Last class day! Are you ready?

I'm sad to say that tonight is our last class meeting. The semester is winding down and summer is almost here. I've enjoyed having you all in class this semester and I hope you've enjoyed this class!

We won't have a traditional written exam for this class. Instead, I'd like you to use tonight's class to see if you can place your animals into your environments on your own. Remember, you can select your animals by dragging a box around them (with your selection tool -- black arrow) and can copy them (using the APPLE+C key command, or by selecting: edit > copy from the menus at the top of the page) and paste them (using APPLE+V or edit > paste) into your environments. If you paste them on a new layer, everything will be easier to move around! Also remember, if you mess something up, you can go back by using APPLE+Z multiple times to UNDO what you just did!

Put your animal(s) in your environments and save them as a PDF to send to me. This will be your final exam project. Don't worry about them looking perfect. I won't be grading these on quality of Illustrator work. I just want to see that you can combine elements from two different Illustrator documents into one.

Please save your file using the naming structure: lastname_exam.pdf and email them to me before you leave class tonight.

Thank you so much and again, it was a pleasure having each of you in my class!

Lets see your environments!

Tonight I want you to finish up your environments during class and turn them in before you leave. Don't worry about adding your animals to them just yet. I want to see the empty environment first.

Please flatten your files (if needed) and save them to PDF and send to me with the naming structure: lastname_enviro.pdf

Next week we will work on adding your animals to them, and a few other techniques to make your final designs pop!

Creating your backdrop

You've created a bunch of animals using Adobe Illustrator. Now you must give them somewhere to go! For tonight's assignment, I want you to start creating an environment for your animals. I am giving you total freedom on this assignment.

You can create an environment that would be "normal" for your animals to be in, or you can create an "abnormal" environment. For instance, your giraffe or lion might look at home in a desert/plains type of environment. That would be a "normal" environment for them. However, putting your giraffe and lion in an office building would be an "abnormal" environment. The example I've shown above depicts a couple of monsters I drew (in Illustrator!) a few years ago. They aren't in a big, scary mansion, they are in a bar having a good time! That's a good example of an "abnormal" environment and how it can make your illustrations more fun!

Please feel free to make these funny, if you'd like. I love good humor! But humor isn't a requirement for this project. You may make a "realistic" environment for your animals and that is just fine.

Please take your time and try to put lots of detail in your environment! It will be the details that make this project pop!

Don't worry about including your animals in your environment just yet. Simply work on the environment and we'll add the animals later. I often prefer to sketch out my ideas on paper before starting to work on the computer when working on a project like this. It may help you get your ideas ready and refined before starting in Illustrator. Though, pencil/pen sketches aren't required for this assignment.

Use tonight's class to work on your environments. Use ALL of tonight's class. You will also be working on your environments on Monday as well, so PLEASE DON'T send them to me yet.

Get to work and create something great!

Finishing up your Illustrator animals

Use tonight's class to put the finishing touches on your Illustrator animals. Add as many details as you can. I want to see some great animals from this project! Before you leave class tonight, SAVE YOUR FILE as an Illustrator (.ai) document! (You'll need it for Wednesday's assignment!) Once you have saved it as an Illustrator file, I want you to do another "save as" and save me a copy as a .pdf with the naming structure: lastname_animals.pdf. Email me the PDF to look at. These are due by 9:00pm Monday night.

PLEASE save your original Illustrator file too! If you don't, you'll have to create more animals to use for Wednesday's assignment!

continue working on your assignment

Use tonight's class to continue working on your Illustrator animal assignment. Take your time and give the characters some definition. PLEASE use color in your illustrations! I don't want to see just outlines of animals. I want to see you using colors as well. Remember, you can use layers, just like you do in photoshop!

Use all of tonight's class to work on these and we will turn them in during monday's class.

TAKE YOUR TIME! Do great work!

Create an animal in Illustrator

Spring has sprung (finally) and warm weather is bringing out all sorts of creatures. In my back yard, I've seen birds, squirrels, possums, mice and moles already this season. They are the inspiration for our next project.

You should be familiar with Illustrator's tools by now. You even have some experience using it from our last assignment. Now is the time to put some of your new knowledge to work and actually create something in Illustrator.

For our next assignment, I want you to create some Illustrator animals!

When drawing anything, it helps me to start out by sketching my ideas using pencil and paper. While I am not requiring you turn in sketches for this assignment, I think it will help you achieve a better result if you do your "experimenting" using pencil and paper before working on the computer.

Before you try working on the computer, have a look at a few videos to get you started. This project should be fun and I want you to enjoy it. Don't worry about technical problems, just draw and have fun. The more you use Illustrator, the better you will get at it. See what a few other artists do when they want to create Illustrator animals:

Behance: Making a simple animal in Illustrator

Draw a cute panda bear using Illustrator

Creating a simple cartoon face

Once you have your ideas down for some illustrator animals, it's time to get to work. I'm going to give you tonight and Wednesday night to work on these. TAKE YOUR TIME. Don't worry about the details or making them too perfect. I'd rather see you making more animals (and getting more experience using illustrator) than seeing you try to make one animal too perfect.

I will expect to see at least THREE animals in your project. More is fine, but three is a minimum. Heads, whole bodys, etc are all o.k. Please feel free to look up other tutorial videos if you want to see other techniques. If you do this, please share them with me if you thought they were good videos!

Work hard on these. I want to see some great animals when this project is done!

Now, get to work. :)

Working in Illustrator

For tonight's class, you will be working in Adobe Illustrator. Illustrator is a wonderful program that allows you a lot of creative freedom. While it's main feature is creating artwork, you can also use it to make page layouts.

To start out, I want you to familiarize yourself with some of illustrators different tools. Watch the following YouTube videos and work through each tutorial on your own. Watch them more than once if needed and make sure you understand each one before continuing. There will be an assignment at the end, so keep reading.

Watch these tutorials and do the exercises on your own computer:

Illustrator's Shape Tools

Shape builder tool

Type tool

Saving as a PDF

Now that you've watched these tutorials, take a few minutes to make ME a document. I want you to create an Illustrator file that contains all of the following:

• One Circle

• One Square

• One circle and one square together (combined using the shape builder tool)

• Type your name using the type tool and place it in the middle of the page (use your selection tool to move it!)

Once you have all of those on the page, save your file as a PDF and email it to me. Try your best to convert your type to outlines before sending! (It's shown in the last video above.)

Please send me your document before class ends TONIGHT (Monday, April 1st.)

Illustrator time!

For tonight's class, I want you to spend some time learning what Adobe Illustrator can do. Do some searching and find me THREE tutorials online that teach techniques in Adobe Illustrator that you think are cool and send me links to those tutorials. It doesn't matter if they are advanced techniques or not. I just want to see the types of things you find interesting when it comes to Illustrator!

Next, I want you to search the internet for designs that used Adobe Illustrator to create. Be creative in your Google search and find some interesting things! Don't just settle for the first few you come across. Find me something very creative. Something inspiring. Something awesome! Pick your THREE favorite designs that used Adobe Illustrator and send me links to those images (or you can download them and send me the images themselves in your email, if you prefer.)

Finally, study your Illustrator tools sheet that I gave you. We're going to start working in Illustrator next week and I want you to be familiar with the tools.

To sum up, here's your homework:

Email me THREE links to Adobe Illustrator tutorials you like (and WATCH the videos!!)
Email me THREE links (or images) of designs you find online that used Adobe Illustrator to create.
Study your Illustrator tools sheet and familiarize yourself with them!
Be prepared to start working in Illustrator next week!

Quiz(es)! Photoshop and Illustrator

Tonight you'll be taking TWO different quizzes. One on Illustrator's tools and one on PHotoshop's tools AND resolution!

You got your handouts on Monday night and I told you to study! *BUT* I'm going to let you use your handouts, so this is an "open book" quiz night!

Take your time. There is NO excuse to make anything less than TWO grades of 100 since I'm letting you use your notes!

When you are finished with our quiz papers, please turn them in before you leave class so they can be sent to me. I believe Trevor will be taking them up. If he's not there, please leave them on the instructor's desk so he can collect them.

No homework over the weekend!

Learning about tools - Photoshop and Illustrator

Tonight you will receive several handouts that detail the tools you'll find in Photoshop and Illustrator. Knowing the tools is an important part of using either program. Not only will it speed up your work, but it will also allow you to create more!

Another key element, especially when dealing with Photoshop, is understanding resolution. Resolution is basically the amount of pixels an image has. The more pixels (higher resolution) the better the image has the ability to look. High resolution images can be sharper and hold more detail than low resolution images. Printed material, like magazines, always use high resolution images to maintain crisp detail. Digital media, like websites, tend to use lower resolution images because your computer monitor, smart phone, etc doesn't need all that extra information to display a nice-looking image.

Sam will be my helper today and will give you the THREE handouts to study during tonight's class. If you have any questions about them, I urge you to search the internet to find answers. Being independent, and being able to answer your own questions, is important. But if you get stuck not understanding something, please feel free to email me. I am happy to explain further if needed.

Use tonight's class to study these three handouts. Study them on Tuesday as well. Wednesday, you'll have a quiz on ALL THREE HANDOUTS! Be ready!

Have a great spring break!

No classes this week so enjoy yourself! Come back next week ready to work!

Photoshop assignment

Keep working on your Photoshop assignment during class tonight. Once you are finished, save your file as a JPG and use the naming structure: lastname_photoshop_test.jpg and email it to me.

These are due before you leave class tonight.

Have a good spring break!

Photoshop pre-midterm test assignment

So, it's almost mid-term and you all have been doing a great job with Photoshop. So now I want to see how well you can create a piece in photoshop without me telling you what tutorials to use. Think of this assignment like a test. I'm going to test your skills in both Photoshop and being able to find help on the internet on your own.

In the real world, a graphic designer will come across projects that require skills or techniques they simply don't possess. This is a common occurrence and something to be expected. So, for this assignment, I will be asking you to step outside your comfort zone and experiment with Photoshop that's beyond your own capabilities.

I'm going to pick FIVE specific image types I want you to find to use for this project. Then, I'm going to ask you to combine them into one document, alter them in some way and make a visually pleasing design. You may come up with your own techniques or find tutorials/techniques on the internet to help you complete this assignment. The most important part of this assignment is: you are on your own. How you handle this assignment will tell me a lot about you, and your work style.

Take your time, have fun and BE CREATIVE!

---------------------------------------------

**PROJECT**
Here are the five image types I want you to find and use for this project: 
(I've given examples in parenthesis, but feel free to use your own ideas!)

• Background photo *MUST* be some type of body of water (Ocean, river, lake, pond, etc.)
• A single building of some kind (skyscraper, church, garage, house, etc.)
• An image of a person. Must be a human being. (can be anyone)
• A real or fictional animal. (Horse, lion, unicorn, dragon, etc.)
• A machine of some kind. (blender, motorcycle, hairdryer, radio, etc.)

Your assignment is to combine the four images into your background "water" image. Emphasis should be placed on trying to make these objects/people look as realistic as possible in your watery background image.

----------------------------------------------

**EXTRA CREDIT**
If you are successfully able to do any of the following with good results, you will be given extra credit points:

• Alter the color of your animal to something wild, but still keep the animal looking realistic.
• Put an animal's *head* onto your "person's" body!!! (Sounds fun, right? You still must have a 2nd animal in your image if you do this!)
• Make a convincing reflection of your "building" in the "water" of your background image.

----------------------------------------------

You will have tonight's class and Wednesday's class to work on these but they *MUST* be turned in before you leave on Wednesday night. I will NOT accept late work on this project. As a matter of fact, I will no longer be accepting ANY late work on any project. The world of graphic design is deadline-based. In the real world, if you turn in a project late, you'll be fired. So, for the rest of the semester, if you turn in a project late, you'll fail that project. No make-ups will be given without a doctor's excuse or a copy of an obituary if a close relative passes away. Those are the ONLY two instances when you'll be given an extension, and those two will require that the project be turned in during the very next class you attend.

So, spend your time wisely and HAVE FUN!

Photoshop Zombies: Finish!

Please use tonight's class time to finish up your Photoshop Zombie photos. Flatten your layers and save your final file using the naming structure: lastname_zombie.jpg. Please email them to me before you leave class tonight (no later than 9:00PM!)

Hope you had fun with this project!

Are you ready to start working in some different software? :)

Photoshop zombies: Start!

Tonight you'll start to work on your Photoshop zombie picture. You should have watched a few (or more) tutorials by now and have some ideas of how you'd like to zombie-ize yourself.

You were supposed to bring a photograph of yourself to class to use for this project. If you didn't, check out one of the digital cameras from the help desk and use them to take a photo of yourself. I don't want to see any low-resolution camera-phone images used on this project. I want you to have a high-quality picture of yourself to start with. A plain background would be good, too. Unless you wanted to see yourself against some kind of specific backdrop.

Bring the photo of yourself into Photoshop and use it as your base layer. Then, start working on turning yourself into a zombie using the techniques you watched on YouTube. You may also feel free to use your own techniques as well, so play with Photoshop a little and get creative!

TAKE YOUR TIME. I'm not expecting you to finish these tonight. So DON'T finish them tonight. I want to see a lot of work on these, so don't disappoint me! You will also be using Wednesday's class time to work on these (and turn them in before the end of class on Wednesday) so you should have plenty of time to make them great!

Get to work!

Photoshop Zombies

It's time for a really fun project. It's time to make YOURSELF into a zombie!

There are numerous tutorials on the web that show different "zombie" techniques in Photoshop. Take a while and find a few and watch them. Find tuts that you can actually follow and understand. Tonight's class is all about watching videos and learning techniques.

Here are a couple I'll give you to start off:

Make yourself a zombie
Zombie-fy yourself
How to create a "skull-face."

So, take some time and search the net for different techniques in videos that you would like to use on your own project.

For homework tonight, due BEFORE YOU LEAVE CLASS, I want you to send me links to THREE different videos that show Photoshop zombie techniques you want to use on your on project. Just email me with three COMPLETE links (if I can't click them and have them open, you'll get an "F" for this grade - so make sure you copy ALL of the link) and that's it! Easy A!

Please take your time and watch a lot of videos before you pick the ones you'll use. I will be able to tell if you just show me the first three you watch. I can tell if the videos are outside of your skill level or not when I watch the videos. And I *WILL* watch the videos you send me links for!

So, spend this evenings class watching videos and learning. Come to class on Monday and BRING A PHOTO OF YOURSELF to use as the base of your zombie image! You'll start working on them on Monday and you'll also work on these on Wednesday as well.

Turn in your projects

Since I had originally thought that today was a school holiday, I hadn't planned for you to work today. So take today's class to finish up your project (if you haven't already) and get it emailed to me before you leave class tonight. If you've already sent it to me, then you're done! :)

Take tonight as a breather and have some fun. Come back on Wednesday ready to work!

Design from . . . words

This week's assignment will give you some creative freedom. I want to not only see you display some of your photoshop skill, but I also want to see how your brain works. I'm going to ask you to give me some creativity on this assignment, and I'm going to give you a while to come up with it.

Sometimes you have to design around an idea, rather than designing the idea itself. Tonight's exercise will have you doing just that: designing around an idea.

First, I want you to pick out four words. I want you to pick a noun, a verb, an adjective and an adverb. Maybe you have words you like already. Maybe you want to be random. I'll leave that up to you. But once you've picked your four words, I want you to a Google image search using each word. Find an image that comes up under each specific word search and compile those images into one photoshop document.

For instance, my four words might be:

noun: pencil
verb: eat
adjective: purple
adverb: quickly

I would do a Google image search for each word. (Type in each word in google and hit "search," then click the "images" tab at the top to see photos relating to your search word.) Then I would scroll down  until I found a photo I liked for each word and save it to my computer's desktop. Make sure to try and pick photos of good size! Then, I would think about how I could use those four images to create an interesting collage. This is the part I want you to take some time with! Don't just slap four things together. Try your best to create an interesting composition! Perhaps you can tell a  small story with your four words? Perhaps you can describe an event? The important part is to take your time and really give the idea some thought.

So, for your homework tonight, I want you to email me and tell me your four words. Please include all this information in your email:

name
class number (art 130)
noun
verb
adjective
adverb

Send me your email by midnight on Monday night. You may also start working on your collage once you've given some good thought to your ideas. But don't rush! You will be working on these on Wednesday night as well! I want good projects from you, so I'm going to give you plenty of time to work on them. Be prepared to spend all of Wednesday night's class working on these. If you finish on Monday night, you haven't done enough to your project and will receive a bad grade. I will be able to tell how much time you spend on these, so don't disappoint me.

Creating an image in Photoshop

By now, you should be familiar with Photoshop enough to use it. For tonight's assignment, I want you to have some fun and create an image of some kind in Photoshop. It could be a collage, or just  you manipulating a single image, but be creative. I want you to use whatever techniques you already know, or techniques you research using the web. I am not giving you any restrictions on the content of your image, but I do required one thing:

Here is your assignment:
I want you to write down the tools you used on the individual parts of your image. If you use the Clone Tool to remove part of your image, tell me you used it and tell me how you used it. I want to hear about your process in creating your image. Did you use the Magic Wand tool to select an area? Tell me. You must write at least 10 sentences about what you did to manipulate the image to avoid failing this project. You may write more than 10 if you'd like. If you can't write 10 sentences, you'd better go back and do more work to your image!

One last stipulation: image size

I want you ALL to create a new document to start this project. Remember, Command-N will create a new document. MAKE SURE YOUR DOCUMENT SIZE IS: 10 inches by 10 inches square and your resolution is 72ppi. If your image width/height defaults to pixels, you must change the drop-down menus to inches and type "10" in the field. You will be graded on this as well!

As I said before, you may include any kind of imagery in this document for your project, but please make sure your document is the correct size and resolution! Once finished, to to FILE -> SAVE AS and save your document as a .JPG file. It will say it's saving it as a copy, and that's o.k. Save your file with the naming structure: lastname_photoshop.jpg and save it to your desktop. Then EMAIL me your .jpg file *AND* your 10 sentence (or more) description of your techniques to me no later than midnight, Friday, February 8th!

Quiz on your blog readings

Tonight, you've got a quiz based on the readings you were supposed to do last week. This quiz will cover Getting Started with Photoshop and Photoshop's Toolbox. You may use both of these web pages to answer your questions. Please take your time! There's no excuse to get anything less than a 100 on this quiz, as I'm letting you use the sites and all answers are on those two pages.

Please send me an email with the answers to the questions AND your name in the email. Please use ART 130 - QUIZ 1 in the subject line of the email and send to me no later than midnight on Tuesday, February 5th.

Here are the questions:

-- Getting Started with Photoshop --

1) Photoshop's workspace consists of these three components: 

2) What are individual "panes" that hold information or options called? 

3) True or False? If you want to remove a palette from it's palette group, you can simply drag it out?  

4) Pressing CTRL-N (on a PC) or Command-N (on a mac) does what? 

5) Which file format works best with images that have large areas of the same color? GIF or JPG?  

6) How do you rename a layer in Photoshop? 

7) Which Photoshop tool removes pixels from the canvas by using either the: pencil, brush or block mode in the options bar? 

8) True or False? "Quick Mask" is a way to make a selection using the layers palette. 

9) Which palette is your key to time travel in Photoshop? (Hint: This palette lets you un-do changes you've already made.) 

10) If you must restart Photoshop, you would do so by holding down these three keys. 

-- Photoshop's Toolbox --

11) Photoshop's tool box is split up into these four unique categories:

1-

2-

3-

4-

12) These types of tools are used to repair imperfections in images or handle blemishes and red-eye. 

13) These types of tools are used for selecting objects such as rectangles, squares and elipses. 

14) These types of tools are used to create clear shapes and paths. 

15) Using this tool, a user may select a source starting point somewhere on an image, and then paint elsewhere using that starting point as a reference. 

16) What are Drawing & Type tools used for? 

17) This tool is used to move selections, objects and layers. 

18) This tool selects areas of similar colors in a single click. 

19) These TWO tools are used to paint  strokes in graphics. 

20) TWO types of colors also reside in the toolbox in Photoshop. What are they? 

Unfortunately, I won't be at the SVHEC on Monday

Due to some unfortunate work-related issues, I won't be traveling to South Boston on Monday as I had originally planned. I'm going to try my best to make it next Monday to be in class to work with you and answer questions.

Please see your assignment in the post below.

Learning more about Photoshop

Photoshop is a powerful tool. It is a tool that can take average photographs and make them great! It is a blank canvas on which you can create a masterpiece from scratch! Most importantly, it is probably the most heavily-used piece of software any designer will likely need.

Before we go too far, have a look at how one photographer includes photoshop into his workflow. See what wonderful images photographer Uli Staiger creates and how Photoshop plays a major role i his work. Check out the Uli Staiger interview here.

Now that you've seen some of the amazing things Photoshop can create, you may question how someone learns these techniques. Well, first things first. You've got to have a firm grasp on what Photoshop is and what it is capable of. In order to do that, you need to learn some basics of how Photoshop can be operated.

Mashable.com has a great post entitled: 12 beginner tutorials for getting started with Photoshop. I want you to read ALL the tutorial articles. (Here's a hint: you'll have to click on the title of each section to get to the article.) It will take you a while to read all of these, but I want you to do it. If you don't understand something, you may need to read it more than once. Take your time and make sure you understand it. If you don't, it's going to be hard when I start asking you to make things using Photoshop.

Make sure you read them all carefully and understand them. I will be giving you a worksheet on the 12 beginner tutorials on Wednesday and will be asking you to fill in correct answers. You'll be able to use the website, but if you don't read the articles, you won't know where to find the answers!

Once you've read them all, I want you to download some images from the internet to use and practice the techniques you saw in the areticles. Go through each one again, doing everything yourself. This is the best way to truly understand what's going on. Since this is an internet-based class, I'm not there to walk you through each step. I need to know you will follow my directions and learn these techniques. If you don't, you'll regret it when we start working in Photoshop for assignments!

I'm a big fan of self-directed learning, so you will be watching/reading lots of tutorials in my class(es.) Not just in the internet-based classes, either. When I teach traditional classes I always have my students watch tutorials to learn. In the real-world, there won't be an instructor there to teach you a new technique. You'll have to be resourceful and find a method online that you can follow. These tutorials now are just preparing you for your future and paving a road of self-reliance.

So, please take your time and read all the articles carefully. At this stage of the class I'm being very easy on you and asking you to soak up as much knowledge as possible. The time will come (very soon) when I ask you to start creating things for me and that will be when being able to follow these tutorials will count!

Let's start working with Photoshop

Don't worry. I didn't forget about your Photoshop tools quiz. :) The good news is: I'm going to try to come to class on Monday to see you all and give you a quiz in person! So, keep studying!

Now, on to tonight's work.

Let's start working in Photoshop. First, you can find Photoshop in the dock (at the bottom of the screen) in the folder labeled Applications. Fire up Photoshop and get ready for your class work. Once Photoshop is up and running, I want you to download a file to work with:

FIRST:
Download this picture. When link opens, right-click and choose "Save image as. . ." Then save the photograph to your desktop.

Next, I want you to watch this video called Correcting perspective with the crop tool. Using the techniques in the video, I want you to practice cropping the photograph of the living room sofa & painting. Try to get it as straight-on as possible!

SECOND:
Download this picture. When link opens, right-click and choose "Save image as. . ." Then save the photograph to your desktop.

Next, I want you to watch another video called Straightening a crooked image. Using the technique in this video, I want you to straighten the horizon of the photograph you downloaded.

FINALLY:
Choose either of the photos you downloaded for use in the next exercise. I want you to watch the video entitled Using the marquee and lasso tools and practice the techniques in that video on your sample image.

Keep trying these three exercises until you feel comfortable with the tools used in the videos. You don't need to email me your files or anything. I just want you to practice and get familiar with the tools and techniques. We will build on these exercises as we go.

Take your time. Understand each video.

And keep studying for your Photoshop tools quiz on Monday!!

SVHEC/DCC closed for the holiday

Just letting you all know that DCC is closed for the Holiday and there are no classes. Talk to you all on Wednesday!

Remember to study your Photoshop tools sheet!

Let's talk about Photoshop

It's about time we started working with the Adobe Creative Suite in this class. The first program we are going to touch on is Adobe Photoshop. Some of you may have taken a class or two of mine before, so this will be old hat to you. But for those who haven't, this may possibly be your first foray into the world of Photoshop. Don't be nervous. We're going to move at a pace that you'll be comfortable with and we won't leave you behind.

But first, I want you to get familiar with Photoshop's tools. I've made a handout I'd like you to look over and STUDY (that usually means a quiz is coming.) Have a look at the handout here:

http://www.thomaswellsphotography.com/art130/photoshop_tools.pdf

I'm not sure if you're able to print from the SVHEC's computers or not, but if you can, feel free to print these. If Trevor (or another student assistant is around, you can also ask them to print these for ou as well.

So, for tonight's class, I'd like you to try to get this handout printed, study over it a bit and fire up Photoshop and play around with it a little. Get familiar with the FILE menu. Learn to create a new document. Check out the IMAGE menu and look at "Image Size" to see how you can change the size and shape of a Photoshop file. Play with some of the tools on the handout to get a better feel for what they do.

When you come to class next week, be prepared to answer questions (did I say quiz?) about the handout and start working in Photoshop. So, tonight is an easy class but next week we're going to hit Photoshop pretty hard.

Examining design

You have found three images that you felt were creatively inspired. Now, I want you to think about why they inspired you, or why you felt they inspired others. Take a moment and go beyond the typical "I like it" or "it was pretty" and tell me what attracted you to it. Was it the way colors were used? Was it the message (if it had a message?) Was it a unique combination of imagery and type that worked together? Be specific when you talk about your images!

I want you to write one paragraph on each of your three inspired images. That would total THREE paragraphs! Remember, a paragraph *must* contain a minimum of four sentences! :) You may write more, if you feel you need more space to express your feelings about your images, but you must have a minimum of four sentences for each image!

Please type them into the email directly and don't use Microsoft Word or any other program. Putting them directly in the email will make them much easier for me to read from anywhere. Email me your three sentences no later than midnight this Tuesday (1/15/13) to recieve credit.

Remember, it says in my syllabus that I don't accept late work! I will make this *ONE* exception for those who haven't turned in their images yet. Turn them in along with tonight's assignment if you want a grade!

Don't forget to turn this in!!!!

HOMEWORK:

- write one paragraph for each of your three images from last week
- email your three paragraphs to me no later than midnight, Tuesday, January 15th.

A little bit about graphic design

First, I want to welcome those of you who didn't attend the first class. I'm sorry for the confusion the schedule caused and I'm glad you all are here, now, and am looking forward to a fun class!

Second, for those who weren't here on Monday, PLEASE check the post made on the blog. It contained an assignment (your first assignment) and it is a necessity for me to get that information. My email address is shown at the top right of this blog. You will have to copy/paste it into your email window. Please get that first assignment taken care of before you leave tonight's class.

I also asked everyone to comment on the post I made yesterday so I could see that you all are able to comment. If you have a google account (gmail) then sign into that before commenting. If you don't have a google account, you can comment as "anonymous" but it will ask you to verify yourself each time by typing in the code to prove you aren't a spam bot.

So, comment on the first post from Monday with the info I ask for, then email me with the info I ask for. Remember, I'm grading these! So read carefully what I want and send everything I ask!

So, on to today's class. . .

I want you to watch a couple of youtube videos. I think they are fun and informative. The first talks a little about graphic design while showing you several great multimedia techniques. You can find the first video here:

What is graphic design?

Next, have a look at another video and see what a talented graphic designer can accomplish:

When graphic designers get bored.

Finally, listen to some words of wisdom from a fantastic designer, Wim Crouwel. His life has been full of influential design and he is someone you should listen to, know and respect:

Wim Crouwel's advice for young designers

Those of you who have taken any of my classes before already know that I want to cultivate passion for graphic design in every one of my students. It's not necessary that you go out in life and become a professional designer in order to appreciate and love design. It is all around us every day. It is literally everywhere. So, take a moment to notice it. Even if it's just once a day, observe the work another designer has done and think about it. Maybe you love it, maybe you hate it. Perhaps it stirs something in you that is inspiring? It could even make you angry. But taking the time to notice it is important. Every single time you expose yourself to someone else's design work gives you insight, makes you more aware of what others are doing and, ultimately, makes you a better designer.

For tonight's assignment, I want you to do some searching for graphic design. Clever graphic design. I want  you to find design that has some thought put into it. Design that has an idea behind it and is executed well enough that the idea comes through in the design.

I'll give you one hint of a place to start looking for truly inspired, clever design: threadless.com.

So for your homework, I want you to find THREE pieces of inspired design. Something that makes you think, says something under the surface or even takes you by surprise. It's not hard to find them but if you're not used to looking, you'll have to give it some effort. Now, here's the catch: all three pieces must be from different sources. One more catch: at least one source must be from somewhere in the town of South Boston! If you find them, all three can be local, but at least ONE **MUST** be from SoBo. The other two can be from different places on the internet.

Use your camera phone, digital camera, etc to take the SoBo pic. You can even borrow a digital camera from the SVHEC if you need one!

For your internet images, I want you to copy/paste the link where you found it in the email you send me with your images. I want to go and find the image and look at where you were when you saw it. This will give me insight into your surfing patterns and will help me get a better feel for you as a design student. For your SoBo image(s), I want you to give me the street address (or other location) where you found your piece. I will check them out when I come back to SoBo!

Just so you'll have a better idea of what I'm looking for, here are a few examples of inspired, truly creative design:

HOMEWORK:

• Find three pieces of inspired, creative and/or provocative graphic design
• Two may be from the internet but at least one *must* be from South Boston.
• Email me all three pieces and include links to your internet images and location of your SoBo image.
• My email address is located at the top right of this blog
• Subject line of email *must* say: ART 130 - Inspired design images
• Include your first and last name in the email so I'll know who is turning in homework.

You have the rest of the week and weekend to find these, so take your time and look for something great! I must have these in my email's inbox no later than midnight, Sunday, January 13th

Welcome to ART 130!

In this class, you'll be taking your knowledge of graphic design and applying it in different ways. You will also be learning new techniques and software. You will listen to lectures, read online articles, follow along with tutorials and work on your own to create projects in this class.

There is no textbook for this class. Instead, you will be making use of the internet as a valuable resource and utilize it as your main tool for your classwork.

This class will take place completely online but you will have the mac lab available to you during "class hours" as well as open lab hours so you may complete your work. The assignments in this class will require the use of the Adobe Creative Suite of software, so access to the mac lab is available to you. I will also be asking you to do work that does not require graphic software, but be prepared to have computer (pc or mac) and internet access for those assignments.

I will post all of your assignments/reading materials/class info on this blog, so you will always have access to them from any computer in any location. I will also occasionally ask you to comment on posts here, so make sure you have the ability to do so. If you don't already have a google account, you may need to sign up for one in order to comment here. Test it out right now and comment on this post by stating your name and telling me one thing you'd like to learn in this course. If you can't comment on this post, you may need to sign into your Google account (or sign up for one) to do so. Take care of that RIGHT NOW.

This first thing I'd like you to do is to email me from your preferred email account. This way, I know I'll have your current email address and one that you use regularly. I will be communicating with you regularly via email, so make sure to give me an email address that you check frequently. My email can be found at the upper right side of this blog. It will remain there throughout the semester. 

In your email, I would like you to give me your cell phone number and tell me if you can accept text messages. Sometimes it may be necessary to call (or text) you about class or an assignment and I would like to have this information available.

For your first assignment, email me with the following information:

• What class you are in

• Your name

• Your preferred email address

• Your cell phone number (and say if it's o.k. or even preferred to receive texts instead)

Everyone must do this and it will be your first grade. Don't forget to complete this easy task and get a zero!