The importance of leaving a trace

Highlighters and Derek the Pritt Stick

We have deep dived stationary before in our post about the drama and intrigue of the pencil.

But my interest in stationary was peeked again after I spent time at Interlochen, a performing arts high school in Michigan. Briana Yarhouse, the head of the animation department, told me over breakfast that one big difference between an artist and AI is that AI does not ‘show its work’ - it leaves no artifacts behind. This makes it all the more important to hold onto the trace we leave as artists - stop motion models, sketchbooks, concept development etc and so forth.

Ever since hearing this I have treasured my sketchbooks and all the rotten drawings that have led me to the one I like.

Today I thought i’d share the development process behind some of the most iconic items that aid us in showing our work - some iconic items of stationary. I’ll be quoting from The Perfection of the Paperclip by James Ward and I highly recommend picking up a copy, it’s a great autumnal read.

First up, the highlighter. But not just any highligher:

THE STABILO BOSS