The class began with clueless, but excited, teenagers ready to gain some knowledge (like in Mr. Ray's class)!
-We began with Illustrator CS5 and played around with lots of fun vector graphic variations. Assignment one (vector graphic icons) was all about simplifying something, such as photography, a salon, and a bakery, as I designed. This was to be completed using the shape tool, might I add! No pen tool just yet.
-That came in during assignment two (texture grids), where we had just used the elements of design and were using them in a project! This is where we learned all about utilizing the pen tool. We also learned about the ever-important clipping mask! My completed 3x3 grid was Design of the Week, might I add. (Though one of my squares is lacking a background on my blog, oops...)
-Next, we learned ALL about color! We did some fun assignments, too! There was a small classwork assignment where we cut out photos with each of the color schemes (complementary, analogous, split-complementary, triadic, and monochromatic) and explain why we believed this way. The next assignment, assignment three, was to use the pen tool to create silhouettes of some objects to create an inner and outer circled color wheel! We used to CYK (cyan yellow magenta) sliders to manipulate the specific colors we needed for the fill of each silhouette and filled each with a color to match the inside one! There were many layers!
Then we had some fun...
With Adobe Photoshop CS5 (extended)!!!
-For assignment four, we continued with the same unit with color, but studied the work of the iconic Andy Warhol! Most famous for pop art, this fourth assignment was based on him. We used pictures that were darkened/saturated and painted in the color behind the black shadows of the photo~
-We then began studying image resolution, dpi, resizing images, and all that jazz, and created photo mosaics for assignment five! I absolutely love how everyone's turned out wonderfully, and it was nice. But super labor intensive! And we only got--what--two days? That really put the pressure on, and I barely finished mine on time! Plus, it took forever to save because of all the layers and images! :o (I was pushing it, anyways, finishing two minutes before the bell rang!)
Around here is where we studied the principles of design! There are some previous posts from November about the principles, as well as a new feature called layer masks!
-Stephen Kroninger, that lovely artist, was the next subject of study! He creates fantastic pieces using magazine cutouts and collages them to create another image (there is a post about that here)! He also has his own book titled "If I Crossed the Road...". Our next assignment, assignment six, was to create a picture of where we would go if we could cross the road! We learned about making a layer mask and using either the brush tool (black in foreground to hide; white in foreground to show) or the magic wand tool! It was very detailed, but a fun assignment that allowed creativity to explode! I mean, I went to Narnia where Justin Beaver resides, along with a banana-horned Mr. Tumnus wearing an Aslan t-shirt. Humor is tolerated, luckily! :-)
-Assignment seven used a layer mask, too! In this assignment we extended our layer mask and color editing knowledge to photoshop ourselves into a photo of our favorite celebrity! Now, that also meant we had to take a picture that resembled the already-there people, and make a layer mask to hide our own background. I photoshopped myself into a photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, which was interesting. I felt like I was intruding on a very couple-y photo. I think I pulled it off, though. Maybe.
Next we learned about type using a Prezi presentation! Wheee! We learned all about the different kinds of type and the parts of type (like serif, ascender, descender, etc.). By typing up a word and changing it to outlines, we learned to create typography; the art of using words to make a picture.
- Assignment eight was all about that! In manipulating the letters and shape and size of a single word, we used a guide image to create a product with shadow and everything using LETTERS! Wow! It's very time-consuming, depending on the type of image, but it's rewarding and exciting!
Things that would be helpful change: Possibly a bit more time for some of our assignments! Maybe I'm just slow--wait, no. I already know that I'm slow-- but it's hard to keep up sometimes (with assignments, not blogs)! Plus, I can't download illustrator anymore for free, and I can only download photoshop for a 30-day trial, so things are getting tricky!
What I hope to learn next semester: I feel as though I have learned so much already! I am honestly not quite sure right now! Of course, I will be super excited for whatever comes next!
*All my assignments can be viewed on my Assignments page !
Happy holidays 2011, everyone! :-)
