Thanks for another great semester!

It's been a real pleasure having all of you in my class this semester! I saw some amazing things come out of my "new" students and I saw my "experienced" students explore new avenues and learn new things. It's been a lot of fun and I can't wait to have you all in my other classes!

Take care over the winter break and come back in January ready to get creative!

Christmas card project

For your final assignment, you will use the knowledge you have gained during the course of this semester and you will design and build a christmas card. You may use whatever techniques you would like to create these. Maybe you saw an interesting tutorial you'd like to try? Or you have a great graphic in mind to use and want to design a card around it. Perhaps you have a great idea to use typography for a Christmas card? Maybe you'd like to take your own photograph and create a card using that?

The only requirement for this assignment is that it comes directly from your imagination. You may use Photoshop or Illustrator to design the card. It only needs to be one panel, so don't worry about making a folding card. Just design the cover of the card. Make sure to have a message on your card! The more creative your message, the more effective your card will be in spreading holiday cheer!

Take your time on this project. Make something you can be proud of. Something you might want to show your family or share with friends.

You will work on these during class tonight as well as class on Wednesday. They will be due before you leave on Wednesday evening.

Happy holidays!!

Using Photoshop to manipulate images

You've got a good working understanding of Photoshop by now, so it's time to show you how to do some FUN things with it! There are all sorts of ways to play with photoshop to create visual interest and mimic another look. Today, you will be going through two tutorials that will show you how to get two different effects.

Retro colors

Sometimes old photographs can have some strange color-shift going on. Back in the old days, people thought of this as a mistake, but nowadays, it's considered "retro" and very trendy! In this tutorial, you'll learn how to shift the color of your photograph to give it a nostalgic look.

• Find a photograph on the internet. Choose something with people.

• Follow the instructions in the tutorial: Retro Colors

• End up with a cool, retro image!

Tilt Shift

Landscape photography has used tilt-shift lenses for years. But recently, people have started using them to create a miniature world out of an everyday scene. Tilt-shift lenses are VERY expensive to buy, so these photoshop wizards will teach you how to do with without spending a penny!

• Find a photograph on the internet. Choose a landscape with people, cars, buildings, etc.

• Follow the instructions in the tutorial: Tilt-Shift Photography

• End up with a fun photograph that looks like a miniature model!

HOMEWORK:

• Use class time to complete these but if you need more, finish them for homework.

• Bring these to class on Monday to turn in!

• Flatten your final images and save as: lastname_retro.jpg and lastname_tiltshift.jpg

Album cover project

Continue working on your album cover project during class. These will be due at the beginning of class on Wednesday!

If you think you're already finished your cover design, you're NOT. There is always room for improvement! Ask myself or your classmates what they think of your design and use the feedback you get to improve it!

HOMEWORK:

• Finish this project

• Flatten your files and save as: lastname_album.jpg

• Be prepared to turn this in on Wednesday!

Album cover project

By now, you should have at least four images picked out to use for your next project. Problem is, you don't know what that project is. Until now.

We're going to make a random album/cd cover! This was an idea that went around on facebook a couple of years ago and I thought it was fun! So you're going to try it!

Here are the rules:

1 - Go to Wikipedia. Hit "random... Read more"
or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first random Wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.

2 - Go to Quotations Page and select "random quotations"
or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3 Once on this page, hit the "more random quotations" link at the left side of the page. Hit it only once! The last four or five words of the very last quote on the page is the title of your first album.

3 - Go to Flickr and click on "explore" then click "Interesting photos from the last seven days"

(or use this link: Interesting photos from the last 7 days)
Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4 - Use Photoshop to put it all together with two additional images you brought with you.

5- You MUST cut-out at least one of the images using the pen tool in photoshop!

6- Be creative with your coloring and placement!

We will work on these tonight during class and Monday during class as well. These will be due on Wednesday.

Self Portrait Project: Critique

Today we will be critiquing your self portrait projects. We will show them on screen and have you talk about what techniques you used while creating them. Part of being an artist is being able to listen to what others have to say about your work. It's an important step to learning.

Come to class with your .psd and .jpg files to turn in!

HOMEWORK:

• Find FOUR (or more) different digital images that you like (can be found or taken by you)

• At least two of these images must be "cut-out" (using the pen tool) in Photoshop.

• You must have enough (or large enough) images to FILL THE ENTIRE PAGE

• Be thinking of how you can incorporate these images into a design

• Sketch some ideas of how you will design this collage

• Your design may have some sort of significance - or - it can just be a free-form design.

• Bring your sketches and digital images to class on Monday to begin work on them.

• These designs will be created in Adobe Photoshop and will be 8x10 and 150 ppi.

Self Portrait project (final day)

You will have tonight's class period to work on your self portrait project. Please finish them up tonight and have them ready to turn in during Wednesday's class. Please be sure your project meets all the requirements listed in the previous blog post!

HOMEWORK:

• Finish your self portrait projects!

• Save them using this naming structure: lastname_self_port.psd

• Also FLATTEN your layers and save me a .jpg as well ( lastname_self_port.jpg)

Self Portrait project

You've spent so much time working through tutorials on how to use Photoshop and Illustrator, now it's time to actually use them! Your next assignment will be to create a digital self portrait of yourself! You will be using Adobe Photoshop exclusively. We will have a camera available in class to use to take your photograph, or you may use an existing photograph if it is high-resolution.

Your self portrait project document must have:

• a minimum of FIVE different layers with graphic content

• a minimum of TWO different layer masks

• a minimum of TWO different layer blending modes

• a minimum of TWO different graphic elements in addition to your photo.

• some sort of typography

This assignment can have whatever "feeling" you would like. It can be funny, scary, happy, "normal" or anything else your mind can imagine. It's up to you! Use your knowledge of Photoshop to create a stunning self-portrait!

Most importantly: Have fun! You have all week to work on these. If you need more time by the end of class on Wednesday, you'll get it. I'm not going to rush this assignment. I want you to have enough time to make these great!

HOMEWORK:

• Start creating your digital self portrait!

Non-destructive editing

And finally, we will work on the exercises from Chapter 11: Non-Destructive Editing. You touched on some of these principles in the last chapter. Now you will get a chance to see what they can really do! After all, what can be more fun than Photoshopping a handlebar moustache on a cat?!?!

Work on Chapter 11's exercises in class and show me before you leave.

NO HOMEWORK!

Repetition and cloning

Tonight we will be working on the exercises from Chapter 10: Repetition and cloning. Download the graphics on the digital wiki to use for this assignment. There are two different images. Use your class time tonight to work on these and show them to me before you leave class. This one's going to be a little tougher than the last few, so take your time. Ask me if you have any questions!

I promise all of these exercises in your book are working toward a fun assignment! Just one more on Wednesday and we'll get to a fun project!

NO HOMEWORK

Layering and Collage

Tonight you will complete the exercises from Chapter 9: Layering and Collage. Take your time and ask questions! Learning these techniques are important building blocks for your Photoshop skill!

Please show me your assignment before you leave class!

NO HOMEWORK!

Color part 2: Tonal Range

Tonight you will be learning about tonal range. Tonal range is the change in value from black to white. To better understand tonal range, I want you to complete the exercises in Chapter 8: Tonal Range in your book (or online wiki.)

Use the image they use in the book. You can download it at the very top of the digital wiki on Chapter eight's page.

Complete these exercises before you leave class tonight. Show them to be before you go, so I may grade them.

NO HOMEWORK!

Color theory

You now know some of the tools, and have made a few projects, now let's take some time to learn how to train your artistic eye. Color theory is an integral part of graphic design. Learning the color wheel and understanding how colors work together is very important in creating good design.

Tonight, we will do the exercises in Chapter 5: Color theory and Basic Shapes. Take your time in class to do these assignments and ask me if you have any questions. I want to see this assignment completed before you leave class tonight!

NO HOMEWORK

Halloween Poster: Day three

I won't be in class today but you will still meet during class time to work on your Halloween posters. Tina will be telling me who shows up and works, and who doesn't. Use this time wisely!

If you think you have already finished your Halloween poster, think again! Use tonight's class to add additional elements to your posters! For those who weren't finished on Monday, this is your chance to get them finished up.

I want to see these posters finished when we meet on Monday! Be prepared to turn them in! We will be saving these Illustrator files as .pdfs. If you know how to do that, please feel free to save your file in the .pdf format. If you don't know how, that's o.k. I will help you save them as .pdfs on Monday at the beginning of class.

HOMEWORK:

• Finish your Halloween posters!

• These are due at the beginning of class on Monday!

Halloween Poster: Day two

Be prepared to show your sketches for your Halloween party poster during class. We may discuss these as a group, so know what you want to say about them. Have an idea of how you are going to approach the poster idea. Whether it be humor or horror, we will want to know how you plan to accomplish your task.

Use today's class period to work on these. Take advantage of your time and ask me questions. I am happy to help you with Illustrator and will be available to assist you during class.

If you work hard on these during class today, I will give you Wednesday's class to continue working on them. If you goof off today, they will be due on Wednesday.

HOMEWORK:

• Keep working on your Halloween Party posters

Fun with Illustrator - Halloween Party Poster

With the basics under your belt, you are now ready to design something using your new favorite program, Adobe Illustrator! Your next assignment will use what you have learned up to this point. How far you take it beyond that is up to you!

Our next assignment will be to create a HALLOWEEN PARTY POSTER! Using only adobe illustrator, create a poster for a fictitious (or real) halloween party! Use the type tool to put all pertinent information on your poster. Use the pen tool, shape tools, paintbrush tool and others to add graphics to your poster. Remember to use halloween-y colors!

Make your documents 8.5x11 (Illustrator's default size) and they can be horizontal or vertical in orientation. You will find it helpful to start out by SKETCHING your ideas in your sketchbooks first. This will help you work through bad ideas, refine your good ideas and see what they might look like before spending hours creating them on the computer.

These should be FUN! These should be WILD! These should be COLORFUL! The sky is the limit, so go crazy with it!

HOMEWORK:

• Come up with ideas for your Halloween party poster.

• Make sketches of what you would like to create.

• Come to class on Monday ready to start working on the computer!

Quiz on Illustrator tools!

Tonight you will have your quiz on Adobe Illustrator's tool palette! This is NOT an open notes quiz! Be prepared!

Once the quiz is over, you will start working on the exercises in Chapter 4: Type on the Grid. You will have tonight's class to work on them. If you need more time, you may have part of Wednesday's class to finish. I'll have to gauge your work during class to see if you need the extra time or not.

NO Homework.

Fooled you!

QUIZ:

Apparently there was a little confusion about TWO quizzes being given on the same day. While I think it's totally fair to give you TWO quizzes during one class, I will spare you this tragic event. Instead, we will have the quiz on Chapter 7: Image Acquisition and Resolution.

Come to class PREPARED for this quiz. While there will be SOME time at the end to use your notes, you will not have enough time to look up ALL the answers! Some of you didn't study adequately for the last quiz so take this opportunity to bring your grade back up!

CLASS WORK:

You will complete the exercises in Chapter 6: Line Art and Flat Graphics in your book/online wiki. Save your work from all exercises on ONE page and title your document using the following naming structure: lastname_ch6.ai

This assignment is due before you leave class tonight.

HOMEWORK:

• Study for your quiz on Illustrator's tools! It will be on MONDAY!

Breaking new ground: Adobe Illustrator!

You've been learning about Adobe Photoshop, it's tools and capabilities and now it's time to move on to another Adobe program: Illustrator!

I have a handout to give you that shows Illustrator's tool palette. You'll notice that it looks very similar to Photoshops tool palette, but it's not identical! There will be a quiz on this handout on Wednesday, so be prepared!

We will go over some of Illustrator's tools and have you experiment with the program during class on Monday. I will ask you to create an Illustrator document during class time so I may see that you all have some basic understanding of how Illustrator works. On wednesday we will start on your textbook assignments that utilize Illustrator!

HOMEWORK:

• STUDY your Illustrator tools sheet!

• Quiz on Illustrator tools on Wednesday, September 28th.

Image Acquisition and Resolution

Today we will be going over chapter 7 in your textbook (or digital wiki.) I want you to take your time and learn all about image acquisition and resolution. When dealing with Photoshop, it is important you understand resolution. Remember us discussing resolution during Monday's class? Chapter 7's exercises will give you a much better understanding of what resolution is and why it is so important.

In fact, it's so important that we will be having a quiz on Chapter 7 content on Monday! :)

This isn't the easiest chapter to take in, so take your time, try to understand what it's telling you, and ASK QUESTIONS if you don't!

Come to class on Monday prepared to take the quiz!

Quiz on Photoshop's tools and going over tuts

Tonight we will have a brief quiz on the Photoshop Tools handout I gave you last week. Please study as it has fill-in-the-blank questions!

We will then go over the Photoshop tutorials I gave you last week. I want to make sure you understand the principles taught in those tutorials, so we will talk about them in class and I will answer any questions you might have.

NO HOMEWORK

Learning to use Photoshop

You've already had a glimpse of what Photoshop can do, you are learning about it's tools, now it's time to dive in and immerse yourself in it.

I want you to check out all the tutorials in Getting Started with Photoshop. These are great tuts that will get you started using, and more importantly, understanding, Photoshop. Go through all 12 tutorials and make sure you understand each one. If you don't, go through it again. If you still don't understand something, as questions. I want to make sure you all can follow along with these tutorials before we go any further.

Spend your class time tonight going through these tutorials and learning about Photoshop. Prepare yourself for a QUIZ on Monday that will cover the Photoshop Tools handout I gave you this past Monday. It will be fill-in-the-blank, so be sure you know the tools and what they do!

HOMEWORK:

• Watch and learn all the tutorials in: Getting Started with Photoshop.

• Study for your quiz on Photoshop's tools on Monday!

Working with your images

Tonight, we will be working with the images you took last week. You will learn how to import your images to your computer, open them in Photoshop, resize, crop, add text and save them. We will be going over the different tools used in Photoshop and I have a hand out for you to study. Handouts usually mean a QUIZ is coming, so study your hand out! You never know when the quiz will pop up!

Building your creative eye

A creative eye is necessary to be a good graphic designer. You must train your eye to look for design elements in ways unfamiliar to it. Once you can see these design elements, you will be able to utilize them in future projects and throughout your career.

Tonight, I will have you look for some of these design elements and show me how YOU see them.

Using a digital camera, go out into the world and find me 25 examples of EACH of the following:

Pattern

Scale

Rhythm

Negative Space

Contrast

They must all be of DIFFERENT subject matter! No photographing the same thing 50 times and counting it as two of these categories. If you need to borrow a digital camera from the HEC, we will have those available during class to check out.

HOMEWORK

• SAVE ALL 125 OF YOUR PHOTOS AS .jpgs PLEASE!

• These will be due at the beginning of class on Monday.

• You have all weekend, so take your time and get me GOOD examples of these!

Symmetry and Gestalt

Tonight we are going to talk about symmetry and gestalt. These two words are words you will need to become familiar with, understand and utilize as you go forward with any sort of art you create. We will talk about what symmetry, asymmetry and the difference between positive and negative space.

We will also learn about gestalt. We will learn both what it is and why it is so important. Gestalt can change the feeling one gets from looking at a work of art, poster, advertisement, etc. We will explore the ways to use gestalt to evoke emotion, visually stimulate and please the eye.

Read and complete the exercises for chapter 3 - Symmetry and Gestalt in your textbook or online.

HOMEWORK:

To better understand the principles of symmetry and gestalt, I want you to complete exercises 2-7 in your textbook. (pp42-50) Compile all of these exercises on a single 8.5 x 11 page in Adobe Illustrator and save it as a .pdf. Please use the following method of naming for your document: lastname_symmetry.pdf You will have the rest of the class period to complete this, but if you don't get it done, please finish it for homework. It will be turned in on Wednesday, September 7th.

Searching and Sampling

Today we will be learning about searching for images online and when you can (and can't) use them. If you already have your books, please turn to chapter 2. If you don't have your book yet, you can open up chapter two in the Digital Foundations Wiki.

Read the chapter carefully. Take special note of the sidebars! I will be giving you a quiz on this information. It will be open-book, so you may use the website or book to answer the questions. But take your time, there may be trick questions designed to throw you off! Read carefully!

Image use is an important element of graphic design. Knowing the rules is very important! Please do your best to read this chapter carefully and take your time on this quiz. Quiz papers will be due by the end of class today.

Learning basic file management

Today we are going to learn about basic file management. We will be discussing some Mac OS features as well as starting to learn some Adobe features as well. This may seem elementary to some of you, but I assure you, learning the correct ways to deal with file management is crucial. At the end of tonight's class, you should feel comfortable navigating through most of the basic functions of the desktop environment and creating a new document in Adobe Illustrator.

Once you are familiar with these processes, I want you to use your creative talents and make a new illustrator document. You can create whatever artwork you feel comfortable with, as long as you use Adobe Illustrator to do it. Don't worry, these aren't going to be graded on aesthetics. I simply want to see that you are able to create a document, add elements to it, compose (and recompose) your elements and properly save the document. We will be turning these in during our next class.

HOMEWORK:

• Create a letter sized (8.5x11) document in Adobe Illustrator

• Use your creativity and Illustrator to create some sort of artwork

• Properly save your document in your network drive with it's name in the following format: lastname_first_project.ai

• I will be checking these documents at the beginning of class on Monday.

Welcome to ART 133 - Visual Arts Foundations

Hello everyone! Welcome to ART 133! As you'll see, this blog is where you will find all of the important information about the class. I will post all homework here, as well as links that can help you with classwork, homework and general learning. Please check here often!

As we go through this semester, my goal will be to instill more than just knowledge of the Mac OS and the Adobe Creative Suite CS5, but to also give you a more broad understanding of both digital and traditional art.

So, for your first assignment, I want you to pick a piece of artwork. Any artist's (that has been published, or shown professionally) work will do, but pick a piece that you personally enjoy. Once you have that in mind, I want the following from you. It will be due on Wednesday.

Make sure to have ALL of this information!

Please print out your info w/a pic of the artwork.

• Look for a large sized image of the selected artwork (at least 800 pixels wide)

• Tell me the name of the artist

• Tell me the title of the work

• Tell me the date the work was created

• Tell me the media used to create the piece (wood, oil, collage, etc.)

• Tell me what style it is in.

• Write down (computer document) what attracted you to this piece. Avoid terms such as "I like" when describing it. Talk about it's elements, construction, media and possibly even the artist as a person.

Bring all of this, on your flash drive, to class with you on Wednesday to turn in.

Here's mine, to show you an example:

• Jasper Johns

• Target

• 1958

• Oil and collage (newsprint) on canvas

• Pop art and/or neo-dadaist

• Target is the main element, yet it leads nowhere. Attracted to the bold colors. Mixed media resulted in interesting surface texture on the painting. Used conventional materials in

unconventional ways. Jasper Johns did not finish college but served in the Korean war.