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Computer graphics software could weaken classical drawing skills

02:04 - Thursday 6 April 2006 by Humphrey Cheung - source: Tom's Hardware

Gifted artists and drawers are able to pick up a pencil and sketch away a great portrait, fantasy character or even famous robots from Japanese animation. Less talented people have to attend classes to improve thjeir drawing their skills and often these classes have computers set up with programs like Adobe’s Photoshop or Illustrator. While these programs can easily draw shapes and insert text, a recent Reuter’s Traditional paper drawing can be frustrating, as artists constantly doodle, erase and scribble to get their picture right. It’s not uncommon to draw a few lines and then throw the whole sheet of paper away in disgust, but according to Reuters this constant frustration is what hones an artist’s drawing ability.

Putting down a Bezier curve or drawing a perfectly straight line is easy in a drawing program, but some believe they lead to "artist laziness." Marc Treib, an architecture professor at University of California, Berkeley, told Reuters, "I see an increasing passivity on the part of students".

It may be too easy to blame Adobe Photoshop for student laziness. It could be as simple as an artist’s lack of ability and Charles Pyle, Director of the School of Illustration at the Academy of Art University, put it bluntly when he told Reuters, "If you don’t draw and think well, your art career will be short and unpleasant".