SKETCH DIGITIZATION

While the arc of the sketch universe it long, it bends toward digitization. My apologies to Martin Luther King.

I am a Luddite. Anyone who thinks that the answer is one pencil, one piece of paper and one holistic drawing could be nothing but a Luddite. And I wear my Luddite badge proudly.

You were able to draw freehand, with the movement of a mouse, on the first Macintosh. Once tablet computers were invented, there was a whole host of apps which let you draw freehand, illustrate, apply tones, etc. Now you can draw freehand on your phone.  Etc.  Etc.

It goes without saying that this is the future. How much of this sketch digitization that we elect to utilize is up to us. The more work that we can get out of our analogue drawings, the longer we can forestall the inevitable digitization encroachment. As I said, spoken like a true Luddite.

Despite my pure analogue approach to drawing design, I am trying to be aware of some of the more interesting sketch digitization product offerings. Below are a few examples that are more applicable to our general worldview.

MOLESKINE LIVESCRIBE. This consists of a bluetooth connected pen, a tablet app, and livescribe paper. When you make a mark or write on the paper with the pen, the mark or line appears on the tablet screen. I guess one thing that is cool about this system is that you are still putting a writing device on a piece of paper. And the byproduct of that action is an immediate digital copy. I assume this has value as any and everything that you write or draw you have a digital copy of. You can immediately tag the image.  And as the advertisements say, you can immediately forward that digital file to others.

MORPHOLIO TRACE. This is an iPad app that lets you draw over other drawings, photographs, or any other visual image. The trace in the product name is of course a digital version of the tracing paper that designers use to develop their designs. In case anyone does not know, trace paper is a thin, translucent white or yellow paper that designers overlay on top of other drawings. Trace allows you to quickly refine a previous thought with a newer thought, yet using the old thought as a guide. And this digital product works the same way. You draw on your tablet. And then you can do an overlay of another drawing. So it is a rather exact digital simulation of what we do with pencil and paper. This product also has templates. So for example, if you want to draw a tree, you can use the template to sketch in the tree. This is also identical to the templates that architects used to use to draw circles, cars, trees, etc.

SKETCHDRIVE. This seems to be something like a sketch dropbox. The idea seems to be that creativity will be unlocked if what is shared is visual. Far flung team members are encouraged to share and draw over images while working together to solve a problem. Based on their website, the exchange of ideas is centered around the exchange of sketches. I include this as it is an interesting take and confirmation on the value of the sketch. Rather than on the value of the lowly word.

So these are just three that I have come across. No doubt there are many more both now and in the future. The advent of digitally based sketching is unstoppable. Yet I think it should be delayed as long as is practical. And hopefully pages like these will provide some sort of respite.  Some sort of warm and friendly waypoint on the long, dark and treacherous road to digitization.