I don't see as many of those Digital VS Traditional art threads anymore. Always thought they were nonsense anyway - an art tool is only a means to an end. This thread is not about confrontation, but about how your traditional methods inform your digital processes and vice versa.

I learned everything the traditional way (that's all we had back in the bronze age) and when I went digital, it was all about finding programs, tools and techniques that could make the most of those skills. I had everything set up for the most natural feel possible, including natural media style brush settings, tablet pressure on so on. I would usually start by scanning a pencil drawing and to this day I use a digital pencil with a soft pencil look and feel to it.

At first I didn't take advantage of any time saving digital techniques, but gradually began to incorporate them as I discovered what powerful tools I now had at my disposal. Additional layers, selection tools and the joy of ‘undo’ gave me a new sense of freedom. Eventually my art began to catch up. It's still the same trad style pencil, but now I'm just as much at home with a lasoo tool to block in large areas, or move things around. The natural media style brushes are gathering virtual dust.

To improve my pen control, I stuck to drawing everything digitally for a year or so, until it became just an extension of my hand. What surprised me most was coming back to pencil on paper recently, only to find my control of that medium had actually improved! The extra control needed for the tablet has made my pencil drawing much more direct. I hadn't realised how many wasteful marks I'd been making due to nervous energy and this has helped me draw more quickly and better. Just as well, because not being able to use zoom, undo and flip horizontal is a massive pain in the arts.

How did your traditional approach inform your use of digital tools? Do you use things I'm yet to discover, like 3D models, perspective guides and more. How do you approach them and have they had a bearing on how you now see/use traditional tools?

When I started out with digital art- using my 12x12 intuos with Photoshop- I really wasn't sure how to approach it.
I stuck to just scanning pencil drawings and colouring them, I did that for ages.
The way I decided to colour initially was to treat it like coloured pencils instead of painting. It was an interesting way of working, it added a lot of texture to the image.

It wasn't till I got into comics that I really advanced and went 100% digital.
I treat my colouring like painting now- weather oil, acrylic or watercolour depends on the effect I want.
My experience with painting informs my digital colour work.

Haha I'll get back you on this…! I've been heavily traditional for years, but recently I decided to go all in, going fully digital. WITHOUT knowing much about layers, the different tools, selections, etc… But I feel I'm learning fast and I can see lots of promise. My first digital pages will have that amateur plastic look of the digital newbie but I'm gonna put them up anyway starting tomorrow!! I can see improvement already and am looking forward to where I'll be in a few months!!