day without technology

Living room/ studio without power

My day without technology started off a little late...because I switched off my phone the night before for fear of using it when I woke up.  Only to forgot that I use my phone as an alarm clock.  Oh well not a total lost at least I did not have to be at school or work.  I had to pick a day where I was not working because we use computers to ring people up for purchases and I knew I would be tempted to check the internet when we were slow.  So ended up picking a Saturday. 

iPhone as an expensive paper weight

I use my phone to death...I would say that I check it every few minutes to see updates on twitter or facebook and to check my emails.  Twitter is my personal favorite social media, I follow a lot of people that are in the industry of comic books and it is always fun to see new art from artist and to hear what they are talking about, as far as new projects they are doing or just day to day occurrences.  I also use my phone to keep up with my friends that are far away through text messaging mostly.  I have to say not having my phone all day was painful, like an addiction.  I could feel myself reaching for it in my pocket constantly but I put it away so I would not be tempted to use it.  (The constant phantom ring against my leg was the worst.)  It is strange for me to think of a time when I do not use my phone now and how I got addicted to it so fast.  I was only a sophomore in college when I got my first cell phone.  I remember never needed it like I do now to get through the day. Kind of sad really...although I am sure I could get used to again if I had to get rid of it.

Had to give up the cards

I found myself having to plan out my day like a survivalist.  Trying to figure out what technology I was going to do without like my phone, computer, TV, main things like that was easy, but then what about credit cards and cooking devices, my car.  How was I going to eat that day or get around?  I decided the only technology I was going to cheat with was my car, not that I could not walk to anywhere in Boone or take the bus system, but I did not want to figure all that out at this point.  I ended up going out the day before to get money from the atm and gas.  I took out $40 for food and things, hoping that no surprise would enter for me to need more.

Troy's Diner

Yay food!

Cash only

First stop on my day was to get some food.  I decided to not use my kitchen since most of the things I eat would require me to cook it, either in microwave or stove.  So going to a restaurant did not seem to much of a cheat since I was not going to be making it.  I did good at only spending under $9 for breakfast/lunch.  I have noticed that I hardly carry that much cash on me.  I use my check card to pretty much pay for everything now days.  It has become so easy to just pay with a card everywhere we go.  Need to get back into the habit of carrying cash again.

Reading assignments

I also printed out my reading assignments the day before because a lot of my teachers only use the computer to send out the work.  This did not bug me to much because I usually do that anyway.  Still getting use to reading assignments online or on my phone.  I like having a physical copy to make notes on while I read through it.

Use computer programs to pick color schemes for art

Color swatch book

Something that I use computers for a lot lately is for picking out color schemes for my art work.  Did not realize how often I did that.  So I brought out one of my color swatch books that I made with the markers I color with to help me with my latest project.

Wacom tablet and Sketchbook Pro

Coloring traditionally with Copic markers

In the past few years I have been using my computer more and more to help me out with art.  I use my computer to plan or even draw some of the initial frame work for my drawings.  A lot of times I will free hand out my drawings in a sketchbook and then scan them into the computer.  I will use programs like Photoshop or Sketchbook Pro to fix proportions or mistakes done from the original line work.  For commissions I will clean up the drawing in those programs and print it out onto another sheet of bristol paper, that way the line work is clean for me to ink over and to later color.  Technology makes those things for me easier and to not have them would put more work into what I do.  

iPhone app for reading comics or books

Tale of Sand book

I have found myself purchasing and reading comic books on my phone more lately too.  So when I found myself bored to tears because I could not watch TV or listen to music, I sat down with some new books that I got in the mail recently.  Some books I do not mind buying to have a physical copy laying around, but for some of the single issues that I get I have switched to buying them on a digital device.  It saves room on my book shelf and I can carry more with me.  But not having technology that day to read through them was killing me.  I use my phone and computer for references a lot too.  I did not really need it that day for anything major but I would be lost without access to some form of digital resource.

All in all my day was relatively quiet at my place, which is the opposite of any other time.  I usually have my TV or music going constantly.  I work with it in the background all the time.  I did find myself able to focus better on certain tasks like reading or writing, but to not have it when I draw or color was deafening.