Computer Graphic Art—ALK
Introduction
This course in intended to continue to meet the established New York State learning standards concerning the visual arts. It should sever as an advanced elective studio course for students who have completed the basic Art Appreciation (A1) requirement.
The four learning standards are:
Students will actively engage in the processes that constitute creation and performance in the arts, and participate in various roles in the arts.
2. Knowing and Using Arts
Materials and Resources
Students will be knowledgeable about and make use of the materials and resources available for participation in the arts in various roles.
Students will respond critically to a variety of works in the arts, connecting the individual work to other works and to other aspects of human endeavor and thought.
Students will develop an understanding of the personal and cultural forces that shape artistic communication and how the arts in turn shape the divers cultures of past and present society.
Course Overview
Computer Graphic Art is a one semester, one period studio course designed to help students use the language of art to communicate via the latest art tool—the computer. Basic design concepts such as balance, rhythm, variation, contrast, repetition, unity and harmony, will be presented as well as design concepts relating to graphic design, such as proximity, alignment, and type contrast. These concepts will then be implemented in a variety of projects that will involve use of the computer. Efficient design techniques will become available to students as they become familiar with computer art software program such as Aldus Superpaint, Adobe Illustrator, Quark Express, and color scanning. Art History will be discussed as it relates to the design concepts in modern graphic design and illustration. There will also be visits to commercial art and other educational computer sites to introduce students to more advanced systems and applications as well as assigned visits to such institutions such as the Cooper-Hewett Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. Current events in the area of computer art and the impact of computer art on our modern society will be discussed in oral reports and written summaries of news articles by students on a weekly basis. There will be frequent class critiques by the students of each other’s work. A journal will be compiled by students of important articles, successful graphic designs, and useful design ideas culled from various publications and media to help them formulated their own design solutions. The critical thinking and ability to make aesthetic judgments developed by such activities can carry over to other subject areas and activities such as research reports, displays and school publications.
Course Outline
Unit I—Introduction, Organization, Orientation
Unit II—Introduction to software
Unit III—Design Principles, related projects
Unit IV—Art History
Unit V—Current Events; site visits
Unit VI—Special Project: multi-page, unified concept, all software utilized
Achievement is measured through student and teacher evaluation of art projects in progress, and by teacher evaluation of completed projects. Grading is based on clear-cut goals for the completion requirements of student projects.
Each student will be required to keep a journal of current events reviews, site visit notes, examples of successful computer graphics, type font examples, and research for projects. These journals will be graded for content and completeness.
Oral reports will be required on weekly current events assignments or site visits, oral participation in all class critique sessions of students projects in progress, and class participation in general will also be part of the final grade (lateness and attendance as per school policy).
Week 1: Introduction, course overview, brief software demonstrations. Role of computer art in current art media, and business scene.
Week 2: Basic design concepts—balance, unity, harmony, variation, contrast and repetition. Discussion of modern abstract artists Mondarian, Kandinsky. Demo of edit features of Aldus Superpaint, laser printers.
Week 3: Assignment to computers. Begin first studio assignment on abstract design. Current events #1.
Week 4: Basic design concepts—Picasso, Jacob Lawrence, Cubism, Collage—demo scanner. Second studio assignment—cubist design. Class critique, current events #2 (Museum visit).
Week 5: Art History—Illustration—Rembrandt, Blake, Bosch, Bruegel, Rousseau. Demo—painting and sketching features of Superpaint, transparent effects. Third studio project—illustration of poem.
Week 6: Continue third studio project. Site visit Gallery.
Week 7: Complete third studio project/class critique. Logo design concepts—demo Adobe Illustrator, Aldus Superpaint Draw mode. Current events. Begin fourth studio project—logo design, business cards, in-class research using magazines.
Week 8: Continue logo design project. Class critique.
Week 9: Site visit. Advertising, Poster Design, Advertising Design, Art History, type fonts. Fifth studio project—poster design, or magazine ad, or museum banner.
Week 10: Class critique. Current events #4.
Week 11: Book/magazine design principles—proximity, alignment, repetition, contrast. Demo—Quark Express. Sixth studio assignment—magazine page layouts, in-class research, current events.
Week 12: Class critique. Movie clips—Toy Story, Computer Animation, Demo-Dimensions, discuss final project ideas. Complete sixth studio assignment.
Week 13: Class critique, discuss final project proposals, begin final projects, current events.
Week 14-18: Final projects. Suitable projects would include a magazine, a personal illustrated autobiography, a thematic calendar, a multi-page advertising brochure, or a related series of artworks or posters utilizing the topics, design concepts and software covered in the course of study. Small group critiques of students working on related projects will be scheduled as work progresses, and there will be teacher assistance for each student on an individual basis as well.