Michael Ananian

Like most art professors during the height of the pandemic, I had to teach remotely.  I got a Cintiq 16 Wacom Tablet so that I could create drawings that students could watch progress in real time.  I started practicing and making digital drawings to become a better and more proficient online drawing teacher.  After a while of doing this, I realized just how much fun it was to draw digitally!  I also started to see many advantages: for instance, drawing with a "pencil" that always stayed sharp, being able to work in "layers" much like a printmaker might, and changing the format or "canvas size" at will.

I rely lots on mimesis of traditional drawing media, such as: hard pencils, colored pencils, and charcoal, but nevertheless, I have experienced something that seems very much different in character and mood than traditional drawing; it might have to do with how digital line work looks when it is enlarged.  It might also have something to do with the fact that light is behind and through the image, something akin to a photographic slide.  No matter how I might characterize it, it very much has its own life, a separate entity, a new genre of drawing--not merely a new drawing tool or medium but an unique art form.  I know that many people have already realized this, but it has been revelatory for me.

Most people seem to call this realm of art "digital painting."  But, it's pretty clear that I relish line, which I think firmly situates what I'm doing within the field of drawing; so, I refer to these art works as "digital drawings."