Why we still teach by hand

People assume a school like this is romantic about tools. We are not, particularly. The case for learning by hand is about the speed and honesty of the feedback.

A badly held pen tells you immediately. The line thins where it should not, and it does so on the stroke, not after a render. That loop — attempt, evidence, adjust — is the whole of skill acquisition, and the hand gives it to you faster than anything else.

What this does not mean

It does not mean digital tools are inferior. Every one of our tutors works digitally. It means that learning the judgement first, where mistakes are visible and cheap, makes the digital work better afterwards. Students who come to us after years of software often say the same thing: they knew what they wanted and could not say why it was not working.