#rawthought: Nostanalogue

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. My favourite drawing app, Paper by 53 , just released a cool new set of tools called Think. They promise to “recognize and correct objects in real time”, plus include a “fill” feature…that is, you can draw an imperfect circle and the app with make it perfect. I’ve been debating whether to use it or not. You see, I really love the look of haphazard strokes…of hand-drawn sketchiness…of things being off kilter just a little (you know, like life!).

*Amendment: a few months later I started using Think tools on my Paper for iPhone app and love them!

When I record songs or draw, I usually do everything in one take. I feel like that is the way it’s meant to be, at least for me. That’s why, as a kid, I always used pens in lieu of pencils – I don’t fancy relying on an eraser to solve problems, and I think the beauty lies in the imperfections (though, I suppose this is only true if you are not getting paid for your work haha). Like this recent article about a Pencil Shop reminds us “You can solve a crossword in pencil, but it’s more courageous in pen”.

Speaking of that pencil shop, it got me thinking about this quote from David Byrne’s wonderful book How Music Works (seen in my sketch above). With everything so digital, you can see evidence of nostalgia for the analogue popping up everywhere ( never so quaintly manifested as with Instagram’s 70’s Polaroid aesthetic ).

It made me think, too, of this quote from one of my favourite graphic artists – midcentury guru Paul Rand:

How do you feel about this? I’ve been collecting examples of analog mixed with digital for a while in my G+ communities Make du Jour, RemixED, and Creative Cinema for Critical Thinking.

Specifically, in this section in Make du Jour called “Digital + Analog IDEAS” … (feel free to join and post!)

I loved having my Senior students produce a stop motion animation on the first day of school – nothing like cutting paper and getting hands in Play-doh when you are 17! They seemed to enjoy the tactical nature of the raw materials while still leveraging the best tool – a StopMotion app on their smartphones – to produce the films.

Because I love portmanteaux, I’m calling this phenomenon “NOSTANALOGUE”. I’d love you to share your thoughts on this and perhaps some examples. Here’s one of my personal favourites – a Spike Jones stopmotion with hand-embroidered elements from fashion designer Olympia Le-Tan

#art #howmusicworks #davidbyrne #paperapp #stopmotion #spikejonze #analogue #paulrand #Instagram #paperby53 #polaroid #analog #digital #amyburvall #olympialetan