What counts as "HAND-DRAWN" anymore?

[psyekl]

As an old-school artist and cartographer (active since the early 1980's/ AD&D 1st Edition), I have discovered an appreciation for the digital medium and am transitioning away from pencil sketches and pen-and-paper for my most productive projects. My question is: can I still claim that my work is "hand-drawn" when it is created on a digital tablet? May I keep the claim when I still remain stooped over a single piece of artwork for tens of hours intricately drawing each and every minute detail, but then choose to take advantage of the pre-generated textures, to rubber-stamp copy one of my map symbols or to utilize other shortcuts provided by the technology? What should be considered "hand-drawn" in this new age of digital art and does it really matter anymore?

[Redrobes]

The marks on the map made with the action of your moving hand are hand drawn whether on a digital tablet or an ink pen. But if your going to point and fill in a bit of the map with an icon then that is not hand drawn. Ok it might be a grey area if the icon you place down is a bit of artwork that you have also hand drawn. But if were talking textures or external icons then generally not.

But a map that is or is not hand drawn is no better or worse, its just different. Just style.

The real interesting questions are going to come up when you prompt the AI to deliver a bit of your map that you need and you collage many bits of AI driven content. Then did you even draw it yourself or not ? Its going to be a very wide ranging sliding scale from "completely hand drawn" to "practically no input into the piece whatsoever". There is going to be some tools that allow you to hand draw a shape and the AI paints it for you. That's clearly not "hand drawn" but assisted.

Will these new "barely any input whatsoever" maps have a place here ? I think so, as long as they are created, unique and new. Whether we get to the point where there will be a flood of easily created AI driven artworks being posted I don't know. Some people think so but I believe for a map to be useful it has to convey the right sort of information not just be some pretty artwork. So the curating of the information is important in a map as opposed to a pure piece of art. Which is why when looking at the challenges we vote based not only on whether the artwork is fine and pretty but also how well it meets the challenge specification and how well it conveys the information required. I think the AI is going to have a harder time with that aspect of it. But how hand drawn it is, is a very arbitrary criterion to be judging a piece of work by in my opinion.

I am sure that Michelangelo would have used Photoshop and tools other than a brush or chisel if they had existed at the time he was able to use them. And I am sure he would have done better than most today with them too.

[wfgWorkshop]

I don't think using digital tools solely can help you learn and own a drawing craft. My workflow is sometimes solely traditional, very often digital and sometimes a hybrid. But working digitally has not made me a better artists. It enables me to experiment and do things I would not be able to do on paper but the main gain is that I can work faster and give my clients deliverables that are exactly to spec.
For someone who is a full time freelance artist and designer it's just how work is done nowadays, within the specifics of what I do.
To get back to your question, your work is definitely still hand drawn, even tough you are using a tablet. You are creating shapes and forms from scratch. It's not like using regenerated assets or anything like that.

Digitally hand drawn is most certain a thing and how many of us professional artist work in today's world. It's not as though you're just compositing with clip arts. In fact, working digitally opens doors to creativity and craftsmanship that were not there before. Just my own two cents.

[Kellerica]

Aye, as Red said, there is definitely some grey areas here, but I too do maintain that my work is absolutely hand-drawn even if I only use digital tools to do it. I draw and shade all the coastlines, rivers, mountains and the like on my maps freehand on my tablet. I personally prefer to use the term "digitally hand-drawn" to avoid any confusion, as I know a lot of people do still think hand drawn equals traditional methods.

Does it matter... I don't know. To me it does. There are plenty of applications out there that allow you to create maps by clicking to place assets drawn by somebody else, and while the resulting map can still be uniquely the creator's in layout, not so much in the actual artwork. And I do have to confess that I'm usually not too happy if somebody compares my work to, say, a map made in Inkarnate by using the default assets and says that they are the same.

[psyekl]

Does it matter... I don't know. To me it does.

In a nutshell, I guess this would be my opinion as well. I am by no means a hardcore traditionalist: I embrace new technologies and have always been excited for what options new advancements will provide, but I have my preferences of style and the appreciation for the originality produced by true artisans and craftsmen; The idea that the work I am appreciating is original and unique in its every detail.

The challenge is that in the modern world we must cater to a modern audience, and (as a whole) the modern audience is unconcerned about superior quality or craftsmanship: production speed reigns supreme as long as meagre quality can be ignored. This is why I hold Dyson Logos in such high regard: he manages to maintain a very acceptable quality and style while keeping an impressive production rate.

[Falconius]

Hand drawn is hand drawn. ie the marks originated from marks you made with your hand in a medium that is at least based on the use traditional materials. Traditional materials has it's own distinction for a reason. And I think with the advent of deceitfully named AI art, you know that is not hand drawn, nor particularly creative, nor original, so it helps the distinction.

Some other things that are not hand drawn but are perfectly creatively valid are things made with collages, photobashing, 3d models which are then rendered. An argument for vector made things may fall under this category same as with 3D modelling. Because you are manipulating points and booleans, procedural processes etc and the computer is actually drawing the stuff. I'm not sure where I'd place something like 3d Sculpting though.

[ArielSchwatrz]

I agree with Falconius. Hand drawn = hand drawn only.

[yegaya67]

And after that, watch Dream on Silly Dreamer. It’s a documentary made by the Disney animators themselves about how things went off the rails and how they lost not just jobs but careers.

[GrimFinger]

As an old-school artist and cartographer (active since the early 1980's/ AD&D 1st Edition), I have discovered an appreciation for the digital medium and am transitioning away from pencil sketches and pen-and-paper for my most productive projects. My question is: can I still claim that my work is "hand-drawn" when it is created on a digital tablet? May I keep the claim when I still remain stooped over a single piece of artwork for tens of hours intricately drawing each and every minute detail, but then choose to take advantage of the pre-generated textures, to rubber-stamp copy one of my map symbols or to utilize other shortcuts provided by the technology? What should be considered "hand-drawn" in this new age of digital art and does it really matter anymore?

Ah, one of the more interesting discussion threads, here, that I have stumbled upon. It is always interesting how people look at things, whatever the subject matter at hand might be.

Reading the meager amount of responses posted, thus far, two sayings come to mind. One, you just might be barking up the wrong tree, and two, the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts.

On the one hand, you can claim anything that you want to claim. On the other hand, how chaste must a given purist be, before he can feel free to remove the shackles foisted upon him?

Does the term-hand-drawn necessarily include the use of other tools? I ask, because typically, artists have a dreadful tendency to utilize a whole host of tools other than their own hands, in order to craft their artistic magic. Their minds, for example. Their imaginations.

Not all artists play fair. Some, after all, dare to bring with them something called experience. What does any of this have to do with the concept of hand-drawn, though?

Quite a bit, actually. For art, you see, isn't simply about drawing. Indeed, it's arguable that drawing, itself, is but a mere portion of a considerably greater whole - even and especially where a drawn thing becomes the focal point of attention.

The digital realm brings with it a host of different tools, just as the physical realm and even the imaginary realm bring with them. The physical realm holds no monopoly upon the concept of hand-drawn. That it preceded the digital realm is of no consequence, whatsoever. A pencil, a pen, a piece of chalk, a paint brush, paint - all physical tools. A tablet, a laptop, a desktop PC - all physical tools, also. But what about software?

What about it, indeed?

In and of itself, software is no great equalizer. That one utilizes software as a tool doesn't diminish the claim of the end product to being hand-crafted, after all. Every tool exists for a reason. Some make a given task less tiring or laborious. That something is less tiring, less laborious, or even more or less efficient is neither here nor there. In the hands of the ungifted or unlearned or inexperienced, most every tool will serve up failure, to some degree.

What is cartography? Some definitions define it as the science or art of making or drawing maps. Thus, maps can be drawn, or they can be made. Tell me this, what does it mean for something to be hand-crafted?

These days, a much larger ranger of tools have become available for resort to by would-be cartographers to the creation, refinement, and perfecting of maps. This is quite fortunate, I think, since we human beings tend to not make use of the vast majority of our brains, anyway. If only we could, eh? What a different world that might be!

Human beings have a dreadful innate tendency to fret over virtually anything and everything. Tell me, if one utilizes software of any kind to create a map, how does one print the end results, without said map losing its hand-drawn quality?

This much ado about nothing strikes me as a lesson ever in need of relearning. Does a car have horsepower, if it has no horses?

Some artists have no hands, yet even still, they are capable of hand-drawn art. Some draw using their feet, or even their mouth. Some draw by way of thinking, utilizing a variety of hardware and software to bring forth their artistic creations into manifest different forms.

Perhaps the reason that you have discovered an appreciation for the digital medium is because art isn't a one-dimensional thing. The digital dimension opens up an infinite number of new artistic possibilities, without robbing the physical dimension of so much as a single, solitary artistic anything.

As for artificial intelligence or AI-assisted software, those are dimensions of possibilities all their own. A monkey can create art, so that artificial intelligence can be a path to the creation of new and more art, what of it? And what about the art and the dimensions of art that lie beyond that of artificial intelligence, and which remain to be discovered, yet? The funny thing about art is that there never seems to be an end to it, and to the possibilities with it - and by extension, the possibilities for the crafting of art by hand, be it of the physical or proverbial varieties.

The advent of software multiplied the amount of art created by hand by human beings that fancy themselves artists. The advent of artificial intelligence will multiply the amount of art created by the same, even more. Artists and cartographers, both, will continue to ply their trade, though individual expectations may vary widely (much as they ever have).

If you play an active hand in the creation of art, or more specifically, in the creation of a certain kind of art (namely, the crafting of maps), then a colorable argument exists that the art in question is hand-drawn, if by hand-drawn what is meant is that it is hand-crafted - something that requires a certain degree of mastery - a mastery of both tools and medium, of both technique and style, with an eye for what they are doing.

[Diamond]

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