Affordance of Spatial Illustration
How can spatiality influence the process of digital illustration?
This study delves into the reasons behind common illustrative practices, such as placing the sun at the top of drawings, as a representation of how artists perceive and conceive their world. By harnessing the spatial environment of virtual reality, the research aims to uncover how spatiality influences the process of digital illustration. The experiment involves participants illustrating predefined objects in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional spaces, with a focus on creating natural affordances and balancing drawing difficulty. Through interviews and qualitative analysis of participants' thought processes, valuable insights are gleaned and synthesized. The paintings shed light on what artificial spaces afford their creators, while identifying differences and similarities among participants and platforms. Furthermore, this investigation delves into the natural affordances of cognition in virtual reality by examining illustrations created within a three-dimensional platform, offering a deeper understanding of the cognitive perception associated with this immersive medium.
This experiment aims to delve into the core aspects of virtual worlds by conducting a comparative analysis of illustrations created on both two-dimensional and three-dimensional platforms. The study collects cognitive insights from participants and analyzes the differences and similarities between the two platforms through a qualitative approach. Participants were tasked with illustrating a set of predefined everyday objects in a randomized order on each platform, while verbalizing their thoughts during the process. To ensure reliable results, participants were given a controlled time limit and encouraged to give their best effort. Following the illustration sessions, participants were interviewed about their overall experience, and their sketches were digitally stored for review.
The set of predefined objects was carefully selected to encompass a range of natural affordances while minimizing drawing difficulty for the participants. Due to time constraints, five objects were chosen for the experiment. The list included a mug, known for its curved surface that can be challenging to depict using lines alone. A table was selected to explore its relationship with the user's body dimensions and its constructible nature using cubes. A tree, with its organic shape and composite structure of trunk, branches, and leaves, offered a variety of interpretations. Drawing a river examined participants' understanding of its two-sided nature, length, and origin, as well as the concept of ground and stream representation. The final object was the sun, a near-abstract concept often symbolized due to the difficulty of realistically capturing its dimensions, distance, and location. Participants drew the objects in the same order on both platforms, with the freedom to make adjustments until they were satisfied.
(Examples of participants' sketch)
Insights from the illustrations and interviews have been synthesized and categorized, with all collected data included in the appendix for reference. In the subsequent chapters, relevant quotes from participants will be presented alongside their corresponding paragraphs.
Embodied Cognition A notable observation among all participants is the embodiment of cognition in the virtual reality interface. Participants perceive the size of their created objects based on their physical body dimensions. Some chose to draw objects on a 1:1 scale, while others adjusted them to a more realistic size. This behavior suggests that their concept of their real bodies is transferred into the virtual environment. Additionally, body actions were closely intertwined with the exploration of the artificial world. Participants found a natural connection between camera movements in virtual reality and the movement of their heads or their physical steps. Interestingly, one participant, without conscious intention, consistently drew objects at a relatable size exclusively in the three-dimensional session. They attributed this to their continuous presence in a three-dimensional environment while sketching. In contrast, on a two-dimensional platform, users can easily distance themselves from previous illustrations, whereas in a three-dimensional space, users feel more grounded, leading to a greater embodiment of their cognition.
The Nonexistent Ground In both platforms, the concept of the ground was indirectly addressed rather than explicitly illustrated. While the roots of a tree were often depicted as grounded in the soil, the part typically covered by dirt was never demonstrated. The ground in each illustration remained blank, with leaves, rocks, and grass seemingly sprouting from the void. Surprisingly, mugs were not placed on the ground, even though there was no actual ground in this artificial environment. Similarly, a river, which flows between land masses, shares its boundary with the ground. Although the river could be visually solid by filling it with water, the concept of a solid ground was only represented through objects placed above it.
Substantial Three-Dimensional Lines Although both platforms allowed the use of a resizable brush, the three-dimensional platform frequently employed it as a solid filler to construct objects. Some tree trunks and mugs, for instance, were formed using thick lines, highlighting their linear attributes. Interestingly, a few participants chose to draw the sun as a spherical black ball, rather than a two-dimensional solid black circle. While no participant drew a two-dimensional representation of the sun, two out of seven explicitly mentioned that they opted for a spherical shape to reflect the sun's three-dimensional nature, despite it being completely black in the environment. This demonstrates that each line carries a sense of mass in three dimensions, and participants display a greater intention to create solid properties within a three-dimensional interface.
The Absence of Shadow Drawing shadows on a two-dimensional platform can serve to mimic the appearance of three-dimensional objects. Shadows afford information about the light source and contribute to the perception of depth. However, in a three-dimensional interface, the act of drawing shadows might lose its meaning. As evidence, none of the participants drew shadows in the virtual reality environment, whereas some did address them in their two-dimensional illustrations. This suggests that the affordance of shadows is less relevant or unnecessary in a three-dimensional context.
