Pen versus pixel.

When I started out on the design industry everything was created by hand. We drew with pencils and used pens, rulers and compasses to create artwork suitable for mass reproduction. We presented our ideas to clients with rough scamps or sketches and worked up illustrations using tracing paper and pen and ink. Then came the computer, and all these old fashioned skills were lost with the click of a mouse. 

With computer aided design came productivity but this was also coupled with uniformity. Quite suddenly, we designers had access to the ability to create quite intricate pieces of artwork that would have been a near impossibility before, or at least so time-consuming as to not be commercially viable. We could now manipulate photographs, blending images more seamlessly into our designs. We could use a ‘vector’ drawing programme to illustrate our creations, creating repeating patterns, diagrams, icons and other intricate designs. 

The change that has happened within the industry has been quite profound. In a previous studio I worked in there was a book that was a complete and comprehensive guide to all the knowledge you would need to work in the design industry. The book was only published in the early ‘90s but by the end of that decade it was totally out of date and irrelevant. The proliferation of computer design has given clients the expectation that they can see the ‘finished’ design at a very early stage. Nowadays it’s quite refreshing to see an idea presented as a ‘hand drawn’ scamp, and many designers and creative directors still do this, although there are of course software packages which can mimmic a hand drawn sketch digitally! 

It’s usually easy to tell whether something has been created on a computer, or created by hand.

To me it’s ironic that for many years artists and craftsmen would crave perfection in their work, with any little flaw being considered a failure, but now ‘perfection’ in a design or illustration is almost bland and run-of-the-mill. We now look for the uniqueness of a hand-drawn piece to counteract the mass produced feel of so much we come across. Those little flaws give something a depth and feeling that can be lost in a digital design, much like listening to some live drumming as opposed to beats created with a drum machine. But that’s not to dismiss the digital artist’s work. I once heard the singer Bjork say that electronic music was not soul-less as some had insisted… “If electronic music has no soul it’s because no-one put it there”. The same is true in our computer-aided design age. Feeling, soul, depth can be represented digitally but they have to be worked into the design. 

Using a graphics tablet instead of a mouse to generate work can help with this. Many artists use graphics tablets to paint digitally, and once the piece is reproduced you would be hard pressed to tell the work apart from something created totally by hand – providing of course the works are printed out using a high quality process.

Much of the Computer generated images we see in movies and architectural renders can be dismissed as ‘just CGI’, but we forget that a talented artist has created that image, bringing their multiple skills together to make something that doesn’t exist look real. The art of films such as those made by Pixar are every bit as well-crafted as the older Disney animated classics. A computer, much like a pen or pencil, is only as effective as the person using it. John Lasseter, chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Animation Studios talked in 2015 about the way the processes in animation are progressing. He said “The way this computer animation is created is much more like hand-drawn animation than ever before, and in motion it has that unique feel that hand-drawn Disney animation should, But it’s technically considered a CG film. We are merging worlds.”

Artists and coders are also pushing the boundaries of artistic creation and using computer code itself to create interesting images that could never possibly be created by hand.

On the negative side to all this progress, one of the great temptations we are faced with when using a computer is to cut corners. Using the fonts of a job which are close to hand and already loaded (or using the font Helvetica as it seems to work well whatever the job). Using pre-loaded colour palettes or simply browse a photo and illustration library like istockphoto to find that one image that does the whole job for you. Sometimes I wonder whether computers made our lives easier, or just made us lazy. This is why I always think it’s good to take a step backward whilst working on any job to evaluate it and consider how it could be improved to make it more special, or unique. I know as a designer and illustrator my target is to create beautiful outputs, whatever medium I’m using.

One area where hand drawn authenticity seems to be coming back is the area of sign writing. With the advance of digital vinyl graphics there are very few traditional signwriters still making a living today. The ones that have survived the digital revolution seem to be going strong and I’ve heard they are in great demand. Many businesses it seems crave the uniqueness and individuality of a hand-drawn sign. Look out when you visit any pub or restaurant and very soon you will come across one.

So what does the future hold? It can seem to me sometimes that the proliferation of computer design has meant that there’s little ‘new’ to see, especially as the tools we use are now readily available to all. That doesn’t mean there isn’t exceptional design out there – and some of the best jobs I’ve seen seamlessly blend traditional methods with computer output to create unique and high-end bespoke products – a simple browse around the many creative blogs around at the moment demonstrate this. For me, I’ll continue to use a computer to create the lion’s share of design and illustration work as it’s ‘what I know’ – but I’ll pick up a pencil or paintbrush to relax, and I’ll also comfort myself that occasionally a job will come along that will merge all my skills and I’ll take great pleasure in doing it.