Digital Drawing vs Traditional Drawing

Digital drawing has been taking a foothold recently due to the popularity of Android tablets and the iPad. As a result some good drawing apps have become available for both platforms including Paintology, Sketch and Ibis for the Android and the popular Procreate for the iPad.

For many beginners to digital drawing, the Android platform can be the best one in terms of cost and varied scopes of drawing apps whereas the Apple platform is appealing to graphics designers, artists who are already in this ecosystem.

If you want to venture into the world of digital drawing, there are some myths that needs to be dispelled so you can go with an open mind. Some of these myths are listed below.

• You need to be good at the using software in order to be a digital artist
• You need to be technically competent with software and hardware
• You need to have a graphics tablet to do digital artwork
• You need a pen or a dedicated stylus to do any digital drawing

The above myths could not be further from the truth. I am here to tell you, that you need no skills to get started with digital drawing, just your interest in the subject and your humble phone or tablet.

You just need to see the capabilities of these devices and what it can do. I am going to show you with some real examples and then you can decide for yourself. I will do this from the Paintology app as this is what I use and can provide you with good examples that will give you more insights and hopefully shed those myths I was talking about earlier.

The App:

The Paintology app has been designed from the bottom up to provide an intuitive interface for any new comer to get to grips in a matter of minutes. At the same time the interface provides advanced users to draw rapidly and create works of art like nothing seen before. Whether it is the phone or the table, anyone who can operate a phone will be able to use this drawing app . Many apps have convoluted menu items and can look too busy and require a steep learning curve, but not so with the Paintology app. Have a look at the interface as soon as you are in the drawing mode, Fig 1.

Fig. 1 Powerful drawing intuitive interface for ease of use and rapid drawing.

The Paintology app allows you to focus on your drawing skills and you can rapidly build your drawing skills and appreciation of color tones. You can even transfer this knowledge to your traditional drawing and painting.

Here is an example of the time lapse drawing created on Paintology:

You may find it hard to believe, but this actual drawing was created on a normal smartphone using the Paintology app:

Here is the time lapse video:

Conclusion

I could go on about the virtues of digital drawing and compare with traditional drawing. However, it would be foolish for me to make a comparison such as this. Since I have also dabbled in traditional drawing such as charcoal, pastels, acrylics, oils, watercolors, you name it, I can provide a few insights into both mediums.

Firstly, it would be wrong to go head to head with traditional drawing and digital drawing despite what the title says. It is almost like saying, let’s do a comparison of oil painting with watercolor painting. They are two different mediums that have their own unique styles of producing drawings. What I can tell you, is that the digital medium has opened up a whole world of possibilities and with the huge popularity of tablets and phones, drawing is truly accessible to everyone. Paintology has been designed with this key fact in mind and no longer do you need software and technical skills or graphics tablets to create visually stunning drawings. Drawing has reached new levels with the Paintology app and now artists who have been reluctant to move to this new medium can do so without any technical know how.

Happy Drawing & Painting