On the one hand, the designer of “A year without Cthulhu”, a fervent defender of digital tools. On the other, that of the "Long John Silver" series, attached to the use of the traditional tandem brush-paper. And between them, as referee for the match, Ugo Bienvenu, the author of “System Preference” who juggles between the two tools…
What are the advantages of your creation tool?
Mathieu Lauffray: The relationship to the object, its charm, its material, its reality linked to the drying time and its own characteristics. And, above all, being embodied. The resulting drawing exists and can be manipulated. Finally, we know when it is finished. The object imposes its balance.
Alexandre Clérisse: I use vectorial drawing software which allows me to model my "line" and my colors like cut paper. Each part of my image is therefore mobile. I can thus best compose my image. And I can go back at any time, which allows me to adjust my story until the very end of the album.
How do you think the "other" technique is limited?
ML: Digital allows a lot of things: the variety of 2D and 3D possibilities, access to visual references… Everything is doable and changeable, ad infinitum. It can be difficult to define the exact moment when we lay down our arms. To multiply the possibilities, it is sometimes difficult to decide.
AC: You have to be very careful and diligent (for my part I tend to spill my ink pot), which can sometimes "freeze" the drawing. Having to start all over again when there is a problem is very frustrating. And you need a large storage space for your boards!
In what way does the “other” technique seem worthy of interest to you?
ML: Working in digital allows audacity in the professional context. There is no risk of "losing" the original with a clumsy brushstroke, or a risky bias. The freedom and the variety of renderings allow a lot of fantasies, but also the outcome of "renderings" in very short time. It's practical and effective.
AC: Accidents created at random from an impasto or a task give life to the drawing. The spontaneity of the first gesture or, on the contrary, the structural work of the design is felt and gives a particular emotion. The pleasure of brush and ink on paper and the satisfaction of having originals to share with readers.
Give us a specific example of what you think you can never achieve with "the other technique" ...
ML: The fear of failure, the "romantic" side of the risky gesture that involves the survival of the play, its success or failure. I have never been so happy or in rage as when I work on paper or canvas! Reality is the media of passions.
AC: Make the exact fidelity of the original drawing in a book. Regardless of the quality of the scan, there will always be a loss in line and color rendering when switching from paper to computer and then printing the book.
"To draw is to assume one's mistakes"
"What makes a drawing good is what its author has failed to solve," explains Ugo Bienvenu , designer of Préférence system (éd. Denoël), in official competition at the Angoulême comics festival this year. In this, the tablet is an enemy: it allows us to correct ad infinitum, therefore to assume only rarely, if not the error, the irregularity.
In my opinion, it is very dangerous to start learning to draw from the computer. To draw is to accept one's mistakes. What constitutes our identity is our inability to resemble the other, this is the absolute beauty of our work: assuming that we will never be the other. We must make beautiful what was apparently missed, that is to say ourselves, our inability to perform the gesture of the other.
"The two practices can serve each other"
Once this work is done, the tablet becomes interesting. It makes it possible to speed up the work phases, to get rid of these painful moments such as scanning, processing scans, etc. It also allows you to find new renderings that paper does not allow. The two practices can serve each other.
Why not benefit from their respective contributions? The computer is a stupid tool, like the others. There will always be new tools that will create new vocabularies. Like oil painting, gouache, screen printing have marked their time, the computer marks ours. It is up to us to make good use of it. "
- Drawing
- Digital
- Culture
- BD
- Angoulême Festival