You may think digital art is easier than traditional art because the computer draws for you, but in fact digital art requires practice, just as traditional art does. If you already practice sketching and painting, you’ll pick up digital art more easily than if you have never touched a pencil.

Digital art does allow for some tricks and shortcuts that would be impossible with traditional media. Undo is one of the most powerful tools digital art brings to the scene. If you’re painting and make a mistake, you can try to hide the mistake, or you can try to take advantage of it, which can lead to unexpected results. If the painting is digital, however, you can simply undo the mistake and try again, which is convenient but takes away the challenge and the possibility of working with mistakes.

Another valuable tool that’s inherent to digital art is superimposed layers. You can store each element of a painting as a new layer, and you can, in a click, hide layers or lock them.

One major benefit of digital art tools is they can speed up tedious processes like filling an area with a color, pattern, or gradient. But imperfections (e.g., seeing the paper grain through watercolor or visible brush strokes in an oil painting) can enhance the beauty of a work of art. In fact, many digital tools are designed to simulate these traditional imperfections.

To see examples of what digital art can be used to create, check out http://www.cgsociety.org/ and http://mattepainting.org/.

The more you practice, the better you’ll be at drawing, and the more you use GIMP, the better you’ll be at using its tools. Even if you’re only interested in making digital art, consider carrying around a small sketch pad and pencil so you can practice drawing when you have a free moment during the day. And don’t be deterred if your initial sketches are crude—if you keep practicing, your sketches (and your digital art) will improve.