Jean Robison's blog

Comic characters for Art 41

Thinking about how you will display your comic panels for Project 2, consider stretching the medium and making an interesting and dynamic layout with differently shaped panels, deciding how to incorporate text (if you include words), choosing interesting colors, filling the background or leaving it open etc.

McCloud’s TED talk gives an overview of comics in history from pre-print, print and into post-print. He is optimistic that, although hyperlinked information is inherently non-spatial, the Internet provides an infinite canvas for comic storytelling.

 

Here’s an example he uses to illustrate the idea of an infinite canvas: “Pup Contemplates the Heat Death of the Universe,” by Drew Weing.

http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/tutorials/create-a-cute-furry-vector-monster-in-illustrator

Illustrator!

Art 41 people, we are about to embark on a fabulous vector journey. Departure date: tomorow. I'll be explaining the Illustrator interface as well as demonstrating a few tools such as:

making shapes and using a fill/stroke and gradient
Transform tool
Warp tool
Scale tool
Pathfinder tools for creating shapes

Type tools: Various directions to type and of course many fonts
create outlines with type to make typeface into graphic, then can apply path finder tools, alter points with direct select tool, arrange letters etc.

Place an image made in Photoshop, Illustrator or other
use a Clipping Mask to change the shape of placed image

We'll be practicing in class tomorrow by making Exquisite Corpses. This a fun, creative and collaborative way to get you started with the new program.



An exquisite Exquisite Corpse example.

Here are some Adobe tutorials on Illustrator CS5 to help you get started or maybe unstuck.

CSS Tutorials on Vimeo for you wonderful budding web designers

Local artist, educator and all around great guy, Curtis Stage, has posted several useful video tutorials on CSS and other aspects of Web making on Vimeo. Check them out!

Incredible cigarette ash landscapes by Yang Yongliang

Art 41ers! Take a look at this digital photographic collaging in an installation. This work is based on a different concept that your current photographic collaging project but how inspiring is this level of detail and ambition?

“Cigarette Ash Landscape” is an installation by Yang Yongliang. Black and white photographs were cut out and collaged together to evoke the image of a cigarette dropping ashes into a flowery field.

A Communication Primer by Charles and Ray Eames

Check out this terrific film by Charles and Ray Eames the dynamic design duo. It is a fascinating lesson on how communication occurs best. Though the piece was made in 1953, the ideas are very useful to the contemporary visual communicator. It is a favorite of mine!

Link to my Tumblr to view A Communication Primer.

Art 41 and Art 43

ART 41 Work on your Project 1 Photoshop Kaleidoscopes. Remember to use a minimum of three photographic elements. You may end up using many more than three. Use your Paths and pen tool to create a precise selection to isolate the images.  Name your layers and create layer groups if necessary. You will use the Transform tools such as rotate and scale to maipulate and arrange your images into an all over balanced and rhythymic composition. Be sure to make any image adjustments to your images, such as adjusting the levels and color balance, before making layer copies.

ART 43 Post your animated gif projects to your blog so I can see them. On Thursday I will demonstrate how to use Behaviours in Dreamweaver to make a pop up window for your gifs. Continue to practice making html pages. Insert images and make links between multiple html pages with images and/or text in DW. Read Chapter 2 in the text book.