FINAL PROJECT---HOW EXCITING

Okay guys...the time has come. The time for the final assignment of the semester. It should be a great one since you ll are CS5 masters.

It is an anything goes project. Use all your skills, all your know-how, all your creativity to create one last project. You can create the project in any or all of the programs we covered this semester. Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Imovie....You can create another project you enjoyed making from this semester or do something completely different. It is up to you.

These need to be printed out and ready for the final crit 9:00am Monday December 13th...

Also, bring in several projects you enjoyed from the semester. if you want to show us a project you redid, please, print it out and bring it in.


Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

Design*Sponge Scholarships

You are need to do it...extra credit if you get one!!

http://www.designspongeonline.com/scholarship

Create Two InDesign Projects

Okay...Great. You all are on your way to winning Addy's for the rest of your life. You can, almost, dropout and go work for a graphic design firm.

There are TWO requirements for the next assignment

1. You are to create a brochure of the work of one of you peers in class. It is to include projects we worked on in class. The projects can be reworked or completely new projects, just so that they are from one of your peers, not yours. You are to include a statement from the artist, a project description, and whatever the artist may want. You are working for them, the client. Do as they say.

You will need to haver at least three pages for the brochure, single sided. It can be whatever size and format you decide with your client. There does have to be at least four images per page for a grand total of 12 images. There needs to be an appropriate amount of text, read through magazine ads and articles to see how they are laid out. Tear some of these out and put in your sketchbook. just to give you some ideas.

Be sure to include some sort of background if necessary.
Make sure the images you use are at least 300DPI, otherwise you will have a bad, pixelated print...which is bad for your grade.

During the critique the artist will talk about what they wanted and want they got. Did they get what they had in mind?

2. You are also to create your own design. It can be whatever you wish. There needs to be at least three pages for this project as well. The number of images and amount of text are up to you, but make sure there is enough to make sense for the design. They are also to be similar in theme, color, design, and/or subject matter. Do not just make three individual projects. Think of it as a print ad for a book, magazine or client. So, if you want to recreate three more ad layouts, or a series of rock posters, or a photo album, or a calendar, it is up to you, be creative!!!
Try to keep it at four or five images minimum per page, but, again, it is up to you and your design.

These are to be saved as lastname_brochure.indd and lastname_self.indd

.indd is Indesign's file extension.
These are also to be saved as .jpgs to your blog.

These are due December 6, 2010 at 9:00AM sharp. They need to be on your server and printed out on the wall before class.

Make a City, Make an Interior

Okay, for the next assignment there will be three digital artworks that are to be printed out.

1. you are to create and exterior scene with the minimum of three buildings and three additional objects.
2. you are to create an interior scene with a minimum of six objects.
3. you are to create an artwork that you used live trace and live paint...can be any object, person, thing, etc.

You are to place at least one of the artworks you live traced into your exterior AND interior piece. So, make sure that it makes sense for each scene. that probably means it will have to be two different objects. that is up to you and the design.

Experiment with the different perspectives first, to see which you think will be the best for your design.
Make these scenes great guys, put in a lot of effort making it as professional and GREAT as you can. No worries, right?

You are to print out each one of these digital artworks. Make sure you use the whole page to print one...there should be no 3" borders and it should not be  not centered.

You are to print one of these digital artworks 11" x 17"...which one is up to you, which ever design benefits the most from it. There is an option for print size in the printers dialogue box.

You will probably need to print tests prints out first...ones you can then go back and adjust and correct.

You are also to save these three .ai files on the server. Please save as lastname_exterior.ai   lastname_interior.ai and lastname_livetrace.ai   the server is getting crowded and this will help us find what we need to find.

You are also to save these three on your blogs.
Have these printouts ready, posted to your blog, and posted on the server BEFORE class next week. So, these are not on the server, on your blog, and on the wall before 9:00 am...consider it late.

Thanks....you all did really well today...best class ever...FAMOUS


email me or post a comment here if you have any questions. if you have any questions about how to do something during the week, do not hesitate to let me know.

Extra Credit

since you are all now expert designers...how about seeing if you can get a design printed on a t-shirt. read below and consider previous years examples. you also could possibly get a little cash!

Each year we like to redo our logo and put it on several hundred t-shirts. In the past we have had the logo done by one of our board members or a board member's family member. For 2011 we thought it would be fun to open it up to our fans and local artists. We are looking for something fun and bold. (Below you can see a few of our past designs.) You can incorporate the words "Rock and Romp" in the design or we can add it in later.

To sweeten the pot we are offering a $200 prize for the winning design. In addition, the designer will get a season pass to Rock-n-Romp, two free tees, and the opportunity to showcase his/her work at one of our shows (if applicable).

We encourage artists, parents, and children to enter! Please send a jpeg image with the artist's name, age, etc. to memphisrocknromp@gmail.com by December 15th. We will choose the winner before Christmas. That means extra money to go shopping!

Critique Monday November 15th

Your Name
Your Home Town

(since I am such a genius, I deleted my name before posting it here as an example)

If you do not want to do these, just something similar.


You are to create two images based on the tutorials we did in class on November 8th. I want you to spend some time on these and really make them great. You are to create two NEW designs...do not turn in the ones you created in class today. The more you make the better you will be. Experiment with blending, gradient meshes, and opacity masks for your backgrounds.

One is to be done in Illustrator the second to to be done in both Illustrator and Photoshop. Each are to be saved as .jpegs at 300dpi and uploaded to the server. Also save a version of each at 72 dpi and save to your blog.

If you have any questions, email me or post a comment to this blog.

These are to be posted on your site, uploaded to the server and printed out and on the wall BEFORE 9:00AM MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH...Remember, I count tardies and if you have three that equals an absence. If you are late to a crit, I take a half letter grade off for that assignment.

Those of you that were in class today did very well. There were a lot of comments about my cheesy designs today...make yours better.


Good Luck and Be Famous.

Photoshop and Illustrator Combos

It seems I was not clear on the FIVE Photoshop and Illustrator combos. Sorry about any confusion...

You are to create a new digital piece by placing a design you made in Illustrator onto a design you made in Photoshop to make one new piece. For example...if you created a character in Illustrator, place that character into a photo that you took and manipulated in photoshop. Or place some of the rings that you are making onto the heads of your friends, or make them wheels on a car. Or place the twenty or so flowers you made in Illustrator into a fantasy garden you created in Photoshop...be creative. This is just an exercise to get you working in between the two programs.

I would like for you to create new Photoshop images rather than using something you have already made this semester.

FREE DAY

Since we will be leaving early November 1...it is a free day. Spend the first part of the class commenting on  your classmates Illustrator designs. If you have not yet also commented on their animations, which most of you have NOT, do that as well. Remember, your participation in the critiques and commenting on the blogs is a part of your grade.

You are also to create TEN more Illustrator designs. With the first ten, you experimented with the tools, gradients, pathfinder, etc..which was fine. Some of the designs were a little chaotic as a result...So, with these ten, I want them to be complete, stand-alone pieces of design art. Something you would be proud to print out and display. The ten designs can be all completely different or part of a theme, it is up to you, just make them great. BE FAMOUS!!

Also, with five of the ten new designs, you are to create a Photoshop piece and import in the Illustrator file. You can simply place your .ai file into Photoshop. Be sure to click the (Allign to Pixel Grid) in the transform tab in Illustrator so the vector objects can be opened in the raster format of Photoshop.


If you print out some of the examples you created in Photoshop, they must be at US Letter and 300dpi...to make sure to get a nice print. Otherwise, it will be a bad print and we will make fun of you for it!!

Make these look great guys, spend some time on them. Just do not rush through and complete them. It will be obvious.

Save all ten to your blog before class next week.

Print out your five favorite pieces. Save these five to the server as example:
lastname_design1.ai (or .jpeg)
lastname_design2.ai (or .jpeg) etc...


If there are any questions, do not hesitate to email me or comment on this blog...

GOOD LUCK

Illustrator Designs

You are to create 10 different Illustrator designs. I want you to experiment with each design. As you are working see what happens with different options with the Pathfinder, Transform, Shape Tool,  Width Tool, Pen Tool,...etc. See how creative you can be for each design!!  Spend time with these to make some really creative pieces...You are all famous artists, PROVE IT.

Save each as a JPEG and post them to your blog...ten different posts.

You are also to create, at the minimum, three rings similar to tutorial from class...these can be posted on the same artboard. With each, experiment with the gradients and the different transparency options.

Good Luck

ring example

Don't Forget...

We will be critiquing your video clips first thing Monday morning. Also, make sure to upload your .mov files to the server and to your blogs BEFORE class.

Good luck...

Video Clip

We will be beginning our video clips this week. They are to be 1:00 or 1:30 minutes in length.
You will need to bring in images, photos, videos clips that you want to manipulate and create your own clip. Remember, there is to be no sound for this clip. If you want to take the initiative and add sound in imovie or final cut, that is up to you, but not required.

The clip can be stop motion or a regular film clip. The concept is up to you. Do think about the pace of the clip, are there too many long pauses? do the images make sense? does the story move along or is it stagnant at any part?

October 11th - Begin importing images for video clip...upload images, storyboards, and concepts to your blogs...comments on the ideas of your classmates.

October 18th - Fall Break

October 25th - Video clip is due at 9:00 am. It is to be uploaded to your blog before class.

Currency Project

Do not forget to upload your currency to your blogs before class. Also, do not forget to comments on your peers currencies as well.

Good luck!!

See you Monday morning.

Critique October 4th

We will have a critique on the Currency Project at 9:00AM SHARP, October 4th.

REQUIREMENTS:
You are to have the 6 bills - 12 designs printed and on the wall in MAC LAB 2

You are responsible for printing. The printer is available anytime the school is open. If there is a class in MAC LAB 1, ask if it would be okay for you to print. Most of the time it is fine.

The set up of the prints is up to you, but they are not to be front and back. Side by side will be fine.
If you can get two bills (four designs) on one sheet, that is great. Again, it is up to you.

You are also to upload the 300 dpi jpg file you printed onto the class server. If you will have four printouts to bring to class for the critique, each has to be uploaded on the server.  This is to be done BEFORE class. Save as lastname_currency_1 lastname_currency_2 etc....

memFEAST

Starting Fall 2010, Crosstown Arts presents MemFEAST, a competitive banquet of art ideas and actions. Equal parts family-style dinner, show-and-tell, and immediate philanthropy, MemFEAST (Memphis Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics) invites the public to gather together, share a great meal, and democratically fund new and emerging artmakers. 

$25 entitles you to plentiful portions of locally-sourced food and drink (vegan options available) as well as a ballot to vote on one of seven new community art projects from local artists. Everybody pays, everybody votes, and one talented new artist will leave with the funds to make their project a reality.

Friday, October 1 at 427 North Watkins Street (near VINI, Edge Coffeehouse, and the Sears Crosstown Building.)
Starts at 7pm sharp. $25 to eat, drink & vote.
Reservations are encouraged but not required. Get on the list by emailing your name to crosstownmemphis@gmail.com

By the way, are you an artist? Got a visionary idea for a DIY, community-building public project that you could make happen in a few months with $1500 or less? We want to know about it! For every MemFEAST, we'll select seven artists to make brief presentations about their ideas at the Oct 1 MemFEAST event, which will be voted on by the attendees. The winner leaves with all the night's earnings (up to $1,500!) and a mandate to complete their project within 3 months. Sculptors, book-makers, cooks, muralists, craftsmen, writers, performers, and all others encouraged to apply. Ideas should be achievable, impactful, and communal in nature, preferably able to engage or serve many members of the Memphis public.

Want to get involved? Ask crosstownmemphis@gmail.com how.


Crosstown Arts is a new non-profit formed to help foster continued growth of the arts community in the Crosstown Area

New Currency Project

You are to redesign and re-conceptualize our currency. This project can take any shape in its final form, but I do require this project to be printed out BEFORE THE CRIT (be sure to get your print card from the business office for practice).

You are to recreate, front and back, the $1, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 bills. for a total of 12 new designs.
It is up to you how the final product looks, do the dominations refer to anything specific? Are you changing the size, shape, orientation of the bills? Is there a conceptual or design relevancy to the front and back of the bills being different, the same? You are to incorporate a serial number and the federal seal. These can be as simple and /or complex as you see fit. But, we do have two class periods to work on these, so use your time wisely.

Think about color, shape, design...this project will help with your navigation between layers and open files.
it will expand your use and knowledge of various tools, creating graphics, merging and manipulating images.

Be Creative!!!

Required for Monday, September 20th: A variety of images to be scanned, or digital images you have, to begin conceptualizing this project. (bring in print outs of other currencies, photos, books, magazines, journals, anything to help with your research)

The size and shape of each bill is up to you, make it both creative and functional...no three foot dollar bills, no stamp sized twenty's.

September 20th - Bring in research materials and ideas in your sketchbook...work on ideas and research in class post on blog, etc.

September 27th - work day...finalizing designs and practice printing.

October 4th - Critique at 9:00am SHARP...Upload your psd files for each part of the project...twelve total before class to the currency project folder. Final printouts displayed on wall/table in class.

Lighting and Painting Exercises

You are to make lighting adjustments to two images one of which must be the above image. The other can be any image you choose. The images we practiced on are on the Class Server.

Post the before and after for each image to your blog. Save each @ 72dpi and keep the longest side under 10 inches.

You are also to "paint" two images, one must be the above image used as an example in class. The other can be any image you choose.

Post the before and after for each image to your blog. Save each @ 72dpi and keep the longest side under 10 inches.

Be creative with each of these and have them posted to your blog prior to next class.

PROJECT #1 – Postcards CRIT

September 6th there will be no class - Labor Day Holiday.

September 13th at 9:00am SHARP - Critique Postcard Project

Requirements:
You are to create six postcards. They can be six completely different postcards, or one that is slightly different (color, opacities, settings, filters...etc)

You are to post the best one in the class folder on the server: DM105 is the name of the folder
5"x 7"  or 7"x 5" 300 dpi - the .psd layered file you have been working on
5"x 7"  or 7"x 5" 300 dpi - a flattened .jpg o the above .psd file

You are to post all six 5"x 7" 72 dpi .jpgs to your blog.
These need to all be posted BEFORE class September 13th

You are also required to make comments on your peers pieces.

Server and Printing Questions

Here is a link on how to connect to the server when you are not in class, at home, in the dorm, library..etc:

http://www.mcalabs.net/downloads/connect_server_remote.pdf

How to sign up with your printer card:
http://www.mcalabs.net/faqs/colorlaser-signup.html

Other questions regarding Server, Printing, and IT questions
mcalabs.net

Photoshop Studies

We will be looking at your FIVE photoshop studies at the beginning of class August 30th. These are to be absolutely different from each other, each one experimenting with a different style, filter, color scheme, etc...Experiment with the tools you are unfamiliar with along with the tools we have already gone over, the only way you are going to learn is to experiment, experiment, experiment...play, play, play. Nothing is too corny, stupid, dumb, complicated...

Requirements:

each one is to be 5" x 7" at 72 dpi and uploaded to your blog.

Remember to email me your blog address.

Project 1: Postcard Assignment

Intro to Computer Graphics

Project 1: Postcard Assignment

You are to create a postcard of a place you are visiting. A little mini-vacation now that we are back for the semester. The place can be somewhere you have always wanted to go, a place you wish to revisit, or perhaps a place that does not yet even exist.

In the final project, you are to include at least one photograph of yourself, at least one image of the place you are visiting, incorporate the phrase "wish you were here" and be interacting or posing with an object not associated with your scene. (a large tulip in a museum, or a spaceship in a garden, or you are holding a horse, giraffe, truck, anything...be creative)

The postcards need to look like one singular image, that you actually look like you are on the Eiffel Tower holding the Statue of Liberty...

I want you to be creative and experiment!!!! You can make a collage of pieces of magazines to bring in to scan and use. You can combine aspects of three different cities to create a new super city.

Required for Monday August 30th: 10 -15 photos of yourself and 10-15 DIFFERENT possibilities for your scene. (bring in the magazines, books, photos, calendars, etc...you want to use and scan)
These are to be 5" x 7" or 7" x 5" at 300 dpi in both .psd and .jpeg formats...
You are to save one at 72 dpi and upload to your blog.

August 30 - Bring in materials to class and begin postcard assignment

September 6 - No Class - Labor Day Holiday

September 13 - Critique Project 1 before lunch begin Project 2 demo

Postcard Examples - Ideas

Syllabus

Dwayne Butcher

dbutcher@mca.edu

Office hours: 3:30 – 4:00 PM Monday MacLab 2 and by appointment

Email is the preferred method of communication.

COURSE DESCRIPTION :

DM105 Introduction to Computer Graphics.
(3 credits)
Fundamentals of computer operations, graphical user interface, scanning, and printing are introduced. Concentration on 2-D imaging creation is the focus of this course. Students will use raster, vector, and layout programs to create original works. Prerequisite: none

COURSE OUTLINES:

This course introduces various, established techniques for creating art using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator CS5 while encouraging each student to explore and develop their own individual process.  The primary focus of each project is to work digitally, but there will be opportunities to merge images created by both digital and traditional means. 

All students exiting this course will be able to create a digital document ready for print and optimized for display on the web.

It is imperative that every one approaches the activities and exercises of the course with a completely open mind. Students will develop an understanding of how an artist’s decisions communicate his or her identity and culture.

Additionally, each student will be required to create and maintain a blog for this class using blogger.com

http://dm105fall2010.blogspot.com/  is the blog for this class.  You will find the syllabus, project assignments, due dates, images and other helpful links on this site. You are also expected to set up and maintain (regularly update) your own blog for this course. You will post your research and document detailed logs of the procedures used for each assignment. You are to post your final pieces of each assignment before they are due in class. You will also be required to post comments on your classmate’s blogs as a way to continue the discussion and understanding of projects outside of the class.

I will be checking your blogs several times during the week and your participation on the blogs are part of your final grade.

ASSIGNMENTS:

This course consists of in-class assignments that require additional out-of-class work.  Each project will be graded on research, concept, student preparedness, and the execution of the final product.  Sketchbooks/Blogs are required for collecting research, recording ideas and developing concepts.  Sketches may be drawn, painted, collaged or even composed digitally, printed and then pasted into the sketchbook.

§       Completion of assignment requirements and sketchbook will be based on the following criteria: (60% of Grade)

Quality of craftsmanship

Complexity, Ingenuity, and Uniqueness of Idea

How well the execution defines/illustrates the assignment

Sketchbook/Blog that goes above and beyond requirements and is a piece of art itself.

§       Participation in discussions and critiques, attendance, weekly research and blog comments and your preparedness each day of class. (40% of Grade)

Ready to work on the assignment at hand in a timely

Presentations of completed research materials

Involvement in the critiques and research discussions

ATTENDENCE POLICY:

You are expected to be in this class, on time, no exceptions. If you miss two classes you cannot expect to get an “A” in this course. Excessive tardiness both in the mornings and after breaks will be noted and will count as absences. Three tardies = One absence.

Absence from crits, even if your work is completed and on the server and blog, will not be tolerated. If you are late, unprepared, or miss the final crit at the end of the semester, you will FAIL this course.

If you should encounter personal problems or illness, it is your responsibility to discuss the situation with the instructor.

·      Critiques are very important.  All work should be completed and in your class folder by 9:00am for critiques.  If you miss a critique your project will be due on the day you return to class.  You are responsible for any projects due or assigned during a class you have missed.

·      Late work is lowered one letter grade each additional week it is late.  It is YOUR responsibility to turn in late work.  I will not ask for it.

·      If you wish to rework any projects you may do so but in a timely manner, the next class period. Late work will not be eligible for reconsideration.

REFERENCE MATERIAL:

Although you will not get extra credit for the amount of additional reference material in your journal and blog, there is a direct correlation between those journals and blogs that receive outstanding scores and those that are filled with the minimum required. Critique notes, project plans, project material lists, photocopies, research notes, artists suggested to you all make for a rich record of your progress as well as demonstrate overall commitment and focus.

EXHIBITION/ARTIST LECTURE EVENT REPORT: This semester you will be required to attend three art functions in town or on campus. These will be accounted for in your final journal/blog with a brief description of the event. Include: title, artist/s, materials, location, date etc.. and your impressions of the work. What was the best thing about the event? What was the worst? The lecture report assignment is pass/fail.

HEALTH AND SAFETY PRECAUTIONS:

All students are required to observe studio policies for handling and disposal of hazardous materials

MATERIALS AND SUPPLIES:

USB Flash Drive (4 GB minimum)

Access to a digital camera, 5 mega pixels or better, for most projects. You can use regular film, but must allow adequate time for developing and scanning.

NO GOOGLE IMAGES OR STOCK IMAGES ALLOWED…EVER

Your print card must have adequate funds prior to the day of the crit. If a project will be considered late if it is not printed before the crit.

LAB RULES:

Headphones are permitted but you must be able to hear me if I address you and cannot be worn while I am giving demonstrations.

There will be absolutely NO facebook, myspace, youtube, shopping, or anything else not directly related to class instruction. You may check your mca email during class, but keep it to a minimum. Remember, I can see every computer from my desktop.

LAB RULES…THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO FOOD OR DRINK ALLOWED IN THE LAB…EVER