July 22, 2025 • 22 mins
Nicki and Merv battle on about Old versus new style art and what that means.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hi, I'm Nicky McCoy and I'm an illustrator, fashion designer
and traditional artist.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I'm Mervin McCoy illustrators, storyteller and digital artists.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
For more than a decade, we've traveled in the convention
scene from coast to coast.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
We'd love to share what we've learned and are still
learning on our journey.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
You're listening to Paper Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You hear that music? She stole it off the internet.
Just kidding. It's spicy beats b E E T S
and he hates beats. Let's check you out that SoundCloud.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
So here we are with another kind of versus topic
that we wanted to bring up today.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Here I am it's about BPS, right, Yes, Batman verus Superman?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
It is Batman versus Superman.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So you bleed?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
We know which team you would be on?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Which team would I be on? Batman?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
The irony? No, so in actuality and I'm sorry, dear listeners,
if you were looking forward to whatever that was, it
would be We are talking and discussing.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Did you say that name?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I'm sorry, he just couldn't help himself. He was holding
that in. So we're discussing the pros and cons of
traditional and digital art today.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, yeah, it's interesting. It's an interesting pro and con
because you know, I have thoughts, but I'm kind of
more where you are with the sci fi fantasy thing,
where I am on both teams, but I might not
be where one thinks.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Okay, well, I don't know if it would be obvious,
but I'm gonna. I'm gonna fight for traditional of course,
it's true.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I'm in traditionally pencils.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
You get out my scrolls of floor scrolls of your.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
My oil paintings, and my hand you do hand uh,
hand paints or whatever, the finger painting.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Oh my gosh, don't talk to me. I don't have
to stand for this. But yeah, so traditional art, and
then I think Mervin is gonna talk about some of
the pros and cons of digital art. Okay, So, so
as far as traditional art goes, I guess, and obviously,
like we have to preface this with it also depends
(02:41):
on the materials that you're using, of course, but some
of the pros I would definitely consider would be it's affordable.
I mean, you can literally pick up like a pen
and paper or a pencil and paper, and it doesn't
have to be like the top of the line thing.
I think like as long as you have like just
a plain mechanical pencil practically, or even like a wooden
(03:04):
pencil and some paper, you know you're capable of making
something great.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I'm sorry about pencil and paper is the ultimate implanned obsolescence.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Oh my gosh, this guy.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Shut her down. Okay.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Another pro would be, uh that the practicality of traditional
art so unlike some other mediums, it doesn't revolve or
it doesn't depend on being plugged into an electrical source.
So for example, if like your power goes out or surges,
or if your internet suddenly doesn't stop working for whatever reason,
(03:46):
you're not dependent on that. You pretty much have like
your setup already as is, and you can pretty much
work on it from there.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Hmmm, hmmm, I don't know, I'm thinking about them.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Mervan sounds skeptical.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Another pro of traditional work is that you're always getting
an original piece. So if you're creating something from scratch,
it's going to be the original no matter what, and
that's something that a lot of people value and place
value in.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I mean, you get yeah, okay, okay, I.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Mean you can replicate it, but I mean just knowing
that there's an original I think like creates an intrinsic
sense of value in the piece.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, that's how markets work, so I will I will
concede that point.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
I think another pro of it as well is that
traditional art tends to be tactle, so you're using the
mediums and the materials in a in a tactle way
that I don't think that digital art quite has been
able to like replicate or in the same way like
(05:06):
like for example, like if you're using chalk or pastels
or something like that, there's gonna be like textures and
process that I don't I'm not sure or possible yet
through digital art. But another pro of traditional art is
(05:27):
that it provides cultural and historical significance. This could be
a little bit biased because we digital art is like
a relatively new medium, right, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Mean it's yes, it's new. I mean traditional has been
aro own since the dawn ivan. I mean yeah, let's
be let's be honest.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
But I mean, like, arguably people are not crowding like
the Louver for example, to you know, go see digital
art pieces.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, because the Louve's over right there crowding their their
TikTok and Instagram feeds for the hottest art.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Oh my goodness, that's the love.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
It's a digital louve.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Okay, digital love and all of it's just aire.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Oh yeah, well, I guess we lost that one, digital guys.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
And lastly, I think that there's a magic of creating
physical artwork in front of people that just is not
the same with like digital art that our business. Yeah
well no, I was actually going to bring up our
business because that's what we literally do. And I think
that people are so fascinated that they can give us
like a reference photo or like a description of something,
(06:43):
and then have that be recreated before their very eyes
and like a relatively short amount of time.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I think that's funny because here I am talking about
the uselessness of our business. That's what I'm pretty much
arguing against. Yeah, I'm arguing against us. That's my platform
for this podcast episode. So that's says that your is
that your volley.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Those are those are my pros. I'm gonna I'm gonna
stick with them. I think they're pretty strong.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Okay, Okay, so we're gonna just keep this the pros
for digit digital art, and then we can get into
other stuff after So you know, you said cost digital
art requires one, like technically you could call it in
some me is one maybe two, you know, big investments,
and even then they don't even have to be that
(07:34):
big sometimes and then you can draw. You don't have
to You don't have to buy these pencils and pens
that for some reason don't last forever. And if I
guess if you use an Apple product, you know, you
have the Apple pencil, which has been known to kind
of offer you know, pencil like uh, you know, usability,
(07:55):
and it does last longer than an actual pencil. That lead,
you know that lead. I think it's planned to run
out like that. I don't know. I don't trust it.
I think it's a controversy over there. We should really
talk to the graphite lobby.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I would argue that you have to be part of
a subscription service for certain programs though.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Sure, but you don't have to use that. You could
use Gimp, you could use what a terrible name for
a program, right, it's not great?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah said that, and I kind of like inwardly branched
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, it's not a choice Clip Art Studio. You can
use pro Create it's like thirteen dollars, guys, like fourteen
dollars maybe, Okay, you can use like, yes, you don't
have to use any Adobe products if you want to
create really cool art. Not not not anywhere, and you
never really did have to use Adobe products. That that's
(08:49):
for the old people that are used to them. And
so you can if you had, like your your old
discs for your photoshop, use those, stick to those, don't
go on to click, then use that work with that,
you know what I mean? Umm, well, I guess no,
you'd also have to buy a disc, a DVD or
a Blu ray reader whatever.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
But arguably isn't that barrier to entry, Like still kind
of pricey even if it's just a one time purchase.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Okay, all right, let's go simple. Let's spare the stone. Okay,
there is that's a con, but we're not going to
go into it. Let's just say it's a one time
payment and you can do anything to your heart's desire.
You have the pick of the litter. You may have
to learn different skills. You might not even necessarily have
to use a what you call it a stylust. You
(09:39):
can learn new ways to create art if you're talking
about vector programs, I'm going to use an Adobe name
like illustrator. You can do some magical things with vector
based software in terms of how you create art like
it actually, you know, changes how you look at creation
in some ways, and it does allow you to kind
(10:02):
of break like these barriers that sometimes the traditional approaches
you know, put on you, whether it's in terms of time,
whether it's even watching your techniques. You can with something
like procreate, you can watch your your process, you can
rewatch it in a time lapse and say, okay, this
is how I go about things. You can literally watch
(10:23):
game tape if you want it of how you go
you know, how you do things. You don't have to
run through paper, so you less supplies, you wasteless supplies,
waste less on pens, wasteless on markers, paints, chalks, whatever
it is. In terms of experimenting with textures, you can
literally make your own scan them in you know, drop
(10:45):
them on your stuff as layers, like, drop them on
your artwork as layers.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Like.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
There's so much you can do. And also it makes
creating other products so much easier because it's right there.
You create a large enough file, you can go right
into production, and you can even experiment with other types
of production. You know, back in the day, you'd have
(11:10):
to learn, you'd have to actually learn and understand how
screen printing works. Now you could be you know, yeah,
a little bit maybe half illiterate like myself in terms
of the process, and you can still make some pretty cool,
cool designs, and you know, you can wollow your audiences
with half the work and half the intelligence. Yeah. So
(11:34):
that's my that's those are my pros. I didn't list
them out, I went I did more of a plea
I'm pleading with the audience to side with me, or
am I Really.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
That was a roundabout way of yeah, showing the pros
of digital art.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Making, did you Okay, So what's what do you have
to say?
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Then? Yeah? No, I mean, not to give you some
more points or whatever, but you mentioned the lack of paper,
so I mean, I guess I could argue that as
far as like environmental friendliness goes. Yeah, maybe maybe digital
art has a one up over traditional Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Is that your only cough?
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Oh no, for traditional art, I've got a couple of cons.
So one of them is just carrying supplies. Uh. For example,
as somebody that does. Like acrylic painting, you have to
have like a certain number of brushes and paints when
(12:38):
you're working on something in order to make the peace.
So you have to remember to bring them all, like
if you're traveling, otherwise you know you're kind of up
a creek. So that kind of stinks. Another pro or
another con would be that artwork can be physically damaged,
which is really unfortunate. So I know that when I
(13:02):
was younger and living in South Florida, hurricanes were always
kind of a menace, so to speak, because I know
that some of my pieces would get water logged or
physically damaged in that way. So that's unfortunate. And I mean,
like not even just paper, I feel like also too,
(13:24):
just for example, like museum pieces, I know that they
like occasionally have to like touch up like paintings and
that sort of thing, because they just physically degrade over time.
It can also be difficult, depending on the medium, to
edit the work.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
One of the things that popped into my head immediately
was probably like watercolor, just because because of the medium itself,
it's something where you kind of have to nail it
the first time, and I mean you can go back
in and like add more layers and that sort of thing.
But if you like, you know, dress mess up, I mean,
it's gonna show and there's only so much you can
(14:03):
do about it. And lastly, this could be considered a
con but just I guess, like the amount of mess
So like when painting or working with a medium like
clay or really anything physical, there's going to be a
certain amount of cleanup involved and sometimes people just don't
(14:24):
want to deal with that. And depending on the medium too,
you also have to take certain precautions because they can
involve health hazards even so like oil paints I know
for example, like will have fumes and other other mediums
as well, So just keeping that in mind.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Hm, well interesting, the very good, very good at points. Well,
now as I you know, turn my back on my
my brothers in the digital realm, I'll say I do
think learning shouldraditionally is philosophically is one of the best
ways to enter art because yes, the barrier to entry
(15:09):
is you know, it's definitely a much lower one when
you have digital you you don't have to worry about
mystics as much whatnot. But it's good to see your
mystics and have to live with them, which is what
traditional forces you to do. There's no ondo button it,
you know, And I don't think you should crush your
papers up and throw them away. It's good to have
(15:30):
a sketchbook where you didn't work the pages out, where
you can look at where you came from, because that's
super important. Because remember I said the thing about watching
your game tape, like on something like procrit if you
if you watch the timelts up, you're drawing a lot
of people don't use it for that. But learning and
kind of trying to get an idea of where you're
coming from as an artist is very important. It's kind
(15:53):
of learning your roots. And so a lack of that
in the digital realm, or a lack of even respecting
or appreciating that because of things like undo buttons, it
does strip away some of the tactile nature, some of
the tactile learning that's that's involved with art, and from
a philosophical standpoint, I think it does strip something away
(16:13):
to an extent. Also, it's a lot of spinning plates
in the digital realms, whether it's you know, we talk
about programs, you know what I mean, it's all these
different programs you could use, all these different tools. It
can be overwhelming it. It can kind of strip the
purity of just a pencil and a paper, or a
pen and a paper, or a marker and a paper.
You know, if you know this is also another topic
(16:37):
you know at some point probably but the tools don't
mean anything if you can't do anything with them. Right, So,
just because you have the state of the art computer
and this and that, remember you got to figure out
if you know, hard drive memory, all that stuff. You
have to pay attention to that. You have to keep
up with the Joneses. You know, yes I said the
thing about costs, but yes I agree with our point.
(16:59):
It can get a expensive. So if if this is
a factor, then you know it it can sometimes mask
like the tech can sometimes mask the fact that with
if you only had you know, like a little bit
of like colored clay and a napkin, could you do
(17:21):
something with it? Could you make a like a little
piece of art from it? Could you? Would you need
your whole rig would you need a you know, a
setup you need to you need to have your well,
your special gaming chair with your ergonomic keyboard and you know,
your pens and and your you know, your what you
call a graphic display and all that stuff so you
(17:42):
can draw that. Do you need all of that? Or
is it something from within right that you that literally
connects you, whether it's howver you draw, because some people
can draw with their feet, right, is it something from
within that connects to whatever appendage you used to draw
with right like it it's it's tricky, like the natural,
just just connection that you get from a traditional piece,
(18:05):
like you know, like Nicole mentioned about, you know, the
value you have from an original piece is a big
difference from digital nowadays. There there are some artists that,
especially in comics, they'll whether let's say they didn't pencil
the piece, they'll actually take scans of that and if
they did colors, they'll do our colors over it, or
(18:28):
they'll ink it. They'll ink they'll actual physically ink digital pencils,
so then it's still their inks on it, and then
it becomes an original piece. But yes, there is that
aspect of how real is it? It is real if
it's digital art. But just saying in terms of this
(18:50):
thing was created right here right now, you know, maybe
not in front of you, but it was created and
you can feel the textures, just feeling, and it's a
big part of the just the tactile nature of art,
you know what I mean. Art is a form of communication,
and I do think that we do lose that by
(19:12):
totally submerging ourselves in the digital realm and ignoring that aspect.
And I'll just leave this one point. When I was
doing animation that we started with to the animation or
for early classes were into the animation. We learned how
to use the machines, take pictures of all our things,
made our flip books, we did ana jams and all
(19:32):
that stuff. And we took that knowledge and we brought
it into the digital realm. Right when we were doing
three D animation. And one of the most valuable classes
wherever took, well, we took a lighting Well I chose
this is an elective, but I took a lighting class
like stage lighting right and lighting on it like for
(19:54):
concerts or plays or whatnot. And we used and I well,
I used that skill specifically in my three D And
while that's not painting or whatever, blah blah blah, it's
an art form. Like you, lighting is not not easy
if you don't know what you're doing. And you don't
understand how lighting works. And I was able to use
(20:14):
that and it enhanced how I was doing my how
I was doing my three D home. My renders would
come out and I would and I offer my friends
some suggestions on whatnot as a result. So that was
very valuable because it was between lighting or photography class,
and we chose a lighting class because it was cheaper
and we didn't have to buy well, you get the
(20:35):
young ones don't understand this. Didn't You wouldn't have to
buy a camera, which was expensive, a photography camera, and
you wouldn't have to develop ink every week. I'm sorry,
you would not have to develop film every week, which
costs money. So in a lighting class, you could just
sit learn and then start lighting stuff. And we didn't
have to buy the lights or anything. We just used
the expensive lights and gels that they had in the
(20:57):
class and that was pretty cool. So yeah, that's what's
our verdict. I guess it's just one word. You're going
to start doing digital now.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Not necessarily, but I mean there. I think that there
are pros and cons of both of them, and I
think that especially these days, there's a lot of like
hybrid art.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Yeah, I'm hybrid. Yeah, I like using both, but I
love drawing traditional, and then I'll mess with digital laughter
because I can do so much crazy stuff with it.
And that's the most important thing is I don't subside
myself to one philosophy. I think it's it's good to
kind of work with both. If is one better, I
(21:40):
mean one, get back the argument. You know, it's funny.
I would let the audience decide. But if society disappeared,
you'd still have traditional. If there's no electricity, you'd still
have traditional. So then you've been the judge of what
that means.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
You can listen to us on all podcast platform arms.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
You can find us at paper Lab Studios on Instagram
or paperlab studios dot com, or just drop us a
line at design at paper lab studios dot com.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
And support us on Patreon at paper Lab Studios. Thank
you for listening to.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Paper La podcast A Mango Musica. Turn that music up.
Hi, I'm Nicky McCoy and I'm an illustrator, fashion designer
and traditional artist.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I'm Mervin McCoy illustrators, storyteller and digital artists.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
For more than a decade, we've traveled in the convention
scene from coast to coast.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
We'd love to share what we've learned and are still
learning on our journey.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
You're listening to Paper Podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
You hear that music? She stole it off the internet.
Just kidding. It's spicy beats b E E T S
and he hates beats. Let's check you out that SoundCloud.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
So here we are with another kind of versus topic
that we wanted to bring up today.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Here I am it's about BPS, right, Yes, Batman verus Superman?
Speaker 1 (00:55):
It is Batman versus Superman.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
So you bleed?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
We know which team you would be on?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Which team would I be on? Batman?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
The irony? No, so in actuality and I'm sorry, dear listeners,
if you were looking forward to whatever that was, it
would be We are talking and discussing.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Did you say that name?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
I'm sorry, he just couldn't help himself. He was holding
that in. So we're discussing the pros and cons of
traditional and digital art today.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, yeah, it's interesting. It's an interesting pro and con
because you know, I have thoughts, but I'm kind of
more where you are with the sci fi fantasy thing,
where I am on both teams, but I might not
be where one thinks.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Okay, well, I don't know if it would be obvious,
but I'm gonna. I'm gonna fight for traditional of course,
it's true.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I'm in traditionally pencils.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
You get out my scrolls of floor scrolls of your.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
My oil paintings, and my hand you do hand uh,
hand paints or whatever, the finger painting.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
Oh my gosh, don't talk to me. I don't have
to stand for this. But yeah, so traditional art, and
then I think Mervin is gonna talk about some of
the pros and cons of digital art. Okay, So, so
as far as traditional art goes, I guess, and obviously,
like we have to preface this with it also depends
(02:41):
on the materials that you're using, of course, but some
of the pros I would definitely consider would be it's affordable.
I mean, you can literally pick up like a pen
and paper or a pencil and paper, and it doesn't
have to be like the top of the line thing.
I think like as long as you have like just
a plain mechanical pencil practically, or even like a wooden
(03:04):
pencil and some paper, you know you're capable of making
something great.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
I'm sorry about pencil and paper is the ultimate implanned obsolescence.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Oh my gosh, this guy.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Shut her down. Okay.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Another pro would be, uh that the practicality of traditional
art so unlike some other mediums, it doesn't revolve or
it doesn't depend on being plugged into an electrical source.
So for example, if like your power goes out or surges,
or if your internet suddenly doesn't stop working for whatever reason,
(03:46):
you're not dependent on that. You pretty much have like
your setup already as is, and you can pretty much
work on it from there.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Hmmm, hmmm, I don't know, I'm thinking about them.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Mervan sounds skeptical.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Another pro of traditional work is that you're always getting
an original piece. So if you're creating something from scratch,
it's going to be the original no matter what, and
that's something that a lot of people value and place
value in.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I mean, you get yeah, okay, okay, I.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Mean you can replicate it, but I mean just knowing
that there's an original I think like creates an intrinsic
sense of value in the piece.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Yeah, that's how markets work, so I will I will
concede that point.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
I think another pro of it as well is that
traditional art tends to be tactle, so you're using the
mediums and the materials in a in a tactle way
that I don't think that digital art quite has been
able to like replicate or in the same way like
(05:06):
like for example, like if you're using chalk or pastels
or something like that, there's gonna be like textures and
process that I don't I'm not sure or possible yet
through digital art. But another pro of traditional art is
(05:27):
that it provides cultural and historical significance. This could be
a little bit biased because we digital art is like
a relatively new medium, right, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
Mean it's yes, it's new. I mean traditional has been
aro own since the dawn ivan. I mean yeah, let's
be let's be honest.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
But I mean, like, arguably people are not crowding like
the Louver for example, to you know, go see digital
art pieces.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
Yeah, because the Louve's over right there crowding their their
TikTok and Instagram feeds for the hottest art.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Oh my goodness, that's the love.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
It's a digital louve.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Okay, digital love and all of it's just aire.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Oh yeah, well, I guess we lost that one, digital guys.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
And lastly, I think that there's a magic of creating
physical artwork in front of people that just is not
the same with like digital art that our business. Yeah
well no, I was actually going to bring up our
business because that's what we literally do. And I think
that people are so fascinated that they can give us
like a reference photo or like a description of something,
(06:43):
and then have that be recreated before their very eyes
and like a relatively short amount of time.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
I think that's funny because here I am talking about
the uselessness of our business. That's what I'm pretty much
arguing against. Yeah, I'm arguing against us. That's my platform
for this podcast episode. So that's says that your is
that your volley.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
Those are those are my pros. I'm gonna I'm gonna
stick with them. I think they're pretty strong.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Okay, Okay, so we're gonna just keep this the pros
for digit digital art, and then we can get into
other stuff after So you know, you said cost digital
art requires one, like technically you could call it in
some me is one maybe two, you know, big investments,
and even then they don't even have to be that
(07:34):
big sometimes and then you can draw. You don't have
to You don't have to buy these pencils and pens
that for some reason don't last forever. And if I
guess if you use an Apple product, you know, you
have the Apple pencil, which has been known to kind
of offer you know, pencil like uh, you know, usability,
(07:55):
and it does last longer than an actual pencil. That lead,
you know that lead. I think it's planned to run
out like that. I don't know. I don't trust it.
I think it's a controversy over there. We should really
talk to the graphite lobby.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I would argue that you have to be part of
a subscription service for certain programs though.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Sure, but you don't have to use that. You could
use Gimp, you could use what a terrible name for
a program, right, it's not great?
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah said that, and I kind of like inwardly branched
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, it's not a choice Clip Art Studio. You can
use pro Create it's like thirteen dollars, guys, like fourteen
dollars maybe, Okay, you can use like, yes, you don't
have to use any Adobe products if you want to
create really cool art. Not not not anywhere, and you
never really did have to use Adobe products. That that's
(08:49):
for the old people that are used to them. And
so you can if you had, like your your old
discs for your photoshop, use those, stick to those, don't
go on to click, then use that work with that,
you know what I mean? Umm, well, I guess no,
you'd also have to buy a disc, a DVD or
a Blu ray reader whatever.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
But arguably isn't that barrier to entry, Like still kind
of pricey even if it's just a one time purchase.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Okay, all right, let's go simple. Let's spare the stone. Okay,
there is that's a con, but we're not going to
go into it. Let's just say it's a one time
payment and you can do anything to your heart's desire.
You have the pick of the litter. You may have
to learn different skills. You might not even necessarily have
to use a what you call it a stylust. You
(09:39):
can learn new ways to create art if you're talking
about vector programs, I'm going to use an Adobe name
like illustrator. You can do some magical things with vector
based software in terms of how you create art like
it actually, you know, changes how you look at creation
in some ways, and it does allow you to kind
(10:02):
of break like these barriers that sometimes the traditional approaches
you know, put on you, whether it's in terms of time,
whether it's even watching your techniques. You can with something
like procreate, you can watch your your process, you can
rewatch it in a time lapse and say, okay, this
is how I go about things. You can literally watch
(10:23):
game tape if you want it of how you go
you know, how you do things. You don't have to
run through paper, so you less supplies, you wasteless supplies,
waste less on pens, wasteless on markers, paints, chalks, whatever
it is. In terms of experimenting with textures, you can
literally make your own scan them in you know, drop
(10:45):
them on your stuff as layers, like, drop them on
your artwork as layers.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Like.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
There's so much you can do. And also it makes
creating other products so much easier because it's right there.
You create a large enough file, you can go right
into production, and you can even experiment with other types
of production. You know, back in the day, you'd have
(11:10):
to learn, you'd have to actually learn and understand how
screen printing works. Now you could be you know, yeah,
a little bit maybe half illiterate like myself in terms
of the process, and you can still make some pretty cool,
cool designs, and you know, you can wollow your audiences
with half the work and half the intelligence. Yeah. So
(11:34):
that's my that's those are my pros. I didn't list
them out, I went I did more of a plea
I'm pleading with the audience to side with me, or
am I Really.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
That was a roundabout way of yeah, showing the pros
of digital art.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Making, did you Okay, So what's what do you have
to say?
Speaker 1 (11:56):
Then? Yeah? No, I mean, not to give you some
more points or whatever, but you mentioned the lack of paper,
so I mean, I guess I could argue that as
far as like environmental friendliness goes. Yeah, maybe maybe digital
art has a one up over traditional Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Is that your only cough?
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Oh no, for traditional art, I've got a couple of cons.
So one of them is just carrying supplies. Uh. For example,
as somebody that does. Like acrylic painting, you have to
have like a certain number of brushes and paints when
(12:38):
you're working on something in order to make the peace.
So you have to remember to bring them all, like
if you're traveling, otherwise you know you're kind of up
a creek. So that kind of stinks. Another pro or
another con would be that artwork can be physically damaged,
which is really unfortunate. So I know that when I
(13:02):
was younger and living in South Florida, hurricanes were always
kind of a menace, so to speak, because I know
that some of my pieces would get water logged or
physically damaged in that way. So that's unfortunate. And I mean,
like not even just paper, I feel like also too,
(13:24):
just for example, like museum pieces, I know that they
like occasionally have to like touch up like paintings and
that sort of thing, because they just physically degrade over time.
It can also be difficult, depending on the medium, to
edit the work.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
One of the things that popped into my head immediately
was probably like watercolor, just because because of the medium itself,
it's something where you kind of have to nail it
the first time, and I mean you can go back
in and like add more layers and that sort of thing.
But if you like, you know, dress mess up, I mean,
it's gonna show and there's only so much you can
(14:03):
do about it. And lastly, this could be considered a
con but just I guess, like the amount of mess
So like when painting or working with a medium like
clay or really anything physical, there's going to be a
certain amount of cleanup involved and sometimes people just don't
(14:24):
want to deal with that. And depending on the medium too,
you also have to take certain precautions because they can
involve health hazards even so like oil paints I know
for example, like will have fumes and other other mediums
as well, So just keeping that in mind.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
Hm, well interesting, the very good, very good at points. Well,
now as I you know, turn my back on my
my brothers in the digital realm, I'll say I do
think learning shouldraditionally is philosophically is one of the best
ways to enter art because yes, the barrier to entry
(15:09):
is you know, it's definitely a much lower one when
you have digital you you don't have to worry about
mystics as much whatnot. But it's good to see your
mystics and have to live with them, which is what
traditional forces you to do. There's no ondo button it,
you know, And I don't think you should crush your
papers up and throw them away. It's good to have
(15:30):
a sketchbook where you didn't work the pages out, where
you can look at where you came from, because that's
super important. Because remember I said the thing about watching
your game tape, like on something like procrit if you
if you watch the timelts up, you're drawing a lot
of people don't use it for that. But learning and
kind of trying to get an idea of where you're
coming from as an artist is very important. It's kind
(15:53):
of learning your roots. And so a lack of that
in the digital realm, or a lack of even respecting
or appreciating that because of things like undo buttons, it
does strip away some of the tactile nature, some of
the tactile learning that's that's involved with art, and from
a philosophical standpoint, I think it does strip something away
(16:13):
to an extent. Also, it's a lot of spinning plates
in the digital realms, whether it's you know, we talk
about programs, you know what I mean, it's all these
different programs you could use, all these different tools. It
can be overwhelming it. It can kind of strip the
purity of just a pencil and a paper, or a
pen and a paper, or a marker and a paper.
You know, if you know this is also another topic
(16:37):
you know at some point probably but the tools don't
mean anything if you can't do anything with them. Right, So,
just because you have the state of the art computer
and this and that, remember you got to figure out
if you know, hard drive memory, all that stuff. You
have to pay attention to that. You have to keep
up with the Joneses. You know, yes I said the
thing about costs, but yes I agree with our point.
(16:59):
It can get a expensive. So if if this is
a factor, then you know it it can sometimes mask
like the tech can sometimes mask the fact that with
if you only had you know, like a little bit
of like colored clay and a napkin, could you do
(17:21):
something with it? Could you make a like a little
piece of art from it? Could you? Would you need
your whole rig would you need a you know, a
setup you need to you need to have your well,
your special gaming chair with your ergonomic keyboard and you know,
your pens and and your you know, your what you
call a graphic display and all that stuff so you
(17:42):
can draw that. Do you need all of that? Or
is it something from within right that you that literally
connects you, whether it's howver you draw, because some people
can draw with their feet, right, is it something from
within that connects to whatever appendage you used to draw
with right like it it's it's tricky, like the natural,
just just connection that you get from a traditional piece,
(18:05):
like you know, like Nicole mentioned about, you know, the
value you have from an original piece is a big
difference from digital nowadays. There there are some artists that,
especially in comics, they'll whether let's say they didn't pencil
the piece, they'll actually take scans of that and if
they did colors, they'll do our colors over it, or
(18:28):
they'll ink it. They'll ink they'll actual physically ink digital pencils,
so then it's still their inks on it, and then
it becomes an original piece. But yes, there is that
aspect of how real is it? It is real if
it's digital art. But just saying in terms of this
(18:50):
thing was created right here right now, you know, maybe
not in front of you, but it was created and
you can feel the textures, just feeling, and it's a
big part of the just the tactile nature of art,
you know what I mean. Art is a form of communication,
and I do think that we do lose that by
(19:12):
totally submerging ourselves in the digital realm and ignoring that aspect.
And I'll just leave this one point. When I was
doing animation that we started with to the animation or
for early classes were into the animation. We learned how
to use the machines, take pictures of all our things,
made our flip books, we did ana jams and all
(19:32):
that stuff. And we took that knowledge and we brought
it into the digital realm. Right when we were doing
three D animation. And one of the most valuable classes
wherever took, well, we took a lighting Well I chose
this is an elective, but I took a lighting class
like stage lighting right and lighting on it like for
(19:54):
concerts or plays or whatnot. And we used and I well,
I used that skill specifically in my three D And
while that's not painting or whatever, blah blah blah, it's
an art form. Like you, lighting is not not easy
if you don't know what you're doing. And you don't
understand how lighting works. And I was able to use
(20:14):
that and it enhanced how I was doing my how
I was doing my three D home. My renders would
come out and I would and I offer my friends
some suggestions on whatnot as a result. So that was
very valuable because it was between lighting or photography class,
and we chose a lighting class because it was cheaper
and we didn't have to buy well, you get the
(20:35):
young ones don't understand this. Didn't You wouldn't have to
buy a camera, which was expensive, a photography camera, and
you wouldn't have to develop ink every week. I'm sorry,
you would not have to develop film every week, which
costs money. So in a lighting class, you could just
sit learn and then start lighting stuff. And we didn't
have to buy the lights or anything. We just used
the expensive lights and gels that they had in the
(20:57):
class and that was pretty cool. So yeah, that's what's
our verdict. I guess it's just one word. You're going
to start doing digital now.
Speaker 1 (21:08):
Not necessarily, but I mean there. I think that there
are pros and cons of both of them, and I
think that especially these days, there's a lot of like
hybrid art.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Yeah, I'm hybrid. Yeah, I like using both, but I
love drawing traditional, and then I'll mess with digital laughter
because I can do so much crazy stuff with it.
And that's the most important thing is I don't subside
myself to one philosophy. I think it's it's good to
kind of work with both. If is one better, I
(21:40):
mean one, get back the argument. You know, it's funny.
I would let the audience decide. But if society disappeared,
you'd still have traditional. If there's no electricity, you'd still
have traditional. So then you've been the judge of what
that means.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
You can listen to us on all podcast platform arms.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
You can find us at paper Lab Studios on Instagram
or paperlab studios dot com, or just drop us a
line at design at paper lab studios dot com.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
And support us on Patreon at paper Lab Studios. Thank
you for listening to.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Paper La podcast A Mango Musica. Turn that music up.
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