Overheard a digital artist say "sketching on paper first is cheating" at a coffee shop

Last week I was grabbing coffee near the station and heard two artists at the next table argue about this. One said using traditional paper sketches before going digital was "old school" and not real digital art. It made me think about how we gatekeep tools in this community. Has anyone else run into weird unwritten rules about what counts as "real" digital art?

3 comments

3 Comments

hayden4661mo ago

Wait, isn't the whole point of digital art that you CAN work through things before committing to the final piece? If you skip the paper sketch you're missing out on the best part of the process.

williamhill1mo ago

yeah it's like how people argue about using spellcheck or autocorrect. like sorry i don't want to type like a caveman? same thing with the paper sketches. gatekeeping tools is just people trying to feel superior.

park.robin1mo ago

Started combining both methods after getting frustrated with the undo button (it makes me second-guess every line). Paper sketching helped me lock in the flow before opening the tablet, and honestly the final piece came together way faster. The whole cheating thing seems silly, whatever gets the art done is the right tool for you.