EASY does it...
EASY!!
Oh, yes. Digital scrapping is so much EASIER than doing it with paper. It's so easy it's almost cheating...
This is the opinion of quite a few paper scrappers, and then we get the good old, Why would you want to do it that way anyway?
Well, I am here to tell you that it's NOT that easy. We might make it LOOK easy, because we are so efficient. But it's not easy. I have spent literally hours working with my software to organise, back up, and learn all the capabilities of what my Graphics program can do. Hours and hours of reading, experimenting... learning.
Ok, so now that that is done (HA - never done learning), it's easy, right? Wrong... It's so hard to keep things new, fresh, interesting. Sharon broached this question the other day... she's afraid of running out of ideas, although she never does. I have that same fear. When I was paper scrapping, I was lucky to get one layout finished a week.... Digital scrapping is such a different story, I got 2 layouts finished just this morning.... and I'm on 3 design teams, so there is a constant pressure to do your best for these people that have put faith in you, that are depending on you. You try keeping 30 layouts a month fresh and exciting. There is a lot of browsing magazines, galleries, you name it... all constantly looking for inspiration. For that next little fix to re-fill your tank.
Then there is gallery maintenance... uploading x number of layouts into y number of galleries. And because you don't want to be a snob, you need to take time in all those galleries to comment on other people's work, to share the love around and help encourage everyone around you. That sort of good will is just as important as actually creating the layouts, as you are that designers representative.... whether you like it or accept it or not.
And then, when you get a layout accepted for publication, there is the mad scramble through pages of galleries, including the Designer's own gallery, to find all the copies and cover them over.
My 5 year old can use a pair of scissors and a glue stick... this involves so much more finesse.... and it's a whole different proposition. One of the EASIEST things you can do when paper-scrapping is to tear a sheet of paper. A GOOD torn edge is one of the hardest things to replicate digitally. And try getting paper into a shape OTHER than a sqaure, rectangle, circle or oval... it takes time. Persistence to get it just right.
There is no EASIER or HARDER, it's just DIFFERENT. Different skills. But the basics are the same.... digital layout designers still work just as hard on matching papers to their photos, their composition, just the right accent, the right font.... Journalling from the heart is the same on a computer or by hand. Don't downplay all the mental creation we do, it's just the same.
So why do I do it? Because I can.... because I can clean up quickly, because I can be as creative as I dream of being. Because I'm cheap, and I have unlimited supplies on my computer. Because I can email them all over the world.... Because I can replicate them over and over again without ever having to buy a single sheet of paper.
Because I love doing it... but NOT because it's EASY. And don't try to tell me it's not real either .... when you can define reality and explain to me how televisions work, then you can tell me it's not real.
Oh, yes. Digital scrapping is so much EASIER than doing it with paper. It's so easy it's almost cheating...
This is the opinion of quite a few paper scrappers, and then we get the good old, Why would you want to do it that way anyway?
Well, I am here to tell you that it's NOT that easy. We might make it LOOK easy, because we are so efficient. But it's not easy. I have spent literally hours working with my software to organise, back up, and learn all the capabilities of what my Graphics program can do. Hours and hours of reading, experimenting... learning.
Ok, so now that that is done (HA - never done learning), it's easy, right? Wrong... It's so hard to keep things new, fresh, interesting. Sharon broached this question the other day... she's afraid of running out of ideas, although she never does. I have that same fear. When I was paper scrapping, I was lucky to get one layout finished a week.... Digital scrapping is such a different story, I got 2 layouts finished just this morning.... and I'm on 3 design teams, so there is a constant pressure to do your best for these people that have put faith in you, that are depending on you. You try keeping 30 layouts a month fresh and exciting. There is a lot of browsing magazines, galleries, you name it... all constantly looking for inspiration. For that next little fix to re-fill your tank.
Then there is gallery maintenance... uploading x number of layouts into y number of galleries. And because you don't want to be a snob, you need to take time in all those galleries to comment on other people's work, to share the love around and help encourage everyone around you. That sort of good will is just as important as actually creating the layouts, as you are that designers representative.... whether you like it or accept it or not.
And then, when you get a layout accepted for publication, there is the mad scramble through pages of galleries, including the Designer's own gallery, to find all the copies and cover them over.
My 5 year old can use a pair of scissors and a glue stick... this involves so much more finesse.... and it's a whole different proposition. One of the EASIEST things you can do when paper-scrapping is to tear a sheet of paper. A GOOD torn edge is one of the hardest things to replicate digitally. And try getting paper into a shape OTHER than a sqaure, rectangle, circle or oval... it takes time. Persistence to get it just right.
There is no EASIER or HARDER, it's just DIFFERENT. Different skills. But the basics are the same.... digital layout designers still work just as hard on matching papers to their photos, their composition, just the right accent, the right font.... Journalling from the heart is the same on a computer or by hand. Don't downplay all the mental creation we do, it's just the same.
So why do I do it? Because I can.... because I can clean up quickly, because I can be as creative as I dream of being. Because I'm cheap, and I have unlimited supplies on my computer. Because I can email them all over the world.... Because I can replicate them over and over again without ever having to buy a single sheet of paper.
Because I love doing it... but NOT because it's EASY. And don't try to tell me it's not real either .... when you can define reality and explain to me how televisions work, then you can tell me it's not real.
posted by Cassandra | 7:27 pm
4 Comments:
Your post is so true! It isn't easier, but it is different. The differences are what I like and why I do it also. Thanks for the great food for thought. :)
Thank you so much for having the ability to write things so perfectly!
This is just so true and I wish that instead of all the *easier* and *quick* type of comments people could just embrace that people do digital scrapbooking because they love it just like traditional scrappers love their craft.
I find it hard to accept that so many criticize digi scrapping and put it down and yet we digi gals don't do the same with paper scrappers. Why can't they just accept that it is a different form of the same thing?
Doesn't make it better OR worse, just different.
I am proud to say I am a DIGI scrapper who occassionally does some traditional stuff too :)
Sandi :)
*clapping wildly* Nicely put, Cass! It is soooo hard to be fresh and appealing and original, and still be sane, lol! :)
I've never paperscrapped, so I can't really compare. I do know that the best thing for me about digital, is that I can scrap even when I'm totally broke, because I can create my own elements. I couldn't do that with paper! It makes a big difference, because I'm always broke! lol
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