Eye Update: Drawing Unplugged

My most recent trip to the doctor’s office yielded mixed news. The good news is that my vision remains much better than it was prior to the cornea transplants. However, as noted in my last post, the cataracts are getting worse. Also, I learned about another factor possibly contributing to my current blurry vision: the eye undergoes changes as a result of the healing process after surgery, the surface of the eye is changing, sort of re-shaping itself, and vision can be unstable for a while. In spite of blurry vision, I can see well enough to draw in a sketchbook again. The above page was sketched on paper with an ink pen. I haven’t been able to work in a small sketchbook like this (and actually see what I’m doing) for quite some time. 

Some folks are curious as to how I managed to continue making art as my vision degraded, so here are some thoughts on living as an artist with Fuchs Dystrophy: the Fuchs progresses so slowly over years of your life that you just sort of adapt to it, making compromises little by little, until you are living in a daily fog and the fog just seems normal. As the Fuchs progressed, I started using a magnifying glass to read. Eventually the magnifying glass wasn’t enough, I adapted to reading “e-books” on my iPad or computer screen. I bought a large print keyboard for my computer so that I could see the keys.

As an artist who loves detail, I was most frustrated by the impact of Fuchs on my drawing; I stopped drawing in sketchbooks and started working on large drawing pads at my easel. I stopped going to the figure drawing sessions, or drawing portraits from live models (this is a startling admission from someone who dedicated years of his life to drawing from live models with almost religious zeal). For a time, I would try to sit up closer to the model stand (but then you risk blocking the view of the other artists). Eventually, I just gave up on life drawing altogether.

Since most of my income has come from animation background work created on a computer screen, it was easy to resort to digital art: the high contrast of the computer screen allowed me to see details much better, and the ability to endlessly edit my work was a temptation I couldn’t (still can’t) resist. I purchased a Wacom Cintiq 18x24” touch screen, on which I can enlarge drawings as much as needed. The Cintiq became my primary “canvas” for the past several years. I finished many animation backgrounds on it, as well as demos for students in my online classes.

My work area with animation backgrounds for ABC Mouse

During this time, I also purchased an iPad, and began learning ProCreate. Even with the smaller screen, the high contrast allows me to see details better. Add the ability to quickly enlarge sections of a drawing with “pinch and zoom”, plus the opportunity to endlessly edit my work, not to mention, organize and store multitudes of sketches where I can find them when needed… and I was seduced by the iPad. It soon replaced my sketchbook. Nearly all of my work for the past 5 years has been digital: I typically start with ideation sketches on the iPad, while finished works have been completed on the Cintiq.

As my vision heals, I am breaking out the traditional media again, rediscovering the tactile feel of ink pen on paper, or charcoal on newsprint. I am also struggling with my lack of practice in these media in recent years, which forces me to an uncomfortable realization: digital media can make us lazy. Traditional media can be unforgiving - you can’t endlessly “undo” mistakes or radically rework your composition in the final stages of a drawing (at least not without destroying what you have already done). I think this becomes a crutch for digital artists - we come to rely on easy solutions which the digital media provides. There is a term in art known as the “resistance of the medium” which entails the obstacles one must overcome to create art. For example, stone is hard and immalleable, so the sculptor must develop strong, skillful hands to meet the challenge. Ink cannot be erased, so the artist learns to be decisive with each stroke of the pen. Watercolor can be unpredictable, so the painter learns to be spontaneous, improvising with the flow of the water. I think these obstacles help shape our art, and force us to grow as artists. We learn from the struggle. Digital art tends to take away this struggle. 

One the other hand, it’s possible that digital media may be opening doors in making art in a way that recalls the impact of Gutenberg’s press on drawing during the High Renaissance. The printing press created a need for mass produced paper. As paper became less expensive and more readily available, artists like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo experimented with composition, exploring variations of figurative arrangements that just weren’t done when paper was rare. Renaissance pictorial composition became more daring, and drawing was elevated from a preparatory stage of painting to an art form until itself.

Could digital media have this kind of impact? I don’t know, but I can say that the opportunity to make changes to a painting - such as radically alter the color scheme late in the process, or resize/move things around, and save work at multiple stages so you don’t risk losing everything – has prompted me to try things I probably wouldn’t have tried when painting in acrylics or oils. For example, I’ve tried color combinations which I would have avoided previously, and I’ve completely reworked compositions in ways I probably wouldn’t have dared while working in graphite. For better or worse, digital media has enabled me to achieve the results seen in my recent portfolio pieces.

In any case, I am getting back to traditional media now and drawing unplugged. I’m enjoying the feel of the ink pen or brush on paper. Most of all, I’m enjoying making art without having to look into the glare of a computer screen.