Freehand Drawing Research Articles

The architectural conception drawing in immersive virtual environments

Cognitive processes involved in initiating architectural ideas can be affected by technological incursion. Moreover, technological development of emergent and disruptive tools, such as immersive virtual reality, can further foster these processes. This research argues that the use of a virtual reality environment with HMD, haptic controls, and software created for artistic freehand drawing can generate the necessary phenomenological condition to facilitate the cognitive process of creating the first ideas of the architectural project; furthermore, the creation of such ideas would have the same characteristics of the traditional conception drawing made with pencil on paper. To verify this, experiments were carried out as part of a multiple case study methodology with 28 students in their first and last year of studies in a professionally accredited course of architecture and three instruments. The experimentation involved virtual creation of conceptual drawings of a small architectural project. The results showed insignificant differences in terms of the condition and characteristics of the cognitive creative process, and showed larger, but not significant, differences in terms of the drawing as a final product. While the process of virtual drawing presents some significant advantages that can make this technology an effective complement when creating the first architectural ideas, it cannot fully substitute the creative process.

Real Time Collaborative Whiteboard

This experiment developed a whiteboard web application that will be versatile, hence usable both as a tool in teaching and one in entertainment. There is a pencil of all sizes and colors allows people highly to customize the drawing capability. It has several shapes-circles, rectangles, lines-for structured illustrative works. The platform can also be allowed for free-hand drawing and sketching for artistic expression or note-taking. An important feature of the application is the non-stuttering user interface during transit from one tool to another. Hence, it is perfect for live lesson educators or busy people working on creative tasks. A desirable feature of the application is that it has a "Save as Photo" function where the work can be captured in the image format and shared with colleagues or preserved for eventual review. This connects the user from the old means of whiteboards to the new avenues of digital interfaces, thereby enriching interaction in learning environments online and serving as a fun way of creativity and entertainment. The user base of the whiteboard application is encompassed by students and teachers, hobbyists, and artists, due to its wide-ranging intuitive control, size and color customization, and shape-drawing tools. This makes it a widely-used, enabling tool for digital content creation and collaborative work.

Freehand Drawing in Representing the Vernacular Architecture of Sveti Stefan in Montenegro

The Sveti Stefan luxury hotel complex in Montenegro attracts guests for its historic and cultural qualities. Endangered as vernacular heritage due to its inaccessibility to the general public, the interior of Sveti Stefan is slipping into oblivion as a result of the lack of control by the Montenegrin authorities over cultural heritage. The collection of drawings presented in this paper evokes the relationship between the island’s vernacular architecture and its natural environment. The use of freehand drawing rather than digital imagery can reflect the spontaneously created quality of non-pedigreed architecture, conjuring up its ambiance. By highlighting the beauty of Sveti Stefan through pencil drawings we aim to influence the preservation of its vernacular character.

Enhancing Digital Drawing Proficiency: An Examination of Assignment Redesign and Instructional Approaches in Higher Education Contexts

Within digital drawing courses, students are immersed in the utilization of software tools and technological advancements to craft a diverse array of artwork, illustrations, graphics, and animations, adhering to both industry standards and artistic principles. However, tailoring the complexity of digital drawing assignments to accommodate students across a spectrum of freehand drawing skills, ranging from novice to advanced levels, poses a notable challenge. This study endeavors to investigate the efficacy of integrating a specific teaching model in the design of assignments within digital drawing classes of lower-year students in higher education and its subsequent impact on students' performance. The study adopts a three-phase data collection methodology, comprising a pre-test, intervention phase, and post-intervention assessment, supplemented by a self-reflection questionnaire to gauge students' perceptions of the learning process. By employing visual analysis in tandem with quantitative data derived from the final scores of a selected drawing exercise, a comparative analysis was conducted to elucidate the relationship between assignment design, instructional methodologies, and students' learning performance. Notably, an improvement in students' drawing proficiency was observed compared to analogous exercises conducted in previous semesters, signifying the efficacy of tailored assignment redesigns aligned with students' drawing capabilities, coupled with supporting instructional methods.

Exploring Freehand Drawing Skills of Engineering Students as a Support of Visualization

Exploring Freehand Drawing Skills of Engineering Students as a Support of Visualization

A Study on the Plant Sketching Practice for the Enhancement of People’s Intention for Pro-Environmental Behavior

Background and objective: Many scholars agree that the key to mitigating the environmental crisis lies in altering human behavior. To better understand this linkage, it is crucial to identify the psychological determinants of one's pro-environmental behavioral intention (PEB) and examine the process through which such behavior is generated. This study focuses on one such process, drawing of plants. We test whether visually representing plants by engaging in freehand drawing would influence actual behavioral intentions to improve the quality of our environment and whether this association is mediated by the key environment-psychological factors (attitude toward plants and affection to the natural environment).Methods: To answer this question, we conducted a quasi-experiment with 235 students from selected colleges in Seoul by dividing them into control and treatment groups. The control group participated in regular outdoor activities during a field trip while the treatment group engaged in drawing of plants during the trip. Survey answers and drawings were analyzed to examine the effect of plant drawing practice on PEB and the mediative role of the psychological constructs.Results: Our T-test and the partial least squares structural equation model (PLS-SEM) test revealed the following findings: (1) Engaging in plant drawing practice is more effective in developing positive attitudes toward plants and affection to the natural environment than engaging only in normative outdoor experience. (2) Analytical-observational drawings are influential to PEB by mediating through plant attitude, and expressive-subjective drawings are influential to PEB by mediating through environmental affect. (3) Gender was a critical factor in determining plant attitude, environmental attitude, and PEB.Conclusion: In sum, the findings suggest that plant drawing experience has a significant impact on developing PEB, and thus, it can be an effective means to foster a biospheric mindset as well as nature-protective behavior.

The Power of Metaphor: Learning Space and Faculty Development.

Education in the health sciences is transitioning to a student-centered approach that has impacted all components of educational institutions: classroom design, faculty training, selection of learners and faculty. Using metaphor analyses, this study investigates the effects on instructor beliefs and values about teaching by having a series of professional development workshops in either a traditional lecture hall or in a collaborative/engaged learning-designed classroom. At the conclusion of the series, both sets of participants were invited to make a free-hand drawing of their "conception" of teaching and label the drawing that represents the conception. Drawings and metaphors were analyzed by non-study raters, and all metaphors were categorized into one of three domains: teacher-centered, learner-centered, learner-driven. Faculty who completed the series inside a collaborative learning classroom perceived their roles primarily in the learner-centered domains 37 (59.67%), whereas those that completed it in the lecture hall perceived their roles as primarily teacher-centered 62 (84.93%). The authors discuss the implications for faculty development during this transition.

An Investigation of Drawing Skills' Role in Art And Design Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Academies

This study investigated the relationship between drawing and design skills in higher education academies specialising in art and design. Contradictory views -spread among the faculty members and transferred to the students- over the role of drawing skills in supporting designers' abilities and skills are presented and discussed. One viewpoint asserts that the ability to draw is equal to the ability to design. On the other hand, others believe that drawing does not equip design students with appropriate skills, especially in light of modern technology tools, including art and design computer software. This contradiction in ideas and visions between those in charge of the educational process directly impacts achieving design programs' learning outcomes. This research discussed this issue by examining the correlation between students' drawing and design abilities. Therefore, the marks achieved by female students in the Design Department, majoring in graphic design, at Al Zahra College for Women in the Sultanate of Oman were studied with a focus on graduation project grades and drawing courses. A statistical analysis of this relationship using a t-test found a strong positive correlation between graduation project grades and the average grades of three drawing courses (r=0.79, R2=0.62, p>0.05). Moreover, the statistical data supports accepting the null hypothesis, meaning no difference exists between the data obtained for the representative drawing and design courses. Consequently, it is evident through this study that drawing courses positively and strongly support students' performance in the graduation project, representing the highest level of design abilities. The results of this study could be adopted by design programs to focus on freehand drawing skills and courses besides other skills, such as technological skills, including using drawing and design software programs.

Gesture Controlled Virtual Artboard

Abstract: Hand Gesture Recognition has brought a brand new era to Artificial Intelligence. Gesture recognition is technology that interprets hand movements as commands. Gesture Controlled Virtual Artboard Project is an innovative and dynamic digital artboard. Use of this artboard can break various education barrier to provide students with fun and creative way of learning and hence It revolutionize the way of traditional teaching. Physically challenged or aged people find it difficult to identify and press the exact key on keyboard. Existing system allows user for free hand drawing with 3 different colors only. Overcoming all this difficulty stands as the ultimate goal for our proposed system. This system works on motion sensing technology which make use of OpenCV module & Mediapipe library to explicate results based on gestures of hand. Real time data is collected through webcam and this python application uses Mediapipe library to track hand gestures. Hence, this system allows user to navigate the fingers in mid air and as per the finger gestures they will draw different shapes or free hand drawing in various colors and also can erase.This Project also enables users to conduct PowerPoint presentations using gestures.

Oscar Niemeyer: a hegemonic narrative through croquis

Modern Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer (1907–2012) took an active role in creating the narrative of his life´s work. His nearly century-long career left a body of commentary which he intertwined croquis, or freehand drawings, of his design process in support of his views and to exclude that of others. In specialty magazines, daily newspapers, books, and a range of print media, Niemeyer argued for a modern Brazilian architecture that highlighted its freedom of form and creation of continuous spaces between interior and exterior, both of which were quintessential traits of Niemeyer’s own work. This article shows how Niemeyer employed croquis to create a hegemonic narrative that guided the history of twentieth century Brazilian architecture and formed a hegemonic narrative at the centre of which he placed himself. From the book, The Work of Oscar Niemeyer (1950), to the article, ‘Considerações sobre Arquitetura Brasileira’ (1976), one can see how he adroitly promoted his own work and his personal narrative that profoundly affected how historians regard Brazil within the broader history of modern architectural to this day.

How visual literacy is developed through Engineering Graphics subjects

This paper aims to analyse to what extent the engineering curricula contribute to the development of visual literacy among engineering students. Communicating and thinking visually is a basic skill for all engineers, being a fundamental part of their educational stage. For this purpose, Engineering Graphics subjects from 30 engineering schools from Spain have been selected to review their content. The sample consists of 80 subjects of Engineering Graphics, mechanical design and computer-aided design. The curricula were analyzed using a quantitative and qualitative method. A database has been developed where keywords that identify the objectives of the analysis have been tabulated. Learning technical visual language and visualization skills as a means of developing visual literacy in engineering has been taken as the basis of the analysis. The results show that the curricula of the subjects contemplate the development of graphic skills around communication and technical representation and, to a lesser extent, visualization. On the other hand, the teaching activities contemplated do not dive into the cognitive aspects of graphics. We can also observe the pre-eminence of computer graphics as the main basis for teaching activities and marginal use of freehand drawing, which is basic for the development of Visual Literacy.

Assessing the stress-relief impact of an art-based intervention inspired by the broaden-and-build theory in college students.

This study's primary objective is to investigate the impact of art-making on the mental well-being of college students, who often experience heightened stress during their initial university years. Employing a comprehensive methodology, combining interviews and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the research aimed to assess whether a four-week art-making intervention can effectively alleviate stress levels among college students. In the experimental group, participants engaged in a variety of art-making activities, including freehand drawing, clay modeling, and crafting. The results revealed that, in the pre-test, there were no significant differences between the experimental and control groups for each assessed indicator. However, in the post-test, significant differences emerged across all indicators. Further analysis demonstrated a significant reduction in stress perception among the experimental group participants between the pre-test and post-test phases. In conclusion, this study provides compelling evidence that art-making has the potential to foster positive personal development and significantly reduce stress levels among college students.

Mõõtuandev trükis talutoolidest / Notable publication about country chairs

The exhibition “Four Feet on the Ground. The Estonian Country Chair” was opened in the gallery of the Estonian National Museum on 23 February 2023. The exhibition’s catalogue, titled “Estonian Country Chairs”, was presented by the Estonian National Museum’s wood conservators Mariliis Vaks and Indrek Tirrul, and the exhibition’s curator Liisi Jääts on 1 March. The voluminous and richly illustrated book helps to give the enthusiast a closer look at the background of the making and use of our simpler farmhouse furniture. The more than 70 chairs presented in the book come mainly from the collections of the Estonian National Museum, which houses the largest collection of country chairs in Estonia. The described chairs date from the late 18th century until the 1940s, when home-made items began to be largely replaced by factory furniture. Country chairs were made locally and from the most suitable material, which is why many of the museum pieces are still in good condition a hundred or even two hundred years later. The catalogue also features stories of the more prominent regional chair makers, such as those behind the manufacture of round-backed resort chairs in Saaremaa, which began around the year 1880. The book has become well known among ethnography and crafts enthusiasts, both for its tasteful and measured design, including its inspiring freehand drawings, and for the richness of its content, and the diversity of objects, details and manufacturing techniques presented. In addition, the precisely inch-thick binding with its sturdy paperback covers can be used as a workbench support, a carpenter’s square, and perhaps occasionally even as a measuring tool.

Rich Pictures: A Visual Method for Sensemaking Amid Complexity

Recognition of the complexity of the world raises questions about new theories, methods, and capabilities for evaluation practice. Approaches originating in the systems sciences show promise; however, many require specialized expertise and resources. This article explores rich pictures as an accessible, low-resource method for facilitating sensemaking amid complexity. The method involves the free-hand drawing of a situation to richly illustrate what is happening and why using images, lines, and few words. The process and product are akin to elaborate childhood doodles, yet are remarkably powerful conveyors of tacit knowledge and issues, differing perspectives, and action possibilities. Drawing together methodological guidance, sensemaking theory, and an application with STEM higher education faculty, this article shows how rich pictures support sensemaking amid complexity and identifies potential applications and directions for research on the method.

Creating ad hoc graphical representations of number

The ability to communicate about exact number is critical to many modern human practices spanning science, industry, and politics. Although some early numeral systems used 1-to-1 correspondence (e.g., ‘IIII' to represent 4), most systems provide compact representations via more arbitrary conventions (e.g., ‘7’ and ‘VII'). When people are unable to rely on conventional numerals, however, what strategies do they initially use to communicate number? Across three experiments, participants used pictures to communicate about visual arrays of objects containing 1–16 items, either by producing freehand drawings or combining sets of visual tokens. We analyzed how the pictures they produced varied as a function of communicative need (Experiment 1), spatial regularities in the arrays (Experiment 2), and visual properties of tokens (Experiment 3). In Experiment 1, we found that participants often expressed number in the form of 1-to-1 representations, but sometimes also exploited the configuration of sets. In Experiment 2, this strategy of using configural cues was exaggerated when sets were especially large, and when the cues were predictably correlated with number. Finally, in Experiment 3, participants readily adopted salient numerical features of objects (e.g., four-leaf clover) and generally combined them in a cumulative-additive manner. Taken together, these findings corroborate historical evidence that humans exploit correlates of number in the external environment – such as shape, configural cues, or 1-to-1 correspondence – as the basis for innovating more abstract number representations.

Sustainability in supply chain management: using drawings to understand undergraduates' perceptions of sustainability

PurposeThis paper presents an interpretation of freehand drawings produced by supply chain management undergraduates in response to the question: “What is sustainability?” Having to explain sustainability pictorially forced students to distill what the essence of sustainability meant to them and provided insights into how they perceived sustainability and their roles in achieving sustainability in the context of supply chain management.Design/methodology/approachStudents were asked to draw and answer the question “What is sustainability?” These drawings were discussed/interpreted in class. All drawings were initially examined quantitatively, before a sample of four were selected for presentation here.FindingsFreehand drawing can be used as part of a critical pedagogy to create a visual representation to bypass cognitive verbal processing routes. This allows students to produce clear, more critical and inclusive images of their understanding of a topic regardless of their vocabulary.Practical implicationsThe authors offer this as a model for educators seeking alternative methods for engaging with sustainability and for creating a learning environment where students can develop their capacity for critical self-reflection.Originality/valueThis study shows how a collaborative learning experience facilitates learners demonstrating their level of understanding of sustainability.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-11-2022-0718

Urban notes. Conscious and participatory drawing

Graphic representation in architecture has been drastically transformed with the arrival of new technologies. In this changing contemporary context, freehand drawing’s role and objectives are being reconsidered as an aesthetic goal and as a pedagogical process. The way we transform our urban spaces is also evolving, with increasingly participatory approaches that include diverse perspectives. In search of alternative, innovative learning methods, this article shows the results of Urban Notes, an elective community activity in which students, associations and neighbourhoods exchange ideas about the place through urban drawing. First, a theoretical background is proposed that supports Urban Notes use as a participatory urban exploration tool, and then recent experiments are described. The results reveal a new form of transdisciplinary learning for schools of architecture and urbanism.

Architectural graphics and the experience of space. Freehand drawing and photograph to deepen on communicative qualities in linear perspective

Architecture communication on photo-sharing social networking services like Instagram focuses on photorealism. Meanwhile, the conceptual intention or the experience of the architectural space has less impact in these media. Some architectural graphics techniques are closer to this purpose due to their nature. The main objective is to identify the visual qualities of the architectural space experience from a linear perspective. To do this, the research proposes the design of a visual pattern recognition tool and applies it to pairs of images (photography and drawing) from the same place. The results provide the strategy design based on five variables: the level of human presence, the distortion of perspective, the chromatic distortion, the overlay realism and the emphasis. Finally, the visual summaries lead to values that help to understand the communicative qualities of the experience of space due to their ability to compare main milestones of visual information.

No-cost ballpoint pen dispenser for lateral flow assays

We have developed a no-cost, lightweight, human-powered dispenser using an empty ballpoint pen. Used in lateral flow assays, this dispenser restricts antibody deposition to narrow zones, allowing freehand drawing of test and control lines. The lines can be drawn in widths ranging from 0.15 to 1.00 mm. Naphthol green B, a compatible stain, was used to label antibody solutions and certify handwriting traces. Using human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) as a model antigen, we demonstrated that the pen dispenser can imprint antibodies on nitrocellulose membranes without affecting their microstructure and chromatographic function. A lateral flow assay using the pen dispenser detected HCG at 0.1 μg/mL, comparable to the sensitivity of standard tests using traditional benchtop dispensers.

Freehand drawing activity: a comparison between tablet-finger vs paper&crayon throughout time

ABSTRACT The apps for drawing are present in our children’s life. Nevertheless, little is known about the impact of mobile technology on the freehand drawing educational activity. There are few works which are contextualised within short periods of time, with teachers who are not theirs and, in some cases, outside the children’s classroom. In this paper, we are focussed on the use of technology on freehand drawing activity. Thus, we have compared the graphics produced by 4- and 5-year-old children with paper&crayon in comparison with those with tablet-finger. Children made the drawings during a planned free-drawing activity, in their ordinary classrooms, with their teachers and during five sessions. Assessment of drawings has evidenced tablet feasibility for making graphics. Nevertheless, with the passing of time, quality of graphics (tablet-finger vs paper&crayons), are nearly matched, demonstrating the low impact level technology has on this activity. In addition, if drawings are analysed specifically according to ages, results have shown that both groups have to develop adaptation strategies of visual perceptual skills and fine motor skills for the touch screen in order to obtain the same quality in the drawings made on both support types.