Hi Yvonne

I also find a phone screen too small for drawing, although I know others who don’t let that deter them. In fact, my fingers feel very short and stubby when I used them for drawing … I might spend some time playing with the paint effects as though I am finger painting and see if that helps ?.

I’m glad you enjoyed the post, thank you for inspiring it. It’s always fun developing ideas through a response here.

“It disappears when you turn off the power” – yes! This is definitely how I experience it, too ?.

And while I don’t do any physical painting that is big enough to stand back from, I do find the edges of the iPad canvas/screen constraining a little disorientating at times… I love that I can zoom in to work on small details (especially as I get to the point where my eyes don’t focus as sharply but then I need to remember that when I zoom out again, the line width will be affected.

It’s great that you have the opportunity to enjoy both sides of it all.
Thanks for the chat… I look forward to next time.

P.S. One last question: do you finger-draw on your Smartphone much It’s something I haven’t explored at all yet, I’m not sure why.

Things that frustrate me with digital drawing include that its less physical and sensorial.
There is no big arm movement on a big sheet of paper, no standing up to draw with eyes on the object, no standing back to contemplate the result…

The physical output is somehow less satisfying too – it disappears when you turn off the power, or if I get it printed it doesn’t have that same handmade feel.

But still, I love the freedom of play on the iPad.

Yvonne

Hi Yvonne!

Thanks for your response, it makes total sense to me. I’d say this is definitely not a binary choice – there are pros and cons to both digital tools and traditional ones. In an ideal world I’d love everyone to do both, I have certainly appreciated the cross-over in learning from each.

Most of what I present here is digital because of the ease and flexibility of that for publishing online. I’ve just had a number of questions recently that made it obvious some people wonder if there is any point in following along if they don’t plan to go digital.

The arrival of the iPad and Apple Pencil has certainly changed the game because it makes drawing digitally feel so like our accustomed tools. For years before that I used a Wacom with my laptop, and that is not an intuitive process!

I’d love it if you could to share some of your experience – what brushes do you limit yourself to Do you have a screen protector that takes some of the ‘slip’ factor out of drawing on glass Do you draw loads of things per canvas, or just one for each ‘page’?

Those are the questions that spring to mind for me, but if you have anything seems more relevant, I’d love to hear it.

Thanks again for commenting ?

1. PLAY. Digital drawing encourages play, and play builds skills. The power of undo and the ability to easily duplicate drawings allows experimentation and taking risks. You can rapidly build a stack of drawings to see your progress. FEAR holds so many back, overwhelms and distracts – digital drawing remove much of that fear through play, more so than working on paper.

2. CONSTRAINTS ALLOW FOCUS. As with learning any skill, constraints are a powerful tool for managing distractions and focussing. You already use constraints for analogue cartooning to manage distraction, do the same for digital drawing! Eg: limit the brushes and layers you use, set some time rules etc.

3. nO BARRIER TO ENTRY. You take your smartphone everywhere, it’s very portable and always close to your hand. Procreate is cheap.. we can all use our fingers, if you have a stylus like a Pencil, that’s intuitive to use on a tablet.

Warm Regards from sunny Sydney from an ex Capetonian.