Why I love to draw my designs on paper

A few years ago, I was really into digitally drawing and creating my pattern designs entirely in a graphics program. It was a wonderful new world — so I thought. I really enjoyed mastering the program, drawing perfect lines of consistent thickness, and creating and filling in perfect geometric shapes. I loved not having to pick up a ruler or do math. Many designs saw the light of day—or rather, the computer screen. However, as AI has increasingly entered the creative field, I’ve switched to drawing my designs on paper and editing them digitally after scanning them in. And I’ve noticed that I really prefer this approach.

The main reasons why I prefer to draw on paper are:

• For me, at least, the thickness of the lines is only predictable to a certain extent. Since I usually draw with a black ink brush pen, my lines are never evenly wide.
• Also the motifs themselves are only predictable to a certain extent. While doodling, I often end up with completely different motifs than I had originally planned, but that’s rarely a bad thing. I’ve created some interesting patterns this way, especially my beloved Hand Drawn Repeats.
• The ink also does not behave the same on every paper. On some papers, it is almost drawn in and runs in different directions.

Actually, what I like about drawing on paper is exactly what I used to try to avoid by working only on the computer – imperfection and unpredictability.
Of course, by scanning and digitally post-processing I regain some control over my work, but the degree of this control is also in my own hands.
I just say – pure adventure and thrills for nerds :-).

But there is another reason why I love drawing on paper:

The fact that the software cannot automatically correct the lines means that, over time, I have developed my own signature style, which I am constantly trying to improve. In an era of artificial intelligence that can create anything almost perfectly, it’s becoming much more interesting to create unique pieces and hone the craftsmanship and creative skills that artificial intelligence will never quite master. At least, I hope so.