Blind Tablet Contour
I struggled quite a bit during our wacom tablet/blind contour trial session. It was difficult to not look at the drawing I was doing on the computer especially when we were using photobooth as a mirror. When I used my phone as a mirror and held it in front of the drawing tablet I was able to just observe myself. Then I ran into another issue- that I would draw off the photoshop layer I had established for myself because I was not looking at the computer. A couple times I thought I was doing a really cool sketch only to realize that none of my lines were actually captured. I found the blind contour aspect of the session frustrating because of this new medium. I felt like it had to actually look good. This perception I had that my work had to be presentable as a finished product blocked me from the freedom and ease I had while blind contouring with pen and pencil. Working in digital created the illusion of potential perfection. I could erase any stray lines or undo anything I didn’t like. I had to consciously choose to embrace imperfection, which was difficult.
I had more fun and felt more comfortable when I moved on from blind contouring and began playing with the tablet and Photoshop tools. I decided to set an aesthetic for myself that involved filling in any open, empty spaces with blocks of color from the sketches near them. I used the lasso tool to create clean shapes and filled in those shapes with my paintbrush. I also adjusted the opacity of the edge shapes so that the line work underneath was still visible. I think the end result was interesting for sure. I spent more time on this aspect of the process more because I enjoyed the control of the medium.
