Idm 194 - Summer 2010

Final Portfolio Websites Due Friday 8/6/10

2010-08-03T16:22:00.000-07:00

Portfolio sites due this Friday by 1:40pm. Keep the sites simple. Use Dreamweaver and utilize tables with 1 column, 3-5 rows to start. Add a header (w=800-1500 pixels). Include all work done in this class on your portfolio website.

Looking forward. And check these tutorials out for homework: Dreamweaver Tutorials

Video Projects Due Tomorrow

2010-08-01T16:21:00.001-07:00

Hope everyone is doing well. Reminder: video projects are due tomorrow at 1:40pm. No exceptions. Questions of concerns, email me. Main computing commons is open and has Final Cut Express installed on their Mac machines if you need access to a lab. This software has essentially the same features and interface as Pro. Art 301 lab will be open tomorrow by 8am. Good luck.

Video Comp. / Festival

2010-07-26T16:09:00.000-07:00

Comrades,
Check this video and animation contest out!

Video Project Due 8/2/2010

2010-07-26T14:36:00.000-07:00

Narrative Video Project:
1. 5-15 minute narrative video short. Must have audio. Dialogue or music. Or both. :)
2. Narrative: Plot, characters, introduction, rising action, climax, denouement, resolution.
3. Due Monday 1:40pm 8/2/2010. Please don't make me be an angry tyrant. Questions or concerns, email me.
4. Export file from Final Cut as a Quicktime movie. Place in my dropbox on Monday before 1:40pm. Critique to follow.
5. You have access to the Art 301 lab Mon-Friday; I'll check on the weekend availability. Also, you have access to Main Computing Commons by the Union during weekend hours.

Vector Project Due Today

2010-07-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

Please put Illustrator files in the Instructor Dropbox by 1:40pm. As I mentioned in class, you must include all linked files and fonts with your .ai file if you want me to be able to view the piece properly (i.e your downloaded font from DaFont, your ratser images, etc.). When uploading to my dropbox, please put .ai files and all accompanying linked files in a folder labeled appropriately with your name).

Here's a link with further explanation if you still are confused: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Illustrator/14.0/WS714a382cdf7d304e7e07d0100196cbc5f-655fa.html

Follow-up: 7/13/2010

2010-07-13T16:50:00.000-07:00

Comrades,
1. Great raster projects.
2. I know you're all concerned with Illustrator, but I promise you'll all feel more comfortable as we continue through the exercise and project. You're all super talented and we'll forge through! Keep the faith.
3. Vector Exercises (Abstract Character Rendering) will be due on Friday(possibly Thursday). On the Blog.
4. Vector Projects (3 Phrases) will be due on Tuesday. We;ll push back the sound exercise until later in the week.
5. Like everything in life, learning a digital application is a process. We're starting at the ground floor, and although I'm expecting a lot from you, I know you're all capable of exceeding said expectations.
6. Keep up the good work and take a look at the tutorials online. And these!

Follow-up 7/12/2010

2010-07-12T16:31:00.000-07:00

Comrades:
Great work today. The Photomontage projects that I've seen thus far look really great. I'm excited for the critique tomorrow morning. Again, everything should be in my dropbox by 1:40pm (start of class). Save as PSD files. 11x14. 300 ppi. No exceptions.

After the critique, we'll talk about vector-based programs and your next assignment.

Email me with questions or concerns.

Extra Credit - Due Friday 7/16/10

2010-07-09T15:58:00.000-07:00

Intro to Digital Media – Extra Credit
Due Friday 7/16/2010 .:. 7:40am on BLOG

Project: Design A Book Cover:
Technical: To gain a basic understanding of raster based digital imaging software and the technology, terminology, and techniques associated with it.
Conceptual: To explore how images and text generate a range of ideas and emotions, and to better understand how design and text can be utilized to market and advertise particular products.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Brody - Work of Neville Brody
http://www.davidcarsondesign.com – Work of David Carson
http://www.miltonglaser.com – Milton Glaser (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Glaser )
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html - Library of Congress
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm - Great Photoshop tutorials

Vocabulary: Raster, Pixel, PPI, Resolution, Color Mode, RGB, CMYK, Bit Depth, Histogram,
Levels, Curves, JPG, GIF, TIFF, Interpolation, Layers, Adjustment Layer, Layer Mask,
Appropriate, Effects

Materials: Digital camera (with necessary cables), web images, and a computer with Adobe Photoshop. A tripod and cable release for your camera may be helpful.

Process:
1. Pick a literary genre for your book layout (i.e. romance, horror, biography, memoir, textbook, comic/illustrated novel, western, mystery, etc.)
2. Using Photoshop / Illustrator, develop and create a title for your novel. Try to utilize or create a text that is suggestive of your genre and the book’s supposed contents.
3. Using a digital camera or by downloading images from the web or that you created, upload images into a Photoshop document. Again, create and utilize images that contextualize your piece within a particular genre. Must distort images that are not original.
4. Begin layout of text and images in application.
Dimension: 9x6inches (save for web & devices)
5. Using the application’s tools, combine your individual parts into one final piece.
6. When complete, please upload piece to blog with brief synopsis of your book.

Friday Follow-up 7/9/10

2010-07-09T15:37:00.000-07:00

Comrades:
So impressed by this class. Your talent, work ethic, and willingness to assist your peers is truly impressive. Super excited about the summer term and continuing to work with all of you.

Reminders:
1. Photomontage Project is due on Tuesday at 7:40am in my Instructor Dropbox.
2. Save the file as a PSD (Photoshop), 300 dpi.

Email me with questions or concerns.

Self-Portrait Project

2010-07-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

Narrative Self-Portrait Exercise (Raster)

Objective: To develop a strong narrative through a self-portrait.

Exercise: Utilize Photoshop to foster a representative image of oneself; this can be interpreted either traditionally or metaphorically. Upload image to blog as a 72dpi web-image 4inches x 4 inches. Also, please elaborate upon image with a one-paragraph contextualization of the piece.

Discussion:
A self-portrait is a representation of an artist, drawn, painted, photographed, or sculpted by the artist.

A self-portrait may be a portrait of the artist, or a portrait included in a larger work, including a group portrait. Many painters are said to have included depictions of specific individuals, including themselves, in painting figures in religious or other types of composition not intended to depict the actual persons as themselves. Often these are just faces in a crowd, often at the corner of the work, but a particular hybrid genre developed where historical scenes were depicted using a number of actual persons as models, often including the artist, giving the work a double function as portrait and history painting.

The self-portraits of many Contemporary artists and Modernists often are characterized by a strong sense of narrative, often but not strictly limited to vignettes from the artists life-story. Sometimes the narrative resembles fantasy, roleplaying and fiction. Besides Diego Velázquez, (in his painting Las Meninas), Rembrandt Van Rijn, Jan de Bray, Gustave Courbet, Vincent van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin other artists whose self-portraits reveal complex narratives include Pierre Bonnard, Marc Chagall, Lucien Freud, Arshile Gorky, Alice Neel, Pablo Picasso, Lucas Samaras, Jenny Saville, Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol and Gilbert and George.

References:
1.Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-portrait)
2.National Portrait Gallery - Official web site (http://www.npg.si.edu/)
3.The Narrative Self-Portrait (http://userpages.umbc.edu/~ivy/selfportrait/narrat.html)