cut paper conflict

Based on what we saw of Kara Walker, talking about the complexity of conflict, personal & local history, and narrative, consider your own history. I’m still new enough here to not really understand this vacation destination and the animosity towards vacationers that I hear from most students, but it’s clearly a complex dynamic. This community depends on the influx of money & visitors, and yet holds them in obvious contempt.

Using three simple silhouette images, create a narrative that explores that conflict. As always, I’d recommend starting from a point of personal experience, and then embellish beyond recognition if necessary. Build your images in illustrator, and we’ll project onto large sheets of paper, to be cut later. Your image will include:

• Two interacting figures of varying scale
• A clear figure/ground relationship
• Three objects that relate to either/both figure or ground

Unity principles	effort/carefulness	Line quality of cut paper	Met requirements	Total 30 pts
10	10	5	5

using photoshop with illustrator...

This may get a bit messy, but here's the basic process:

Importing vector images

1. open photoshop
2. file - open - select your illustrator file - open
3. pop-up window will ask you about resolution & file size - choose 300dpi and make the file size somewhere around 8x10" so it's not an enormous file
4. it may take a moment to rasterize your vector image, but it will pop open a new window with your work visible
5. save your file as a .psd (photoshop document, which preserves layers)

Selecting shapes

1. use the wand tool to select your shapes
2. adjust the tolerance to select more or less (default is 32)
3. click on the shape that you want selected
4. if you want more shapes to be selected also, hold shift and select again with wand
5. to deselect, hit apple D

Importing textures

1. file - open - select your texture scans or photo
2. these will open in new windows
3. select all (apple A) and copy texture
4. click back to the day of blood file
5. paste texture (apple V)
6. this adds the texture as a new layer

Using opacity, blending modes & inverse selection to create texture as an overlay

1. select the layer which has the original drawing (click in the layers palette)
2. use the wand tool to select the shape you want to add texture to
3. go to select - inverse
4. now everything but that shape is selected
5. in the palette layer, select the layer of the appropriate texture - shape selection should still be visible
6. hit delete, and all the negative space of the texture will vanish, leaving only texture in the shape of your drawing
7. on the palette layer, adjust opacity & blending modes until you're satisfied

So you wish your texture didn't have color?

1. in your original texture file, go to image menu - mode - grayscale
2. this tosses out the color info, and allows you to add texture as a grayscale value image

Saving work files

1. save your project as a .psd which preserves the layers
2. when you go to post it online, you need to flatten layers & save as a .jpg (layer menu - flatten, then save as)

That should give you plenty to play with. Keep in mind that you'll be submitting the original illustrator drawing, this .psd with texture, and an actual hand made collage next week, so we can compare the three versions.

texture!

For our next project we'll be experimenting with texture, and dabbling in Photoshop briefly. We'll also be working in the physical world.

For homework, you'll need to locate a variety of textures - some to scan, and some to use as collage elements. Scan a variety of objects/textures so you have them on hand. Scan at 300dpi so that you have a decent resolution & size to work with.

You also need to begin the vector based illustration that responds to the Day of Blood. That illustration will be the foundation for the texture variations, so be sure to start it, and it would be great to have it finished.

Next week will be a studio day, so you can really work. We'll aim to have the vector & raster versions complete by the end. The collage version will be completed outside of class.

animal intelligence...

So, we had that meandering discussion last week about animal intelligence & pleasure, and I thought I'd post a link to a great RadioLab show called Animal Minds. There's a follow up short called Lucy that's also worth listening to, and even has a sexual pleasure moment that more directly applies to our discussion.

Enjoy, and let me know what you think.

self portrait...

The tools:
Pen –
adding & deleting anchors
joining separate shapes
Placing jpgs
Linking images – don’t do it!
Dim images to ___%
Live trace
Eyedropper
Magic wand


In-class assignment:
Self portrait x3 – how do nurture your memory of self?
1. Consider the short story by Alan Lightman as you work on the first layer of your portrait.
2. Using the photo that we took at the beginning of class, place your jpg portrait on a layer, lock that layer, then trace and draw (on a new layer) to create a self-portrait that’s relatively photo-realistic on one layer. For the sake of comparison, livetrace a copy of your jpg – please don’t use it in your final image, but it’s worth seeing what it can accomplish. When you’ve finished this portrait, select the photo layer and delete it – the final file cannot have a jpg image – vector only. Lock (and hide if you want) this layer, so you aren’t adding to or altering it.
3. Create a new layer, and develop a new portrait that exploits this Book of Memory. For this layer, you’ll make an image that represents a moment that you would (or have) record in your own Book of Memory. Use unity concepts to drive home the quality of this moment. Make sure that this second portrait creates an image that is drastically different than the first layer.
OR:
4. Create another new layer, and develop a new portrait that represents a moment you would not record in your Book of Memory. Again, use unity concepts to drive home the quality of this moment, and make sure that this portrait creates an image that is drastically different than the first two.


In the end, you’ll have two vector only layers that explore your own sense of memory. Think about how your own memory functions, and how you embellish or edit these memories to suit your current needs – this quality can be reflected in your imagery. As always, don’t present moments or images that leave you vulnerable or exposed. We’ll work on these next week in class, and evaluate our time then – if we need more time to make these stronger, we’ll take it.

finally...text tools

Tools

Text tools

Create outlines

Effects

Distort & transform

Stylize

Warp

Warp tools

In-class assignment:

Text and image – mania/phobia

Locate a mania or a phobia that you have an interest in, wish you had, or do have. Be sure to bring the correct spelling and a fairly clinical description of the mania or phobia.

Part 1: Create an illustrated initial for the name of your mania/phobia. Combine imagery that reflects the quality of the condition and also creates a legible letterform. Complete this image by selecting and arranging a typefont to finish the spelling of the mania/phobia.

On a second layer named “hand lettering”, use your illustrated initial again, but this time letter the remaining letters by hand, using color, scale, proximity, continuation and/or line quality to reinforce the psychological quality of your mania/phobia.

Save the file as “your name text.”

Part 2: Create a third layer named “text as image.” Using the type tools to create text on a line and text as shape, use your text type as an image. Build a form out of text only that illustrates the quality of your mania/phobia, without using the name of the affliction or a clinical description. Instead, write a block of text that illustrates your interest and relationship to the mania/phobia – whatever you write will become the image, and must be legible.

This is due next week, and will be critiqued at the start of class. Keep in mind that a literal description of your affliction probably isn’t the most interesting. For instance, my dad told me he was acrophobic – afraid of heights. But he explained he wasn’t afraid of falling, which I expected, but rather, he was afraid he would be tempted to jump. That’s a much more complex and interesting description of a fear of heights.

Compelling use of mani/phobia	3 layers – illustrated initial, hand lettered, text as image	Craftsmanship/effort	Unity items	Technical proficiency	Total 30 pts
6	6	6	6	6

Homework:

1. Complete the text assignment.
2. Bring a digital photo of yourself to class next week. We’ll be working on a self portrait, and you’ll need an image to start with. If you forget this, we’ll snap a quick shot in class.

text project, take 2...

Ok, I changed my mind on this one. Bring the original piece of text, just in case we need it, but the new thing we need is for you to choose a phobia or a mania. This will be the foundation for the next project, and you need to have it in hand for next week's class.

Here are 2 links for lists of manias and phobias:

http://phobialist.com/

http://phrontistery.info/mania.html

text project...

Text illustration – where are you going?
Locate some text – a poem, song, quote or something that you wrote – that addresses your thoughts concerning where you are going. What do you expect for yourself as an artist, a student and/or a human?
Come prepared to work on this text based illustration next week. Following out triptych crit, we'll have a quick text tool demo, and then studio time.

triptych

Illustrator triptych – what were you taught?

Create a triptych that uses at least 3 frames. Use the brushes, text tools and shape tools to recreate the sketches that you made for today. Use color & text to enhance your initial drawings, and you may want to mess around with gradients & some distort tools. Start by drawing the frames in which the story is to take place, and go from there.

Thematically, we’ll make this project about your upbringing. Think about how your upbringing and the place that you come from affects the way you see things. Perhaps your community or region has particular nuances, or your family pushed you in certain directions, and you think in a manner unique to your family. What were you taught, by whom, how did you react, and how does that affect your sense of vision?

Also consider what you saw in Waking Life—how did they fill backgrounds, illustrate the human form, or advance the narrative? The movie has such an interesting visual approach to storytelling—what can you borrow for your own comic?

Whatever you do, make it interesting and avoid cliché. We’ll work on this next week.

3 panels	Technical proficiency	effort/carefulness	"about" learning	Total
10	5	10	5	30 pts

color & line control

Tools

Color guide palette

· Desaturating color

· Emphasis & subordination

· Web-only color picker

Line quality

· Stroke palette

· Brushes palette

Layers

In class assignment:

Add three new layers, and copy/paste your still life on each layer, or duplicate your original layer three times. Name your four layers “original,” “desaturated,” “scale,” and “repetition.” On each of the new layers you’ll be making adjustments to your original still life composition.

1. Desaturate your colors on every object but the focal point, either by adjusting existing color or adding translucent shapes on top.

2. For the scale layer, adjust the sizes of your still life objects, and break the picture plane with one of them.

3. On the repetition layer, I’d like you to use repetition & variety to create an entirely new image using only those objects.

We’ll look at these new images before class ends.

more basic tools...

Transparency

Smooth & erase pencil

Scissors & knife

Gradients

Mesh tool

Swatches, patterns & symbols

Warp tools

In-class assignment:

1. Launch Adobe Illustrator

2. Review the terms & tools we covered in class

3. Run outside and collect 5 items – 2 that are inorganic and 3 that are organic

4. Create an interesting still life on your desk and use the basic tools to draw your arrangement

5. Be mindful that this could be wicked boring, so exploit color, line and composition in order to make a compelling image

Homework:

Complete this still life for next class, consulting your Unity checklist along the way. Pay special attention to continuation & proximity, so you avoid a boring pile of stuff.

Next week we’ll work on a 3 panel drawing (a triptych) based on how you were taught. Consider who told you what, what you believed or didn’t, and how that affects who you are now. Come prepared to start work on this topic – any sketches or plans will help you immensely.

Technical proficiency	effort/carefulness	Strong design – proximity & continuation	Total
10	10	10	30 pts

darn this snow...

Hello all!

I've heard from a handful of you guys, and it seems like this snow undermined your efforts to complete mom. So, bring whatever you have, and we'll take some time in the beginning of class to get everyone close to complete. Maybe that's 15 minutes, maybe it's 30. We'll see what we need, but don't worry yourselves!

1st demo

Adobe Illustrator

The basics:

Drawing program

Rasters (bitmap) vs. paths

Object oriented program

Palettes & tear-offs

Tools

Artboard

Object

Paths

Anchor point

Fill

Stroke

The tools:

Selection (v)

Direct selection (a)

Rectangle (m)

Ellipse

Paintbrush (b)

Pencil (n)

Pen (p)

Hand (spacebar)

Zoom (z)

Group/ungroup

Bring to back/front

Undo (apple z)

Complete your mom for next class. Consult your Unity checklist, so that you bring a completed composition and not a figure floating in white space.

Next week we’ll work on an arranged still life, so come prepared. You’ll need five objects in all – 2 or 3 will be organic in nature, and 2 or 3 will be inorganic in nature. Don’t bring anything sandy, sticky or sharp – we can’t damage the workspace or computers in any way.

Post your mom image to your blog before class so that people can scope it out. If there's some funky color when you post your image, look for a post below for help.