Isn’t technology wonderful…
This is a post from the weareoca.com archive. Information contained within it may now be out of date.
Here I am sitting in a café, typing on a tiny computer and sending the words via a strange ‘cloud’ to anyone who might want to read it! As I sip my coffee (white, no sugar, thank you), I’ll take a photo on my phone of the building out of the window and immediately upload it to the web for everyone to see. Fantastic! As I’m connected, might as well have a browse on the internet. I can do that on my phone as well. What’s on TV tonight? Spent a little longer than expected; got a bit distracted by the celebrity news section. Did you know that last night, Jodie Har…? No, stop there, not important….
From my pocket I have picked out the most amazing technology ever! Every one in the café is obviously impressed as they are all interested in what I am doing (apart from the ones staring at their phones, of course). With this technology, I quickly capture something that is fleeting and personal to me – no one else saw it in quite the same way. Pencil and paper is good for that. OK, so I can’t immediately upload it to the worldwide web, but I can upload it to my brain and download later. I can syphon through all the confusing visual noise around me and, with pin-point accuracy, record, store and and manipulate the information in any way I choose. The funny thing is I’m focused – not distracted by TV guides or celebrity culture.
Thought I might share my thoughts with you whilst I am drawing. I never realised people gesticulated quite as much as they do when they talk – arms everywhere! This is quite a contrast to how carefully the shop assistants put coffee cups into little, white serrated edged take-away bags to avoid spillage. Actually, the assistant at the end isn’t that careful. Don’t think she wants to work here any more. Have captured that on my paper. Amazing how my pencil line has altered it’s expressiveness just through the process of looking.
Oops, they’ve spotted me; quick pretend to be looking out of the window. I don’t have time to set up complicated lighting arrangements or find the right angle; just have to capture the scene in moments. It’s really exciting because I love the scratching and accidental marks the pencil and paper make and never really knowing what I’m going to find and learn, or how the drawing will turn out.
I don’t deny that modern technology is brilliant and a fantastic resource for all visual artists and offers many things that a pencil alone can’t, but, I believe, in the vice-versa. The pencil is a unique tool that develops your perception of the world around you. Maybe you will produce drawings that Durer would have been proud of, or emulate the incredible drawings by Stephen Wiltshire, or perhaps take the approach of the contemporary illustrator Paul Davis? All I know is it won’t be them, it will be you. The pencil is incredibly fast, adaptable and forgiving and it challenges me to constantly learn more about it. Oh, I do need a sharpener, but then again I need batteries…
Nigel Coton is an OCA illustration and graphic design tutor
12 thoughts on “Isn’t technology wonderful…”
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I couldn’t wait for this post to pop up! I LOVE drawing but I am also a bit of a geek. No mention of iPads here? I draw all the time, I doodle with pen and paper at work, but I draw on my iPhone on the train when I have no notebook handy, and take my iPad as well as my watercolour pad when I want to draw in colour and I’m out and about. I draw in pen and ink, then photograph it and load it onto my iPad and colour it there, or on paper with pencils if the mood takes me. I say, get with it. I use a range of tools: wonderful technology and wonderful pen and paper: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45618412@N06/ Jane
I’m afraid I think the narrative essence of this blog has been misconstrued. I am in no way a technological Luddite suggesting we return to parchment and scribe. I use all forms of technology in both my private and commercial work and thoroughly enjoy the process and actively explore the plethora of instantly available digital tools. Also, when appropriate, I always support and encourage my students to do the same. The blog specifically references how technology can do things that the pencil can’t, (ipad implied), and I applaud that. I also agree with David Hockney that the ipad is just another tool that should be embraced by the artist. What I am advocating, however, is that we, as artists, try to avoid becoming distracted by the onslaught of digital ‘noise’, eg. by spending excessive amounts of time aimlessly surfing the net for nothing in particular, or texting what kind of coffee we are drinking, but instead use our eyes and remaining observant to the world around us and exercise our brains to record this in our individual way. My point is that this can be done with the help of the most basic of technology, eg. the pencil. Equally, if you have access to it, it can be done with digital technology. The method of input doesn’t really matter, it’s the action of doing that counts.
This reminds me of the E-myth that did the rounds a few years ago: that when NASA scientists were confronted with the problem of having to write in zero gravity, they poured millions of dollars into developing a space pen to do the job. The Russians used a pencil. It’s a fallacy, but it makes me smile!
Hi Nigel, yes I do agree, but just wanted to ensure the message about technology as art tool also comes across loud and clear. I can be just as focussed drawing on an iPhone as paper, and block out other digital noise when working, but of course the simplicity of pencil and paper is a joy. Jane
Lovely drawings.
Have you seen any images of the Toxic Waste Dumps in China – Deserts made from our Electronic Waste that have been shipped back to the East ? The scale of these landscapes is STAGGERING, and can be seen in Manufactured Landscapes, a film that follows the photographer Edward Burtynsky in China.
I lived in China for a number of years, so am very aware that all our technological luxuries come at someone else’s expense, and it’s now making me keep my electronic things longer rather than shorter – I’m definitely no longer comfortable knowing I’m contributing to these problems, contributing unnecessarily. My technology needs are really already more than met with less than state-of-the art kit. And I realise I’m also starting to question other people’s prolific use of it and questioning what they’re achieving from it all and whether their usage justifies those effects. I’d not class myself as a Luddite, just questioning some things more than I used to.
Thanks for your response.
As Clive White said once, “I gave up drawing when I found my Rolliflex did it better than I could” 😀
I envy anyone who can draw but I cannot draw for toffee. To record what is around me I need to use technology, either my camera or I now find my smartphone to be invaluable for taking snapshots of life. I thank goodness for technology which allows me to be “arty” without being able to draw or paint,
Peter – I can’t believe anyone involved with the OCA saying they can’t draw for toffee! Everyone can draw! Some people draw better according to certain criteria, but anyone can do some sort of drawing! What’s really important about drawing is that in doing it, the process is completely different to that of using a camera or electronic kit of some other sort. Different techniques address different aims and needs and allow different resuts. Because the experience is different, the understanding gained is different. Not better, not worse, just different. You might opt for cameras as your medium of choice, but I’d hope it’s not going to mean you never draw anything for any purposes. There was some interesting work in the Jerwood Drawing Prize 2012 which was mixed media using both drawing and cameras (still and video).
What do you mean by the word ‘arty’?
Imagine a society living in a different galaxy. These beings communicate entirely by transmitted messages with very little need for movement. These messages convey everything they need to know or want to share and come from eons of stored up data from the time the beings used to move around more. Then, one day, one being discovers a shard of something and with a bit of effort tries to move it and accidently manages to make a mark with it on a surface. Eureka! Here is something new, something that no other being has done before. The being shows this to a neighbour that is not very far away and that neighbour shows it to the next and so on… The species evolves. The mark-making device is heralded as the most important invention ever.