Artistic Practice Opportunities in CST Evaluations: A Longitudinal Group Deployment of ArtKrit
For HCI researchers evaluating creativity support tools, this work proposes a longitudinal, group-based evaluation method that accounts for temporal and social aspects, addressing a gap in current evaluation practices.
The paper presents a three-week longitudinal group deployment of ArtKrit, a computational drawing tool, with nine digital artists. Results show evolving user relationships with the tool and changes in artistic seeing, suggesting CST evaluations should be designed as opportunities for meaningful artistic engagement.
Creativity support tools (CSTs) aim to elevate the quality of artists' creative processes and artifacts. Yet most current CST evaluations overlook temporal and social aspects of tool use. To address this gap, we present a longitudinal, group-based CST evaluation through a three-week deployment of ArtKrit, a computational drawing tool that supports disciplined drawing. Nine digital artists, organized into three communities of practice, completed weekly "master studies" alongside a researcher-artist. Our results show users' evolving relationships with ArtKrit over time - from early experimentation to selective incorporation or misuse - alongside changes in their ways of artistic seeing. These changes unfolded within artist support networks that fostered confidence and creative safety, and validated individual expression. Overall, our findings suggest that CST evaluations can - and should - be designed as opportunities for meaningful artistic engagement rather than purely extractive measurement exercises. We contribute this longitudinal, group-based approach as one CST evaluation method.