Digital Artifacts of Daniel

Introduction:
-drawing is a “whole” skill requiring a limited set of basic components
-five basic skills of drawing: (1) perception of edges, (2) perception of spaces, (3) perception of relationships, (4) perception of lights and shadows, (5) perception of the while, or gesalt
-teach the five principles and present conditions for the L-mode to reject what is seen so the R-mode will be used

Chapter 1:
-drawing is not driven by manual skill, but can be learned by anyone with average eyesight (3)
-the key to drawing is to set the proper conditions to look (5)
-this I can use…
-”all drawing is the same” except for the degree of complexity

Chapter 2: First Exercise
-view the example of other students on the exercise before beginning, when directed (12)
-need to use her terminology from the Glossary where possible, like L-mode and R-mode instead of left brain and right brain
-she has them draw reference lines beforehand, not requiring them to try to draw it straight themselves
-statement: required to put down reference lines for the user
-using the “cardboard” viewfinder, could have them draw a straight edge (if they draw on the “cardboard”, it’s the same as drawing flush against it)
- like the comment on (21) that this book is just to teach how to break looking stereotypically, not teaching to express yourself
-maybe saying “teaching a user how to draw” is not the goal of this research, but instead “how to best provide corrective feedback”
-talks about different styles of lines on “25″, calling the overtraced line “bold” (will definitely need an eraser so they can clean up old attempts that haven’t been faded automatically)

Chapter 3: L-mode and R-mode
-presented studies and cases that heavily suggest that each hemisphere of the brain is its own mind and functioning unit for specific tasks, developing asymmetrically
-each side has its own perception of reality (32)
-our current education system is designed more for the left-brain crowd
-sometimes they work together, sometimes one if more dominant, other times they can conflict
-it appears that the right brain processes visual information in “a mode suitiable for drawing” (35)
-discussed many of the cultural and linguistic reference to a left/right split, though I chose to skip these
-interesting: “using the right hemisphere, we understand metaphors,we dream, we create new combinations, of ideas (38)
-right-handed people are more lateralized than left-hander people
-good breakdown of L-mode versus R-mode on (44)
-the L-mode is very prone to be dominant and “rush in with words and symbols, even taking over jobs which it is not good at”
-need tasks that the dominate L-mode will turn down (46)

Summary:

This article discusses different presentations for line styles drawn on the screen.  The first style presented covers the analogy of a brush and paper, seeking to mimic the environment of a paper.  The stroke varies based on pressure and the amount of “ink” left in the brush.  A user must actually “dip” the brush to get more ink.

Another style called “skeletal strokes” that use predefined imagery and then create strokes based on the deformation between the predefined strokes and those of the user.  I assume the user traces the example image.  Allows for creative expressive as their different techniques for what to do with the “flesh” made by the two strokes (prefined and user)

The last style maps many parameters to the stroke information (pressure, light/dark, etc.) to also vary the thickness of strokes and shade the shape made, based on the thickness of the stroke at a region.  Interesting idea.

Discussion:

Was looking for different information, but still an intersting read…

Summary:

Restricted their subjects (children) to line drawings. 20 children total, ages 5-17.

Judged drawings based on two things: the type of drawing system (perspective, orthographic, oblique) used and the number of overlaps (objects covers over another).

Setup a table with a few objects on it.  Created a “canonical drawing” of the scene using a “drawing machine” (clear plastic with line drawings on it).  Calculated angles and used this as reference drawing for comparisons and setting up scene for new children.

Drawing systems: (1) no projection systems (object drawn but with no relationships), (2) orthographic projection (no depth to objects), (3a) angle of convergence and (3b) angle of obliquity (calculated from the angles made by drawing three straight lines on the table top)

Further divided these into: (1a) vertical oblique projection (straight back; no perspective), (1b) oblique projection (angled; no projection), (2a) naive perspective (attempts to have objects converge), (2b) perspective (actually “converges” based on an angle)

Determined number of overlaps based on the number of overlaps possible for the drawing system used.

Only 9/20 used perspective and only 3 had correct depiction of overlap.

Claim that there is no smooth transition between any of the classes, and that they’re all pretty distinct in nature.  Therefore, development takes place in “discrete stages”.

Suggests that younger children draw stereotypes, or what they think, while older children draw more what they see.

“How children learn to draw in true perspective…seems to be an open question.” (No mention of left/right brain in whole paper).

Discussion:

Uses analogy of learning to draw realistically (shapes, relationships) to learning vocabulary (words, sentences).

Statement: “Drawing can be learned just like writing, it’s just not as needed of a skill.  Just as computer aided tools exist for writing, so should other exist for drawing.”

Has an interesting way to evaluate a drawing, according to some basic unit.

Summary/Discussion:

Allows a user to draw on a picture using different stroke tools and then combines that input with image analysis of the picture to produce a tonal drawing in real-time.  Most work presented is on rendering techniques and mimicing pencil lead and smuging.  More of a light and shadows thing than perspective, edges, and spaces since the use is just tracing.