Abstract
This work involves the pedagogical assessment of peer-shared social videos on YouTube related to the uses of drawing tablets for beginners. The research involves assessing the state of available learning resources, pedagogical patterns of sampled videos, gaps in formal vs. non-credit learning tracks, and implications for those who are beginners (with objectives to ultimately be amateurs/novices, freelancers, or professionals). This work also explores some ways to incentivize the peer-sharing of teaching and learning materials on social media for the improvement of people's knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs).
TopIntroduction
The advent of affordable digital drawing tablets has meant that members of the general public can purchase these and start engaging the world visually through digital sketching and painting. Drawing tablets are computer input devices for digital drawing, illustration, and painting. Some drawing technologies are simple with basic user interfaces, a simple set of drawing tools, basic colors, and easy ways to get started. Many of these technologies come preloaded in the devices. There are also more complex software that can be used for drawing like Adobe Illustrator (for vector graphics) and Adobe Photoshop (for raster graphics). Many go to social media platforms to learn how to get started; they go online for inspirations and ideas for what else they can create with the technologies.
Online, they will find a variety of social media modalities that may fulfill particular needs (Table 1).
Table 1.
Various Social Media Platform Types and Peer-Shared Contents for Getting Started with Drawing Tablets
| Social Media Platform Types | Common Usages for Getting Started with Drawing Tablets |
| Social image sharing sites | • Inspirations and motivations
• Artists to follow
• Example of art portfolios
• Online art shows
• Sharing of own work (singly and in sequences and portfolio collections)
• Promoting brands and brand loyalty; selling |
| Social video sharing sites | • Technology hardware setup
• Technology software setup
• How artists “kit up” for particular endeavors (the supplies that they use and prefer vs. those that they do not)
• New techniques (processes)
• Art challenges: Inktober, Left Hand, Draw this in Your Style, and others
• Tips and tricks
• Artists to follow
• Technologists to follow
• Technology updates
• Sharing of own work
• Promoting brands and brand loyalty; selling |
| Social networking sites | • Professional connection building
• Coordination for projects
• Driving human traffic (publicity); cultivating followers
• Social engagement (in a community of artists)
• Promoting brands and brand loyalty; selling |
| Microblogging sites | • Driving human traffic (publicity) to particular events, challenges, shows, artist works, publications, and so on
• Cultivating followers
• Promoting brands and brand loyalty; selling |
| Web logging (blogging) sites | • Creation and promotion of individual and group social profiles (egos and entities)
• Driving human traffic (publicity) to particular events, challenges, shows, artist works, publications, and so on; cultivating followers
• Promoting brands and brand loyalty; selling |
| Vlogging sites | • Artists to follow
• Sharing of own work (often with narrations and some think-aloud processes)
• Promoting brands and brand loyalty; selling |
| Websites | • Registration of devices (hardware) and programs (software)
• Acquisition of scripts
• Acquisition of free stock imagery
• Online art shows
• Sharing of own work (often with textual and audio narrations)
• Promoting brands and brand loyalty; selling |
Key Terms in this Chapter
Visual Parallax: The appearance of the displacing of an object based on the observer point of view (POV).
Trace Layer: A digital image layer which may be used to outline or trace objects in an image.
Drawing Tablet: A computer input device for drawing or illustration (aka as a drawing pad, a graphics tablet, or a digital art board).
Effect Area: The part of an image where a particular lighting effect is applied.
Reference Image: An image that is referred to for the drawing of an object or a scene or something else.
Finger Drawing: Using any finger or combination of fingers on a sensitive screen to create an illustration (or the use of a finger-worn device to draw).
Stylus: An electronic pen for writing, sketching, drawing, and other applications with a tablet device; a digital writing instrument.
Focal Area: The main focus on an image.