The digital photo is the "base" of the graphic illustration. The work of applying filters and various edits and adjustments using photo editing software engages an active creativity and requires some time and effort.
The digital applications make available to me opportunities to work with an image in ways that I would not be able to do "on my own," i.e. by freehand drawing. I begin these experiments in computer graphics with my own digital photographs, and then various types of software provide the tools to manipulate the images.
Here I go beyond "using photoshop" to simply improve or clarify the photo as a photo, within the photographic art form. I use it instead to make something different, something distinct in style and form, often (though not in this instance) adding further content or graphic imagery as well as redesigning the original image.
Even with inexpensive and widely available resources, some bold and striking visual graphics are possible.
My own very modest improvisational efforts are enough to convince me that digital graphic design is an art form that has vast potential for development. It is not "hard" to make something that "looks pretty good," but the higher levels of excellence in this craft will still stand out, and new possibilities will open up for original expressions of brilliance in visual artistry.
