The 2026 CONFIA (International Conference on Illustration and Animation) took place in Coimbra, Portugal, on June 25–26, 2026. Hosted at the historic Casa das Caldeiras in collaboration with the University of Coimbra, the 13th edition of the conference focused on visual narratives, digital practices, and the intersection of AI with art.
Generative Sketching as a Shared Space for Thinking
The contribution “Generative Sketching on the Big Table Canvas: Co-Creating Futures in Art Education” explores how collaborative drawing can become a form of dialogue, research, and knowledge production. Drawing on projects with students from the University of Education Upper Austria and the University of Art and Design Linz, it demonstrates how theoretical ideas can be visually interpreted, individual approaches to art education developed, and shared spaces of imagination created.
In the project “Speak Up. Draw Together” at the NEXTCOMIC Festival 2026, students and visitors created a large-scale collaborative drawing. Drawing was understood as a democratic practice that makes different perspectives visible and supports processes of listening, reflection, and collective creation.
