{"id":810604,"date":"2023-06-14T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-14T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/?p=810604"},"modified":"2023-12-01T13:41:27","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T21:41:27","slug":"why-digital-artists-shouldnt-ignore-traditional-art-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/why-digital-artists-shouldnt-ignore-traditional-art-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"Why digital artists shouldn\u2019t ignore traditional art skills\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Although you can forge an entire art career with a tablet alone, there are still plenty of reasons to at least keep a sketchbook handy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Previously, we discussed why traditional artists should give digital art a try. Now, we\u2019re going the other direction \u2013 why should digital artists make sure to brush up on their traditional art skills? \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image sourced from Burst<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1. It\u2019s the simplest way to practice the fundamentals <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m adamant that every digital artist should practice with just pencil on paper \u2013 at least sometimes. It simplifies drawing down to its essence, and reveals just where your strengths and weaknesses are.  What can you do without an \u201cundo\u201d function, brush packs, liquify, or digital layers \u2013 just graphite and wood pulp? Pencil drawing is the ultimate test of raw skill, and my personal favorite way to practice face and body proportions is by drawing and erasing over and over until I get it right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditional painting has a lot of advantages in teaching the fundamentals of how painting works, too. A lot of the best digital painters out there, such as Feng Zhu<\/a> and Marco Bucci<\/a>, attest to how they started learning traditionally. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. It\u2019s more tactile <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Traditional art gives you the pleasant \u201cscritching\u201d of pencil on paper and the ability to gauge brushstrokes by feel.\u00a0While Wacom pen tablets and displays<\/a> feature etched glass or textured hard plastic, and replicate the \u201cscritch\u201d fairly accurately, there is no true substitute for the real think.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, unlike drawing with a flat tablet like the Wacom Intuos<\/a>, there\u2019s no disconnect between your hand and the image in front of you.\u00a0And of course, there are some traditional media, like sculpture, that can never truly be replicated \u2013 even 3d sculpting isn\u2019t quite the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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3. It\u2019s not tied to electricity <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You can practice traditional art anywhere you can carry a sketchbook and some pencils. You can take it to the park, sketch on public transit, or keep yourself entertained during a power outage. There are also artist meetups and Drink & Draws to attend. Check for one in your area! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Wacom products are more portable than others \u2013 Wacom Intuos is Android compatible<\/a>, for example. But the setup still requires a smartphone and battery power. Pencil and paper can truly go almost anywhere.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. You can sell your originals <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

With digital art, you can only sell prints. But traditional art opens up the world of selling original art at craft fairs and even gallery showings. They\u2019ll frequently fetch much higher prices, reaching into the hundreds or thousands of dollars for the most sought-after artists. That can become a significant source of income over time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image sourced from <\/em>Burst<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s plenty of room for both digital and traditional art, and practicing both might lead to the most growth for you as an artist. In fact, most artists will likely end up doing both to some extent or another, even if it\u2019s working full digital but keeping a sketchbook around for practice, or working traditionally but post-processing digitally. But which you choose to specialize in is ultimately down to your preference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Note: the feature image on this blog post is by Sara Williams and was sourced from Burst<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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About the Author<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Cameron \u201cC.S.\u201d Jones is a West-Philly-based writer and illustrator who\u2019s been contributing to Wacom for three years now. You can see more of his work, including most of his contributions to this blog, at thecsjones.com<\/a>, or follow him on Instagram<\/a> or Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Traditional artists should give digital art a try to improve their practice — but the reverse is also true! Here’s why digital artists shouldn’t ignore traditional art.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":810605,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2325,2330,2318,2317,2554,2550],"tags":[10,1620],"class_list":["post-810604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-back-to-school","category-creative-education","category-creative-inspiration","category-digital-drawing-painting","category-learn-drawing-painting","category-learn-to-draw-with-wacom","tag-advice","tag-traditional-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/community.wacom.com\/en-us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}