Fingerpainting Doesn’t Mean What It Used To. Check Out These Amazing Works!

Spanish artist Jaime Sanjuan Ocabo creates detailed and lifelike (though slightly surreal) images using only an iPad and his fingertips. Just like traditional painting methods, Ocabo builds up layers to create his paintings, beginning with the basics and adding more and more (and more!) detail as the painting evolves.

He creates still-life paintings, portraits and landscapes, all which look real enough to touch, but each with a surrealist twist. Solid objects have liquid, splashy edges, while liquids hold their shape.

Digital media changed the art world over the last several years. It still takes training and skill to create masterpieces like Ocabo’s, but digital media makes art more accessible. You no longer need studio space and painting supplies. All you need is an iPad and an art app. Digital tools don’t come cheap, but they save space and resources otherwise required to create art.

Ocabo, who studied fine arts and wrote his doctoral thesis on art and technology, knows this first hand. Despite his serious credentials, he was unable to find employment for four years after graduating, something many twentysomethings can relate to. Due to lack of funds, he gave up painting. But after receiving an iPad a year ago, he discovered a way to create art that didn’t require extra space or money.

“With the help of this tool, I do not need a studio, and there is no need to buy materials to create my paintings,” he explains, I still have no job, but now I feel alive!”

We hope that Ocabo can find gainful employment in a field he loves. Until then, it’s important for him to have a creative outlet, and one that doesn’t drain his funds. Based on his talent, though, we’re sure he’ll go far!

(Images via Jaime Sanjuan Ocabo.)