Initial Tests

I wanted to use the site i previously mentioned, Aggie.io to do some tests with how this piece could eventually turn out. To start with i decided that i would give people a prompt, as just drawing anything they wanted to could lead to perhaps a slight art block. So i inserted the statement 'Draw something that got you through lockdown!'. I chose this prompt as its a current universal experience, a lot of us had experienced the isolation and loneliness of being in a lockdown and i was just curious to what people would write. I also started off this chain so people wouldn't be afraid to be the first person to start, so i drew my dog Milo in the top right corner, as he is helping me get through lockdown.

This is how the layout of the site looks, and what a person that clicked the link would first see. As i'm an admin it is slightly different as i have control of the page preferences as well as i would be able to delete layers i didn't want. On the left is a tool bar which has a range of tools participants can use to create a drawing, these are quite simple in comparison to professional art applications and sites however doesn't really matter as the majority of participants will most likely not be artists and will not need a huge range of tools or brushes. In the middle is the page where they can draw. On the right is the colour wheel where they can select and change colours, as well as bookmark different tools for a quicker switch when drawing. Below that, as i'm admin, i get options to add extra layers and delete. Then at the bottom right is the different layers, where they can draw their own thing on their own layer. On the top right you can see the amount of current participants that are looking at this page (or adding to it), when there are other people drawing you can use the little text bubble in the bottom right next to the layers to talk in chat.

I wanted to start by just using friends to draw, only to test out. I also decided this would be better as i don't have a clear concept of what i want the people to draw yet, so doing a trial with friends may open me up to different prompts as well as introducing me to the pros and cons of collaborative art. I asked around 20-25 friends and friends of friends to participate and gave them approximately 3 days to draw whatever they wanted.

This is the product that i got after 3 days, only 5 or 6 people were able to participate, not including myself. Which is an extremely small percentage, especially since i only asked people i know. This brings up the problems with participation, a lot of people are just too busy to draw or even put effort into things, especially without a reward. Which makes me want to take into consideration having a reward system for drawing and contributing. As you can see below most people did not out in effort, but others did. When discussing this mini trial after with friends a lot of them spent around 5 minutes drawing, that they didn't put a lot of effort as they were unfamiliar with the tools despite some of them being artistic people, as well as they may have just drawn simple things as i mentioned it was a trial beforehand. However i still think the simple line drawings are meaningful, that you don't need to have a fully detailed drawing to get across a message.

From this trial we can see that people got through lockdown with dogs, food/cake, video-calling friends, and Minecraft YouTubers (dreamSMP). One thing i encountered with this piece was people interacting with each other, as you can see somebody drew a little bird which was, in her words, 'fighting the cupcake', to retaliate the person who drew the cupcake drew a little canon and a knife to 'protect the cupcake'. This obviously doesn't fit what i asked for however i still really enjoy it and kept it in as i think its interesting to see how people interact with each other. Especially when they were all drawing at the same time. I encourage this interaction as it is supposed to be a participatory storytelling and i think the little interacts tell a story, even if they do not respond to my initial prompt. I think the artists journey is much more important than sticking to a prompt.

Another issue that was discussed after drawing was that one person wasn't sure what to draw as they enjoyed being in lockdown, therefore just drew the avatar of a Minecraft YouTuber as it is what they watched during the lockdown. This brings up issues that sometimes people may not understand prompts or be able to relate to prompts so i think for future trials and the final product is is important to keep in mind that not everyone will be able to participate due to these confusions.

Another trial we did, we had a similar concept of giving a prompt and inserting a blank canvas. This prompt being 'Draw a self portrait'. We only got a few participants again, being friends and friends of friends. As you can see there was some interaction between two people which i like to see. There also is a range of art styles which is interesting. However too much empty space for what we initially wanted.

Another trial we did at the same time as the self portait trial was the world map experiment. We didn't give any prompts, we just inserted this image on the canvas and allowed people to do what they wanted. We has a similar amount of participants however with this piece, because of the background, the image seems more full and interesting.

To conclude i think this trial could've gone much better, especially in regards to how many people actually participated. I know a lot of my friends and friends of friends were busy at this time when we asked so that is why we got little attendance. Maybe if we gave a longer time period for them to draw it may have got more participants. Or even if we included a small reward for this participation, like the piece 'The Sheep Market' which i've referenced before as inspiration. Despite this i still enjoy what came out of this, and i think it tells its own little story quite well. I also enjoy how all the different art styles look together, it shows how diverse art can be. I enjoy the world map piece the most as it feels as if people really had their own creative freedom and took advantage of it.