Art 180: Introduction to Computer Graphics I
Instructor
Robert Martin
Phone
323-343-4029
Email
Class Time
Monday & Wednesday 10:50 p.m. – 1:20 p.m., FA 226
Office
Fine Arts 256
Office Hours
Mondays & Wednesdays 09:50 p.m. – 10:50 p.m.
Tuesdays & Thursdays 01:20 p.m. – 04:20 p.m.
Suggested Textbooks
Visual Quickstart Guide Photoshop CS4, by Elaine Weinmann
Visual Quickstart Guide Adobe Illustrator CS4 , by Elaine Weinmann
Visual Quickstart Guide InDesign C54, by Elaine Weinmann
Students are strongly encouraged to research design and fine art techniques, as well as contemporary artist-designer issues at the university and public libraries, galleries, museums and through the Internet.
Course Description
This course will give students an understanding of computer graphics software used to
execute visual communication. We will cover both technical and creative aspects of three
Adobe graphic applications. They are Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and InDesign.
Course Content
Students will learn basic design principles and design theories for vector and raster imagery, screen vs. printing resolution, photo manipulation, typeface usage, layout, integration of software, color reproduction, and saving and managing files. At the end of this course students will have a solid understanding of software and design theory.
Course Objectives
Develop technical skills in the software applications used to create and produce graphic
design.
Develop projects for your portfolio.
Develop introductory skills for critique by attaining a visual and verbal literacy of graphic
design and typography.
Student Learning Outcomes
Demonstrate an understanding of page layout, vector drawing and raster image software
using the Macintosh operating system to create digital graphic files
Demonstrate the ability to save, transfer, and store digital files in proper formats.
Differentiate and properly utilize vector and raster software programs.
Properly employ multiple input and output devices for digital graphics.
Experiment with a variety of software tools for graphic production.
Create computer graphic imagery using digital software and hardware tools.
Method of Evaluation
Attendance is required at every class. Absences due to illness, emergency or certain University functions are sometimes necessary but students are responsible for all material covered during their absence.
Projects are the major part of a student’s grade. Projects will be graded on technique, composition and concept. All projects will have a deadline; any work received after the deadline will drop one letter grade (from the grade the project would have received, not from and ‘A’) for each class period the work is late.
Methods of Instruction
Regular critiques will be conducted to examine each student’s progress.
Class Participation
Participation in class discussions and attendance at group critiques are mandatory.
You must be present to present your work.
PowerPoint Presentation Example Screenshot
April 4 – Wednesday
PowerPoint Presentation Workday. Create sketches and select photographs for your surrealistic billboard to be scanned into a PowerPoint presentation.
April 9 – Monday
PowerPoint Presentation Work Day Continued, create sketches for a surrealistic billboard to be scanned into a PowerPoint presentation. Also include photographic digital images in your class presentation.
April 11 – Wednesday
Present surrealistic billboard sketches and digital images to class with PowerPoint.
Source Materials
April 16 – Monday
Present your Graphic Designer Pioneer PowerPoint Presentation.
Adobe Photoshop workday
Lecture on resolution, adjustments, color corrections, color substitutions, and manipulating images, simple retouching. Create a collage using digital photographs and/or scanned items utilizing techniques learned during lectures. You may not include images of yourself or relatives.
April 18 – Wednesday
Adobe Photoshop Workday
Student Work | David Leung
April 23 – Monday
Surrealistic billboard project due on PowerPoint and presentation board.
First Vector Assignment: Create graphic translations of a photograph using Adobe Illustrator.
First, find a photograph of an architectural detail with typography. You may use any source for imagery. Two excellent sources are Corbis: www.corbis.comand Getty: www.gettyimages.com
Import the photo into Adobe Illustrator, and draw an accurate 6-inch square, vector translation of the image. Match the color of your translation to the original. Next, duplicate your translation two times. On one, utilize a cool color palette, on the second, use a warm color palette.
Vector Translation from Photograph
Warm & Cool Versions
Go to the bottom of page
http://www.robertmartin.biz/how_to_mount_prints/spry_mount.html
to view the proper mounting example for your photograph & vector illustration.
All four images must be emailed to me before the deadline.
April 25 – Wednesday
Adobe Illustrator Workday
April 30 – Monday
Adobe Illustrator Workday
May 2 – Wednesday
Adobe Illustrator Workday
May 7 – Monday
First Vector Assignment: Adobe Illustrator Assignment Due on presentation board and PowerPoint.
Second Vector Assignment: Logo Project with Adobe Illustrator
Search for photographs to be used with “live trace”. This vector image will be used in combination with typography to develop a logo for a fictitious company. This class project must be presented on PowerPoint and presentation board.
Logo Project
You must use live trace on a photograph and you should mount a black and white version of your project.
Copyright Information
Branding
May 9 – Wednesday
Present Logo Project sketches to class
May 14 – Monday
Logo Workday
May 16 – Wednesday
Logo Workday
May 21 – Monday
Logo Workday
May 23 – Wednesday
Logo Project Due on presentation board and PowerPoint.
Final Class Assignment: Adobe InDesign book cover style sheet project
Integrate your images and provided text in InDesign. This project must be mounted on presentation board and presented with PowerPoint.
Book Cover Assignment
inDesign Book Cover Template
Redesign Jenny Holzer’s book cover.
You must have 3 sketches by May 20.
back flap
back cover
front cover
front flap
Barcode
Text Information
Back Flap Text
Some Other Guggenheim Museum Publications
Rrose is a Rrose is a Rrose: Gender Performance in Photography by Jennifer Blessing with Carole-Anne Tyler, Sarah Wilson,Nancy Spector, and Judith Halberstam, and Picture essay by Lyle Ashton Harris
232 pages with 141 full-color reproductions
Felix Gonzalez-Torres
by Nancy Spector
248 pages with 174 full-color reproductions
Rebecca Horn
by Germano Celant, Nancy Spector, Giuliana Bruno, and Katharina Schmidt
350 pages with 250 full-color and 100 black-and-white reproductions
Art of The Guggenheim Museum and Its Collection
by Thomas Krens and the curators of the Guggenheim Museum
348 pages with 165 full-color and go black-and-white reproductions
Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc.100 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10011
Spine & Cover Text
JENNYHOLZER
Diane Waldman
GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM
Front Flap Text
JENNY HOLZER by Diane Waldman
144 pages with 64 full-color
and 17 black-and-white reproductions
Jenny Holzer has been at the forefront of American art since the early 1980's gaining widespread recognition when texts from her Truisms series appeared on a vast electronic advertising board overlooking Times Square. Throughout her career, Holzer has intrigued audiences by placing her provocative messages in unexpected contexts,including posters, metal plaques, stone benches, electronic signs,television spots, and Web sites. Her canny melding of the mediums of mass Culture with an unadorned, emphatic language is perfectly attuned to an age of advertising slogans, headlines, and sound bites. Yet despite the very public nature of much of her work, Holzer has also created more intimate pieces for display in galleries and museums. Her Stunning Installation at the 1990 Venice Biennale was awarded first prize and brought the artist international acclaim,proving that Holzer's art is equally compelling wherever it is shown in a setting calculated to reach the masses or in the most rarefied art spaces.
This revised and greatly expanded edition of the book originally published on the occasion of Holzer's celebrated exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum In 1989 is a comprehensive document of the artist's career. A complete collection of the artist's writings, LIP to and including her 1996 text for a monument in Erlauf, Austria, is accompanied by color photography of the entire range of Holzer's installations and projects. In an insightful essay and a lively interview with the artist, Diane Waldman traces the history of Holzer's series of writings and the varied environments in which they have appeared. The volume is rounded off with a chronology,exhibition history, and bibliography.
This template can be downloaded at the bottom of page http://www.calstatela.edu/academic/art/robertmartin.php
Class Schedule
April 2 – Monday
Introduction to Graphic Design Theory and PowerPoint Presentation.
Research and design a short presentation about a graphic design pioneer. Search out biographical information, as well as a minimum of 3 pictorial examples of their work. I am looking for information about why this person is considered a design pioneer. Be sure to cite your sources. All preliminary sketches, photographic concepts and final presentations of all software assignments must be presented to the class via PowerPoint. Your class PowerPoint preliminary billboard assignment with sketches and photographic samples are due April 11. Your graphic designer presentation day is April 16. The final version of your surrealistic billboard is due on PowerPoint and a 15 x 20 inch gray, black or white presentation board April 23. If you do not hand deliver or email me your Power Point presentations before the due date, your project will be late and reduced by one letter grade.
Please select one of the graphic designers listed below:
Saul Bass, Herbert Bayer, Lester Beall, Josef Muller-Brockmann, Neville Brody, Alexey Brodovitch, David Carson, Ivan Chermayeff (Chermayeff+Geismar) Sheila Levrant DeBretteville, Milton Glaser, April Greiman, Armin Hoffman, Chip Kid, Herb Lubalin, Alvin Lustig, Herbert Matter, PauiRand, Paula Scher, Bradbury Thompson, Jan Tschichold, Massimo Vigneiii, Wolfgang Weingart, Tadanori Yokoo, Rudy Vanderians + Zuzana Licko (Emigre)
May 28 – Monday
Memorial Day
Campus Closed
May 30 – Wednesday
Adobe In Design Workday
June 4 – Monday
Adobe In Design Workday
June 6 – Wednesday
Adobe In Design Workday
June 11 - Monday (Final Exam Day) 4:20 – 6:50 p.m. FA 226
Final Assignment due on presentation board and PowerPoint. . If you do not hand deliver or email me your Power Point presentation before the final exam, your project will be late and reduced by one letter grade.
Supplies
Safety Requirements:
Safety goggles
Work gloves
Dust mask
Grading Rubric
All projects will be averaged on a 4-point scale. All projects are due at the end of class.
A 4.00
You went beyond all expectations
A- 3.67
Your craftsmanship is exceptional
B+ 3.33
You met all expectations, but did not push the boundaries
B 3.00
You did a very good job, but did not follow all directions
B- 2.67
You did not show mastery of skills and craftsmanship
C+ 2.33
You did just enough to get by
C 2.00
You did minimum requirements necessary
C- 1.67
Your assignment shows poor craftsmanship
D+ 1.33
You did not meet the lesson objectives
D 1.00
You did not follow directions
D- 0.67
Projects lacks understanding of drawing principles
F 0.00
No project – no grade
I
An incomplete grade is only assigned if you miss
no more than 2 class days
Other Requirements:
Storage devices (USB Flash Drives, Portable Hard Drive)
CDRW or CDR for turning in projects
9x 12-sketch book
Spiral Notebook for notes
Pencils and eraser
50 Knife with #11 Blades
Four 15 x 20" presentation board (black or grey)
Ruler (24")
Tracing Paper (14 x 17)
Super 77 Spray Adhesive (spray mount MUST be used outside)
You can purchase most of these items from the University Book Store. Other items may be found at your local Computer Stores, Dick Blicks, Utrecht, and or Michaels Art Supply. Please save receipts for your purchases in the case you need to return something to the art supply store.
Toxic Materials
Do not use spray paint, toxic glue, fixative, or any hazardous chemicals in the studio. There is no adequate ventilation for these kinds of dangerous fumes. If you have to use hazardous materials, do so outdoors so that you have adequate ventilation. Read container labels- be informed of how dangerous and environmentally irresponsible some of these products are, be healthy, and consider the health of others who have to breathe the air you might pollute.
Clean up after yourself: Failure to be responsible for areas that you work in will affect your grade.
Any projects or materials left in the Studio after the end of the quarter will be thrown away.
Students with Disabilities
Students with disabilities cannot be denied the benefits of, excluded from participation in, or otherwise subjected to discrimination under educational programs and activities in accordance with the ADA, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 as amended and any applicable state laws. Students have a right to an individualized assessment of documentation; timely delivery of services that have been approved by OSD and consistent with the letter of Approved Support Services provided to the student; confidentiality; and prompt equitable investigation and resolution of complaints.
Office of Students with Disabilities Location
Student Affairs Building
Room 115
Phone 323.343.6429
Fax 323.343.3139
Email OSD@clastatela.edu
American Disabilities Act
Cal State LA seeks to comply fully with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Students requesting accommodations based on a disability must be registered with the Office for Equity and Diversity in Administration 606, (323) 343-3040 or (TDD): (323) 343-3270.
Writing and Plagiarism.
Plagiarism is a direct violation of intellectual and academic honesty. While it exists in many forms, all plagiarisms refer to the same act: representing somebody else's words or ideas as one's own. The most extreme forms of plagiarism are a paper written by another person, a paper obtained from a commercial source, or a paper made up of passages copied word for word without acknowledgment. But paraphrasing authors' ideas or quoting even limited portions of their texts without proper citation is also an act of plagiarism. Even putting someone else's ideas into one's own words without acknowledgment may be plagiarism. In any of its forms, plagiarism cannot be tolerated in an academic community. It may constitute grounds for a failing grade, probation, suspension, or expulsion.