210

Your FINAL Assignment! You are HIRED! aka: editorial illustration for The New York Times

You have all just been hired by The New York Times to complete a front page illustration for the Letters to the Editor section. (see, wasn't it EASY to get a job?!?)

One of the most important things you can do for this assignment is to READ and COMPREHEND the letters that you are going to illustrate for. I am giving you two sections of letters to choose from and you need to read both, think of sketches for the two and ultimately pick ONE that you are going to run with.  

Your illustration may be in any medium.

Please choose from the following articles...

 

FOCUS: Heathcare

FOCUS: Joblessness

YOU WILL PICK ONE OF THE ABOVE TOPICS TO ILLUSTRATE

Fit your illustration so it will fit in the space where the current illustration resides - You may change the size of your illustration, if you wish, but if you want to stay true to the space in the article, then the final print size is 2 x2.5.

It may be in color or in black and white.

THINK about the space you are inhabiting. THINK about the article and how your illustration will help showcase the content of the piece. Think about color, composition, impact, mood - how does it communicate?

DUE DATES!

March 8th -

Read articles (I emailed them to you yesterday).

As you read, start writing down your first impressions. 

Start sketching ideas and during class pick the article you want to illustrate for. Once you have picked the article I want you to create 20 different ideas and then pick the best to start refining. I want to see ALL process. upload thumbnails to flickr (no need to add ALL of them to the group pool - just your favorites)

AT NOON: Editorial Illustrations GURU: Jennifer Daniel, will be beaming in so come at her with questions about what the heck you are doing. Also, be sure to have looked at her website and ask her about her work! She also PICKED the articles that you are illustrating!!! THANK HER!

March 10th: Bring in refined sketches and/or computer quick prints- upload progress to flickr - small group crits and workday.

March 17th at 10 AM / Final Meeting Time -  DUE: Final critique of editorial illustration. Please have final illustration printed out large (no larger than 8x10) and also place within the article at actual size.

FINAL ILLUSTRATION DUE in my 210 drawer in the Green Room by NOON on Thursday the 18th. 

Be sure that your flickr is ORGANIZED. Make a set for each project that you have created in 210 that includes all of your process and finals.

OBJECTIVES: communication, creativity, process & research, technical achievement and presentation.

Up Next: RAD Cotton Apparel Series

t-shirt by Print Liberation via Rumplo (example of an image only shirt)

Congratulations. You are all now fashion designers and your substrate is the most utilitarian, accessible piece of clothing in the world...the T-SHIRT!

Required: A series of THREE designs.

Your series of three must include a similar color palette and concept that ties them all together.

one shirt must be purely image illustration

one shirt must be purely a typographic illustration

one shirt must be an all over pattern/image illustration

The three must relate in concept and color. 

Example of a Type Tee via Rumplo

If you have a TOTALLY different idea, yet it is still a series of three shirts, talk to me. You might want to make them all three an all over pattern illustration or you might want to make all three an image only illustration or you might want to make all three a typographic illustration. GO FOR IT, but your concept must be solid and smart. I am open to your ideas. Don't be afraid to ask...I don't want to get in the way of greatness!

You may also experiment with t-shirt styles (tanks, v-necks etc). 

Example of an all over image/pattern tee

Remember: your t-shirts must relate in color and content.

Helpful links: 

Rumplo

Threadless

Threadless Select

Threadless Type Tees

t-shirt templates and model images:

Illustrator and Photoshop Templates

Model Images to impose your finished designs onto!

MORE MODELS

t-shirt blogs:

Hide Your Arms

I love your shirt

T-Critic

Cottonable

PreShrunk

DUE DATES:

2/17: intro assignment, start working on designs and concepts, upload t-shirts that you like to your flickr stream

2/22: DUE: upload yoru thumbnail sketches and digital concepts to flickr. Small group crit.

2/24: Upload process / refine / small group crit.

3/1: Final Crit. Bring in finished quick prints of your trio of shirts for a final crit. 

Threadless Select Shirt by The Little Friends of Printmaking - example of a detail zoom on model presented next to flat artwork

Threadless Select by Travis Millard - example of a zoom out tshirt on model presented next to flat artwork.  

3/3: DUE. You will be presenting each design as follows - Three print outs, one print out for each shirt. Each page will contain your design printed flat and off model and then the other image will be of your model with your design superimposed on shirt. See examples of acceptable t-shirt presentation above.

Next Assignment: Children's Book Illustration Project

Illustration by Max Dalton via Grain Edit!

Hey Hey! For your next assignment you will be investigating the world of children's book illustration. You will pick a classic story (provided below) then with applicable process and research you will apply your own unique spin through style and content. 

This assignment is a great chance for you to experiment with different mediums. Try cut paper, try watercolor, try stencil, try 3-d pop ups, try handmade texture, try play-doh--OH THE POSSIBILITIES! Add your growing computer skillz and your amazing concepts and you will be unstoppable!

The stories that you will be choosing from are as follows:

Little Red Riding Hood - Link to text

Three Bill Goats Gruff - Link to text

The Emperor's New Clothes - Link to text

Jack and the Beanstalk - Link to text

Hansel and Gretel - Link to text

Rapunzel - Link to text 

You wont' be using all of the text, but you will be selecting the parts of the story that you want to illustrate based on your readings. Use the text for the sections of the story that you choose to illustrate.

Inspiration links to start looking at...I will be posting more:

Grain Edit and a link to a Grain Edit search for Children's Illustration

Portland's Own Matte Stephens and S. Britt!

Charley Harper

M.Sasek

Drawn! is always great and here is a link to what is on that site in regards to children's book illustrations ----> LINK

Yo Gabba Gabba

Friends With You

Flickr pools: Illustrations for Children, Mid-Century Illustrated, Retro Kid, Vintage Children's Book Illustrations.

DUE DATES AFTER THE JUMP. CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW THIS LINE FOR MORE INFO!

Posters for the People: Re-envisioning the WPA poster for 2010

ABOVE: Two examples of WPA posters...Check out more WPA posters on Flickr!

Our first big project in ART 210 has us researching the WPA (works progress administration) and studying the posters of this time. 

Please revive the art of the WPA by picking social causes that are relevant to the time and culture that we live in now. You will communicate your cause in a poster largely inspired by the vintage WPA posters. Remember, you are only going to be inspired by the style and content of the vintage WPA posters...this does not mean you are going to copy the work you research.

This project is largely inspired by a feature that Readymade Magazine published in one of their issues last year where they had professional illustrators create posters about today's pressing issues.

Research and Writing Homework: Illustration Inspiration Upload! aka: Moodboard, Whaaa?

above image by The Little Friends of Printmaking!

This class requires that you investigate the illustration world that surrounds you. Hunt and gather, look, look, look, take apart work that you love...how did they make that? how is this image built? what makes it successful? why does it make my gut hurt because of its awesomeness? Why am I licking the screen? Why do those colors make the hair on my arm stand on end? 

The first illustration research and writing assignment requires you figure out what you LOVE when it comes to illustration and image making. I want you to hunt and gather as many inspiring images that you can fine (all images MUST have links and be credited to the illustrator). 

Next, make an illustrator document and place your images on one page. This is called a MOODBOARD. We will demo this in class. Please upload your illustration inspiration MOODBOARD to flickr with links and descriptions about why you like them along with technique and concept questions that you might have. Each moodboard should contain 5-7 images from different artists - one image for each artist. If you have more images, upload those as well, but just to your flickr streams and not to the group since we don't want the group to be flooded with a MASSIVE amount of imagery.

This is due by Wednesday the 6th. You will be graded on the depth and complexity of your questions and comments along with completing the required image upload. 

Imagery is everywhere. Start clicking the links on this blog. Start going to some of your favorite design site...GASP - go to the library and take photos of images you find in books! But PLEASE remember where you found the work and who create the piece that makes your face melt. Include the references. We all want to know!

Typographic Portrait Exercise

Using only one typeface, build a typographic portrait of someone famous (movie star, musician, politician...someone recognizable). I would prefer that your pieces be black and white. Convince me if you want to use color.

Check out these flash animations for inspiration. 

John Lennon

Bob Dylan

Biggie Smalls

Your illustrator artboard will be 11x17. Please execute this project in Illustrator. Progress and final to be uploaded to Flickr. 

We will be working on this during class. Please find an image that you want to use online and we will then place it into illustrator and you may use it as a guide when you are building your image in type.

After working on this for a half hour I will then show you how to upload your progress to flickr.

continue working on this and upload your progress to flickr by Wednesay, January 6th. If you finish it, great, if not, that is okay too. The main objectives of this assignment is to re-familiarize yourself with illustrator and to get used to flickr!

Your Name Here!

Image via teplin.com - see more letters there!

Design and Illustrate a letter. This piece must include only one initial from your name. Please do not use pre-made typefaces. I would like to see 10 well developed thumbnails rendering your name as a representation of an aspect of your personality. Sketch first and then render your idea in either photoshop or illustrator. Consider the style of typeface, the size of the typeface, the weight of the typeface and the letter spacing. Give special attention to the actual size and placement of your name in the given area. 

Illustrate these characters. Again, don't just type them out. Express through color and image.

Check out the site We Love Typography for inspiration. Other inspiration and reference imagery research might include, billboards, theatre marquees, vernacular type, hand drawn type, roadside diners, and anything else you can think of that might inspire you to create a dynamic piece. You might also want to research comics, dada, fluxus, russian constructivists, art deco and wood type as well. Think about bookplates. Also remember that simplicity is central to this piece. I will be gathering all of your letters and will be making a poster showcasing each person in this class.

Welcome to Digital Illustration 210

above image via ffffound (add ffffound to your bookmarks, by the way)

Hey! Welcome to Digital Illustration! This quarter expect to explore traditional and non-traditional methods of illustration along with learning more about photoshop and illustrator. We will have several large projects sprinkled with in class exercises, tutorials and illustration history (past and present)! Guest illustrators will also be dropping by (in real life and via skype) to help you get excited!

This class is fun! fast! messy! clean! building! making! thinking! collaborative! community! informative! hard! challenging! rewarding! It is what you make it! 

We will be doing lots of looking! talking! helping! guiding! drawing! clicking! thinking! asking! doing! 

Please check this blog often for resource links, assignment updates and other relevant class information.

I am happy you are here! Let's get to work!