Going Digital
I think some attention should be paid to digital art vs. traditional, old-school comics. I love the craft and steps in creating “fine art” comics with watercolor, pencil and ink-even acrylic, but we don’t always have time for that, and scanning original color art is fraught with pitfalls if you are printing later. I still am learning the balancing act between what I’ll call “to paper” and “to tablet” drawing, but if like me you can’t just sit around all week long and draw comics, and God forbid you had a deadline or a paying client, you may need to go digital, at least partly.
The thing that we all share as comic creators, is that we’ve had to use tools made to do, say photo-retouching as in Photoshop, or making books, as in InDesign, and adapt them into making comics. In the above pictures I’ve scanned in the penciled art for a piece I did for a client, Students of the Unusual, and am “inking” it digitally in Corel Painter X. I also colored the art digitally later, but I think there is enough to talk about regarding digital “inking” and maybe adding tones to keep me busy here. Let’s talk pros and cons: The pros include, your get to “undo” without white-out or tearing your hair out. You can move quickly and not use up expensive art supplies and get your work area and hands (and often in my case clothes) all covered in ink. The cons, well, many artists my generation and older were introduced to computers rather late, and will never be as at home drawing straight on a tablet as onto paper. Digital drawing lacks, for now anyway, some sort of tactile quality that drawing with pencil or brush on paper has. Maybe it’s more abstract than that: you don’t create anything tangible-no object. Sure, you can print it out, but you can’t touch it as you create it. This may seem like a small point, but I assure you it has a been major challenge for me. I’m close to feeling like I’m really drawing when I work in say Painter or Photoshop, but it’s taken a long time. I assume other folks will find this a non-issue in the years and decades ahead, but, hey, my first year of college we learned graphic design with a light table and a font book… there’s a learning curve for everyone who creates comics, but the path is as unique as the individual.
Happy Drawing,
Joel
4 comments
That’s an interesting subject to bring up, perhaps I’ll write a post on my perspective. There’s definitely a pretty big generational difference in how artists utilize “new” technology like tablets.
I personally lean analog (I’m 32). Part of the appeal of comics for me is that the materials can be so basic, so I’m not crazy about using a bunch of electricity & hi-tech to do what I can mostly do with a pen & paper. Another thing I like about comics is that the main product is reproductions, not one-offs, but I still find it satisfying to have finished originals that are as close to what’s printed as possible.
Also, I spend all of my day-job hours using a computer, which has killed a lot of my desire to be on it for other things. I still scan my work & sometimes do a little cleanup on the computer, and I lay out my zines on the computer. If I did illustration work, I’d probably use the computer more to make dealing with the inevitable changes easier. I never really learned to deal with color, so on the rare occasions I must, I limp along on the computer.
That’s all how I like to work, though – it doesn’t much matter to me how digital other people go, as long as I can still get the supplies I need!
Sarah and Colin,
We should hear everyone’s perspective on this, Tom’s, Hugh and everyone’s else’s too. I’m not making a quality assessment here. I’d much prefer to do things the “old fashioned way” like my heros Carl Barks and Moebius, but sometimes there isn’t time in my schedule and I still need to create something. I’m personally curious about the different ways people use the same programs. I’m sure it’s unique, and patterned due to their style and design sense.
Joel
This was an interesting post to read, as I just recently made the opposite switch in regard to my comic production. In fact, I’ll probably post about that anyway. I have some of the same feelings on digital vs. traditional. You’re point about the tactility of both mediums is something I’ve been going back and forth with for a while! Going digital certainly has it’s pro’s, but not being able to touch the actual finished product, just a reproduction, always makes me a little sad!
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