I really, really wanted to jump into "Mermay" this year. I took out a sketchbook, and in about 15 minutes, I had a scribble I was happy with. And then it sat there. For WEEKS. May got away from me. The boys got me a set of gouache paints and I really wanted to paint this. That did not happen. It's been so long since I painted that I just didn't have the right paper. Undaunted, I popped it into Procreate and wrapped it all up this morning!
I follow a lot of creators online and many of them are digital artists with traditional art backgrounds. If you're over the age of 30, chances are pretty good that you learned how to create on paper! I know I did. The problem with digital art right now is AI. How can I prove this art is mine if the original is just a file on a device? And if I share it, it'll get scraped into the AI model. It's already happening. There are AI generated paper dolls floating around. They are neither good nor convincing but they're out there. Many of the creators I admire are getting back to paper, pencil, paint, etc, because handcraft is becoming more important than ever. I am absolutely not giving up on digital art - I love it! I love the freedom, ease of use, the ability to zoom and undo, and the clean crispness of it.
