Traditional or digital art?

Spinning off from this thread.

Which do you use, and why? Do you find one easier? Does one unlock more possibilities for you?

It seems like many people find digital art easier (judging from the linked thread), but I'm the opposite. I simply cannot fathom how to use digital art. There's no sense of the visceral for me. Whether it's oil, acrylic, ink or watercolour painting; charcoal, pencil or pen, with traditional art I instinctively know what will happen. If I mix these colours, I can get this colour. If I press harder, I'll get a broader stroke/darker tone. If I press on the paper, a line appears under it. This is how you make roughness, this is how you create sketchiness. I can feel the texture of the paper and the type of stroke I'm making. Even if I haven't used the medium before, I can do well enough by these "rules".

The connections disappear with digital art. There are so many buttons that confuse me and change the effect of the work without relation to my actual strokes. Mixing colours is all wrong. What I do with my tablet doesn't correspond to what's onscreen. It's a completely different feeling drawing on the tablet to drawing on paper: there's no texture to guide me; no confinement of height and breadth that I can easily see.

First off: I use a pressure sensitive tablet laptop, specifically a Fujitsu Lifebook T4020. The advantage of this is I draw directly on the screen rather than on a seperate tablet. I use the program Manga Studio for all my drawing, and Photoshop for certain other stuff that Manga Studio is less suited for.

I switched to digital a while ago and haven't looked back. I draw comics/cartoon characters, which mostly consists of solid outlines and colours, which digital drawing is ideal for. Use of layers makes many things MUCH easier, such as drawing backgrounds seperately to the characters. And then there's the ever-handy undo button.

The technical side of all the fiddly buttons doesn't bother me because I grew up using computers, so it's basically second nature to me.

There's also the issue of cost. Paper, pens, ink and paint all cost money. Apart from the initial investment in the tablet, I don't have to spend money on supplies. I also don't have to worry about not having the correct type of nib or brush. I don't need to worry about mixing paints; I have the entire colour spectrum to work with.

So yeah, digital is pretty cool, IMO. But lot of artists still prefer traditional tools, and that's cool too.

edited 6th Apr '12 12:13:30 AM by Talby

I agree I prefer digital art overall I want to specialise on digital art.

But I think some people make the mistake to try to buy skills. I know for a fact that incredible art can be made with just an average pencil.

I want to master the pencil before even attemtp to buy a tablet

^^Paints and supplies are quite expensive, but they tend to last a long time. I don't know how that might compare to the lifespan of an average tablet and software (pen wearing out, needing an upgrade etc), though I suspect that it's much shorter. 5 colours are quite sufficient for most artists' mixing purposes (5 is decent; I usually use 6; 8 is best). Actually, not being able to mix is a big problem for me with digital art!

edited 8th Apr '12 5:52:11 PM by Yuanchosaan

If you buy a tablet thinking it will make you a better artist, you're in for an expensive disappointment. Personally, I've been drawing for a long time using only a pencil and paper and moved to digital pretty recently.

It's less about buying skills than it is about using the best tools for the kind of work you do. For me, a digital tablet is the best tool.

I couldn't be sure which is more expensive over a long enough period of time, and it would vary greatly from artist to artist anyway. I just find it convenient not having to worry about a lot of that stuff.

edited 9th Apr '12 5:13:21 PM by Talby

What if you think it will make you a better colorer?

^If you're currently using a mouse to draw, the tablet will help with control. Most of the skill will have to be your own. No short-cuts from tools, I'm afraid.

Yeah, that's what I'm hoping for. Especially since I'm a leftie using a right handed mouse.

Also, coloring programs on computers have the smudge tool!

Yes, well, I have my finger! *waves finger around theatrically*

But I can't undo what a finger does ;A;

Does this happen to you as well?

As well as ctrl + f ;^;

it's all a matter of personal preference imo

Both are fine enough. For traditional art, I prefer either acrylics, colored pencils, or 0.1 microns. Digital art is good if I don't have enough resources on me, i.e. I've run out of paint/ink or I'm too lazy to sharpen my pencils. I find that traditional looks more "natural", but that may be because I'm very inexperienced with digital art and don't know the right techniques.

Remus is done with ink on paper, with coloring and lettering done digitally. I'd like to learn to go all digital, but I'm nowhere near good enough with the tablet for that yet.

Despite the lack of ctrl-z, I find pencil and paper easier to work with in terms of lines, because I draw fast and my tablet is slippery.

Coloring is a little easier on digital. But I still haven't finished coloring a sketch, ever.

edited 24th May '12 6:56:34 PM by Leradny