Warning: The Tool May Try And
Dictate The Design By Neil Blevins Created On: Jan 6th 2013
Updated On: Feb 1th 2026
Software: Any
A short little essay about how different digital software can railroad
you into certain forms and ideas, and how it's important to counter this
in order to find your personal artistic voice.
You have two choices with this lesson, watch the video below, or
read the full text.
So if you'll allow me to get philosophical for a few minutes, I'm
always excited when I discover strong connections between music and
visual art, it just proves that it's all the same challenge.
I was listening to a guitar masterclass
with Devin Townsend: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw-9oGUXg6c
and he touched on some things about being a musician that I think are
very similar in the visual arts. One of them was his tuning. He tunes
his guitar in a
rather unique way, referred to as Open C tuning. This is different
from the standard E tuning that most guitars are tuned at. So this
means that there are certain sequences of
notes, scales or chords, that are far easier to play with his special
tuning,
and those some sequences are much harder to play on a standard tuning
guitar. And Vice Versa.
After watching the video, it's now obvious to me that some of
the uniqueness of his music comes from his choice of
tuning, it suggests certain note sequences and chord progressions,
sequences that standard tuning does not suggest. And so, he sounds very
different and unique from a lot of other musicians who use the
standard tuning.
The same thing happens in the visual arts. When I first started, widely
available computer graphics was still in the future, and so you drew
with a pencil or pen. When 3d
started to
happen, I started designing my creatures and robots on the computer.
But that had a major disadvantage. Since certain shapes are easy to
make in 3d software, like spheres and cubes, etc, and all of my designs
started looking like spheres and cubes. It was my inherent laziness
that let my tool dictate the design (and lets not kid ourselves, we ALL
have a little laziness to us). Now of course, I was just starting out,
so that's fine, I was learning the tools. But once I got to a certain
point, I went back to
using drawings, reference or rough paintings first, then using the
computer to execute the design in 3d. Even if my drawing skills weren't
as
good as my
3d skills, just the act of drawing lent itself to more interesting
designs, because a pencil or pen is so basic, it does not suggest
certain
shapes and forms as readily as something like a 3d package. It's a bit
like that old saying, "when all you have is a hammer, all problems
start looking like nails".
With each new popular piece of software, I've seen the issue repeat.
Whether it's SketchUp, Zbrush, whatever. Each piece of
software has it's own things its good at, and shapes it prefers to
create. That's
not to say of course you shouldn't design in 3d. But you need to be
mindful that the tool will likely
try and pull you in a
specific direction, and if you're using the same tool configured the
same way as everyone else, you risk producing work that looks like
everyone else.
Being aware of the pull will not only help you avoid this pitfall,
but you can also use this to your advantage. If the digital
tool is going to suggest certain forms, then accept that
reality, but spend the time customizing the tool in an interesting way,
so at least the designs it suggests are more unique. Maybe don't use
the standard brushes that everyone else use, make your own. Don't use
the same kitbash elements that everyone's bought on the same online
store, produce your own.
Of course this is only one piece of the puzzle, and two people using
the same tools can
certainly produce very different work due to the way their brains
differ,
but why not make it a little easier on yourself and find a way to
re-tune your software with a non standard tuning, a tuning that let's
you stand out from the crowd. It may help you
produce something that is uniquely you.