Forced to go Digital

[okellymx]

I find drawing digitally annoying after long periods of time. I want to draw traditionally but I feel like to be successful I need to draw digitally. Does anyone else feel like this?

[Silerna]

I feel the same way, specially when it's about comics. Regular art it either traditional or digital, both fine I guess. But I think people won't get as much attention with pencil drawn comics as with digital ones.

[phen]

You can easily replicate a pencil-drawn look in an art software programme. It really comes down to your confidence, though. Where do you feel your work is its strongest? I've seen a lot of very successful comics done in pencil, too. In fact, the Staff Picks here have featured a pencil-drawn comic called Keep an Eye (it's been touched up digitally with simple colours but the stylish part of it is the wonderful pencil work!).

It's always good to challenge yourself, though, and I do respect your interest in expanding your technical skills beyond solely traditional work. Keep experimenting! Don't stop at just one, traditional versus digital. Find a happy middle, you can do it, man!

[Marvin]

As long a your traditionnal drawings are clear, if it's good, it's good. If you feel more comfortable drawing traditionnally, then good for you my friends ! It's great ! Just make sure you know everything about scanning correctly and cleaning your drawing digitally if need be.
If I was talented enough, I'd draw my entire comic with watercolors =D

[mariusthered]

very much so. you can do lots of wonderful things with digital art but nothing beats a good pencil and rubbing your fingers on paper and canvas. one thing i have to be careful of is getting lazy, because my comic is made from using poser figure that I draw out i basically am tracing all the outlines. if i don't keep drawing traditionally away from the computer i could easily loose lots of skills i have taken years learning.

[okellymx]

It's not really about skill. Both my traditional art and digital are of high quality, for me it's just the process. Recently I've been drawing more digital but I can't stand to draw at the computer even with breaks. Not to mention computer problems that temporarily keep me from working. Some times i spend hours changing settings on brushes. But, like I said I feel forced to use it.

[okellymx]

I love water colors, but I always make a mess.

[zoonland]

No. This isn't a thing that determines a higher success rate, in my opinion.
I think that great ideas and great art make the difference, not the technique.

[justieno]

yeah i just recently went fully digital with and started a whole new project with it to practice with called Placeholder comics http://tapastic.com/series/Placeholder-comics but I feel your pain, it's tough learning how do everything digital and i'm always looking at youtube videos on how to do everything, although I don't think you need to go full on digital to be successful if you don't want to though, you should just do what works best for you

[Jabbage]

I think I understand the feeling. I love digital art, but when I have to spent all day on the computer for work sometimes I fancy a change of pace in my hobbies! Have you tried reserving the computer for colouring, and still pencilling/inking traditionally? I know plenty of comics that have had success that way that look great. I'm not entirely sure it would take longer either - perhaps marginally. But it's traditional colouring tends to be the time sink.

[Kayke]

Here's another thread on a similar subject

Non-digital drawing/coloring

There's some good examples there of popular comics that are drawn and colored traditionally.

[jacintawibowo]

You don't have to draw digital to be more successful =) most artists draw digitally because it's convenient and saves time. If you can practice traditional to the point you can match up to that speed and quality, then stick to traditional! Usually people don't care about the tools you use, just the results.

[okellymx]

Any thing other than comics seems need to be in digtal. I know it isn't required but i have this feeling it does. Like anything commercial art/job you need digital or a majority do.

[Airgita]

I don't think you need to work digitally but it's definitely a good skill to have, especially when you're dealing with clients because you have to take trends and the time it takes to produce work into consideration. For example, clean, minimalist designs are very in right now, so demand for that kind of aesthetic will be high. That's not to say that you have to follow this trend to succeed, you just need to understand why people are so drawn to that type of aesthetic.

When I started working digitally, it was really weird too but you get used to it after a while. There's a learning curve for everything. But sitting in front of a screen for too long must be detrimental for your health, if it's too much discomfort then I really don't think it's a big deal whichever tools you make, just take care of yourself.

[AnnaLandin]

You don't have to be digital to be successful! The first example I can think of off the top of my head is Skal (Warning - NSFW!), which is doing very well - the creator has a strong Patreon-support and all.

Don't feel forced to work with mediums or tools you hate just because everybody else is doing it - I mean, because everybody else is doing it, your traditionally drawn comic is going to stand out!

[Boneax]

i think the problem is that on digital you are on an entirely new ground, you gotta adapt to how different is in terms of pressure, acurracy weight, etc, i was iffy to it at first as well but after trying it for a while it becomes fun since you are kind of learning to draw again, and you can even end up with a different style than your traditional stuff, i think that if you have quality it doesn´t really matter if you draw on paper or digital , just never giving up is the key

[okellymx]

I find digital drawing rather easy, I didn't have much of a learning curve. I started digital drawing around 10 years ago. I most likely won't go back to traditional because the school I'm going to attend requires me to learn Photoshop so there's no point in avoiding it. I draw more digitally because that's where I find the most help is digital (particularly Photoshop). Everything I see is digital including a ton of jobs, that's why I said it feels forced. I should have clarified that I meant art in general. Commercial art leans towards digital. But I could be wrong which is why I posted this topic.

[Valyson]

You should check out Naschi's traditional and watercolor artwork. She's very successful and doesn't do any digital work at all. It doesn't matter what art medium you use - success doesn't depend on the pencil, it depends on the hand.

[okellymx]

Naschi's work is amazing, thanks for sharing!

[iddqd]

I feel you. I made a conscious decision many years ago to completely ditch digital in favor of learning traditional techniques. There is definitely a market for that, from traditional oil and watercolor painting, to breathtaking black and white ink illustration (Nicolas Delort and Vania Zouravliov), to comic book art, where you see the likes of Andy Brase. Then there's mixed media techniques, of which inking traditionally and coloring digitally is one. The possibilities are endless, but an artist's future is always uncertain, isn't it.