Digital handmade: towards a media archeology of graphic tablets and software in comics drawing

The relationship between comics drawing and the digital hardware and software enabling it remains crucially understudied: yet material and technical constraints and choices are integral parts of the creation process, reconfiguring Marion's graphiation (1993); the graphic enunciation inscribing the artist's trace within the work. When the avant-garde group Giovanotti Mondani Meccanici produced their first digitally-made comic in 1984, technological constraints shaped its distinctive aesthetics. First, the Apple graphics tablet's 280×192 pixel grid and pioneering yet rudimental software (prototypically MacPaint, created in 1984, or Autocad, 1982) determined the scope of digital drawing possibilities. Hardware evolution follows the pace of that of computing technology, progressively addressing pressure sensitivity, input devices, and real-time control. Key turning points include (1) electromagnetic induction mechanisms epitomized by Wacom tablets, and (2) an increasing tension toward hybrid objects aiming to mend the hand-eye disconnection, directly displaying what is drawn: embedded LCD tablets (Wacom's Cintiq) or tablet computers designed to maximize the drawing experience (iPad Pro). Software developments will be investigated both latitudinally, retracing the emergence and establishment of dominant platforms (MacPaint, Autocad, Adobe's Photoshop, Corel Painter, Savage Interactive's Procreate), and longitudinally, retracing evolving affordances culminating in AI incorporation AIs – Firefly being one of the most evident in recent cases. Trancing these material genealogies reveals how hardware and software evolution has progressively reconfigured comics production, affecting both print and digital outcomes. This paper thus aims to conduct a media-archaeological investigation outlining an essential history of graphics tablets and software in comics creation, addressing how the progressive integration of automated and computational processes had transformed the comics creation workflow. The methodology employs archival research in art and comics forums, drawing courses and graphic tablets instruction manuals, reconstructing the material conditions and technical affordances shaping comics digitalization across three decades.