I was having a clear out recently and came across some of my first pieces of work, which I created entirely using hand-drawing techniques.
In the early years of my career I set out to become skilled at every illustrative technique; fine-lining, Magic Marker, Airbrush and pencil. Once mastered, I learned how beautifully these techniques work with each other but since the invention of the Mac there is little demand for them commercially anymore and they have sadly been pushed aside.
I will always remember when I showed a piece of work to my dad; he looked at it and didn’t seem impressed or even interested, but I couldn’t understand why, until he explained that he thought I’d been showing him a photograph from a magazine and not my own handiwork.
My drawing of the plane bursting through the paper was not, as you may think commissioned, it was a punishment for throwing things in a school art class. I was told to complete an airbrush assignment in my own time, a task which turned out to be not so much a chore but instead the start of my design career!
So whilst Apple Macs have completely changed the design world and definitely make our lives easier I think it’s also important not to forget the traditional techniques which can create incredible pieces of artwork by simply putting pen to paper. It still is and always will be a passion of mine; now you know what I do at the weekends!
Thanks for sharing these drawings, it’s great to see some traditional hand-drawn work! I love my dual booting iMac but I could never turn my back on my creative roots. Today’s creative technologies are incredible and open up so many possibilities, but the Mac is just one of many tools in our tool-boxes
This is a favourite topic of mine, thanks again for posting.
Best wishes,
Katherine