Evolving Tools of the Trade

The chances are high that creating comics was something worthwhile after reading the daily newspaper “funnies” section; or reading a few panels of the Sunday comics after it had been used as gift wrap for a birthday present; or it could have been as simple as reading a printed comic book on the shelf of a book store. There was a time when the Wacom Intuos 3 Tablet was the hottest new tool on the market for the population of people who took webcomic-making seriously. I will admit, around the time I stepped out of my comfort zone to create a comic, I thought it was important to take drawing materials seriously. I invested in wind-powered manufactured vellum Bristol paper, because there was no better experience than using a variety of pencils and heavy ink-pens than on Bristol paper.

Eventually, the creation of art transitioned to more digital tools. I was mostly on-the-go and did not have the space to access a computer system or a scanner whenever I wanted to create. I learned how to adapt—take a photograph of a quick sketch in a journal; find a software program that utilized the “multiply”-layer function; invest in a pen stylus that allows for coloring in the lines on a tablet screen. In a way, varying technical softwares and having to learn new ways of creating art were independent study, inventive, and innovative.

There is trouble with the learning curve when switching between sketching on paper and pencil versus going one-hundred percent digital. I am talking from personal experience, whenever I attempt to do preliminary sketches directly from a digital tablet, I lose my place on the screen when trying to continue a line where I left off. The plastic nib tip of the stylus on the smooth surface of the tablet has an almost foreign feel to it, and certain tablet drawing software sometimes automatically corrects a line’s smoothness to make it appear better than originally drawn.

The difficulties I have encountered when adapting my own style to a purely digital method of creation is the reason why I have opted for a mixed-media form of digital drawing. I can always learn a new coloring technique with more modern software, but drawing with a pencil on paper will always feel like home to me.



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