1988 | Drawing towards Making

A selection of 12 digital drawings using 1987/88 computer hardware and software

March 1988

Dimensions in mm: monitor screen size - approx. 300 w x 300 h

Medium: hardware - Commodore Amiga, Acorn Archimedes, Apple Macintosh IIx;  software - various for drawing/painting e.g. MacPaint; drawings documented originally in 35mm slides, made into digital scans in 2016.

Artist’s notes:

Developments in ‘personal computing’ afforded the opportunity to make new kinds of drawings without the need for programming. This opened up the exploration of possible - or indeed impossible - forms and structures in the virtual world. Some might be useful in visualising potential material forms, some might remain forever digital. The capacity of the PC to generate various versions of ideas and to quickly make changes was liberating. Drawing with light - not pigment - brought new characteristics of luminosity to the fore. However, drawing with a mouse took some getting used to. Syd Burnett likened it to drawing with ‘a cabbage’.