A few thoughts about using computer canvases, details, and new tools in general.
First, artists have been known to crop their canvases to capture the essence that they desired, and omit distractions that they found (on final viewing) detracted from their work. With a computer, you don't have to destroy your original. And I like that feature.
Second, before brushes, pallet knives, easels, canvases and the like, it was stone walls and fingers. Or perhaps clay and wood, depending on the clime.
Masters through the ages have taken great pains to perfect and present their art using the tools at their disposal. We'll be eternally grateful for their pains. Their work will always be relevant, and instructional. By studying, replicating, and being inspired by their works, new and old artists alike can continue to create new works.
Third. Much like the development of the hand-camera freed photographers from the cumbersome tripod and allowed them to seek new scenes and angles to shoot, I view cyber-canvases the same way I view photography. They in no way replace any of their predecessors. They are new tools in the expression of art, and the way artists represent their thoughts, feelings, and the world around them.
Of course I don't claim this as a groundbreaking revelation...I just haven't seen it expressed lately.
Oh, oh, one thing about originality and hoarding trade secrets.
While it may be desirous to keep one's unique discovery a secret, I can see only personal ego or pocketbook as the beneficiary. Here's a story to illustrate my point. (I don't know if it's true, but it works for me.) ... Once on old Broadway a play was a smash hit. The effects used in the play were the talk of the town. The soundman behind the scenes would rattle a large piece of thin sheet-metal to achieve a great thunder effect during a stormy scene. This was ground breaking and stupendous! ... A few weeks later, at a rival theater across the street, the same effect was put into play. The 'inventor' of the this effect stormed into his rival's office and shouted:
"YOU STOLE MY THUNDER!"
My point is twofold:
1) Though the personal gain of soundman one may have been diminished to a certain degree, audiences the world over have been thrilled by the enhancement from that effect.
2) Did soundman two steal the idea? Did it really take a genius to figure out? Perhaps soundman one should have fashioned a sign to wear around his neck that states: "I Did It First".
That's what I do...
Thanks.