Digital Media Exploration: Drawpile

 

Drawpile is a free Open Source Software (OSS) found online and developed by Calle Laakkonen in 2014 It can be used for grades Kindergarten and up. It is a collaborative drawing program where multiple illustrators can draw on the same canvas simultaneously. It creates Raster images, not Vector, so if blown up to a larger size the image will be bitmapped and not smooth. Drawpile is like a marker board and is great for brainstorming design ideas. For parents with younger students, YOU should set up the collaborative session and be aware of who your child is working with online. It is made for Mac, Windows and Linux. I downloaded it to my MacBook Pro from here: 

https://drawpile.net/download/#OSX

I mentioned in my video that you could probably get Drawpile for your tablet, but you cannot. It is only for laptops and desktop computers. Also, when installing on a Mac, right click the first time you open it so you get the window that says "Open". Otherwise it will say it can't open because it is not an Apple developed program.

Here is a web resource for learning how to work with Drawpile for beginners by Aaron Rutten, Computer Illustrator:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrKP89xbZX0

This program reminds me of the MacPaint program that was developed for the Apple Macintosh computers in the late 80s. Although it is based on older technology and there are more sophisticated drawing programs out there for a price, I found this app to be pretty fun and easy to use. 

The strengths of this program are that one can collaborate with others and work at the same time on designs and illustrations. It has nice color palettes and the tool windows are neatly organized on the right side of the screen where you can toggle between windows. There are also handy forward and backward buttons to easily correct any mistakes you make while you are drawing.

For limitations, on my MacBook Pro I was not able to utilize the pressure sensitivity on the brushes to get more variation in my line quality as the you tube video demonstrated. There were other settings such as "Multiply", "Dodge", "Subtract" like Photoshop has for layers that really didn't change anything when I used it. I think if using a computer like Rutten used and being able to draw on the monitor, it may make a difference in brush capability. But I was able to work fine without a digital stylus.

I would feel comfortable teaching this program to any grade, however it took me awhile to learn how the brushes worked with all of the settings in the Freehand tool window.

There are no health or safety concerns, with the exception of what I stated before: be aware of who your child is interacting with online.

My Demo of Drawpile

Here is a video of me working in Drawpile.

My Final Piece in Drawpile

(based on Pablo Picasso's "Peace Flowers")

Drawpile's Interface

Tool Windows

Tool Bar

Drawpile Drawing Samples from Rutten's Video

Collaborative Drawing

Playing  Around with Brushes, Erasers and Colors

Fun with Lines

Aaron Rutten Drawing on His Monitor with a Digital Stylus in Drawpile

I hope you enjoyed this demo! I think for a free program for kids to learn how to draw on a computer, Drawpile is a good one for beginners. I have not tried collaborating with it, but I did not find any negative reviews about it's collaborating abilities. 

Give it a try, and have fun!

Studio Material Exploration: Charcoal

I had some charcoal pencils from when I was in undergrad.  I had 6 different hardnesses and one white. I went to Michaels to get a pad of Strathmore tanned toned mixed media paper with a vellum finish. This was $14 and worked well for my experimentation. I also purchased some vine charcoal at Michaels for $15 and a kit with some tortillons, kneaded eraser and sandpaper pad for $11.

These were my materials.

Some of my charcoal pencils needed sharpening. I used a handheld metal pencil sharpener to sharpen the brown bodied General's pencils. I had 4B Soft, Ex. Soft, and 2B Medium of these. I had Medium, Hard and Extra Soft Berol pencils with the black body and string wrapper.  The sandpaper pad worked well for sharpening these.

I had different thicknesses of vine charcoal--thin to very thick.

 The pencils are a more controlled line while the vine charcoal is a little more loose and free.

I started kneading the eraser for when I would need it, being carful not to hold it too long where the oils in my hand would rub off. I started with playing around with different lines, smudging and erasing.

I decided to draw a liqueur bottle I had in my kitchen.

When using the vine charcoal it did not leave too much residue on my hands.

The chamois cloth helped with residue getting on my fingers.

I really enjoyed working with the different values of the hard and soft pencils and how they glided over the vellum finished paper. The tortillon blending tools and chamois cloth helped with the shading of the bottle. I enjoyed the richness of the black of the charcoal versus regular drawing pencils or graphite.

This was my experimentation with lines with and one object with charcoal. Below are examples of some artists who have worked in charcoal then and now as well as some of my undergrad charcoal work.

 

Research

Here is a small brochure on teaching charcoal to elementary students by Lindsay Labramo. I thought that working with abstract shapes was a good start. It is less intimidating for students when they don't have to draw a representational object, especially if their drawing skills are still developing.

https://issuu.com/labramo/docs/lindsayabramo_-_elementary_art_less_3c616857e269f4

I found this site for a Montessori school where young children created rubbings with charcoal:

https://www.montessorinature.com/charcoal-drawing-process-art-for-kids/

I believe for elementary school that charcoal can be used for K-6 grade students. The dust should not be inhaled, rubbed into eyes or ingested. It is not toxic. With the right guidelines before starting a project, it can be a very fun medium for students.

Charcoal Artists

Toulouse Lautrec

1864-1901

French Post-Impressionist

Charcoal Artists Today

https://todayinart.com/10-stunning-examples-of-charcoal-art/

                       "Three" Leonel Cunha, Portuguese                "Clutter" Andy Mangold, American             

"Looking:Snowshoe" ItsPressing (Female) American

Wall Painting by Jorge Rodriguez-Gerarda, Cuban-American

My Charcoal Undergrad

1988-89

James Madison University