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Hi, Ladies. I've never used a digital image, and I'm curious to know what the advantages and disadvantages there are over using stamps. I'm primarily a card maker.
Thanks for the help!
__________________ Debbie "Make it work, people." - Tim Gunn My Gallery
They are cheap, you can buy them from your armchair and get them instantly, easy to store, you can re-size them, flip them, rotate them and more, oh so versatile! (I am also a card maker)
Ruth
Love digitals, agree with all the comments above. Would have to say there are also disadvantages, that can be overcome but are still there. They are, image can blur if colouring and havent waited long enough for ink to set into cardstock. Different printers give different dry time. I think laser is meant to be better. Some people heat set and others have even done embossing but that would need to be done very quickly when ink is still warm from printer. I usually wait a couple of days before I colour especially water colouring. I print direct onto watercolour paper or copic card stock.
Another disadvantage is that you can have so many digital stamps that its hard to keep track of them - i have all of mine in a folder marked digital then subdivided into folders by designer - then ones that are to colour in or use as is. Etc there are soooo many fantastic graphic artists out there its hard to know when to stop.
Then theres all the wonderful people who share digital sentiments they make. Many for free along with free digitalstamps here and there. Its a whole new world. Lucky they take up so little space on the computer cause if I had to add them all onto my rubber stamps I think my husband would think I was obsessed.
Another thought, when you purchase and download your digital stamps make sure to back up a copy of them onto an external harddrive so you dont loose them all if something goes wrong with the computer. Is that enough to think on for now?
Can share some of my favourite artists/designers if you like
I use digital images all the time and find they are quite versatile. I have even "merged" two images together for a birthday card for my twin niece/nephew. They loved it! I print all my digi's on cardstock from Wal-Mart using the "fast draft" setting on my computer. Not only does this almost eliminate bleeding, it enables you to print many more images by making your ink cartridge last longer. Yeah...more images to play with!
I, too, wondered about digital images but think I wouldn't like the cost of printer colour ink. I print everything I do in black as it is much cheaper and lasts a longer time. I also think I am horrible at using the sissors so cutting things out wouldn't be fun.
I could be convinced otherwise, if I have the wrong impression.
Remember if you do opt for digi stamps to back them up on an external harddrive and/or discs......cos if your computer dies, you'll lose them. I had many including lots of freebies on my laptop and no record of what I actually had so can't approach the companies to re-download them.
I'd just like to reply to Ailhelen and anyone else having problems with ink smearing when you color your digital images. All you need to do is rub an eraser over the entire image to remove any ink that hasn't set into the card stock. Once that's done you can color with any medium you like - even water colors!
It really really bothers me when people call digital images "stamps". Rubber stamps are much more difficult to use and require a set of skills completely different from digital (graphic) images.
I, too, wondered about digital images but think I wouldn't like the cost of printer colour ink. I print everything I do in black as it is much cheaper and lasts a longer time. I also think I am horrible at using the sissors so cutting things out wouldn't be fun.
I could be convinced otherwise, if I have the wrong impression.
A Silhouette Cameo lets you print and cut your digital images or your stamped images. If you do not want to cut out an image then you can print directly onto cardstock or print so you can use a die to cut out an image. It works great.
Sue - you don't have to cut digital images out. It would be like stamping an image onto a piece of card stock and then layering that card stock on to designer paper and a folded card. Cutting it out is completely optional. There are digital cutters that will cut around the printed image as mentioned in the above comment by ladyofcards.
Thank you Yungs, I copied all those links and will look at them later today. I appreciate your typing all of this to me, to help me understand digitaling...if that is a word.
I must leave the computer now and move on to my next love which practicing violin, so on a happy note, thanks again, all This is a wonderful topic, Buried Treasures, one I was thinking of putting up too. Yahooo!
It really really bothers me when people call digital images "stamps". Rubber stamps are much more difficult to use and require a set of skills completely different from digital (graphic) images.
I agree with this comment. Stamps (rubber or clear acrylic) require different skills and techniques and, in my opinion, make a card more homemade or handcrafted. But, having said that, I believe in "each to their own" and understand that, for many people, having the huge range of digital images gives them way more options for their cardmaking at much less cost. And I do on occasion type up and print off a sentiment for a card when I need something specific.
__________________ Susan
My SCS gallery is here should you care to look! Or please visit my blog, Cardmaker's Garret.
And I forgot to add one thing. Debbie who started the thread was asking about the pros and cons - one of the big cons for me of digital images is that they can't easily be heat embossed which is a technique I love and use a lot.
__________________ Susan
My SCS gallery is here should you care to look! Or please visit my blog, Cardmaker's Garret.
When digi stamps first came to my attention I thought I'd never use them but that has changed. My first love is rubber and that will not change, but digis do have a purpose. I do agree that I'm not fond of the name digi stamps because they are not stamps.
I store the images by categories as I can never remember the artist's name. If they can be used for more than one thing, I have generic folder. I also store the link to the original site in case I need to download it again.
Pros:
If I only plan to make very few or even just one card, then I don't feel like I've wasted money and it's not taking up space.
They are inexpensive.
You can easily resize, flip, modify, etc.
Cons:
My printer won't take watercolor paper so I'm limited by paper weight.
Stamp pad ink is cheaper than printer ink so I don't print full color images. Plus, to me that is like using clip art and my love is stamping, not graphic art.
Not all sites give you an instant download. I've had to wait a few days to get access. Also, some sites limit how long you are able to download. Some sites have an expiration date like 6 months.
You have to make sure you back-up your files because if you loose your hard drive you loose your stamps. In almost 20 years of stamping I've only lost one stamp.
You are limited in the techniques you can use such as stamping into Utee.
In general, digis have their place but they'll never replace good ol' fashion rubbah!
I'd just like to reply to Ailhelen and anyone else having problems with ink smearing when you color your digital images. All you need to do is rub an eraser over the entire image to remove any ink that hasn't set into the card stock. Once that's done you can color with any medium you like - even water colors!
I have cut my shapes from all my dies and scanned them in so I have a guide for any digital stamps I want. I then make them the size needed for the die in photoshop before printing .... all I need do then is cut with the die after they are printed. I also will fill up a page with extra images so I don't waste a full sized piece of card and these I will use in other cards etc later on. I will also make high resolution brushes to use in photoshop any time I want them. I can make them whatever size I want then. If you want the image to look like it's on the base you are using but don't actually want it printed on that base, print it on a transparency and add it with brads etc ... lots of ways for using digital images.
It really really bothers me when people call digital images "stamps". Rubber stamps are much more difficult to use and require a set of skills completely different from digital (graphic) images.
I, too, agree with this post. But I'm all for people doing their thing in any way that makes them happy. Just let's call them digital images and NOT stamps as there is no stamping involved---just printing on a machine. Have never used digital images and wouldn't consider it in the future for any reason I can think of. I am a stamper, not a printer.
While I was away this afternoon, I thought about this topic some more. One thing that came to my mind is how unskilled I am at making cards but using digital images would help me make my cards close to perfect, "however" that may not be self satisfying to me at all. My sister would be a little disappointed because she always gets a kick out of my style and ways of doing things. She laughs when I make mistakes and colour outside of the lines. My husband laughs heartily at some of my creations. I can picture him only saying, "nice" when I show him a perfectly coloured digitally-made card.
I think I'll try both ways....digital and physical stamping and see where it leads.
Since opening this thread, I'm open to using both methods. I do need a particular image for a card I am making for a swap, but I can't spend hours searching the various stamp sources for the right image if, indeed, it exists. In this case, I will use a digital image. I intended to cut it out anyway.
However, I can certainly see instances where using a stamp would be more appropriate. And besides, now that I've invested $$$ in stamps, I'm darned well going to use them!
__________________ Debbie "Make it work, people." - Tim Gunn My Gallery
using a digital image doesn't take away from playing around with techniques and doing your own thing. You can still color the image (imperfectly),and try out new and old well loved techniques on the backgrounds. Also, you can heat emboss digital images if you have a printer that you can set to heavy ink - just have the embossing powder ready as it comes out of the printer so that you can sprinkle it on before the ink dries. Also, you can print on to glossy card stock where the ink will stay wet longer and then use embossing powder. Mix your digital images with rubber stamped images!
I think some people have a misconception about digital images. I have never purchased a colored image. The ones I buy are black and white images like you would getting from using a rubber stamp. I then spend a lot of time coloring them. If the image is of a person, I match the hair and eye color to that of the recipient. I also have fun making the images using different color schemes, shrinking or enlarging them, combining two or more of them, and sometimes even using them in conjunction with my rubber stamps. Most of the time I print the digi image directly onto the card stock. I have found a way to use my Printmaster and I can make 2 complete cards, inside and out, from one piece of card stock. I also have several rubber stamps that I use on a regular basis.
I think the really important thing is to have fun creating your cards, no matter what method you use. The time and love you put into your cards is what matters to the person who receives it, not the method you use to make it!
I think some people have a misconception about digital images. I have never purchased a colored image. The ones I buy are black and white images like you would getting from using a rubber stamp. I then spend a lot of time coloring them. If the image is of a person, I match the hair and eye color to that of the recipient. I also have fun making the images using different color schemes, shrinking or enlarging them, combining two or more of them, and sometimes even using them in conjunction with my rubber stamps. Most of the time I print the digi image directly onto the card stock. I have found a way to use my Printmaster and I can make 2 complete cards, inside and out, from one piece of card stock. I also have several rubber stamps that I use on a regular basis.
I think the really important thing is to have fun creating your cards, no matter what method you use. The time and love you put into your cards is what matters to the person who receives it, not the method you use to make it!
I totally agree that using digital images is still creative and can be colored artistically, but it is not stamping anymore than coloring in an image in a coloring book is, no matter how beautifully. My only objection is calling it stamping, which it is not. I am all for doing what makes you happy and creating in any way you wish. I have seen some amazing cards done with digital images and the color blending is so real and beautiful (something I can't do), but call it what it is---digital image cards, digital image art or digital image printing---and leave the words stamping or stamps out of it.
Creating a picture with a an outline digital image is no different than rubber stamping except how you actually get the outline onto the card, unless you want to emboss it. You print it (you can change the colour of the lines) and then colour it in with all that entails, exactly the same as with a rubber stamp. It's just that the digital images are cheaper, easier to store and can be manipulated.
Ruth
It really really bothers me when people call digital images "stamps". Rubber stamps are much more difficult to use and require a set of skills completely different from digital (graphic) images.
While it's true that digital images are not stamps, I think that the term "digital stamps" came into popular usage because it hinted at what they were and how you'd use them, not what they actually are. Semantics trip us humans up a lot...
Just to be "devil's advocate" here - I think that digital images are harder to use until you master the learning curve (resizing, getting it to print on the part of the paper you want, etc.) No surprises with stamps - it goes right where you put it, and you know what size it is. That being said, I can totally agree that "user error" is much more likely with stamps
Creating a picture with a an outline digital image is no different than rubber stamping except how you actually get the outline onto the card, unless you want to emboss it. You print it (you can change the colour of the lines) and then colour it in with all that entails, exactly the same as with a rubber stamp. It's just that the digital images are cheaper, easier to store and can be manipulated.
Ruth
I think it is as different as drawing a picture by hand to color or buying an already drawn picture that someone else made to color. If all you want to do is color an image, that's great. I really don't care how you create. But it is not stamping which is done by hand whether you color it or not. The only thing that bothers me is calling digital images stamping. I know it is only verbiage, but I am particular about that in this case. For the most part when I stamp, I rarely color the image. I let the stamp do the coloring for me, most of the time.
the "stamp" term confused me at first, because typically where you would use these would be in photoshop or photoshop elements or some other software of that type and in those softwares "stamp" are referred to as brushes. I love both, I do not do lots of coloring of digital images, but I do use lots of sentiment stamps/brushes sized to a punch I may have. I work way harder on my digital scrapping than I do on my cards which I typically use rubber stamps. I would say the average digital project may take 10 hours. I would say my average card probably takes an hour. I am slow. and I have lots of do overs!
__________________ lori b. my gallery
"if you judge people, you have no time to love them."
Wow - interesting thread - it seems funny to me that there are still people who are so anti/offended by people using digital images even after all these years! For example - using a digital image in no way makes a card less hand made! It is certainly no different than using "pre-made/pre-printed" patterned paper or already colored cardstock as opposed to coloring your own card stock or stamping your own patterned paper or even carving your own stamps versus buying ones already made by someone else (or some machine.) I can't even fathom why someone would think that? In general most of the digi images used by card makers are line art that people color in by hand - certainly an incredibly artistic and handmade feature of a card. In addition, I do an awful lot of digital stuff - scrapping and otherwise and that is most certainly an equally artistic, creative, handmade process that can be far more difficult to master than simply putting a stamp onto an ink pad and then onto paper.
So yes, to each his own which is what is so wonderful but don't put down one choice over another! A card using a digi image is absolutely just as creative and handmade as one with a stamped image! I love both though I tend to use more stamps because I dont' do as much coloring as I used to. In fact I often actually carve my own stamps now!
I can say for myself that I hope to use digital image stamps far more than I do now. I'm still very much a novice at coloring them but I LOVE that I can buy bazillions more of them than I can rubber, photopolymer or acrylic stamps!!!
I never thought of calling them anything other than digital stamps...it still requires ink and paper, just the method is different. Yay! for choices
Wow - interesting thread - it seems funny to me that there are still people who are so anti/offended by people using digital images even after all these years! For example - using a digital image in no way makes a card less hand made! It is certainly no different than using "pre-made/pre-printed" patterned paper or already colored cardstock as opposed to coloring your own card stock or stamping your own patterned paper or even carving your own stamps versus buying ones already made by someone else (or some machine.) I can't even fathom why someone would think that? In general most of the digi images used by card makers are line art that people color in by hand - certainly an incredibly artistic and handmade feature of a card. In addition, I do an awful lot of digital stuff - scrapping and otherwise and that is most certainly an equally artistic, creative, handmade process that can be far more difficult to master than simply putting a stamp onto an ink pad and then onto paper.
So yes, to each his own which is what is so wonderful but don't put down one choice over another! A card using a digi image is absolutely just as creative and handmade as one with a stamped image! I love both though I tend to use more stamps because I dont' do as much coloring as I used to. In fact I often actually carve my own stamps now!
You've said it a lot more "politically" than I would have. After years on here listening to people who probably haven't tried them talk down about them, I'm a little fed up with it. I feel sorry for those narrow minded people that don't want to give another way to get great images to use on their cards at a fraction of the price.
And for the record, stamping means "to replicate an image repeatedly" so, YES THEY ARE DIGITAL STAMPS!!!!
For me, the biggest advantage of digital stamp is the ability to resize an image. If I'm making a card and I want the image to be the focal point, I may make the image 4"x4" on a 6" square card. Or if I have a lot of layering going on and different embellishments and dies I want to use, I may make that same image 2"x2". Also, I LOVE to layer digital images on to digital paper and then there is no need to do any fussy cutting (hint .wf files work great for this technique). I've been hooked on digital stamping for years - I love my copics and use them all of the time with my digi images!
Digital paper is a file that if you print it out will print a sheet of patterned paper. You can just print out as much as you want, you don't have to print a whole page if you only want a 2" square. Depending on which program you use you can, for instance, just print a 'frame' which can be used for matting/layering as you don't need the pattern under an upper layer. You can also make the pattern on the paper larger or smaller. So you can replicate the same paper time and time again, useful if you don't have a craft store nearby.
I design digital Stamps. Of course I love them. I love stamps and stickers and patterned papers and my first love is Stampin' Up, I used to be a demonstrator, my sisters are demonstrators.
I'm a professional artist and illustrator. The digital stamps I design are specifically designed for card making to be used in the same way as acrylic or wooden stamps.
A few years ago I didn't know what a digital stamp was so there is a learning curve. I wasn't sure about having a JPEG of the image and resizing the image. I design my digital stamps pre-formatted to specifically fit card making projects. I found out, if you care, it's not a big learning curve. Just a desire to learn about them!
Advantages/Disadvantages of Digital Images
