GIFs

My SLO's are testing students on knowledge coming in and knowledge leaving the classroom.  They were expected to create a looping, fluid animation of at least 5 frames in Flash, and then export it as a gif animation.  Only one of 74 students passed this test with a 75% at the beginning of the semester.  100% passed it this week.  Here they are.

Scarlett Johansson Falling Project

November 2013.  The internet blows up with the meme Scarlett Johansson Falling

Buzzfeed article

These are the projects my students created, first with Scarlett, then a celeb or person of their choice. Oh, and a few of me at the end.

  

Art History 101: Building your own Art history.
I ask students to examine their personal art history.  I tell stories about the rich childhood I had, with no video games, no cable, and no internet.  They are amazed that we had anything to do.  Many will ask "What did you do?"  Well...  We read books and were outside all the time except in the winter.  In the winter we read and we drew pictures all the time.  We went to the library and looked at books.  We were blessed to have elementary art programs and teachers that were charged to teach the whole child. Mrs.  Welch, my third grade teacher, hung my dinosaur pictures behind her desk and noticed me as an artist.  She started this ball rolling.  My high school art teacher, Mr. Becker, allowed me to experiment with any and every media possible and allowed me to nurture fascination for learning new things.

Today, I hope I carved a little bit into my portfolio student's histories.   We laid under the tables in Portfolio class and attempted our best Michaelangelo work ever.  I did this with last years portfolio class and I feel it created a bond that we share, sort of secret and decadent and without permission.

I want my students to continue their art histories.  I want them to find a place that is their niche in life and to love what they do.  I hope art guides them.

Graphic Design.....What it is Homeboy?

What is Graphic Design?



Graphic design basically is visual problem solving using text and/or graphical elements. Your aim is to create something that is pleasing to the eye, and gets the attention of the viewer. But things can't just look cool. They have to work as well.
    How effective is a great looking restaurant menu if you can't for the life of you find beverages, or it's hard to tell which price is for what? ; )

About.com defines graphic design in this way:
"Graphic design is the process and art of combining text and graphics and communicating an effective message in the design of logos, graphics, brochures, newsletters, posters, signs, and any other type of visual communication. Today's graphic designers often use desktop publishing software and techniques to achieve their goals." 

Dictionary.com says this: 
"The practice or profession of designing print or electronic forms of visual information, as for an advertisement, publication, or website."


The scope of the industry

So what do graphic designers actually do? I'm sure most people can name at least a few things, but the graphic design spectrum is perhaps broader than you think.

Designs can include: brochures, posters, magazine covers, magazine layouts, tickets, business cards, T-shirts, signs, logos, book layout (typesetting), importing advertisements into a newspaper, websites, cd covers, dvd interactivity elements, Internet banners, flash animation, web interfaces, iPad app interfaces, Powerpoint presentations, and more.



What could you expect as a graphic designer?

Some employers will have a very specific and narrow job description, and some will want you to do a whole load of stuff. Often an in-house graphic designer (meaning a non design company will hire someone to do their graphic design rather than work with a company) will be the jack of all trades. You might expect to create the website, brochures, a poster for an upcoming event, and prepare powerpoint presentations. And then there is the other end of the spectrum where your entry level job for the first 2 years is scanning photos for Auto Trader Magazine, and placing them into the layout. It all depends on who is hiring, and what they want.

 

Drawing 3 Graphic Design Project.

Design a logo for Adams Apiary and Gardens(if you are stealing this idea, find a real company).  Do research on all things apiary and organic gardening.  Fill a few pages of your sketchbook with visual bits of info and sketches for the company.  Do three mockup sketches for the final design.  Create one final design

Drawing 3 final drawings.

Charcoal. New Media Unit. Drawing 2.

Charcoal: New media unit.

Prior Knowledge covered: Contour Lines, Implied Contour lines(shadow shapes), value(darks, lights, grays, shading), texture, space. Working on a toned paper or canvas(white on toned paper)

1. Cooperative Charcoal exercise.

-Roll out 20 to 40 feet butcher paper(white or brown) on the floor. Arrange students around the paper with a piece of charcoal. Provide 7-10 cues for creative applications for the charcoal with pencil and compressed charcoal. Make sure students move clockwise 3-4 spaces at least twice to gather other student use of charcoal.

2. Value Scale on toned piece of paper

3. Self portrait with Charcoal: Students will create a self portrait drawing all linear(contour and shadow shapes(implied contours)) information. Using white charcoal first, they will work in a "backwards" fashion by applying light values rather than dark.

Rubric

a. Student will be able to render self portrait as lines

expert-student draws every contour.

proficient-student draws most contour lines

improvement needed-student attempts line, but focuses on symbol.

b. Student will apply the value scale.

Expert-Student matches every value in the value scale with the photo.

Proficient-Student matches some values.

Improvement needed-Student matches black and/or white only. Does not attempt greys.

4. Class Critique. All students hang work in class. Spend 5 minutes looking at the work of others.

Questions for class discussion

-What are good things about Charcoal?

-What are bad things about Charcoal?

-How was the charcoal utilized in differing manners?

-What are some creative applications that you can see yourself using charcoal for?

5. Cooperative Icon Portrait. Students will end the unit with a cooperative grid of an icon from popular culture or history.