What counts as "HAND-DRAWN" anymore?

[GrimFinger]

Grim, that is a great response. Have some rep!

If it's such a great response, though, then why I am so displeased with it, Diamond?

For myself, I tend to equate the term "hand drawn" with "self created," or with self being the driving force, more so than the hand (which is but a portion of a much greater whole, aka self).

For what it's worth, if anything, I see the hand, itself, as a tool - a physical, organic tool, of sorts. But where does the creativity, itself, the creative force, so to speak, originate? Where does it dwell? In the hand? In the mind? In our consciousness?

Hands are typically (I think) viewed to be a part of ourselves, an innate and inseparable part of who we are. Yet, in at least one sense, it is a tool that something else within us controls and manipulates, in order for us to create certain other things. Because things like tablets, laptops, desktop PCs, and even software are things external to our organic forms, we tend to perceive them differently, insofar as where our perceptions of what properly qualifies as a tool is. And by extension of looking at things that way, our view of what properly and genuinely qualifies as "hand drawn" tend to end up being somewhat constrained - i.e.: It's only hand drawn if the hand, itself, is what draws it.

Now, I don't have any qualms about how many people see it that way. I understand it. I grasp it. I respect it.

Electronic hardware and software are external tools. The human hand, not so much. I can't help but to think of Stephen Hawking. Of necessity, he required the use of a variety of tools that were external to his physical form. Yet, were his creative contributions any the less his, because of such?

So, as my mind scrambles to lay hold of what is at issue, where the concept of hand drawn is concerned, I try to look beyond the surface, and to consider the issue more fully.

One implication is that, if a given human being has no hands, then by default they are wholly incapable of "hand drawing" anything at all. But what if they have an artificial hand? Could they then hand draw stuff? Or would those be mechanical drawings, if a mechanical device of some sort were utilized to provide a human being with an equivalent way to draw?

[Diamond]

I think people over-think it. What's that old saw? "I may not know art, but I know what I like."

[Redrobes]

I think if the piece was made as a one off with creative input then its hand made. If its made on a machine using a sequenced set of instructions its not. Now I expect that those are two end of an extreme and that somewhere in the middle the line gets a bit grey. Certainly this AI stuff is odd as I see it as a tool and that you instruct it like you might wield a knife. But clearly the knife acts precisely where you move your hand and the AI does a lot more and fills in stuff that you did not entirely imagine yourself. So no doubt the line is blurry. But if the art piece is formed using the imagination and skill of an operator in such a way that another person cannot exactly replicate without also using skill and imagination then its hand made regardless of the tools used.

So easy to say definitely for some items but could be hard to define for others.

[BSP3]

For myself, I won't say it's hand drawn until I paint it IRL; but I'm obsessed with working my way toward all original assets, and learning the craft of everything I do.

For others, it's different. I now know using map drawing programs requires a lot of personal input; and when I see people totally smoke me using the same tools, I'm reminded that perhaps there is a bit more art to it than is assumed.

In general, I'd count tablet/mouse work outside of a program designed specifically for it hand-drawn by reasonable modern standards. Handling that in person, with pen, ink, and paint is incredibly "next level".

When I see that, I kind of associate it with mastery; a level of skill far beyond imagining. I don't think "hand-drawn" entirely covers that level. Perhaps a different term is needed.

Then again, I don't know what I'm talking about.

[auke]

It's a bit like being an author. I've never written a book. I use a keyboard. My editors are very thankful for that fact, because my hand writing is near-medical. At every book launch, I'm introduced as the author who wrote this book. Yet I didn't.

[psyekl]

After working in the digital medium for a while longer, I've come to appreciate the "hand drawn" difference more and more. The tools provided by the software enable me to greatly reduce errors and speed up production while still being able to manually scribe each and every line with care. While the finished products lack the messiness and imperfections of true pen-on-paper work, they still required the same amount of experience and talent to produce- I simply had the benefit of a new tool to add a new dynamic to the finished product.

What I DO NOT consider "hand drawn" is work that has extensively used the rubber-stamp or fill option of applying third-party textures or graphics to create the image (whole mountain ranges, forests, etc). While I will definitely resort to using the occasional third-party texture or image, or rubber-stamp a repeating motif of my own design, I consider this the equivalent of inserting text: it is simply the use of another tool and the style makes it obvious that it is a aberration. If I were to create a work of "high art", doing so would be unthinkable, but for something that is intended for something as minor as an RPG game, it falls well into the realm of an acceptable choice.

[DM_Brian]

I completly agree with psyekl. Being a new cartographer and being able to use stamps has made my maps look good, but I could never consider them hand drawn. I can however say they are my own design or my maps because, just because I used a tool and other artist backgrounds or stamps, doesn't mean that I didn't design and develop the overall layout of the map - but still not Hand Drawn. As much as I want to get to a point where I am using all of my own assets, I don't think I will get there anytime soon. For everyone, that is a work in progress. Additionally, there are many that don't see it that way, either and I appreciate that too.