E-studio: the use of information and communication technologies in the development of drawing competences in different educational environments

In the age of COVID, art teachers face the unprecedented situation of teaching at distance a subject that involves hands-on activities with tangible tools and materials. Therefore, we have implemented e-studio workshops where the mentor and participants are not in the same room, but they interact as if they were. By using audio-video conferencing to link them together, it was possible to maintain two-way communication. This alternative option retains all the elements of live interaction. Since, unlike drawing in a real physical environment, the image on the screen that participants are asked to draw is the same for everyone, there are no views from different angles as in real space. This changes the relationship with the model and requires technical adaptations, which are presented in this article. The goals of the project included bringing distance learning closer to workshop providers, finding the optimal way to develop drawing skills at a distance, finding software that allows quality corrections, adapting the way knowledge is delivered to people with different needs, and enabling social interaction between participants and the mentor. Such an approach opened up new perspectives on the experience of drawing from a model and on the nature of drawing instruction