Pixel International Conferences

This paper reflects on the experience of teaching drawing at three public higher education institutions in Portugal, within bachelor’s degree programs in various scientific areas, including Communication Sciences and Technologies, Product Design, and Fine Arts, aiming to compare pedagogical approaches and the results achieved by students in various curricular units whose programmatic content includes basic drawing concepts, product drawing with manual rendering, human figures, and animal drawing. This study employed case analysis based on direct observation and the authors’ teaching and research experience. Drawing on three distinct case studies, the analysis led to the development of a proposed pedagogical framework designed to enhance drawing instruction across diverse educational contexts. With a background in Design, the authors argue that Drawing is a tool for creativity, enabling one to learn to see, understand, and interpret forms, organise thoughts, explore possibilities, and visualise alternatives. This study had the ambition to contribute to: (1) finding strategies that encourage the practice of drawing; (2) reducing the inhibition to draw, the penalisation of doing and redoing reduces the motivation for experimentation and taking risks, which is fundamental for a project practice where drawing is a tool for idea generation; (3) raising students' awareness of the importance of drawing as a tool for thinking, expression, and communication (4) promoting the acquisition of drawing skills and their application in Communication Sciences and Technology, Design, and Fine Arts; (5) encouraging students to find their creative voice, message, and identity as individuals, designers, and artists to communicate it to others.

Drawing is a practice that requires time, patience, and concentration. In the end, this study highlights the need to find new teaching approaches that demonstrate to students the importance of drawing for their professional future and minimise the blockages and inhibitions that are increasingly appearing in the teaching of Drawing.

Keywords: Drawing Education; Drawing Practice; Drawing Teaching Framework teaching of Drawing.