Digital Creation

As evidenced by my work in A Love Story and the Meditations series (like the now updated “Karuna” story), I have embraced digital tools with open arms. Though, I have some thoughts on their use, especially integrating them with line art and, shall we say, “techniques from the hand” (i.e. non-CGI produced).

Essentially, I think that digital tools should be embraced, but used in careful moderation. Often, digital graphics are extremely pristine, smooth, and uniform. Comparatively, “hand done” works are messy, imprecise, fallible, random. And I think that at least some level of inherent “mistakes” are important.

For instance, I generally can’t stand 3D CGI art in comics when its used dominatingly. I think it just looks wrong, mainly because it lacks a sense of randomness. It is too clean. Human beings make mistakes, and those mistakes are part of what make us human. Without those elements reflected in our “art,” the results seem cold and artificial (unless that’s the aim of course).

More so, on a level of theory, using a completely CGI creation lacks the cultural conventionality inherent in a “drawing style.” It is the epitome of striving for iconicity, though here at the expense of rooting graphic creation in cognitive structure.

Personally, given the available tools, I strive for a balance of these elements. Context dependent, I want the randomness of line art, the precision and naturalness of photography, and the clean smooth uniformity of digital graphics.

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