Typography

It's time to turn in your last big project.  Before you do this....

• Create a name for your font. 
• Make a new Illustrator document, write the font name with the font you created and save it.  
• Then open up BOTH your font alphabet and font name documents in PhotoShop & save as .JPGs.

Upload both to your blogger and answer the following questions:

1. What is the name of your font?  How does the name relate to your font?
2. Describe the style of your font.
3. What was your inspiration when creating your font?
4. How does your font relate to your personality? Please explain.
5. What was your biggest struggle in creating your font?
6. What was your biggest success in creating your font?
7. If you could create a 2nd font, what would it look like and what would you call it?

Typography Prezi Links...

Typography Prezi from 5/15/12 - http://prezi.com/nu31hnzve-5b/typography-and-font/

2nd Prezi - http://prezi.com/ufnrer-swszq/typography/

Helvetica Recap + Assignment

Now that you have viewed the movie, Helvetica, I would like to ask you a few questions about font and graphic design in general.  Please answer the following questions below:

1. How does a font/typeface create a mood, feeling or image? Describe an occasion when you had a particular reaction to something in print, not because of the content, but because of the font?  
2. Think of the font you most commonly use when working on your computer. Which one is it and why do you use that one?
3. How is design an expression of the times? How does politics affect the art of design?
4. Imagine that the post office, your local bank, or your favorite store or company, whose signage is familiar to you started using a different typeface. How would that change their image or your feeling about that business or organization?
5. What might you take away from this film in terms of possible effects on your work or other aspects of your daily life?
6. What changes, if any, has this film made in how you think about print and graphic design?

And now, for a little scavenger hunt...

After you are done, come up to my desk and I will give you a font to research.  Find out the following:  

• When it was created 
• Who created it 
• Where it was created 
• Style of the font: Serif/Sans Serif/Script/Decorative/etc... 
• An interesting fact

Open up a word document and find the font.  In 72 pt size (or larger), title the page with the name of the font and fill the rest of the information in below (smaller size). Print this out and turn it in.

It should look similar to this:

Due by the end of the hour.

Mechanic Dude

When you are done with your Mechanic, please save it in Illustrator.  THEN, open up PhotoShop.  Through PhotoShop, Open up the Mechanic File and Save it as a .JPG.

Upload the JPG to your blogger.

If you don't finish it by the end of the hour, you must finish it at some point in the next few weeks in order to get credit.  You can do this during work time or before school.

ILLUSTRATOR! + new project

Hi-Ya!  Great job creating your ninjas!  Now, let's save them on Illustrator and post them to our blogs.

Illustrator won't let you save a file as a JPG, so instead - Open up the Illustrator file in PhotoShop and Save As a .JPG - OR in Illustrator, draw a box around your image with the selection tool and Copy and Paste it into your Blog (when you are writing your new post).

Upload your ninja scene to your blog and give it a title.

NEXT: Your new project will be to create a Mechanic Man.  I have put two tutorials in the Illustrator Tutorial folder on the Server.  Start with the first one that creates the outline (for this tutorial ignore steps 16-18), and then move on to the 2nd tutorial which shows you how to color him in.

Enjoy!

Currency

Congrats, graphic designer - you've just designed your own currency!

Make sure to flatten your currency designs, Save AS a .jpg and then upload them to your blog.

Give each currency a name (identify fronts and back) and tell me a little about the designs:

• Why did you include the images you did in your designs?  What meanings do they have?
• Which elements and principles did you use and why?
• What do you think you were most successful at during the creation of this project?

Due at the end of the hour! 

Currency Design Requirements

Based on the country that you created, you will be making currency for that country.

The basics:

• 2 FRONT designs of a different denominational value (i.e. a 5 & a 10, a 20 & a 300, etc)
• 1 BACK design
• Size: 2.5" x 6" (vertical or horizontal)
• Resolution: 300 dpi
• RGB color mode
• Save as a regular .PSD when working
• DON'T flatten until absolutely finished! 

Design Criteria: 

Front

• Title of Person
• Name of Country/Currency
• Country Seal/ Freedom Symbol
• Denomination value
• Serial Number
• Series Date
• Signature of Treasurer
• Disclaimer (These notes are NOT legal tender)

Back

• Country Seal/Freedom Symbol
• Denomination value
• Country Name
• Country Slogan

Remember to be as creative as possible!  Don't just copy and paste imagery.  Use your knowledge of PhotoShop to enhance your designs.  You can use images from the internet, but you MUST change them. 

Tools to use: Quick Selection, Magnetic Lasso, Blending Options, Contrast, Hue/Saturation, Shape tools, etc!  

Designing Currency: Your Imaginary Country

It's time to think up your imaginary country!

This project is graded heavily on your creativity and ability to imagine and create a make believe country and it's currency.  Think outside of the box, have fun brainstorming, the more elaborate you are in your descriptions, the easier it will be to create your money.

Answer the following questions to create your imaginary country:
(copy and paste questions into your own blog and then provide the answer below the question)

1. Where is your country located?
2. Describe the culture/people of your country.
3. What is everyday life like in your country?
4. What does your country look like? What colors do you see?
5. What does your country sound like?
6. What does your country smell like?
7. What colors are in the flag?
8. What is your country's slogan? (for example: In God We Trust, etc)
9. What does your country's seal/freedom symbol look like?
10.  Name of person in charge of the country and their title.
11. Denomination Name (you may not use one that is already in existence...)

Now, tell me two denomination amounts that you will create, who will appear on them, and who you will need to photograph to put on them.  (They must be people you know - no celebrities - consider putting yourself on one).

This blog post is due by the beginning of class on Tuesday.

Animation Wrap Up

Phew, it's been a while since we've been on our blog!  So, let's get back into it.

I would like you to upload your animation to blogger, and then tell the world a little bit about it.

1. What was the idea behind your animation?
2. What was your biggest success in making your animation?
3. What was your biggest struggle in making your animation?
4. If you could do it all over again, what would you change and why?
5. If you were to make a sequel to your animation, what would happen?

This is due by the end of class on Tuesday.

Visual Story Telling

It's semester 2!  We're halfway through the year and on to an exciting part of Digital Art.  Storytelling!  Eventually, we will be creating animations... but to practice our visual story telling, we are going to create a little art.

I would like for you to pick a nursery rhyme or short story.  Brainstorm images that you think of with this story, and then create a PhotoShop artwork with these images in it.  Make sure the PhotoShop artwork tells the story of this nursery rhyme in some way....

The PhotoShop document should be 8x10 inches, and 300 dpi.  You can use internet images (just remember to look for GOOD quality google images), and piece them together.

This will be due by the end of the day on Friday.

Friday due date:
Upload your visual storytelling artwork to your blog.

• Remember to flatten the layers and save AS a jpg.  
• Give your artwork a title
• Tell me about your nursery rhyme (you can write out the nursery rhyme if you'd like).
• Tell me what imagery immediately stood out in this nursery rhyme and how you incorporated it in your artwork.

Vexel Portraits

It's time to turn in a computer version of you!  Please make sure when saving your final Vexel Portrait that you hide the background layer, flatten your image and Save AS a jpg (you must change the format). 

The upload your portrait to your blog and answer the following questions:

Do you feel your vexel portrait is successful and why?
What was the hardest part of completing this project?
If you could Vexel-ize anything else, what would you do?

Happy End of Semester 1!

Hello, 2012!

Welcome back!  It's been a long and relaxing 2 weeks off... So, let's get back into Digital Art slowly.

For the first two days back, I have some PhotoShop tasks for you.  Here they are:

1. Find a landscape photo and transform it.  
• Use the quick selection/magnetic lasso tools to alter specific parts of the image. Change hue/saturation, layer different images on top, change blending modes, add text, etc.  Add and change whatever you need to in order to make a big transformation to it.
2. Transform one person into another person.
• Put someone's head on someone else's body.  Make it look realistic.  The more crazy and bizarre, the better!
3. Create an interesting composition using shapes.
• Use the shape tool (what we used when we made tessellations) to create an interesting image.  Overlap and place shapes near each other to create a balanced (symmetrical) composition.  Use different colors.  Use the Transform tools too (Edit>Transform).

All 3 of these are due by the end of class on Thursday! Uploaded to your blog with a title.