I've been doing a lot of sketching in flash, usually when i'm on a conference call and people want to see designs immediately, or just when i don't want to be bothered with scanning pencils. BUT... I really believe that it is quite different, and TOTALLY not as good in terms of emotional connection and tangibility, in the context of something that is real vs. something that doesn't truly exist. While I was drawing yesterday in flash, in preparation for this blog entry, the program quit out and I lost a very good drawing. Con #1 for flash, IT DOESN'T ACTUALLY EXIST. don't forget that. I posted a model sheet for a project i'm doing for sesame street (well, not the gun drawing, that was just for fun). the drawing above was drawn with a cintiq in flash, the one below is scanned from paper(ingram bond, HB lead)... what differences can you see?
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Drawing digital vs. a REAL drawing....
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17 comments:
Drawing in the current observable universe is more interesting than drawing on the computer. While I also enjoy drawing or painting in the computer, it also takes away from the fun of making mistakes and being forced to finding new ways to finish your piece without an UNDO button.
AND, you can't get that wonderful feeling of the pen or pencil dancing across the paper or other medium the way you can in the tangible world.
I'm a pencil to scanner artist and I always prefer my pencils to my digital pen. Maybe because I've been doing one longer than the other. But, as in your examples, the pencil on paper just looks more fluid and, really, animated. you can almost see the movement as opposed to the cintiq where it comes off as rushed and lacking in depth.
nice sketching either way.
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The scanned pencil drawing has an advantage here. It's a rough scan, so you are getting that nice texture of the paper, smudges from you hand and the sketchy line quality. Might have been better to post a cleaned up, high contrast, finished scan of what this drawing will eventually become: more 0's and 1's. In the end, the hand drawn is still gonna look better, I'm just saying ...
And you'll always have that drawing, another MAJOR advantage. We've all had Flash "unexpectedly quit," lost in a big fat Flash trash can forever.
Agree with you about the superiority of real penciled drawings over Flash digital drawing (or any digital drawings really) , but Flash isn't the only alternative.
Have you looked at TVPaint (aka "Mirage") ? That's what Paul Fierlinger is using on his feature film "My Dog Tulip" .
You can do a rough pencil line, with texture, in TVP. The line feels less mechanical than Flash. Is it as good as real pencil ? No. But it's a darn sight closer if you must work digital because of clients wanting stuff fast, no time to scan, etc. TVP and the Cintiq are a good combination.
I've gathered some examples of projects made with TVP/Mirage here:
http://paperless-animation.blogspot.com
but I think the point is that no matter how much the computer may try to replicate the look of a pencil, nothing replaces the feeling of sliding across paper, wood, canvas etc. Alias Sketchbook has high honors in my book for being simple and coming very close to using a pencil (of course if you are using a tablet PC it helps) and when I create something in the computer I will usually start with Sketchbook and end in PS2 or PainterX. But it still doesn't replace the traditional method in my head. and I often turn out better results when I start in my sketchbook and scan it in. but of course it is relative.
Don't tell my students, but I haven't animated on paper, outside of flipbooks, in six years. Everybody has their preferences, but so far no one's approached me after a screening of Moonraker or Upstate Four and said, "too bad you didn't do that on paper!"
I agree with Fran. The Krause's do great work on Cintiqs. It's just different. I guess you prefer paper. Me too. But I've never tried Cintiq for much, and I suspect it's just a matter of adjusting.
Matthew wrote:
"nothing replaces the feeling of sliding across paper, wood, canvas etc. Alias Sketchbook has high honors in my book for being simple and coming very close to using a pencil."
Matthew: I agree (as I did with Pat) , but as we 2D animators are facing the 'necessary evil' of hand-drawn digital animation because of production demands then I say why use Flash when there's a software like TVP Animation which has a more natural pencil sketch look and feel to it ?
Sketchbook Pro is fine, but it's not an animation program. TVP Animation is . Everything that can be drawn in Sketchbook Pro (and more so !) can be drawn in TVP Animation , but it's animated. I figured if Pat had clients asking him to work digitally on the Cintiq then he might want to check out TVPaint rather than be saddled with Flash and it's somewhat limited drawing tools.
(believe me, I was dragged kicking and screaming into working on the computer. I'm an old pencil 'n' paper man from way back. )
oh,no. I hear you. :-) Animation wise no. I was just talking about sketching. And yeah. Tv Paint is pretty awesome.
I'm not sure that either one can be better. It's like the Digital vs. Film debate in the world of motion pictures. You're comparing hammers and screwdrivers, they're different tools that perform a similar function and ultimately preference will be a personal choice based on experience and situation.
If you grew up using a tablet and just recently began using a pencil for sketches I'm sure it would feel slightly foreign and awkward too.
Of course pencil looks and feels better if you've been using a pencil your whole life.
oops.. I should have put my full name, that might be confusing. I'm not THE Pat, just a Pat :)
Pat Race wrote:
"It's like the Digital vs. Film debate in the world of motion pictures. "
Yes, it is somewhat like that .
Are digital photographs not "real" photographs ? There's no negative, no developing chemicals , none of the traditional craftsmanship involved in traditional photography, yet I would guess that most photography we see these days is digital and to look at you wouldn't know the difference, whether a photo was shot on "real" film or is digital. Prints can be made from a digital photo file so that we can hold on to something tangibly real and the work can be reproduced in books that we can actually hold ,,, so why not digital drawings and paintings ?
And yet , there's something in me that doesn't quite buy that ... I do miss the tangible, physical drawings even as I adapt to the industry trends and have learned to draw on the Cintiq tablet. It does save time to not have to scan art and to be able to instantly send a design or a storyboard to a client over the ftp server or even just emailing it for instant feedback from my director who may be on the opposite side of the country. And it's so easy to make a quick fix . Blah, blah, blah ... all the usual reasons for going digital . And I actually do enjoy working on the Cintiq when it's combined with one of the digital apps that does a good job of impersonating traditional drawing media , such as TVPaint for animation, or for casual sketching ArtRage or Sketchbook. It's not that bad. In fact there's a lot I like about drawing on the Cintiq , but , but ... as I'm fond of pointing out to my students : It's not like Pencil and Paper is broken . (so where then is the application of the old maxim: "if it ain't broke , don't fix it ." ? )
A lot of the push towards digital hand-drawn (whether in Flash or ToonBoom , whatever) is being motivated by economic reasons and the concerns of production managers , not artists . It's easier to track and store the work in a paperless system , so I can see why it's a production manager's preference to push industry practices in this direction. Given a choice I think most animators would choose to continue working with pencil on paper. (Paul Fierlinger is one of the few traditionally trained animators who I can think of who is very adamant about his preference for paperless for artistic reasons and says he would never go back . )
i've noticed that cintiq/tablet drawings tend to generalize everyone's work to look very similar...even your drawings, pat.
i've also noticed that the cintiq can't keep up with how fast i draw. FAIL!
Hi Pat,
Nice sketches.
But I disagree with you about drawing digital. I had to switch 1,5 year ago for my storyboardwork for commercials and don't feel the urge now to get back to analog sketching. Of course my paintings are all real oilpaint pictures, but as far as drawing and animating goes, it's liberating to be able to multiple undo, to make quick roughs and mirror them to check, or to replace parts of a drawing, enlarge them, turn them, all very quick.
My drawing actually improved a lot last 1,5 year.
I use tvpaint which has a great pencil (designed by Peter Wassink with whom I share a studio).
The newest version of tvpaint will come out this week (tvpaint 9). Try and download the demo and try the basicpencil for instance (and the lighttable, rotatingdisc etc. etc.)
I must sound like a salesman, sorry for that.
Hey Pat, sell to me your Cintiq.
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