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Welcome back. It finally feels like summer, and I hope you enjoyed the lovely weather this past weekend as much as I did. In this post, I share some reflections on the two workshops we held last week as well as some of the drawings they resulted in.

It was my first time facilitating a workshop which was daunting, and the online format didn’t make it less so. Of course, the worst fear was about attendance – would anybody show up? Luckily, a few people did and the feedback has been positive, so that was a relief. I gave an introduction to the colouring book project and a whirlwind live demonstration of Sketchpad, the free browser-based tool I use for the drawings. The most difficult part of Sketchpad is to master making curved lines, called ‘path’ in Sketchpad, which relies on Bezier-curves. To familiarise oneself with this takes time perhaps more than could be offered in a 1,5-hour workshop. Some participants were surprised by how difficult it is, but they did enjoy the hands-on introduction to this new skill. And they made some wonderful drawings as seen below. Some even liked it enough to finish their drawing after the workshop ended.

We did have some technical problems – we thought we were smart when creating a Teams team for the meeting, but we really weren’t since this resulted in the participants not being able to chat with us. It was unfortunate in the moment but we fixed, and we the presenters of the workshop also advanced our digital skills which is what the Digital Skills Festival was all about. So, this realisation is now passed on to you: you cannot chat in a meeting in Teams within a team if you are not part of that team.

Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed with drawings.

Take care and enjoy the sun,

Marta

 

Recording of Workshop

Other Festival Recordings

A recording of our workshop and many of the others from the Digital Skills Festival will become available here: Digital Skills Festival Recordings and Resources.

Drawings

Snowman

• Title: Japanese Paintings: Children’s Games, 1894
  • Creator: Kobayashi, Eitaku
  • Item/Collection reference: RB.FF.63, 0023314c
  • Collection name: CRC Gallimaufry (Miscellaneous Images)
• Illustrator: Stewart Lamb Cromar

This image is part of a series of woodblock prints by Eitaku Kobayashi, published under the title Children’s Games by the Hakubunkwan, in a second edition from 1894. The book contains twelve illustrations of children at play, one for every month of the year, alternating between boys’ and girls’ pastimes. This image is the final picture, depicting mid-winter, with four boys piling up a big snowman, with bits of charcoal for the eyes. The preface to the book, translated into English, remarks that ‘these innocent children’s games often give an insight into the fast-decaying customs which their elders have in town long discarded, and even in the country are beginning to forget. They afford never failing subjects to artists bent upon delineating the most characteristic features and institutions of this country.’ Koybayashi, or Sensai Eitaku (1843 – 1890), was one of the foremost painters of the Ukiyo-e School of the Meiji period, combining Japanese and Western-style elements. Translated as “the floating world,” Ukiyo-e imagery depicts the pleasures of daily life and the fleeting beauty of the natural world.

Sound Chamber

An anechoic (free from echo) chamber used for sound analysis.

• Photo: Peter Tuffy
• Illustrator:  Kirsty Ross

ECA Staircase

• Photo: Paul Dodds
• Illustrator: Marta Christiansen

Letter K

• Title: Album of Printed Initials, Ornaments and Title Pages, cut from Books, p.31
  • Creator:  Unkown
  • Item/Collection reference: RECA.MS.22, 0057283
  • Collection name:  ECA Rare Books
• Illustrator: Jackie Aim

This album is of different typographical design, woodcut, engraving, illustration and ornament. This page is of printed initials that have been cut from another page and carefully pasted on a new page. Pencil marks can be seen still as a background grid that provides spacing for the letters. There is no pencil mark for the bottom letters, yet they are all still perfectly aligned. The page is missing the letters U and J in the modern alphabet, most likely to be substituted with I and V when used for printing. Most of the letters are ornamented with flowers or vegetation, but a few have animals including men, a deer and a bird.

The Architecture of A. Palladio

• Title: The Architecture of A. Palladio, pl.XLII, detail
  • Creator: Leoni, Gaicomo
  • Item/Collection reference: RECA.FF.553, 0025136c
  • Collection name:  ECA Rare Books
• Illustrator: Lily Mellon

Kimono Rearranged

• Title: Moyo Hinagata Nanba no ume, Vol.2, 1886
  • Creator: Ryushi, Muto
  • Item/Collection reference: RB.P44, 0012596
  • Collection name:  
    • CRC Gallimaufry (Miscellaneous Images)
• Illustrator: Marta Christiansen
• Quote by Maya Angelou

 

May 31, 2021

(Copyright © The University of Edinburgh 2021 CC BY )

(Copyright © The University of Edinburgh 2021 CC BY)

(Copyright © The University of Edinburgh 2021 CC BY)

(Copyright © The University of Edinburgh 2021 CC BY)

(Copyright © The University of Edinburgh 2021 CC BY )

(Copyright © The University of Edinburgh 2021 CC BY )

(Copyright © The University of Edinburgh 2021 CC BY )

(Copyright © The University of Edinburgh 2021 CC BY )

(Copyright © The University of Edinburgh 2021 CC BY )

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