Digitization and drawing
Illuminating the process of drawing

Never before in the history of art has the preservation of stages of image creation been so convenient, and never before has such a radical tool for revising images been available. True, photography made it possible to record the process of creating visual images, though perhaps not so conveniently as the computer has. And true, etching, lithography, silk-screening, and other print-making inventions certainly contributed to both this recording, and to the process of actually revising an image. By reworking a plate, for example, the artist could use the medium to change the image and, at the same time, by keeping earlier prints from the plate, could preserve the process of development as it might be reflected in the earlier prints. However, nothing before the computer provided such an integral way to do both, nothing provided such a broad tool for altering the image.

Some of the sketches in SeeAnew illustrate this immediately. Though much more might be presented, only three different kinds of examples will be cited. An illustrated elaboration is linked to each. Further examples may occur to the visitor independently, if these are presented well.

(1) preserving initial sketches that are never incorporated into the final image,

(2) preserving and manipulating initial sketches that, with modification, become the final image,

(3) separately preserving, manipulating, resizing to a common scale, and merging together two or more initial sketches to collectively become the final image,

(4) all of the above, in the development of a single drawing, and

(5) altering the color of a drawing once it has been digitized.

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