ABSTRACT
Chapter 13 is a reflection on the experience of using digital media to draw from observation. Resuming the narrative introduced in Chapter 1, I incorporate experiential accounts of digital drawing into a conversation between my daughter and myself. While those who are experienced with digital drawing take the medium for granted, novices can find it initially unsatisfying because they feel out of control and the use of virtual tools interrupts their drawing process. They miss the material pleasure of traditional media and find the immateriality of digital drawings disconcerting. With experience however, drawing from observation on a screen offers practitioners a uniquely luminous medium, and a means to put one’s drawing literally into an other’s hands within moments of producing it. Since digital drawing is here to stay, I argue that it is best viewed as another medium for observation drawing, rather than as a threat to traditional media.
