Digital divide between animation designers?

[Rasheed]

While reading the book How to Draw and Paint Crazy Cartoon Characters by Vincent Woodcock, I was astounded that Vincent still uses traditional media, such as pencil, paper, ink, paint, etc., in the character design process. The book was published in early 2007. Therefore, I assume it was written in the year before, which would make it fairly recent.

OTOH when I see what artists do that have come to the "light side" on websites like devianART, I wonder if there is a digital divide between young artists, accustomed to the digital age, and older artists who got their education using traditional (read: analog) art media.

So, it is my impression that there exists a digital divide among artists.

Am I wrong, am I right, or am I missing the point somehow?

And what does this mean for the animation process? I mean, that when many of the preproduction work is still done in analog, doesn't that mean it is a possible bottleneck for production? Creating digital art is so much faster, because doing corrections on one of the many layers is so much easier than doing it all in one (analog) layer --or worse: start all over again.

[jwlane]

I recently upgraded to a larger, newer model Wacom tablet. The sensitivity is better and I love it. However, sometimes there is this thing that just happens on physical media like rough paper and graphite; a very subtle gesture that makes all the difference. There is a tactile sense that digital media can't reproduce, which can make for a faster process for particular artists, though not for everyone.

Looking at this a different way: basic carpentry tools like hammers and manual saws have different grips because people don't feel things the same way. A different grip may mean better control.

[Rasheed]

You can use different nibs than the standard Wacom nibs. It seems that felt nibs are more like graphite. However, they wear down a bit faster than the plastic nibs. They aren't expensive, though ($5.95 USD per 5-pack).

[jwlane]

I was pretty excited when I got a variety of nibs with my new tablet. I could feel the difference, but it still wasn't like actual paper. I know I'm splitting hairs as far as most people go. I mean I'm an über geek about this stuff, for example:

My favorite pencil is no longer in production, the Stabilo Micro 8000. Stabilo used a polymer-like bonding agent in the lead that gave this pencil a special glide and appearance.

My favorite ink I can't name by brand because it's labeled in Japanese. I bought it in Tokyo. It has 3 raised dots on the end of the ink stick, which means better than average quality. This black ink also has a bluish cast, which as far as I know means it's made from the collected soot of Japanese yellow pine. It also has more "lift" than most inks; the ink can be lifted, by degrees, back off the paper with a wet brush.

GEEEEEEEEEEK!

[Rasheed]

I guess if you have tasted the cool aid, there is no going back.