Digital vs Traditional
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I suspect that what your librarian meant to describe was, ‘I don’t like that airbrushy look’. I think that in general people are attracted to an organic, natural, ‘real life’ feel to a piece of art, that creates a connection, and these days digital can do that just as well as traditional, it’s just that normal non-artists don’t always know that because it can be hard to tell the difference.
Recently I’ve looked back at illustrators who I thought were traditional…then I looked closer at the way the textures overlaid each other and thought ‘aha! I think that is actually DIGITAL coloured pencil! That’s how they did it!’ I could only tell the difference once I had got better with digital myself.
One last thought…I see a lot of average digital work making it into published children’s books, but I never see any bad traditional art getting published. Maybe that’s because I have a lot of books for young children which favour bright flattish colours, or maybe the novelty of the texture combinations won over the publisher…or maybe I just remember the ones that are digital because the airbrushy style stands out easily.
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@Lee-White That is a relief to hear. I think because she was a librarian and was around children's books a lot, I (unreasonably) started to worry about what she said.
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@Naroth-Kean Yeah, I had watched that video a while back, and then I watched it again last night to hear what Will's thoughts on it were. He touched a lot on the publishers preferring digital because of the convenience of it. But I was curious to know a little more about the argument from an aesthetic viewpoint. One thing that is mentioned in the video that I totally agree with is that "Image is always king".
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Agree with what @Dulcie and @Lee-White said.
When I read your first post my immediate thought was: she doesn't know what digital is (she assumes it's the airbrush/gradient style).I suppose there ARE people who like that style but I don't think I could name any. One of my goals is to get good enough with digital that it looks like traditional. There are many examples of artists that can do that so it is definitely possible. Then you have the best of both worlds!
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@mattramsey That's what I was thinking as well...that maybe she isn't really aware of what digital illustrations are like nowadays. But I didn't want to get into an argument about books with a librarian...
Btw, watched Will Terry's new vid. It was as if he answered this question because he talks about how in general, it'll be easier to find work if you're able to work digitally (all things being equal) because publishers prefer to work that way. So digital it is. But I do plan to try my hand at traditional mediums sometime down the road, just to fulfill my own creative itch.
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Awesome topic! I love thinking this one over.
Every time I come back to it, I have to say I'm "adding digital to my artistic toolbox." I'm not a die-hard traditional artist or tempted to think digital only -- it really depends on what I'm doing. If I'm doing a commissioned piece for someone's home, it's traditional. Other things might be digital.* Artists can be versatile, I don't think we have to "marry" one method or the other. They even combine beautifully in one piece!
*Still learning digital painting. Just on the "editing" level for the moment.
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I think that the librarians inability to point out illustrations created digitally shows to some degree her inexperience in judging the difference between the two. And actually now there are more programs out there that allow you to mimic any medium. Will Terry has a super YouTube video out called, "Traditional or Digital Art? Ready fight! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uECsz33kTHk. And another great children's book artist that went from traditional to exclusively digital now is Christopher Denise. He also talks about this in an interview where he explains that he can work so much faster. It used to take him 6 months to illustrate a book, but now he can produce one in less than half that time! if you intend to work in illustration, I think it's important to think about how you can produce work the fastest in order to make a living. There is a new program out there that amazingly mimics watercolor and gouache perfectly called 'Rebelle' created by Escape Motions. And many people love sketching in Sketchbook Pro which you can get for as little as $2.99 a month. You can even do animations in it. And remember, you can always do both! But do watch Will's video for a great rundown on the two. And on SVSlearn.com he does a great video called 'Mixed Media'. He also did a great one on "Digital Pencils". Enjoy!
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@Carey-Bowden Carey...I really love your illustrations! And blog. I can't wait (soon) to read it all. Awesome, awesome work!
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@Edie-Ostrowski Wow, thank you so much! That's very kind of you. I checked your SVS profile and I see you recently joined the forums. Do you have a website/blog/online gallery? I'd love to see your work!
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@Naroth-Kean and @Edie-Ostrowski Thanks for posting those Will Terry video links. It resonated with me when he drew the diagram about the four stages of being an artist...I used to think I was pretty good because, like hey I can draw cats and stuff!....now I think 'Oh I have SO much to learn' and I have a list as long as my arm of all the things I need to improve on...
