Why do I recommend doing the exercises in ink vs digitally?
https://www.reddit.com/r/ArtFundamentals/comments/2mi0kz/why_do_i_recommend_doing_the_exercises_in_ink_vs/
2014-11-16 21:58
Uncomfortable
A couple weeks ago, /u/Rhinocerocket_MKII asked me a great question - one that I get all the time. I've decided to post my response to him, because it wraps up exactly why I believe that doing these exercises first traditionally, in ink, is far more effective and efficient than learning digitally.
Here's my response:
There's a handful of reasons, and I'll tell you right now, I have seen every flaw and mistake I list below in myself. My work is all digital, and has been for a decade. Traditional media made me uncomfortable, and I avoided it at all costs. It wasn't until a year ago that I forced myself to revisit my fundamentals, and did so traditionally.
Most of all, from what I've seen in others and myself, people seem to improve faster when working in ink, rather than digitally. Working in such an unforgiving medium understandably quickly develops a sense of confidence, and an acceptance of the fact that shitty drawings are a fact of life. It also forces you to learn how to best save a drawing that is going south. Working traditionally also provides a fuller relationship with the materials - you can manipulate the page in whatever way you see fit, you can experiment with different ways your pen can interact with the paper. It is all very easy to understand, rather than an abstracted digital representation. This goes a long way to promote learning.
This one is something that I've also seen, but is less relevant depending on the person. Still, it's very common. The accessibility of digital art is one of its greatest strengths and its greatest weaknesses. It has bred generations of beginners without the focus or followthrough to develop a respect for art itself. There's a huge tendency towards obsessing over quick returns and minor investment. Speed painting is easily the most significant representation of this. Not that speed painting is bad, it's just misunderstood by a lot of beginners as an excuse to put in very little effort. What it actually is, is the culmination of years of arduous training - understanding form, lighting, colour, shape language, etc. - that allows for one's intent to carry onto the page very efficiently. By forcing people to work traditionally for their fundamentals, it serves to shatter that illusion and also develops a greater respect for drawing and illustration as a whole, and this becomes apparent in one's work.
For all the advantages that working digitally brings to the table, it does so by putting an extra layer of abstraction between the artist and their artwork. A stroke on the tablet is interpreted by the driver software and then an approximation of it is handled by the art program and presented on the screen. This disconnect can lead to complications (both minor and major). Overall, people deal with them - but when someone is trying to learn, those minor problems can seriously hinder one's understanding of an exercise. I've found that it is far better to learn in an environment with as little of this as possible at first. Then, once the purpose and concepts behind the exercises becomes clear (ie: once you've completed the basics/dynamic sketching lessons), you can then go back to digital and apply what you've learned. At that point, you will know better how to compensate for those minor issues.
Last of all, this one's kind of dumb. It is the way I was taught. I went through all of this material exactly one year ago, and it was taught to me by Peter Han, who is extremely well respected for teaching this kind of thing. He's part of that whole Art Center College of Design crowd, along with Scott Robertson. I figure the less we deviate from his teaching methods, the better.
At the end of the day, it is up to you - but you'll be seriously shortchanging yourself if you decide to go about it digitally.
NuggleBuggins
2014-11-17 01:22
I agree that the way to learn should be first traditional, and then transferred over to digital. I am by no means an expert on the matter, But I have learned 90% of what I know through traditional means. I probably started fooling around with digital a couple of years ago, and I kind of dropped all forms of traditional, aside from the occasional doodles. And since switching back to traditional I am constantly finding myself trying to find the easy way out after I mess something up. As soon as I make a misplaced stroke I immediately think "CMD Z! CMD Z!" and then realize that I can't fix it with the push of a button, and will just have to deal with the mistake. I also believe that skills learned traditionally transfer over to digital much better than digital to traditional.
Whirly123
2014-11-17 11:11
Being someone who has done this course digitally I can't endorse this message enough! Seriously guys stick to pen for a bit, whats the worst that can happen!
Dee013
2014-11-18 21:28
I honestly can't agree more with this myself through personal experience. Point number one I find almost to be a fact regarding my own way of learning. I was a caricature artist about.... Five years ago? There were no pre-sketches or pencils that we worked with first. We were taught to work as quickly as possible, and that meant starting straight off with that chisel point marker. Trust me, it is not as easy as the more experienced make it look. I was terrible at it, and often messed up when I first started working. I've even had a ton of people turn down my drawings. But that was okay, because it helped me learn faster. It didn't take long to figure out what I could do with the marker and how to fix things on the go. Making mistakes look intentional (as long as you didn't spell a word wrong - if you're going into caricatures, learn how to spell ALL the sports team names), and selling the drawing like it's the best they could have gotten anywhere. And we often worked under a lot of pressure so coloring was no different. We had to create a somewhat "accurate" cartoon of the person as whatever they wanted to be, with color, in a matter of 10 minutes or less, often with a child's parents critiquing us from behind as we worked. And sometimes we would have a line building up behind us where just getting the drawing on the page had to be our only focus. I credit that work environment to why I am so much more comfortable with traditional drawing. I can manipulate the paper and the pen or medium as I see fit, and I just don't know how to do that digitally yet. So I'll definitely be sticking to traditional drawing until we get up to digital lessons.
So if anyone is particularly frustrated with traditional drawing - I hope I've provided some inspiration. It gets easier the more you practice!
Uncomfortable
2014-11-18 22:23
Man, I can't even imagine working under that level of stress. I'm still shy when it comes to thinking about doing live streams and the like.
Dee013
2014-11-19 01:00
Yeah. It gets a little stressful. I was only 15 at the time, and it was my first job, so it was really scary. And I had a lady reject one of my drawings on the 2nd day! But now I look back on it and realize that it only helped me in the long run. Sometimes you just have to dive in head first. Though that's always easier said than done. I still struggle with it. It holds me back from selling some of my art pieces too.
MMSTINGRAY
2014-12-02 13:14
Probably a dumb question, I'm new here and pretty new to art in general, is pencil just as good as ink for practice? Or does it have to be a pen?
Uncomfortable
2014-12-02 13:38
Ink is better. I'm on my phone right now so I can't quite explain why, but I wrote a post in this subreddit about traditional vs digital that also covers this issue.... I think. If it doesn't, let me know and I'll explain it later today.
LeftHandedGuitarist
2015-02-17 14:00
Can I just clarify something about the pens you recommend here?
Which country are you from, because the term "felt-tip pen" was confusing me quite a bit. I'm in the UK, and the Staedtler 0.5 pigment pen you recommend in lesson 1 is what we would refer to as a "fineliner" or maybe technical drawing pen. A felt-tip pen here is a thick soft pen that kids use for colouring and drawing - example here
I'm just a bit confused by the names and want to make sure I'm not going completely in the wrong direction!
[deleted]
2015-03-20 21:22
I'm probably asking in the wrong place but since I don't know how to use Reddit this is my best guess. You mentioned you won't be doing critiques that don't follow the medium requirement, but you also say in the lessons that ballpoint pen can be used in a pinch. Does that mean it will fly for the critiques or should I go grab a felt-tip from Michael's? And for that matter, do the works need to be scanned, or will photos of acceptable quality do?
Uncomfortable
2015-03-20 21:58
Ballpoint's okay for the first and second lessons (not recommended, but I will critique it), though not for the third and onwards. It would be in your best interests to hunt down some felt tip pens.
As for the quality, photos work fine too. All that's important is that they're in focus so I can make out what you've drawn.
qwaswasa
2015-04-16 01:47
Hi-jacking a little, but what type of paper should be used? Just regular old printer paper?
Uncomfortable
2015-04-16 02:01
Printer paper's just fine. In class, we used toned recycled paper (you can get them as sketchbooks) but we're not really taking advantage of it here, due to how I've tweaked the lessons. Any paper will do.
qwaswasa
2015-04-16 03:04
Sounds good! Thanks a bunch for making all these tutorials too. I haven't drawn anything since elementary school, but these are super approachable in my opinion. I am actually super excited to try this as a hobby in my spare time.
tolland
2015-04-17 22:53
Not sure if I missed a post, but I can completely understand not using a digital systems, but not using a pencil? I don't see the same draw backs with the pencil.
Uncomfortable
2015-04-18 01:11
With these lessons, I am trying to instill a certain set of values, and pencils tend to go against some of the important points. Most significantly, pencils are too forgiving - they allow you to think more on the page, scribbling and sketching lightly instead of thinking about every mark you put down. I always encourage people to put on the paper what they need (if that means drawing through forms to better understand how they sit in the scene or adding contour lines to help themselves better perceive the forms as three-dimensional), but I try to get people to shake off the habit of being rough and sketchy.
For the same reason, I only allow the use of ballpoint pen for the first two lessons, and I still try to discourage it. Even ballpoint allows you to sketch quite lightly with very little consequence. Felt tip pen on the other hand, especially in an inexperienced hand, will leave a dark mark no matter what. Every line counts, and each one will stand out like a naked fat man in a busy intersection.
Uncomfortable
2014-11-16 22:39
I support your choice in idols!