Friday, September 28, 2007

For The Weekend

I am collecting the following on Monday:
  • Type Design
  • Sound Design
  • Media Exploration Assignment
  • Thumbnails for Your 2 Original 5x5 Designs
  • 8 Symbols/Abstractions
  • 7 Synonym/Antonym Sheet
  • Any Stray Inspiration Files

Be Ready! You will fall behind if you are not!

See me if you need to make other arrangements!

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Do Thursday, For Friday

This is what you need to do on Thursday to have a happy & successful Friday!
  • Get your Midterm Grade Sheet signed by a parent or guardian!
  • Study Chapters 1, 2, & 3 plus the Elements & Principles/Composition Slideshow notes!

We will have a little review time before the test tomorrow, then do the exam. After that we will have a break and work time for the two 5 x 5 Designs you develop on your own.

If you do not use one of the concepts from the Synonyms & Antonyms Drawing Exercise (done in class on Wednesday...8 Symbols/Abstractions), you must generate at least FOUR Synonyms and Antonyms for your concept while working on the thumbnails. This helps you think of ways to illustrate your concept...All designers do it all the time!

Make sure you are finishing your Type and Sound Designs, along with your Media Exploration assignment at home. They need to be ready to turn in BEFORE class on Monday. This means you have the weekend to finish up if necessary. (I'm so nice!)

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Daily "E"Genda--9/25/07

IMPORTANT STUFF TO KNOW!




  • Today was the last in-class work day on the Type Design, Sound Design and Media Exploration Assignment . Work on them at home if you need to finish. You can check out art supplies if necessary. Another possibility is working before or after class in the room. Arrangements must be made ahead of time...Just ask and we will work something out!



  • The Type Design, Sound Design and Media Exploration Assignment will be considered late if not shown to me by the beginning of class on Monday, October 1. You have the rest of this school week and the weekend to finish if you need it.



  • There will be a test on Chapters 1, 2, & 3 and the Elements and Principles Slide Show on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28! We will do the Chapter 3 Worksheet in class tomorrow. You can study the other materials now & I highly recommend it!



  • Make sure you clearly mark the items required from outside sources in your Inspiration Files. Otherwise, I might not be able to tell where they came from. Check the rubric to see if you have met all the assignment criteria. There is a required minimum score of 28 out of 40 points. If your file is below 28 Points, you need to redo it until you exceed the minimum.

GRADE SLIPS DUE FRIDAY!

STUDY FOR THE TEST!

Friday, September 21, 2007

Daily "E"Genda--9/21/07

Day of X-Treem Fun!


Today we learned a bit about COMPOSITION and how your work can be arranged to evoke EMOTION in the viewer. We PROJECT ourselves into whatever we look at...Sooo narcissistic! (That means we think everything is about or for us!)

Make sure to get the Composition notes if you were gone--You'll need them for the test. (Tentatively scheduled on Friday 9/28)

After the notes, we started on a MEDIA EXPLORATION ASSIGNMENT--
Get the sheet if you were gone.

Your INSPIRATION FILE is due Monday 9/24. Get items from outside, the museum,
Ax-Man and the Art Technology room if you don't have 'em. You will be presenting your Top Five items to the class and saying why they inspire you.

Start thinking about what concepts you are going to illustrate for for the two Creative Designs you think of on your own. (I assign 3 + You develop 2 = Five 5x5 Creative Designs!)

Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Daily "E"Genda 9/19/07

Work Day
Most people have finished their Life and Death design and are near finished with their Type designs. That means it's time for the Sound design. MAKE SURE YOU ARE WORKING WITH THE ASSIGNED FONTS ON THE TYPE DESIGN (clarendon or bodoni) AND THE FOUR ASSIGNED SOUNDS (car crash, clock, father/daughter conversation, or the tuba/flute conversation.)

Remember, you don't HAVE to do these on the computer. They can be drawn.
To do the Text design manually, print and collage the fonts.

Make sure that if you are behind (are not close to finishing your Type design and/or working on your Sound design) you are working at home or making time before or after class to catch up.


INSPIRATION FILES DUE MONDAY 9/24.
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ITEMS FROM AX-MAN (OR A GARAGE SALE/THRIFT STORE), A MUSEUM (OR ARTSCONNECTED.ORG), OUTDOORS, AND THE ART TECHNOLOGY ROOM (STOCK CATALOGS, ETC.)

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Look At This!

MEGA COOL EXTRA CREDIT OPPORTUNITY!!!!!!!


There is a PHOTOSHOP USERS GROUP meeting on WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10 from 7-9pm at Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD), Auditorium 150.


This is a great way to meet other PS users and learn heaps of different ways to use the program!


Go to their website http://www.photoshopusersgroup.com/twin_cities/index.html
(Also under HoTT LinkZ)
to sign up!


Be There or Be Square!


Daily "E"Genda--9/18/07

Work Session!

Make sure you finish your Life and Death design, and begin your sketches for the Type design and the Sound design. (Must show 9 thumbnails of each to start.)


A Note About Thumbnails:
This generally doesn't mean 9 seperate ideas. That's not what I expect. Try to have 2 or 3 really good ideas that you interpret in 2 or 3 different ways. The point of sketching is to DEVELOP ideas, which usually takes at least a few tries. :)


We will do a media exploration day Wednesday or Thursday. Wear your grubbies and be ready to roll up your sleeves for some good, messy fun!

Clarendon Font

Some of you may not have the Clarendon font in Microsoft Word on your computer. (Nobody has it in Photoshop)


Two Options:
1. If you have it in Word, type it out and copy/paste into Photoshop.
2. If not, grab the PDF of the file in the Art Technology folder in the Shared portion of the Student on STEP Novell (G:\\) Drive.


A Map For You:
My Computer>Student on Step_Novell (G:\\)>Shared>Art Technology>5x5Designs>Clarendon.PDF


Woo-Hoo!

Monday, September 17, 2007

5x5 Samples


5x5 Creative Design Samples





Daily "E"Genda--9/17/07

5x5 Creative Designs: Assigned Concepts
You have three given concepts for the 5x5 Creative Designs assignment.
(More on the two you come up wih on your own later)
Your choice of Photoshop or Art Materials!
Must show 9 thumbnails to begin!


Concept 1: Life and Death
Part one (the left panel) must accurately represent any industrial object, animal, mineral or vegetable; part two (the right panel) must show its destruction or transformation.
You must create a brainstorm list of 15 life/death concepts and draw 9 thumbnails, then have your design approved before beginning your final piece.

Concept 2: Type Design
Use the font CLARENDON or BODONI to create a design that illustrates one of the four following themes:

* SCALE (Through size contrast)
* POSITIVE/NEGATIVE
(Use positive and Negative space to create interesting shapes w/ the font)
* PATTERN
(Use the letters to make a zesty pattern)
* PLAYFUL
(Visually communicate the word playful through use of color and the letters.)


Concept 3: Sound
Make a 5x5 design that illustrates one of the following sounds:
*CAR CRASH
*CloCk
*Conversation Between an OVERBEARING FATHER and a Shy Daughter
*Conversation between a TUBA and a Flute

Friday, September 14, 2007

Daily "E"Genda--9/14/07

Work Day
Today we worked on our Life or Death Creative Design.

Some tips to consider:
* If you are working on a simpler concept (or want a higher challenge) you can work on this assignment in Photoshop. Simply go into "My Computer", select the "Student on STEP Novell (G://) drive, select the "Shared" folder, then open the "Art Technology" folder. From there, open the "5x5Designs" folder and select the "Trucks" file. You can open this in Photoshop and BAM! There you go!

(My Computer > Student on STEP Novell (G://) > Shared > Art Technology > 5x5 Designs > Trucks)

*If you are worried about your drawing skills, search the Internet for images and trace them using the light boxes in the room. Also consider collaging from the stock catalogs and experimenting with the unusual materials in the room.

Next Week
*Turn in your Parent Letter and Art $$ ASAP
*Finish 5x5 Creative Designs (Type, Sound and 2 Free Choice)
*Media Exploration Assignment
*More reading n writing.

Have a Great Weekend! (I'm Gonna!)

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Daily "E"Genda--9/13/07

Today we began thinking about our next assignment by reading chapters 1 & 2 from Design Companion for the Digital Artist (Against the Clock Publications). Chapter 1 focuses on ways to DEVELOP your creativity, whereas Chapter 2 focuses on how to MAINTAIN it.

The main points of each chapter are summarized in two Big 5's:

Big 5 Forces that DRIVE Creativity:
Inspiration
Motivation
Frustration
Intuition
Curiosity

Big 5 Forces that BLOCK Creativity:
Rationalization
Procrastination
Burn-Out
Overwork
Thinking "I'm not a creative person"

After reading the chapters, two assignments were introduced:
*Inspiration File: A collection of AT LEAST 50 items that serve as fuel for your creative fire.
(Due Monday 9/24)

*Five 5x5 Creative Designs:
We will be using these to begin working within idea constraints and illustrate concepts.
The first of these will be to illustrate LIFE & DEATH. (Due Monday 9/17)
You may use the art material of your choice to execute all five designs. (Other 4 due later)

Make sure to call 763-433-4035 or email kely.wakely@anoka.k12.mn.us if you have questions about the assignments or need a copy of the materials.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Daily "E'Genda--9/10-9/12

Ok, so it's not technically daily since it covers three this time...Semantics!

We spent the last three sessions finishing and critiquing our Personality Collages and Name Designs.

For our Personality Collages, we placed cards with phrases like "Most Pleasing to Look At" or "I like the way the artist did________" next to them. Critiquers wrote their names on the backs of the cards. When sharing their collages, everyone had to say at least one way it described their personality and share a card someone left with the class. The person who wrote the comment was the next to go...Sneaky way of getting each other to learn names!

Students also worked in pairs to develop a Positive and a Delta comment for each Name Design. Deltas should never be phrased or interpreted negatively. Think of it as "open ended feedback"...Something to think about doing differently next time. Then everyone had to pick one Positive and one Delta to share with the class when presenting their Name Design and 3 Tools/1 Filter paragraph on the projector screen.

I will collect the Personality Collages, Name Designs and writing assignments tomorrow.
Make arrangements to be here before or after class if you need to catch up.

Start collecting items for your Inspiration File (To be introduced tomorrow)...Hence the name, this is a group of things that will serve to inspire you as a graphic designer.

We will also start thinking more in-depth about the Elements and Principles of Design. I will lecture on them and we will begin a Media Exploration Assignment that will assess our understanding of them. For those of you feeling a little computered out, you will be relieved to know we are using all kinds of art materials for this! :)

Friday, September 7, 2007

Daily "E"genda--9/7/07

What Did We Do Today?
I am hoping this section will soon change to What Are We Doing Today? That way, you can check the blog any time during class and have a checklist. Until then, this is what happened:

*AM Class: Rules Charades, Computer Failure, Photoshop Demo, Work Time for Name Designs and Personality Collages.

*PM Class: Share your Personality Collages, Photoshop Demo, Work Time for Name Designs and Personality Collages.

*If you are having log in problems, let me know.
*Parent Letter due ASAP
*Art Fee Due Friday 9/14

What Are We Doing Monday?
*Work time to finish Name Designs, Personality Collages, and Writing Assignments.
*Extra Credit Assignment: Understanding Comics, Chapter 5
*Present Name Designs

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Daily "E"genda--9/6/07

Hey All:

Make sure that you fill out the form for a parking pass if you drive here.
See Kim Jones in the Health Office. It's at no cost to you!
Keep that ride in Lot B...Or there will "B" expensive consequences.

Also...
*Get your folks to sign that Student/Parent agreement. Due Tomorrow!
*Art fee due Friday 9/14. Let me know if there is a question/concern over the fee.


What Did We Do Today?
*Added another flavor to the Paperwork Rainbow
(STEP 07-08 Rules, Internet Policy, Student Rights & Responsibilities, Barsch Scale Study Tips)
*Started Portfolio Assignment:
Personality Collage: Bring in Photos, etc to finish it off!
Name Design: In Photoshop...Should be fun!

(There have been some computer problems in the lab...We may have to roll into what is planned for next week if the issue persists.)



What's On Next Week?
*Introductory Readings, Inspiration File, Creative Designs

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Daily "E"genda 9/5/07

Today we did the following activities:



Barsch Learning Style Inventory:
Are You a Auditory, Visual, Kinesthetic, Tactile or Combo?
Specific study strategies for each category coming tomorrow!



Building Tour:
Giving you the lowdown on what's what here at STEP.
(Health & Career Center, School Store, Attendance Desk, ATC Courtyard and Student Center)



What In The World Is Graphic Design? Website Worksheet:
My apologies to the AM class, we discovered in the PM class that the questions were TOTALLY out of order from the website format! Still good things to know, but will be laid out better for future students.


Tomorrow:
We will be starting our first art activities--Name Design (in Photoshop) and Personality Collage (using art materials) for your Portfolio. Be sure to bring in a pictures of yourself and friends/family/things near + dear to you! All materials welcome!
Don't forget to do your writing assignments (Worth 20% of your grade)


P.S. Parent/Student Agreement Form Due Friday 9/7--Art Fee Due Friday 9/14!