What I Got Wrong About Going Analog | Episode 56
Why Re-wilding Doesn't Necessarily Mean Ditching a Fully Digital Illustration Process
In this episode, I share my thoughts on the evolving meaning of “rewilding” my illustration process. For me, Re-wilding originally meant bringing analog elements back into my work—inking on paper, scanning textures, doing things the “hard” way. But lately, I’ve been asking myself: is it really about going analog? Or is it about something deeper? In this episode, I unpack how rewilding is less about tools and more about mindset. I look at how digital tools can either suffocate or support our creativity, depending on how we use them. And I share how I’m finding spontaneity, joy, and pride in my work—even when it’s 100% digital.
If you’ve ever felt disconnected from your creative process, or worried about how AI and digital tools are affecting your style, this episode is for you.
I also share some reflections on the Amish approach to technology, digital minimalism, and extoll the virtues of dumb physical tools (which will never ask you to rate them on the App store).
🔗 I’ve included links and examples from the episode below.
🎨 A visual supplement of my evolving style follows the usual notes.
🙏 Thank you to all paid supporters on Patreon! Without your support, this would be an expensive hobby. Thank you!
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IN THIS EPISODE
Why rewilding might be a mindset, not a medium
How digital tools can both hinder and help creative joy
What I’ve rediscovered about spontaneity, surprise, and storytelling in illustration
Why pride in your process matters—and how to get it back
How AI is forcing illustrators to reevaluate their process
The three key questions I now ask to evaluate any creative tool
PLUS – Why my Apple Pencil will never beat a Mason jar full of ink water.
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Music and Cues by Mark Allan Falk – http://www.linktr.ee/semiathletic
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT: MY EVOLVING STYLE
Exhibit 1: In the episode I reference differences between my early style, which predated my acquisition of an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil (used as a graphics tablet), which is when I depended much more on physical media throughout my process. I found this image on my old Dribbble account, which encapsulates the peak of this era of my work. All of these images were sketched with physical paper and pencil, and they all contain at least a few textures or details that were scanned in from physical media.
The top-middle (wine scene) and bottom-right (playing cards) images are transitional, where I started using digital brushes for the linework (facial features, clothing creases and wrinkles, and even the simple black outline figures on the cards). I did not make these details with a stylus: I would draw these as paths in Photoshop with the Pen Tool, and then use the “Stroke path with brush” function.
Looking back, I like the looseness of the looser pieces, like the food spots (middle-right) and California map (lower-left). I don’t mind the other pieces, but the stereo system piece (top-left) is a particular case where I believe I got too tight.
Exhibit 2: The next image, below, was made more recently (2023 if I correctly recall). This piece epitomizes the completely digital turn my work took over the early 2020s. While I started using a graphics tablet much earlier, it was around this time that I started drawing in my shapes with a brush rather than more precisely with the Pen Tool. This lended my shapes a more organic “drawn-in” look. In the episode, I mention how this “advancement” actually made my work more digital-adjacent, because of how much control I had over every nuance of each shape. Compare this to the qualities of my earlier work above (notably the food spots, middle-right), which although made with the Pen Tool, had a more whimsical quality.
Exhibit 3: Now take a look at the illustration, below, which I made earlier this year. This is closest to the work I’m making today, which, although made completely digital, has a lot of the qualities I would normally attribute to analog techniques. This approach comes on the tails of a longer-term book project (Ancient Greek Gods and Goddesses), which for me doubled as an exercise in bringing “inky” qualities and looseness to my work. The difference between this and the previous image is most obvious in the looseness of shapes (of the latter). I’m also freely using textures made using digital brushes, but applying them in ways similar to how I used to apply textures I made myself — less precisely drawn in, and more loosely placed over shapes.
In the episode, I explain why I think I’ve been too strict about the definition of “re-wilding”, making it more about “going analog” than perhaps it should be. As I was reflecting on all this rewilding stuff lately, I realize that the re-wilding has been happening already, more in the spontaneity I’m allowing in the execution than in any particular, and less owing to any particular tool or technology.
At the same time, I wouldn’t have been able to arrive at this place without a lot of off-screen experimentation, including in my daily drawing practice (where I first started getting used to drawing in shapes with a brush or pen rather than the pen tool), and in more short-term projects more directly involving analogue elements, such as my jazz series.
Thank you so much for the podcast — the topic of Rewilding is really fascinating, and this episode in particular was something special. “Pride in the process” — such a perfect way to put it, and yes, that really matters. I think I really need that myself, too. What you said about how we perceive someone working with "real" art materials versus someone sitting at a computer all day was really resonated with me. Maybe that’s why I’ve always felt that making digital illustrations on a computer feels a bit more like a “process” than, say, drawing on an iPad. Even though I really wanted one and absolutely love the freedom it gives to work from anywhere. But on a computer, I usually have lots of windows, folders, notes, palettes open — and even though it’s all on a screen and not physically around me, somehow it still feels a bit more like I’m immersed in a process.
Thanks again — there’s definitely a lot to think about.
Love seeing the evolution of your style over the years, Tom! Interesting insight that it’s less about the tool (digital vs analog), and more about embracing spontaneity.