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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1384448
EJ: I love the ability to test out different options and ideas. There is a value to traditional art, when it forces me to only spend a few days on one thing. The feeling of: “I have tried this, I can’t go back, so I have to finish and move on.” But it’s also really nice to be able to try everything and decide what you want, and also have different versions of your work. In this digital age, that is really cool, as it adds to the value of digital art. Even if digital art doesn’t have the “one-of-a-kind” aspect of traditional art, we can have multiple different versions easily, like as a collection. Personally, as someone who cannot visualize as well as most people, with every line I draw, what I want to draw becomes clearer to me. This means my process ends up being very messy, and digital art is very forgiving for that. With traditional art, that kind of exploration is punished because the paper gets torn. If you try to overlay and trace it to make a clean version, you miss out on those beautiful strokes that you’ve made. Often a clean version kills the artwork. But in digital art I can just erase the lines I don’t want and keep the lines that I did like. MD: Do you have any advice for people who are hesitant about going into digital art? EJ: You have to remember that it is a learning curve, just like any other tool. Don’t feel bad if your stuff doesn’t translate immediately. There is a time you need to spend with the program, a time you have to spend with the stylus and the screen. Once you get used to it, you can start having fun. Cut yourself a lot of slack at the beginning, take your time to be frustrated and make stuff that isn’t really that great. MD: A lot of people seem to have difficulties reproducing the lines they are used to from drawing on paper, so taking your time is definitely a good thing. EJ: I used to think that using the stabilizer was a bad thing, but I realized that digital techniques are still an imperfect approximation of reality. When you are drawing on a sheet of paper, you have all kinds of tiny feedback loops going back to your brain about what you are doing. But digital is just plastic on glass, it’s not the same thing. MD: Where do you see the YouTube art community go in the future? EJ: I think everyone is going to start sharing their work more seriously online. I think COVID showed us where we are headed, it kind of pushed us in that digital direction much faster, since now almost everybody has a computer, a camera and a microphone. I think more people will be sharing their journey, experience, and work, which will be a new kind of value to everything. Because all the information is continuing to build and build, there’s going to be a need for something else. People already know where all the tips and tutorials are, so people will want to see more diversity, representation, and new stories that are being told. I don’t know exactly what form it will take, but I think it will be a lot more personal and creative. MD: Are there any upcoming projects or announcements that you could share with us? EJ: I’d say I don’t really have one big project coming up, but I do want to make content that is a lot more creative and that I can be proud of. I enjoy making videos and I am leaning into the things people talk about, like my voice, the way I talk, and the vibe of the videos. I want to make something more enjoyable to watch, and share more of my process. This year, I have been focusing on leveling up my artwork as well, finding my personal aesthetic, and letting that grow. So look out for me, there’s going to be a lot more artwork and the videos are going to be pretty unique. And they are probably going to be some of my best.