Artists from 100 years ago used technology better than you.

If the title of this post struck a nerve, watch this video:

Animation in the 1930s to sometime in the 1980s didn’t use (or primarily rely on) computers. Artists painted on cels, or transparent film, to create every scene, every background, and every character. They were so dedicated to the process, they created technology to fit their artistic goals. They invented a new camera system to make their cels look 3D (as you watched in the video above that you most definitely didn’t skip over…).

A painter at work on a scene from Pinocchio, whose 1940 release was perceived as a financial disappointment compared with that of Snow White, three years earlier. © WALT DISNEY PRODUCTIONS/PHOTOFEST.

(If this subject is interesting to you, I recommend clicking here to read about the 100 young women who inked and painted cels to create Snow White)

Now, you have far more access to technology than these artists — but what are you doing with it other than passively consuming content? What are you creating with it? Or the better question is, how can art teachers invite our art students to engage with technology with the same intrigue as the Disney animators did 50 to 100 years ago?

One answer is critical digital pedagogy (CDP). CDP can be used in four ways:

1. Critical digital consumption: Students watch, listen to, or read digital content that represents diverse people with different opinions from different locations.

2. Critical Digital Production: Students use digital tools to create projects based on a combination of the subject matter at hand and their own personal experiences.

3. Critical Digital Distribution: Students use digital tools to share their work with audiences bigger than and outside of their classroom. This gives their work real-life meaning.

4. Critical Digital Invention: Students have enough flexibility and freedom to try new ways of using digital tools in their learning.

No, not every task in the art classroom needs a new camera system invented, like in the Disney video above. Digital technology can be used in smaller ways while still incorporating meaning (by using CDP). Students can use digital tools to research art from different cultures, create digital sketchbooks, make 3D statues, incorporate audio into their art, etc. The possibilities are endless. If students are given the opportunity, they can learn how to use technology to make their artwork better.

Inventing, distributing, producing, and consuming digital technology in a critical way will enable both you and your art students to have meaningful experiences — just as the Disney animators did when they invented their camera system.

Here is another video if you are still curious about artists behind cel animation: