Visual Arts · Digital & New Media Art
A topic within Digital & New Media Art, itself one of 9 topics in that field and part of Visual Arts.
2 works
Richard G. Shoup
Documents the first full frame-buffer painting system, arguing that treating the screen as directly addressable pixel memory — not a vector plotter — is what first made freehand digital painting possible.
link checked 17 Sept 2026Alvy Ray Smith
Traces digital painting back to specific 1970s frame-buffer systems and argues the key invention was the alpha channel for compositing, not any single painting program, against popular accounts that credit one system or company.
link checked 17 Sept 2026