How does working by hand differ from drawing utilizing the computer or from typing on the computer?

There are many advantages of drawing or writing things out on the computer. We have the ability to undo or redo anything, fix our mistakes easily, change the color of our drawings whenever we like, change the sizing/positioning or even the whole composition of our layouts whenever we like. Digital drawing also has the advantage of utilizing all the tools available in traditional media and imitate them digitally. Art supplies can be very expensive especially if you are an artist and by having a tool that can do the job of more than 10 tools in one program or device, you can end up saving a lot of money. Also, most traditional mediums require more patience as mistakes are more prone to be made and not easily reversible as digital art. Color is also a huge factor as many vivid colors can be produced on screen than with print, thus allowing a greater spectrum of color to be produced in your drawings to make them more vibrant. However, traditional art has something that digital art probably can never replace and that is the actual feeling of the medium. The experience and process is completely different since mediums like oil paint require a lot of patience and drying time and can feel smooth when being applied to the canvas, and mediums like watercolor allow you to create cool effects by adding or subtracting color. In this way, you feel and create various textures that can not only be seen visually, but can also be felt. The canvas you draw on also has no limitation when it comes to size, but with digital art, you are strictly working on a screen that doesn’t allow you to have much physical moving space to work on with every single project. Your finished artwork is something physical, it becomes more special to the artist as there is only one copy of it and it is something you can touch, while things that are done digitally loses its originality and uniqueness as it can be replicated hundreds of times. It has also been stated that writing or drawing things down on paper with a pen or pencil helps individuals retain and process information much easier compared to typing or drawing it out on a computer.

Do you think you are using different parts of your brain? Why?

I wouldn’t really think so, despite all the differences I mentioned between working digitally and traditionally. Working on paper and drawing directly on the screen uses pretty much the same technique as how you would normally draw on anything. With both, you are working directly on a surface and looking down at what you are drawing for both of them. The only difference would be that with digital, you have many options of what tools or effects you want to chose from which could change the overall way you start or end a project. As well the texture of the surface of the medium is different, otherwise the way you hold a pencil and draw is still the same.

Are these different ways of thinking/doing?

Yes, definitely! With traditional art, you are required to spend a lot more time figuring out and laying out your composition to ensure that the final product will be mistake free and perfect as how you are envisioning it as you may be unable to change it later. With most traditional mediums, you have to have the patience as your artwork can dry up quickly in areas or cannot be as erased easily or reworked compared to digital. If I’m working digitally and I decide to come back to work on my project tomorrow and think that the colors of my painting look a bit too dull, I can quickly change the colors to look more vibrant without having any damage being done to my work. Therefore, with traditional, you are often pushed to deal with the consequences of your mistakes if it has not been thought out properly and more time is required to prepare all of your tools required to make your artwork compared to if you were to work on the same assignment digitally.

Which media do you prefer and why?

Previously I would have said traditional, but ever since my classes have gotten harder and the time frame to complete our projects have gotten shorter, I’ve had no choice but to do most of my projects digitally. It allows me to finish assignments faster without worrying about making a mistake and not being able to reverse it. I’m able to work on artworks more efficiently without spending more money on art supplies as well. I do, however love traditional art as the process and feeling cannot be replicated on the computer. Time is a huge crunch factor lately and with more tech advances being made now, it has become easier to replicate or produce the same artwork on a variety of different products compared to traditional art. Also the advantages of digital is that I can bring my project anywhere I like with me, without the hassle of carrying lots of tools back and forth and spending a majority of my time trying to set it all up or taking it down.