to find anime
aimed at just about every age group. Some titles are specifically for younger viewers or
are suitable for all ages like the animated series "Pokémon" or Studio Ghibli film "My
Neighbor Totoro" while others are aimed at teenage audiences and older like
"InuYasha." There are even some animes aimed at older teens like "Death Note" and
some for mature audiences only like "Monster" and "Queens Blade."

Japanese cultural attitudes about sexuality and violence require some titles to be placed
a category higher than they might normally be. Nudity, for instance, is handled much
more casually in Japan; sometimes a show that isn't meant specifically for adults will
have material which may seem racy to Western viewers.

Anime distributors are generally quite conscious of these issues and will include either
an actual MPAA rating (G, PG, PG-13, R, NC-17) or a TV Parental Guidelines rating as
an indicator of what the intended audience is for the show. Check the show's packaging
or program listing to see which rating applies.

Confused about where to start? We recommend checking out the sci-fi, cyberpunk
"Cowboy Bebop" or a swords-and-sorcery tale called "Berserk." If you already know a
friend who's an anime fan, clue them in on what you like to watch — they should be able
to guide you towards what's best and what's new in that category.
 2. VLOG

Vlog stands for a video blog or video log, and refers to a type of blog where most or all
of the content is in a video format.

Vlog posts consist of creating a video of yourself where you talk on a particular subject
such as reporting or reviewing a product or an event. It can even serve as a way to
share your artistic process or provide a tutorial guide on a creative practice or topic.
Some vloggers even use it as a means to share new performance art or music they
have created.

In fact, just like blogs you can vlog about almost anything.

The term vlog is also used by video streamers or Youtuber’s who don’t use a blog but
post scheduled updates via other means like YouTube and other video websites; their
profile often promotes them as vloggers. You can also do live broadcasts from social
media channels such as Facebook and Instagram.

Once you create your video (and edit it to make it look and sound great), you can
upload it online or embed the video within a post on your blog or website so your all
followers can see your latest update.

How to create a vlog

You can post your vlog anywhere, but the first step is to know how to make a video.

To do this you will need:

• an interesting story or topic

• a recording device, like a webcam or dedicated video camera – you can even
use your smartphone!
• a microphone
• a good location that is well lit without too much background sound

It is recommended that whatever device you use it will produce high-quality content.
Bad sound or video quality will only turn people away.

You might also wish to edit your video before you upload it online. Here are some useful
apps to help you edit your film or add music, titles, credits or logos and much more:

• for iPhone or MAC you can use iMovie

• for Android you can use PowerDirector,
• for PC you can use free software like Windows Movie Maker

3. TIKTOK
 TikTok is a short-form, video-sharing app that allows users to create and share
15-second videos, on any topic. TikTok maintains a separate app for the Chinese
market, known as Duyin, which has over 300 million active monthly users. The
new app’s logo is a combination of the Musical.ly and Duyin logos.

The TikTok app is based on the same short-form video concept but is much
broader in scope and unlike Musical.ly does not only focus on lip syncing to
music. ,

The TikTok app offers users a wide selection of sounds and song snippets, along
with the option to add special effects and filters. There is also an option to directly
add videos created on your phone.

In September, TikTok added the reactions feature which allows users to record
their reactions to videos and share. TikTok has also added a digital well-being
feature that alerts users when they spend over two hours on the app.

The new app is being promoted as a video-sharing social network. TikTok users
can create a variety of videos ranging from challenges, dance videos, magic
tricks, and funny videos. The key differentiating factor between Musical.ly and Tik
Tok is that the latter has a much broader scope for video creation.

4. DIGITAL POSTER

A digital poster is a digital image or motion graphic that displays relevant information
to an audience. It is simply what the name implies. Information displayed on a digital
poster can include start times and ticket availability for an upcoming event, public
service announcements, or advertisements for new product lineups. These are just a
few examples of the many use cases for digital posters.

Digital posters are part of today’s frontier in business communication tools.

Compared to traditional static signs, digital posters are cheaper, better at engaging
customers, and easier to manage. Many businesses each year make the switch to
digital posters and never look back. In this article, we show you how to make a
digital poster for your business or organization. If your team is considering a digital
poster deployment, you’re in the right spot!

What you need for a digital poster

To make a digital poster for your business, you will need three vital components.
First, you need to choose a display screen. This screen can be a simple TV display
that you pick up from your local electronics store. It doesn’t have to be anything that
breaks the bank. Just make sure that the display screen accepts HDMI input. We’ll
have more on why this feature is important later in this section.
Keep in mind that your business may need a more heavy-duty, commercial-grade
solution for your display screen. This type of screen may be necessary if your digital
poster needs to be displayed outside or needs to be on reliably for 24 hours a day.
For commercial-grade displays, be sure to check out screens from NEC, such as
those in the NEC P-series an NEC V-series lineups.

Next, you need to get a media player. This device is a physical piece of hardware
that renders your digital poster to your display screen. Your media player must be
affordable both in terms of upfront costs and ongoing electricity costs. One great
option for businesses is a Raspberry Pi media player. The Raspberry Pi is a mini
computer that costs about US $30 alone and around US $100 with the required
cords. Importantly, the Raspberry Pi has very low ongoing electricity costs as it runs
on only 3 watts of electricity. These media players display content via an HDMI
output port, which is why it is important for your screens to accept HDMI input.

Finally, you need digital poster management software for your media players. The
primary feature of this software is enabling your screens to display your posters.
This feature includes displaying your posters in the proper size for your screen and
ensuring smooth transitions among multiple posters. The secondary feature of this
software is enabling users to manage their digital posters remotely. This secondary
feature allows users to avoid traveling to each media player to change the screen’s
content. Instead, users can change their poster content from anywhere via a web
interface on their laptop computer. While remote management may seem like a
simple feature, it will save you and your employees a ton of time, especially if your
business has multiple digital posters.

Tools for creating your digital poster content

Once you set up the necessary hardware and software for your digital poster, you
are halfway to the finish line. Next, you need to make the actual poster, and to make
your poster stand out in today’s attention economy, your poster needs to be beautiful
and engaging. Fortunately, there are a variety of online tools that allow almost
anyone to start creating beautiful posters in minutes. Check out some of our favorite
tools below.

Canva

Canva is a great online tool for jaw-dropping poster designs. To create posters with
Canva, just visit their website and pick out a free poster template that best fits your
needs. There are dozens of poster templates to choose from for a variety of different
use cases, including fundraising posters, concert posters, and retail posters. If you
can’t find a free poster template that fits your needs, Canva also has a selection of
paid poster templates. Once you select your poster template, you can then drag and
drop custom images and insert custom text. With Canva you can have a custom
poster for your business in no time!
Piktochart

Another useful tool for drag and drop poster design is Piktochart. Like Canva,
Piktochart has both free and paid poster templates. Piktochart has valuable features
such as enabling users to change a poster’s entire color scheme (rather than just a
single color) with a simple click. Piktochart also features dynamically scaling text, so
your poster text looks great even as you add and remove media items on your
poster. Users can also share custom posters to their social media accounts directly
from the Piktochart interface.

One of the main advantages of digital posters over traditional static posters is that
they can feature motion graphics and videos. This ability allows users to design
posters with animation and movement in the frame. With movement, a digital poster
is far more effective at grabbing the attention of your customers than a static digital
poster. Below are a couple of great tools that make it easy to build an animated
digital poster.

Crello

Crello has a variety of animated poster templates for users to choose. Crello also
has a great inspiration page that will help you get your creativity flowing when you
are brainstorming your first poster. Just as with Canva and Piktochart, users can
customize text and a variety of visual components in each template. As Crello’s
poster templates include motion, there are fewer components of the template that
you can customize than with Canva and Piktochart. However, users are still able to
customize these templates quite a bit. Once you have your custom animated poster
just right, you can download the poster as a .mp4 file. This format is a standard
video file format that is compatible with most media players.

Tyle

We also love using Tyle to make animated posters. Tyle organizes its poster
templates by mood, and this ability allows users to capture their brand’s look and
feel within their poster design. Once you select your poster design, Tyle has an
excellent UI interface for users to edit their posters. Tyle also boasts over 1.5 million
free media assets for users to chose from when they create their animated digital
posters. Users can then share their Tyle posters to their social media channels from
directly within the Tyle web interface.