Digital or traditional, that is the question?
Is it better to work in traditional or digital medium for my art?
Here is the answer, it doesn’t matter! There was a saying that a decent artist could work with any medium they are handed if they truly know what they are doing. That is true to a point, but if you have never worked in oils it would be hard to create a beautiful work of art. Not because you don’t have the knowledge of painting, but because you don’t understand the elements of the the paint and its characteristics.
I have been using a mixture of traditional and digital techniques for years and just this year went totally digital with my work, but many would not have noticed any difference in the work. That’s the point! The outcome is the same. The cool thing about being an illustrator instead of a fine artist is I can use any method I wish to get to the desired outcome where as many fine artist will work in the medium if their choice for the whole picture.
My technique in the past has been to draw the picture in pen and ink on paper, scan or photograph that drawing, and colour it on the computer. The change I have made this year is I now start the whole drawing on an iPad Pro using one program for the whole picture. It doesn’t change the final outcome it just makes my workflow for projects easier.
How do you evaluate if you should go digital with your art? Look at your workflow! If it will increase your efficiency, make the task of drawing or painting easier then go for it. For those of us that work with magazines and online publications digital just makes sense. In the old days we would do a illustration traditionally and have to rely on printers to get the image colours correct and mail our artwork around the country. Now we send a digital file with the correct colour settings and it goes by email. It just makes more sense.
If you are looking at going digital with your art check out your workflow first, decide on what makes sense, your budget, and go for it. You will be glad you did.
About the Artist
Bruce Outridge is a professional cartoonist from Canada. His artwork specializes in caricature and cartoons for the clients and publications. He is the host of the Cashing in on Creativity Podcast for those in the creative arts at www.cashinginoncreativitypodcast.com . To learn more about Bruce and his work visit www.bruceoutridgeproductions.com or www.bruceoutridge.com
