Remember when digital art was just a hobby for most of us?

I was at a small con in Austin maybe 8 years ago. Just browsing the artist alley. Saw this older guy with a tablet, showing his kid how to do a simple line sketch. I stopped to watch. He looked up and said, 'Back in my day, we had to scan pencil drawings. Took forever. Now he can just undo a mistake.' That stuck with me. It was a tiny moment, but it hit home. The tools got easier, but the art is still the point. His kid was just having fun. Makes me think about how we focus on gear now. Anyone else have a moment like that, where the tech just faded into the background?

3 comments

3 Comments

grant.finley24d ago

I still have my first Wacom tablet from like 2005. The driver support was so bad, half the time it just acted like a really bad mouse. Makes you appreciate how seamless it is now, even if I still can't draw a straight line to save my life.

price.tyler24d ago

Actually @grant.finley, I think the drivers were the only thing that worked for me back then, the hardware itself felt like a brick lol.

the_michael10d ago

Oh man, that brings back some rough memories. I had a tablet around that time where the drivers would just give up halfway through a project. The cursor would freeze or jump to a corner for no reason. It felt like you were fighting the tech more than actually making anything. Makes the plug and play stuff today feel like a real gift, even with all the other quirks.