Digital Drawing
Drawn freehand directly on the computer and printed on a high-end inkjet printer, my drawings do not contain any photographs nor scanned material. An inherently hybrid process, my practice brings together the familiar opposites of handmade and digital, organic and mechanical, subjective and technological, physical and virtual.
These totally drawn digital prints bring the viewer to an awareness of the devices of image construction and to the complexities of fiction. In addition to dealing with existing concepts such as drawing and photography, we are now affected by the recontextualizing effect of the new field of imaging.
Several related concerns run thoughout the work: an investigation of image making, the hybridization of the languages of drawing and computer imaging, and a focus on the constructed landscape.
The subjects of my work may be interpreted as models for planned communities as much as aerial views of fictional suburban developments, referencing the computer as a tool for urban planning as well as image capture. Investigating the relation between design and actual lived experience, the works subvert the apparent rationality of urban design, exposing conflicts that lie beneath the surface. These digital drawings are a comment on the fears as well as the dreams expressed in suburban culture.
Some Notes On My Working Process
My images of aerial views are totally fictional, although in the beginning I used aerial photographs as references for the overall appearance of the landscape. My process involves creating the artwork in two steps: the first step is drawing freehand directly with the computer, while the second is printing the image on paper with an inkjet printer. My drawings do not contain any photographs nor scanned material.
The works are completely drawn in Adobe Photoshop, aside for some preparatory work in Adobe Illustrator. In Photoshop, I start from a blank image and build up my work with a small set of basic tools and commands, for example selection, painting, and cloning tools, copying and pasting, layers, luminosity and contrast controls, surface modifications (grain and smoothness), and automation. In short, the process is a combination of drawn material and various transformations done to this material with the help of the software.
One of the main properties of digital drawing is a virtual, non-material working environment. The fact that the image is not bound to a physical base has several advantages. It allows various combinations of techniques and treatments, an ease in modifying the whole image at once, an ease in copying/cutting, moving and pasting parts of the image (within an image as well as between images), the blending of layers of variable translucency, and the creation of copies of the image in progress (to save steps in the generation of the work and to create different versions of a work). Working in the virtual world also means the image can be altered at any time, even after a final version is established, thus creating a new, different image from a "final" one. Another property of the medium is its very fast speed compared to most physical media. This allows a very short delay between intention and result, as little time is needed to try out various solutions.
To summarize, the process involves combining key elements from the techniques of drawing, collage, and printmaking with the assets of the virtual working environment.
Ross Racine
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