"Another time factor is output: proofing and printing. That is, getting your work out of the computer and onto paper and having it satisfy you. It can be time consuming and expensive"
About this Quote
Buffy Sainte-Marie points to a part of creative work that rarely gets romanticized: output. Making a piece on a glowing screen is one thing; turning it into an object that lives in the world, satisfies the maker, and holds up under real light is another. That translation from pixels to paper is fussy, technical, and governed by limits you only discover through trial and error. Colors that sing in RGB flatten in CMYK. Blacks look muddy. Details disappear. Paper stock changes everything. Each proof is a lesson and a bill.
As an early adopter of digital tools in the arts, Sainte-Marie knew the myth that computers make creation instant and cheap. The machine accelerates drafting and experimenting, but the finish line moves to the bottleneck of proofing and printing. Calibrations, profiles, inks, and presses become collaborators that must be coaxed and paid. The phrase satisfy you matters; output is not just mechanical reproduction but the negotiation between intention and material reality, repeated until the work meets an internal standard. That loop takes time, and time becomes cost.
Her observation also travels across mediums. Musicians face mixing, mastering, and manufacturing; writers face typesetting and galleys. The audience sees a seamless artifact, but the maker knows the gauntlet of last-mile decisions where craft either holds or cracks. Budgeting for output is not merely financial prudence; it is an ethical recognition of invisible labor. It resists the pressure to rush, reminding artists that fidelity to the work often resides in these unglamorous steps.
There is also a quiet assertion of autonomy. By owning the proofing process, an artist protects the integrity of the piece against the compromises of convenience. The point is not to lament cost, but to acknowledge the real infrastructure of making. Creativity is not finished when it looks right on-screen. It is finished when it stands up on paper and answers to its maker.
As an early adopter of digital tools in the arts, Sainte-Marie knew the myth that computers make creation instant and cheap. The machine accelerates drafting and experimenting, but the finish line moves to the bottleneck of proofing and printing. Calibrations, profiles, inks, and presses become collaborators that must be coaxed and paid. The phrase satisfy you matters; output is not just mechanical reproduction but the negotiation between intention and material reality, repeated until the work meets an internal standard. That loop takes time, and time becomes cost.
Her observation also travels across mediums. Musicians face mixing, mastering, and manufacturing; writers face typesetting and galleys. The audience sees a seamless artifact, but the maker knows the gauntlet of last-mile decisions where craft either holds or cracks. Budgeting for output is not merely financial prudence; it is an ethical recognition of invisible labor. It resists the pressure to rush, reminding artists that fidelity to the work often resides in these unglamorous steps.
There is also a quiet assertion of autonomy. By owning the proofing process, an artist protects the integrity of the piece against the compromises of convenience. The point is not to lament cost, but to acknowledge the real infrastructure of making. Creativity is not finished when it looks right on-screen. It is finished when it stands up on paper and answers to its maker.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
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