Episode #89: Do you think using the computer to draw and make pictures is cheating? with Nicole Tadgell
Welcome back to another episode of Kids Ask Authors! Authors Grace Lin and Nicole Tadgell answer this great kid question about using computers to make art! Thanks for tuning in!
TRANSCRIPTS:
Grace Lin: Hello, I'm Grace Lin, children's book author and illustrator of many books including the middle grade novel When the Sea Turned to Silver, and the picture book A Big Mooncake for Little Star. Today I'm here with Nicole Tadgell, the author and illustrator of Talking In Crayon, as well as the illustrator of Follow Me Down to Nicodemus Town written by A. LaFaye, and also the illustrator of Tiara's Hat Parade written by Kelly Starling Lyons. Hi Nicole.
Nicole Tadgell: Hi Grace.
Grace Lin: Thanks so much for joining me today.
Nicole Tadgell: You're welcome. Thank you for asking.
Grace Lin: No problem. Are you ready for today's kid question?
Nicole Tadgell: Yes, I am.
Grace Lin: Okay, today's kid question is from a young person named Alyssa and they asked...
Alyssa: Do you think using the computer to draw and make pictures is cheating?
Grace Lin: Do you think using the computer to draw and make pictures is cheating?
Nicole Tadgell: Well, Alyssa, that's a great question. And my answer is no, I do not think it's cheating at all. Using the computer is a tool, just like using photos for reference or using a projector to enlarge an image, anything like that.
Grace Lin: Do you use a computer for your work?
Nicole Tadgell: I do, yes. So after I finished my watercolor paintings, I scan them into my computer and I make them the correct size and I edit them and crop them and get them ready to be printed.
Grace Lin: Oh. So I use the computer a little. What I use the computer for is I usually draw my pic... My sketches on paper, and then I scan them. I usually draw them fairly small and then I scan them in and then I enlarge them much larger. And then I print them out on watercolor much bigger, so I can paint the pictures much larger. So it looks better.
Nicole Tadgell: Oh yes, yes, yes. I use that technique as well. Yeah. Yeah. [crosstalk 00:02:10] It helps.
Grace Lin: It helps, and it's really nice to not have to try to redraw the pictures to do the painting. So that's where I use the computer. I use the computer to like resize things a lot, but I know there's a lot of people who use the computer just right from the beginning. They use it to do all their drawing, to do the painting and all. And in fact, the finished art, they don't have like a painting at the end. They just have a digital file. And I think, I think for some of our listeners, that's a really hard thing to understand that that's art.
Nicole Tadgell: It certainly is. And it's a huge learning curve to be able to do that. And there's a lot of people out there who can do it really well.
Grace Lin: And it looks so beautiful too, but I think, and it's not cheating, because I think there's no way, the only, only way you can cheat in art is if you didn't really make it. I think that's the thing. If you were to take someone else's painting and put it in the computer and then sign your name to it, that would be cheating.
Nicole Tadgell: Yes, that would be cheating.
Grace Lin: Or... And even if you took a photo that you didn't... That you didn't take... That you yourself didn't take, and traced it, that would be... It could be close to cheating depending on what you did with it after that.
Nicole Tadgell: It depends. And I think that that's a great technique. Tracing and copying is a great technique to learn. Definitely. [crosstalk 00:03:44].
Grace Lin: Yes. Sorry. Did I interrupt you? Go ahead.
Nicole Tadgell: No, it's okay.
Grace Lin: No, I think it's... I think tracing, I think taking somebody else's photo and tracing it would be a good way to learn. And it would depend on what you did with that afterwards. But I think if you were to trace it and then publish it into a book, I think in terms of copyright, in terms of like the [legalness 00:06:30] of that, they might consider that cheating in terms of the law.
Nicole Tadgell: Mmm.
Grace Lin: Do you know what I mean?
Nicole Tadgell: Yeah, I guess it kind of depends...
Grace Lin: Because I was thinking about... There was a very famous artist called Shep Fairey, who did the Obama... The Obama images that probably everyone has seen.
Nicole Tadgell: Oh, those iconic ones?
Grace Lin: The very iconic ones. And he got in a lot of trouble because he used a photo that didn't belong to him to make that... Those iconic images. So I don't really think it's cheating, but I do think it's probably a little hard because the person who took that photo feels like they deserve the credit. So if you were to... If you were to trace somebody else's photo, it would be hard to say that you were the only artist, the person who took that photo would probably feel like they deserve to be a co-artist with you.
Nicole Tadgell: Oh, I see. Yeah. At least get some kind of credit.
Grace Lin: But I think in general, I think except for those two things, I think it's pretty hard to cheat at art. I don't know. Do you think that there's any way to cheat? What other ways do you think that people can cheat at art?
Nicole Tadgell:
Wow, that's a great question. Maybe... Maybe by taking somebody's idea, and copying it... Maybe... Maybe that would be a little bit of cheating. Like maybe, you want to be inspired by somebody else's idea.
Grace Lin:
But even somebody's idea though... When you... Like, we can have the same idea to draw a chicken, but your chicken would look so different from my chicken.
Nicole Tadgell:
That's so true. That's so true. See now that's a gray area now.
Grace Lin: So that's why it's very ... That's why I think it's very difficult to really cheat when it comes to art. The only thing that's really cheating is taking somebody else's art and saying that you did it.
Nicole Tadgell: I agree with that.
Grace Lin: So anyway, well, thank you so much, Nicole, for answering today's question and thank you very much, Alyssa, for asking it. It was very interesting.
Nicole Tadgell: You're welcome. Thank you Alyssa, and thank you Grace.
Grace Lin: Thanks. Bye.
Nicole Tadgell: Bye.
Thank you!
Today’s BOOK REVIEW comes from Haylee! Haylee is reviewing, Black Girls Like Me , written and illustrated by Mariama J. Lockington.
My name is Haylee Mark. The book I would talk about is For Black Girls Like Me, written and illustrated by Mariama J. Lockington. This book is about a young girl, Makeda who is struggling to find where she fits in. Along with her mother going through a mental illness, which causes many problems with her relationship with her family. I liked this book because I can relate to it in many different ways. Although I am not adopted I still think the same way Makeda does. She has a big imagination and she is an overthinker. Another way I can relate to her is that we are both black and we are both 11. I also enjoyed this book because of the climax her mother’s mental illness caused. It had me at the edge of my seat and it was interesting to hear about her struggles and life challenges. She always has mood swings and goes through many different phases. One moment she’s happy, then she’s sad, and the next she’s overspending on unnecessary items. Despite all of that she tries her best to be the best mother and wife that she can be. This book caused me to have so many different emotions. This was the best roller coaster I’ve ever been on.
Thank you so much Haylee!
More about today’s authors:
Nicole Tadgell was born in Detroit, Michigan. Frequent moves only increased her natural shyness, especially because she was sometimes the only black kid in the class or even the whole grade. Feeling different drew Nicole further into her own created worlds on paper, art was both fun and an escape. While studying studio art at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, she recalled how much fun it was to draw her own stories - illustrating children’s books could be the right path. “I knew I always wanted to be an artist,” Nicole says. “But it wasn’t until after college when I realized there was a lack of books with kids who looked like me.” Her growth as an artist included becoming comfortable with herself, her shyness, being the new kid, and being black.
Encouraged to develop her art in a more realistic direction, Nicole created a portfolio showing lively characters with an authenticity that was uniquely hers. Today, Nicole has over twenty books and numerous educational pieces published. “I love working on children’s books,” Nicole says. “Sometimes I pretend I’m the kid in the book, and do the things they do in the story to really get a feel for each book.” Nicole also visits schools, gives lectures and conducts workshops. Nicole's work has been honored by the Children's Africana Book Award, the Americas Award, the Arkansas Diamond Primary Book Award, and Growing Good Kids Award.
Grace Lin, a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and her picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Grace is an occasional commentator for New England Public Radio , a video essayist for PBS NewsHour (here & here), and the speaker of the popular TEDx talk, The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf. She is the co-host of the podcast Book Friends Forever, a kidlit podcast about friendship and publishing (geared for adults). Find her facebook, instagram , twitter ( @pacylin) or sign up for her author newsletter HERE.
Special thanks to the High Five Books & Art Always Bookstore, Ms. Carleton’s 2nd grade class at Jackson Street School for their help with our kid questions and reviews.
