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Teaching Approach: Drawing
My approach to drawing is rooted in observation and visuomotor practice — the direct connection between seeing and making. I use exercises that deliberately challenge habitual ways of drawing: short and rapidly changing poses, drawing without looking at the paper, using the unfamiliar hand or an unconventional grip, changing position and moving through the space, and working with different materials and formats.
By introducing speed, movement and unfamiliar conditions, these exercises shift the focus away from conscious control and towards a more immediate response to what is seen. The aim is to develop a more intuitive and embodied understanding of line, form, proportion, rhythm and movement, while encouraging students to draw with greater freedom, attentiveness and confidence.
March 2023: One-day animation film workshop with students aged 15–17 from HLW Türnitz, in cooperation with St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, Austria.
The workshop was centred around the theme “Dreams”. I developed the creative brief and provided the students’ art teacher with guidelines and preparatory exercises for the art classes leading up to the workshop. Working at their school, the students developed stories based on their own dreams and created the drawings, handmade elements and sound needed for the animation.
The one-day workshop took place at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, where the students animated and edited their prepared materials and presented the resulting films at the end of the day.
Winter term 2019/20: Experimental Animation course for BA and MA students at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, Austria
Course duration: 30 hours across three sessions, each focusing on a different topic over two consecutive days
During each session, the students created short animations in response to a creative brief exploring the themes of “Line”, “Form” and “Colour”.
A selection of the resulting works can be viewed here:
Link: https://vimeo.com/showcase/6524797
Password: FFExperimentelleAnimation19
https://vimeo.com/showcase/6524797
July 2017: One-week animation workshop for children aged 9–14, organised by the City of Braunschweig and the Braunschweig International Film Festival.
Braunschweig, Germany
Film title: Gefährlicher Biss
Length: 5:27 min
Language: German
Link: https://vimeo.com/265567742
Password: biss
A fisherman takes a group of researchers to a remote island. During the night, the researchers are bitten by small creatures and mysteriously transform into superheroes. This comes just in time, as evil Minions begin appearing in the jungle, at the fisherman’s house and in the city. The superheroes set out to rescue the endangered animals of the forest and free the city from the Minions.
The story was developed together with the children and was based on their ideas. A few weeks after the workshop, the completed film premiered at the Braunschweig International Film Festival.
July 2016: One-week animation workshop for children aged 8–12, organised by the City of Braunschweig and the Braunschweig International Film Festival.
Braunschweig, Germany
Film title: Crazy Cat Dreams
Length: 5:32 min
Language: German
Link: https://vimeo.com/267395119
Password: dreams
The film brings together the children’s dreams, weaving them into a shared narrative that was then visualised and animated. The children were actively involved in every stage of the creative process, developing the dialogue and composing the music themselves.
A few weeks after the workshop, the completed film premiered at the Braunschweig International Film Festival.
November 2015: Life Drawing and Animation Workshop for undergraduate 3D Design students at the University of Bath, UK
March 2015: Drawing Workshop for the painting students of Alina Gordienko in Odesa, Ukraine
Spring term 2014: Life Drawing Tutor for undergraduate Art and Design students at the University of Westminster, London
November 2013: Drawing Workshops with Reach Out RCA at the Royal College of Art, London, for school groups from across London
2010–2011: Co-designed and co-taught an Animation Elective Course (2 SWS) with Michael Kren for BSc Media Technologies students at St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, Austria