FINAL TIME, and list of project files

Our final will be:

Friday, 12/14
11:30am-1:30pm

I'll want to gather all your project files for the semester. If you've lost track of any of them, include a word document that gives a brief description of the missing ones (for example: "image and text project: a scene of Lake Tahoe, once with a tourism message, and once with a pollution message")

Please come to the final with your project files collected in a folder with your name on it, on an external or flash drive – I'll want to collect them. Here's the list of all the projects, and how I want you to name them:

LIST OF FILES

Please follow this naming convention:

You should give them filenames like this:

"(2-digit project number)-(your last name)-(project title).fileextension"

So if your name is Jane Smith, and the project was the self portrait, you would name the file:

01-smith-selfportrait.jpg

If you have more than one image for the project, append letters (A,B, C):

01-smith-selfportrait-A.jpg

01-smith-selfportrait-B.jpg

All the files should be flattened files.

And here are the project titles I'd like you to use.

1. Digital self-portrait, from three scans:

01-lastname-selfportrait

2. Text/image combo project (at least two versions)

02-lastname-textimage-A

02-lastname-textimage-B

3. The response to the collage artist

03-lastname-collageresponse

4. The paper for the collage artist

04-lastname-collageresponse

5. The "composite" project (something small made large, or something large made small)

05-lastname-composite

6. The "Tahoe Timescapes" project

06-lastname-tahoetimescapes

7. The "multiple me" project

07-lastname-multiple

8. The Fair Use Project (include the image as "A" and your one-page "legal defense" as "B")

08-lastname-fairuse-A
08-lastname-fairuse-B

9. The Brushes Project

09-lastname-brushes

10. Blurb Book Project (six interior pages)

10-lastname-blurb-A

10-lastname-blurb-B

10-lastname-blurb-C

10-lastname-blurb-D

10-lastname-blurb-E

10-lastname-blurb-F

Template for 6-Page Sequence

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ek7cgwlc2qq4jc/blurb-page-template.psd?dl=0

For Tuesday, Nov. 27

The week after thanksgiving break will be devoted to working on your six-page sequence, so come prepared with whatever raw materials you need (images, ideas) to use the time profitably. A portion of your grade will be for an initial proposal for the sequence, which is due at the beginning of Tuesday's class – you need to have at least a basic sketch (drawn out on paper, or cobbled together in Photoshop) of your general idea for the sequence, or a one-paragraph write-up of your idea (printed out).

I will also be collecting your "brushes" project and the "fair use" project on Tuesday.

Here are the specs for the images in your "sequence" project -- the one we're printing up as a book through blurb.com. You should have the images you need at the start of the class, so you can just jump into it when class starts.

Dimensions for Blurb book project
You will have 6 pages to fill in an art book we're publishing through blurb.com.

The dimensions at which you should create the work are:

Final page size will be 6.875" x 6.875" at 300 dpi (that's 2063px by 2063px). The pages need a 1/8" bleed all the way around, so the outer eighth of an inch of your image will be trimmed off on all four sides.

Keep in mind, as you're designing the sequence, that you will have three "two page spreads," where the image on the lefthand page will be facing the image on the righthand page. Think about how the images on those facing pages will affect each other, in terms of content, color, composition, and so on.

If you're still chewing through what a "sequence" is, remember that a potential starting place could be:

1. Time changes through a fixed location. What is a single place, that goes through changes as time passes, and how are those changes made visible? Think of R. Crumb's "History of America."

2. Spatial changes with a fixed subject. Is there a character, or object, that travels through different spaces?

3. Transformations of a character or object. Think of Klinger's "glove" etching. Is there a common image that goes through a variety of changes of scale, of stature, of meaning? Is there an object that can pull the images together along the thread of a visual theme?

4. Different aspects of a single thing. Think Hokusai's Mount Fuji series. Is there a thing, a person or a place that can be looked at through a variety of lenses -- the lens of history, of myth, of geology, etc?

5. Formal variation and rhythm. Remember that abstracts images can function in sequence, riffing on common formal elements throughout the multiple images.

6. Storytelling. Any sequence tells a story of some sort. Is there some sort of narrative that could occur through the five images? Think of Hogarth's "Harlot's Progess," or the comics examples I showed.

And you should "own" your artwork in this project -- you can shoot your own images, or draw your own images. You can use stock images (free or purchased). Or manipulate/transform your source images so that you feel you'd be well over the acceptable line of fair use.

Film link - in Truckee Friday

https://www.vandornmovie.com

Course Evaluation Link

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/lanier-80164-201880

Link to Maggie Pics

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w8s4qq3e2kp100t/AAAF_wGteo9HeDGE7jXApmeWa?dl=0

Civics Break

Voter info here:

https://sncvote2018.blogspot.com

Tutorial assignment for Thursday (10/25)

This Thursday (10/25), you should be prepared to give the class a photoshop tutorial, on any topic or effect you'd like to research. Google something you'd like to learn, or click around in the links on the "my blog list" column on the righthand side of this page (there are lots of good tutorials on those blogs). Remember, step yourself through it BEFORE you come to class, to make sure you understand all the steps, and have all the materials you need. You should be able to make your demonstration in about five to ten minutes.

Don't pick something too complicated to do in ten minutes, but don't get too simple, either. If you just correct some redeye or something, or review something we've already covered in class, you're not going to get a good grade (though it might be something that builds on things we've learned in class, there should be at least some new element getting you to the end product). Try to hit that sweet spot of "moderately difficult" tutorial.

Post a link or a one-sentence description of the tutorial you'd like to do in the "comments" to this blog post,  checking to make sure no one else has picked the same tutorial before you.

Assignment: response to Tahoe Timescape panel discussion

There was only time for three questions at the panel, so only Deja snuck in under the wire - she's the only one who doesn't have to do a short written response to the panel discussion.Instead of posting video (which would be boring to watch), I've posted an audio file. So you can listen to it while you're having dinner or sweeping or whatever. I'll give you about a week to listen to this and turn in your printed responses - they're due on Tues, Oct. 30.

Here are the questions I want you to answer. Take at least a paragraph to answer each:

1. We've discussed the idea behind the exhibition in class. Jonathon explained more about the project _ what was something new you learned about the project, or some new (for you) thought/idea about the project, that came out of the panel discussion?

2. What did you think of what the scientist on the panel, Geoff Schladow, had to say? How does his data-driven relationship to the lake connect to some of the artistic ideas in the exhibition, and how is that relationship different from the kind of artistic ideas behind the exhibition?

3. Deja asked a question about how youth could be engaged in the issues of looking toward the future, particularly in relationship to how embedded they are in technology. Please summarize Jonathon's answer to her question - and explain if you found the answer to be a convincing one or not.

Link to the audio file:

Assignment for Tuesday (10/16)

"Multiple You"

The next assignment is to create a picture that will have five (or more) images of yourself in one single environment. Put another way, it'll be a picture of some space -- a room, landscape, whatever -- in which there are at least five images of you, realistically inhabiting the space. There should also be some overlapping among at least three of the "yous."

Part of this assignment is technical - thinking of how you are going to best execute your idea, making sure the lighting works in the way you want it to, making sure you've staged the scene in a way that works, utilizing a tripod perhaps in stabilizng your multiple shots. The other part of the assignment is creative -- thinking through what the realtionship between your five (or more) selves might be, and what their relationship to the environment might be. It will be relatively easy to just position yourself in a room in five different poses, and just piece the five photos together. But there should be some sort of drama that is expressed in the picture.

You can dress in different costume for your five or more selves, so that the multiple yous are multiple characters. Or you could take the multiple yous as different expressions of the same central personality. Is one version of you the ego, and the other the id? Is one a voice undermining you, and is another a contrary voice of optimism and hope? What are the different faces of your personality, and what sorts of relationships or conflicts do they have with one another? How could those relationships/conflicts be expressed through action, through expression, through gesture?

This doesn't have to be heavy at all -- you can have a comical take on the problem -- but the bottom line is that there should be some psychological relationship betwen the multiple "characters." It doesn't have to be obvious or over-the-top -- there's room for ambiguity and mystery -- but it does have to be there, somewhere.

You'll need to have your photos taken before next class -- which wil be a work period for combining the photos. It might be a good strategy to pair with someone else in class; it'll be a good way of covering people who don't have access to a digital camera, and it will be far easier to compose and shoot yourself properly with someone other than you taking the pictures.

For Thursday (Oct 4)

This is your last in-class opportunity to work on your 1000-year vision of Ryland's photographs. On Tuesday, we'll print them out.

I did want to share one tutorial for a tool that might be useful for eliminating the background of images you want to composite – though it only works effectively for images that have pretty uniform backgrounds. It's the Background Eraser tool – check it out:

More Photos from Ryland

They can be found here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/o2zgutw2nfmc1vk/AAChj3kMbRpftZpqZiJSlD4Ua?dl=0

Tahoe Timescape link

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gbscuns2kg6vvsu/Ryland%20West_Millenium_Sand%20Harbor%20Viewpoint.JPG?dl=0

Assignment for Thursday (9/27)

Quick assignment to lay some conceptual groundwork for  your "Tahoe Timescape" photo –

1. Identify some historical event that happened approximately 1,000 years ago. Write it down on a piece of paper. Be prepared to share the event in class.

2. On the same piece of paper, write down some historic even that has occurred in the past 50 years, that you think people will still think was a significant historical event 1,000 years from now.

Assignment for Tuesday (9/11)

Write a three-page (doublespaced) paper on a collage artist, choosing from the list below. When you've selected your artist, post the artist's name in the "comments" below, along with which section of the class you're in -- morning or afternoon (and make sure no one in your section has already claimed that artist by checking out the comments before you). This is first come, first serve, so the quicker you pick and artist and comment, the wider choice you'll have.

Your paper should include some biographical background, to put the artist's work in context, and you should also choose two specific collage works by the artist, and give an aesthetic analysis of those works. You can talk about content -- what is the "meaning" of the piece, and how does the artist articulate that meaning? What sort of sources did the artist draw the collage material from, and how does that inform the meaning of the work? Also analyze its formal properties: how has the artist used color? Composition? Variation - of size, of light areas/dark areas, etc? Negative space and positive space? Rhythm? Texture? Is there a foreground and a background -- and if so, how do they relate to each other?

The central message of your paper should be a summary of the particular methods the artist uses and the effects the artist achieves through collage. You can break down the three-page structure like this:

Page 1: Central message and bio
Page 2: Analysis of one collage
Page 3: Analysis of second collage

You will be presenting your paper next Tuesday. Bring a printed-out version of the paper and visual materials (the two images you've chosen, and anything else that will help in explaining your chosen artist and his/her work -- for the presentation, you can make a powerpoint and/or bring digital images to project). You will also be making a digital collage that is in some way a response to the artist's work; we will be working on that assignment for a couple classes. This is not to be a copy of any of the artist's work -- but take some principles that the artist embodies, and apply them to a work of your own making. For instance, Max Ernst used illustrations from 19th-century popular illustrated novels and science books and combined them to make a kind of disjointed story. What would a collage-story look like if it were assembled from science books of today?

So - due this coming Tuesday - the paper (which you will present), and an idea for your "artist response" collage, which you will begin working on in class the following Thursday.

Use the MLA guide for citing sources for your bibliography, for the paper:

http://www.umuc.edu/library/libhow/mla_examples.cfm

Citation help:

Citation machine

Easybib

Here is the common writing rubric, which I'll be using to grade your paper:

http://www.sierranevada.edu/wp-content/uploads/SNC-Common-Rubric-Written-Assignments-4-columns1.pdf

And here's the list of collage artists. Not all of them were primarily collage artists, but all used collage:

Eileen Agar
Jean Arp
Romare Bearden
Umberto Boccioni
Mark Bradford
Georges Braque
Joseph Cornell
James Dawe
Arthur G. Dove
Marcel Duchamp
Dan Eldon
Max Ernst
Raoul Hausmann
John Heartfield
Hannah Hoch
David Hockney
Lee Krasner
Kazimir Malevich
Neck Face
Man Ray
Henri Matisse
Pablo Picasso
Ad Reinhardt
Allison Renshaw
Mimmo Rotella
Kurt Schwitters
Nancy Spero
Annegret Soltau
John Stezaker
Bernie Stephanus
Jonathan Talbot
Cecil Touchon
Jesse Treece
Marnie Weber

Please, when you've selected you collage artist, add a "comment" to this blog with the name of the collage artist you're doing your presentation on. Do not pick an artist who someone else has "claimed," so that we don't have a number of repeats in the presentation. Also - several of the artists on the list worked in a variety of media - make sure the examples you pick are actual collages, and not paintings.

Assignment for Thursday (8/30)

Your scanned self-portrait is due at the start of Thursday's class.

In addition, I want you to have images ready for our next project - the Image and Text project.

You will be making two different pictures, working from the same initial image. Produce an image that can relate to text in an interesting way. Create that image either by shooting it yourself (it can be a staged image, or an image "caught on the fly"), or it can be an image that is collaged from at least three sources (if you want to make a drawing as one of your sources, that's perfectly acceptable -- otherwise you can cull images from Google images and so on).

Using that image as a base, make two seperate treatments of the image, with legible text in each.

In treatment #1, use text that has a sense of "interior monologue." It doesn't literally have to be an interior monologue, but it should have that interior quality -- as if we're listening in on the thoughts of someone -- perhaps the thoughts of someone in the picture, perhaps the thoughts of someone looking at the scene (as if we're looking at the scene through someone's eyes, and hearing their thoughts).

In treatment #2, take the same image and place text in it that has a quality of "exterior commentary" -- the type of commentary one might find in a news caption or textbook, explaining what's happening, or somehow passing judgement on the scene. It should be as if the words are coming from a source that's not participating in the scene -- but commenting upon it from some sort of remove.

Each treatment of type should be distinct, utilizing different fonts and different layout strategies. Think about how the text relates to the image both conceptually (in the manner of an idea) and formally (how it sits on the page, how the shapes of the letters relate to the imagery, etc). Try to be as radically different in your font treatments as possible. For instance, if you have one treatment where the text is all one font, horizontal, small, and in one color, the other treatment might mix different fonts, run the text vertically, large, and in various colors.

You will have class time to work on this project on Thursday. But come prepared with an idea, and with your text and images already selected.

Welcome FA18

Hi there -- and welcome to the blog for the Digital Darkroom Class.

For next class :

Assemble personal materials for scanning to create a digital self-portrait -- be sure NOT to include photos or other images of your physical self. Give some thought to objects and textures that somehow say something about you, your identity, your sense of self. Make sure to bring at least three seperate things (all of them have to be able to be placed on a scanning bed, of course).

Please remember to acquire a jump drive, if you don't already have one -- it would be good to have it for Thursday.

And here are some links to some of the artists whose work I showed in class:

Jill Greenberg
Flickr "Brushes" gallery
Chris Jordan
Alberto Seveso
Andrea Innocent
Emily Eibel (Tomby Illustration)
eBoy Pixel Art
12:31 and the Visible Human project
African Digital Art

And the online art communities I talked about:

http://www.deviantart.com
http://www.conceptart.org

Visible Human Project source:



Finding Paths through the world's photos:



The Most Photographed Barn in America




 Link to syllabus:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6c4s0druusq7vmj/18FallDART230-1Lanier.doc?dl=0