Going digital

I like how digital art pops

I like how digital art just pops. The colors are so vibrant and the contrast in the pictures are far better than what I can do with water/acrylic colors. Of course, this is certainly possible by conventional means too. But drawing digitally just seems a lot more convenient to use for me. For instance, I don’t have to wait for paint to dry or have a different hue in one part of the painting compared to the other. There’s an undo button, there are layers that I can turn on and off, and further, I can even blend and combine multiple art pieces. Drawing from reference also becomes much easier. My point here is not that digital art is better than conventional art. I’m not sure a statement like that even makes sense. What I mean here is that for what I plan to do, I think working digitally would be enormously advantageous.

The biggest reason I want to get good at using digital art tools (like gimp and krita) is that it will help me finish a new comic idea that I have been working on.. A big problem with drawing something like a graphic novel is the requirement for consistency of characters, lighting and environments. For example, how can I ensure that I have a consistent view of the environment as my characters move about in it. One option is building a 3D model in another software (this I am quite familiar with) and the second option is to port real locations such as from a street view in Google maps. Working digitally, will help me incorporate and draw over these real environments. I can use blender to develop locations, which I can then draw over easily too. This will also help me be consistent with light, such as maintaining the spatial orientation of where light comes from. Another major benefit is that, working this way can help me stay consistent with characters. I can either work with 3D models or video footage of actors (which I can use as reference). If I see a stuntman do something cool in a movie, I can get snapshots of those motions/gestures and use them as reference for my characters. In the early years where I was working on my art, this seemed blasphemous. But, I think I realize that I put these notions on myself. The goal I see for myself now is to find a way to tell a story through a graphic novel. Hence, I need to make big strides in completing the comic rather than get bogged down trying to improve my drawing skills alone. So, for these purposes, I really hope to use these digital tools to great effect.

Here, I show some of my early work with digital art. I started out by repeating what I knew how to do well i.e. making portraits. It took quite some effort learning to draw on a Wacom tablet. I have a pretty basic tablet and it was a challenge for me to draw on a tablet but look at what I’m drawing on a screen. I had to relearn some of the hand-eye coordination that I seem to have taken for granted. But, this didn’t bother me too much since I could make nice portraits (even with these limitations). Further, I could fix mistakes more easily (undo), or transform anatomical errors, fix skews or tilted figures with a few clicks, and apply high contrast fresh paint that stands out (especially the shine in the eyes). I’m excited to use this medium and get better at using it.

Even though I could recreate what I did conventionally, I suspect that I am repeating the skills I know from before rather than developing new skills (better suited to the new medium). In order to fix this, I started at the basics and worked on some “still life” pieces to understand how to blend color and apply effects. I would barely call myself a novice at this point, but I can compensate for my lack of skill (with these new tools) with my prior experience with drawing the last few years. It’s has been going good when I do work at it. But it hasn’t really been too easy lately. I have been working on my PhD the last few years and progressively it has consumed more of my time. Recently (well, half a year ago), I started working on at new job while also trying to wrap up my PhD dissertation. It has been challenging to put in the same amount of time into my art as I used to before. But, even though I haven’t really been able to work on large projects lately, I have still been trying to squeeze in the time every now and then when I feel inspired. In the near future (say half year), I hope to clear my schedule a little bit and perhaps finally get back to working on my graphic novel.