Following Directions is a Good Thing | Reading in Art Education

A little more than a year ago I proudly proclaimed the fact that I, too, am a reading teacher no matter how it much it might seem that reading in visual art and design does not naturally exist or belong. I'm happy to report that later I am still insistent on teaching reading in my content area!

One of my favorite ways to do this is to teach students to read directions and how to follow them exactly as they are written. I do this in graphic design by requiring them to do tutorials from one of my favorite photoshop reference books called The Photoshop CS3/CS4 WOW! Book. I have used this book for four years now and though that might seem like what it offers would be dated, I still feel like it's a great text to teach with. It offers all sorts of useful tricks, tips, and teaching of techniques in clear and concise ways that also include screen captures alongside the very technical but also user-friendly language.

My Back to School Night "Commercial" :: Multimedia Teaching Tools

I know. This is my second Powtoon in a week. I guess you could say I am slightly obsessed with them. *shrug* I can't help it! They are so creatively challenging and fun to make!! Anyway...

My last one was for the students but this one is actually for their parents because I "premiered" it last evening at Back-to-School night in an effort to introduce myself. This one is definitely more elaborate than the last one however it's over half as long in running time (exactly 30 seconds). I think it might have taken about the same amount of creative processing and design time as the last one though and I believe this is because I am just a lot more familiar with how Powtoons work and so I'm getting a lot faster.


I doubt this will be my last one but so far I might like it the best of all. I really enjoyed layering all of the elements, editing in the transitions, thinking about how things should be done in order to visually communicate and SHOW what I was trying to tell the parents of my students.

You might notice that what I didn't do was give a mini lecture about what goes on in my class and this is because we are encouraged not to do that so much as to offer the parents/school community a little bit more of a personal side of ourselves. That's why you didn't see any educational jargon and other bally-hoo of that sort.

One thing I know I want to do though after logging so much Powtoon time already is that I already know that I want to include this as an assessment tool for the Graphic Design student artists. There is just so much range and it's so fun. My only concern is that I don't know that the computer system we have right now can handle it.  Well... I guess there's only one way to find out, right? I'll let you know when that happens.

PowToon is my new favorite thing!!!

Can't remember where I saw this recently but another brilliant art education blogging teacher used the amazingness that is PowToon web-based design platform to make a really cool multimedia and fully animated and soundtracked video for the purposes of welcoming her students back AND refreshing their memories about classroom rules, procedures, and expectations. The program is sort of like Xtranormal except WAY better. (I mean A MILLION ZILLION times better.) It's currently in beta and mostly free but there is educators discount pricing which was only $60 for the year.

(Too rich for your taste? Well, I plunked down the money because I work with the school's marketing team, I might be able to finagle being reimbursed for it, AND I seriously love it so much I might use it over powerpoint or even Keynote from here on out.)

Anyway, I could not help but be inspired by this new and "shiny" technology and this week we are getting into the whole business of learning how to do critiques (both self and peer) and I thought this would be a great way to introduce the purpose of critiques, the process, and the layout of the goals and expectations. Here is the video short I just finished and while the learning curve started rather steep, it's a lot like iMovie (actually, I felt like it came more naturally to me even) and it was fun to do. You should try it out if you are interested in something new and unique to show your art students how creativity and creation can be stretched beyond paper, canvas, and other such traditional surfaces.

Work Smarter, NOT Harder :: Why you should sometimes use PicMonkey instead

So, obviously, I am an art educator but did you also know that I am quite well versed in graphic/digital/visual design overall? It's something that I have been doing for 10+ at this point while going the many paths my career has taken me in the way of printed marketing material, creating or refreshing visual brands, doing web design and publication, and designing multi-media presentations (powerpoint, keynote, prezi, etc.)

While it might seem strange and also strongly support the argument that I am nothing less than a workaholic, I really enjoy doing visual design work. It's always challenging for me to be able to create (or re-imagine/spruce up) something and it is really gratifying and relaxing for me because you can literally start with a blank (digital) canvas and then let your imagine go wild! As it goes, I have become the go-to gal where I work for visual design work that has essentially made me their in-house graphic designer. I always love being able to support and help my colleagues in this way - I see it as a way of sharing the things that I have been blessed to be able to do. It has taken a few years (yes - years!) to "train" everyone to understand that I do my best work when it isn't requested at the 11th hour but even when it goes like that, I always try and churn out the best thing I can and honestly? Visual design work comes pretty easily for me and through the years I have really been able to hone my workflow and technique so that if/when I need to pick up pace? I can deliver whatever is called for.

Two weeks ago my department head (whom I adore and would do anything for!!) emailed me asking me to take an old poster design (see below on the left) and fix it to have new information so that it could be used for my school's soon to be inaugurated outdoor theater. (I will share about this at some point if I can!) She said that nothing fancy would have to be done with it, she just wanted new info to be "plugged in" but since she knows very little about how digital and graphic design is done? Well... she didn't know that it can't just be done like that without it looking pretty bad. I worked up a fresh design from her original and gave her what you see below on the right with the goal to maintain the feel and look of the original design, including the new information, and also making it look a lot more polished. The whole thing took me maybe a few hours start-to-finished that included researching some inspirational ideas via Google Images and then whipping it up in various visual design software.

Perhaps all of this is small potatoes or "Greek" to you but I gotta tell you that when I "whipped up" the newly designed poster, I kind of really mean it as it is suggested to mean and that is that it was sort of a cake walk of sort. I mean, I can use photoshop and illustrator but honestly? There is something out there that is even more useful than that! And that is PicMonkey (formerly known as Picnik).

PicMonkey saves time, money and hassle - EVERYTHING you see here was done in PicMonkey (with upgrade)

Why is PicMonkey is a great web-based platform that makes visual design a little bit more approachable (and take up a LOT less time) usually?

• It's drag-and-drop in a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) kind of way 
• It requires very little technical knowledge like photoshop or illustrator or even gimp need in order to get it to work the way you want it to.
• It is completely affordable since a lot of what it offers is for FREE and requires ZERO registration.
• You can upload already existing photos and/or graphics to it and then do effect work on them and/or add text or graphics to make things look that much more snazzy. 
• Overall, it makes photo editing and simple visual design very approachable and even enjoyable.
• Even if you pay for the upgrade, it's only $5/month OR it's $33/annually and it opens you up to a whole bunch to graphics that aren't totally canned in addition to macros/actions for photographic editing - also, all of these bonuses are regularly updated to match whatever is trending in graphic design at the time. 
• It's a GREAT alternative to not having to pay for vector graphics one by one since it has that regularly rotating inventory to begin with. 

One drawback of PicMonkey that is a little hard to explain to you all is the fact that it can be hard to fully originate a working file. This means that you can't totally start something from scratch in PicMonkey and for my purposes sometimes I will create a blank file in Photoshop - with the dimensions that I want and everything to begin with - and then I will import that into PicMonkey and then export it back out again (to Photoshop) if I need to. Does it sound like extra work that I have made for myself when I otherwise could have done everything in Photoshop? Well... I at least save money doing it like this by not having to buy vector graphics one by one OR I save major amounts of time by not having to make them first and then bring them into Photoshop.

Now, for those of you who are veteran visual designers, you are probably either laughing at me or scoffing at me and insisting that what I am doing is not REAL graphic and/or visual design. Well, let me tell you - and I am not trying to sound haughty or like a jerk - I don't really care about if people think I am legit or not. As far as I am concerned and from actual experience, NOBODY CARES or even asks how I accomplish most things I need to get done. My philosophy is almost always to work smarter not harder and don't get hung up on the details because doing so will actually keep you from getting anything done at all let alone doing something well. In my opinion and experience, what I do sometimes (with PicMonkey in the mix) adds to the success rather than subtracts from it.

Of course, you can't do every single thing with such ease in PicMonkey. Some stuff is better left to Photoshop because it is faster and a lot more painless. Working with layers IS a lot easier in Photoshop and being able to save in editable format (with layers) is something else that Photoshop does and PicMonkey simply does not allow. Other things like pixelating things for censorship and privacy (like what I might do here on the blog sometimes) is also a lot easier in Photoshop because it requires being able to create and manipulate layers. Still, it's completely do-able to do as much as you can quickly in PicMonkey and then import it into Photoshop and do a little more specific things per whatever you need. (See below)

Here I photoshopped in a layer of texturized revolver graphic and pixelated out the location information for privacy

Here is the finished poster with a different graphic since the criss-crossing revolvers are not quite to friendly for our purposes of them hanging around school. I expected that they would be edited out but for the purposes of having a visual placeholder until it was decided what would go in there (which was the locomotive)...

So there you have it! And perhaps if you have never tried PicMonkey before? Now I have convinced you that you must do so. And by the way, I am not plugging the service because they have compensated me in any way and I am telling you about it just from my own personal fandom.

Behind the Music(al) :: Hairspray :: Tickets

We've got tickets!!!!! 

 

This is the first year that we have done vertical orientation of the ticket design but with the hairspray can that is easily the core of the overall design of the show, well... it works, don't you think?

The tickets are color coded not only because it looks really cool like that but more to help differentiate between the different showings. We haven't done color coded tickets before this year but it has worked out so well to do it like this that it easily might become a standard thing for every show from here on out.

This past long holiday weekend I spent the majority of my time at school working on the set so I will be sharing pictures of those adventures soon enough. We still have a week and a half until opening night and thankfully we are pretty well on schedule with everything. 

Something you can't see about the tickets are that each are hand numbered to correspond with assigned seats in our performance arts center at our school - it is actually used as much by other organizations as much as it is by us - and the tickets are printed on nice heavy-weight paper with a semi-gloss finish so they serve as mementos for the show just as much as they serve as functionality to provide access to the specific shows!

Behind the Music(al) :: Hairspray :: Promo posters

The promo posters has turned out pretty well, don't you think?

So I previously shared with you all what the general graphic design would be for the annual musical production would look like at least in its working stages and I am happy to report that it was approved - not only by the directors and producers of the production - but also by the governing organization of musicals (who provide us with the materials for the musical) themselves! One of my colleagues who also does graphic design and handles a major amount of the performance arts goings-about here took the core design that I was able to pull together and the above is the official poster for the production! Hurrah!!! One more thing down!!!

The graduated color and the pink and white writing work well for it I think and the general design (colors, layout, etc.) is also going to inform both the ticket design - this year is the first one we are doing a vertical design for the ticket - as well as the roadside banner that will be staked out at the school's entrance gates.

I will try and share the ticket designs when I finally get to see them as well as the roadside banner and then also the tweaked t-shirt design when it is finally printed and shipped in next week sometime. Until then? I am working over this coming long weekend on the actual set of the production. There is a TON to be painted, detailed, and still constructed yet. An art teacher's work is just never done! (Good thing I love my job so much and I would do all of this anyway. *wink*)

Behind the Music(al) :: Hairspray

Sorry I missed you all yesterday! I had a sick day because I had to go to a sort urgent doctor's appointment but thankfully I checked out OK so here I am! And today I bring you the design process and (mostly) finished graphic that we will be using for the Hairspray production...

If you didn't know, part of my job is teaching digital design and art as much as it is teaching traditional studio design and art. I teach two semester classes of this - one focusing on Photoshop and the other focusing on Illustrator - and because of my know-how for both design platforms, I have become a bit of an in-house (read: and too many times to count last minute) graphic designer for things at times. *sigh* I have a love-hate relationship with this sort of thing for all of the most obvious reasons.

For the purposes of Hairspray, there was never a plan for me to do the design work and the goal was to have a very talented senior graphic design student do it. Then all of the craziness of January happened and all of the best laid plans that were made (to have it be student created) went out the proverbial window. Thankfully, there was just enough time for me to be able to do it and I had enough information from the student in addition to a rough digital draft of what she had planned to do that I still feel like it would be fair enough to call this a collaborative effort.

Now before I go looking like some rockstar graphic designer, please know that the design work of this was not entirely my own! As I said before, the original student designer had a specific idea in mind to have a hairspray can as a central part of the design. The asterisks were something that were specifically requested by the faculty director and producer of the show so that they could be a graphic element that was seen throughout the set designs. The classic wig and "cut-out"-style lettering are supposed to be an obvious nod back to the original design of Hairspray. In terms of the actual elements I used, I did not originate all of them myself. The hairspray can was actually a generic vector file that was editable and I bought it for about $5. I mean, I suppose I could have made it but when I was in the midst of figuring out how I would do it, I stumbled upon the vector image and figured why not just save myself what would have been a few hours of work and buy it. I mean if time is money, my time that would have been hours long is certainly worth a measly five bucks that would allow me to call it DONE. And so? That's what I did. Why reinvent the wheel right?

In terms of the color palette, I tried my best to adhere as much as possible to the color palette that we picked for the show (seen previously in a posting last week) and I also tried to pick colors that would work together to make each other pop. Case in point: the background of the logo is purple (it's supposed to be representative of the official t-shirt that the design will be printed on) and the spray represented by the triangle is yellow.

Overall, I am pretty satisfied with this piece and it has gone over well for the most part. I did do some slight tweaks to it - so what you see up there on the right is not final - but I will show you the final design once it gets back from the t-shirt printers as well as showing you how the design was also put on promo posters, the roadside banner, and the tickets and front cover of our "playbill" once all of everything is printed and delivered in a few weeks.

Go Green with Google | Art Teacher Hack

I am not very good with my conservation efforts but I am always very envious of people who are. I mean if there is a (not full yet) recycling bin in the general area where I am  at the time when I could use it - like after I just finish ANOTHER Dr. Pepper - I have no issue putting my empty can in it! Mostly though? My "green" efforts only occur at my convenience.

(I know. I Know. I KNOW! Trust that I am not bragging about this and rather this is me confessing my own sinfulness because I feel convicted at the notion that I am hardly as "green" as I could be.)

All of that being said, there is one thing that makes me decidedly very green despite my best lack of efforts. How is that? Well, in any of the digital art courses I teach, I do things entirely paperless!!! That's right. They get their assignments via our school's closed server/shared drive and they submit their work for grading electronically as well. Recently though, because of server issues, I switched to using Google Docs (well, not it's Google Drive but I am also the person who continues to call New York & Company, Lerner).

 Here is a snapshot of me sorting through student work on Google drive...

I really REALLY like Google Drive because it has made it possible for me to not be on campus and still access all of the student work when I need to grade things. (Which I do. I am SO backed up with things lately. *sigh*) I don't know why I never used Google to do file sharing but now that I have switched? I am NOT going back.

Recently I made a HUGE discovery that is changing the view of the way the shared files are presented to me. I used to have to deal with a long list of text but I discovered on accident the other day that if you toggle the switch (indicated below in the picture) you can see snapshots a little bigger than thumbnails of ALL of your files!!!!

This is SO awesome because it means that I don't have to deal with reading and for as much as I don't like to broadcast it? (Especially after my one posting about teaching reading in Art Education) I am not a fan of reading and I try to avoid it usually to not slow myself down. (Because of my unique learning challenges)

Google Drive is AMAZING and the upgrades they make to it for the purposes of networking, sharing, storage, etc. etc. etc.

Lesson Idea: Fruits of the Spirit - Contemporary Propaganda study | Graphic Design

 In a little less than one month, the United States of America will be casting their votes to elect the next president. I normally don't involve or concern myself with anything political but it's hard for me not to take notice of the hub-bub of it all. Even I can easily get caught up in the spirit of things and I am perhaps one of the most unconcerned and unlikely political types (for the most part) ever. And for this reason? I decided to do a politically inspired project idea with my Graphic Design students.

*** Feel free to scroll through this to get to the project notes***

A little background: Recently, I made the decision to take myself off of facebook (for personal networking purposes - my business ventures still have a presences there). I had been toying with the idea of doing it for quite some time now both because of my disagreement with Facebook user policies that not only readily permits but also encourages people to overshare things about themselves. This coupled with the fact that the upcoming election has made people almost combative with their personal political platforms and concerns? I don't know. I just think Facebook has become a place that simply isn't for me anymore. Still, even with all of the reasons I feel like it is bad (disguised as good), I didn't leave there without taking some inspiration for an art project idea for my student artists!!

I don't really watch TV that much these days so I have been pretty shielded from the ridiculous political mudslinging that is likely happening and picking up momentum in that way. However, I have been able to witness some it via people I knew on Facebook that very much served as the catalysts that I was ready to be done with it once and for all. Perhaps it's because I am very aware of what can be visually communicated but there were a number of memes out there (from and for either side of the political showdown) that I think are just ridiculous. I won't share them because I don't even want to give them anymore web space than they already take up but basically they take some of the most unflattering pictures of both candidates and then they say some pretty ridiculous things about them that are just plain unnecessary, usually untrue, and definitely unfair. Now, normally I don't feel like this is a problem so much but I started noticing that as people were posting things, it was inspiring one of two things:

1. Serious division between people who were actually friends at one time but had all of a sudden felt like because of their differences of opinion in the realms of politics, they couldn't be friendly or even sometimes friends anymore
2. Certain people who might have been "on the fence" about politics to believe things that were outright wrong about the two candidates so much that it was actually shaping their motivations to vote in one way or the other

You might be thinking, "What do you care what people think? Really! I mean, and what do you care and WHY do you care?" You know what?  I am not ashamed to say that I do very much care about the fact that such a thing is happening and has happened (and easily this is why Facebook is not the place for me). I care about how people interact with one another because I know (as my faith informs me) that what people say and do to one another whether virtually or in-person makes a differences. It can build up or tear down.

I know this all too well, in fact, because recently I believe that I actively and perhaps even subconsciously contributed to the annihilation of what I always believed to be a very deep and close friendship. I can't take any of it back no matter how much I am shamed by it but I know I was wrong and that the situation itself was just wrong (all together) and it only serves as even more evidence to me that people need to be a lot more careful and intentional about the things they are saying and doing. When you say and do things, you can say your apologies but the digs and cuts that you might make leave scars that are painful to deal with long after they allegedly healed. And so? I (even before the aforementioned event) am keenly aware of the importance of saying what you mean and meaning what you say and trying to make that be reflective of the fruits of the spirit as much as possible. I mean, I will get it wrong. I absolutely will but that truth doesn't have to stop me from trying to do it just the same. And so? That's where the idea of this project idea originated.

*** End of background information, start of project notes ***

I am a firm believer that the Lord and His gospel can be found within every and any part of the grand and intelligently designed thing that we know as the world and our lives. With this in mind, I examined and discuss the work of Shepard Fairey as well as the scandal that ensued because of it with my graphic design student artists. Are you familiar with what I am talking about? He was behind the infamous Hope poster done around the time of Obama's election that became iconic of Obama's campaign and actual election to the presidency. Here it is to refresh your memory...

 

Now, I totally think that what happened because of it was warranted and fair with the rulings for the Associated press photographer and against Shepard Fairey but that doesn't mean that I don't still think the work isn't truly noteworthy, successful, and just plain really solid and amazing design work in the way that Fairey turned it and twisted it to be what is. And this is exactly what I told my student artists! We also talked about how so much of what might be swirling about (in the way of graphic and pictorial propaganda and promotion) was bad - both in design and in actual content. I challenged them with the notion that we could take inspiration from Shepard Fairey's creative genius and also learn from what others are doing that is negative (with their political commentary) and do inspired pieces that promote fruits of the spirit just as the gospel promotes it. So? That's what we did!

Each student was assigned a specific fruit of the spirit and they had to take that and then design something that visually encapsulated and intentionally communicated what it would look like similar to what Shepard Fairey attempted to do with the Hope poster design. I created a keynote presentation that "unpacked" the details of the design and explained the anatomy in terms of specifics like the use of only (3) colors, using posterization to transform the the colors/images, using a single word to literally communicate in conjunction with the images itself, etc. I also showed them some very amusing spoofs on the Hope poster and talked about why things like that exist as a result of what happened. One last thing I did with them was to not give them a step-by-step tutorial. I wanted them to see what needed to be done and then figure out (by inquiry-based working mode) how to do it in photoshop. 

Here are some of the finished pieces that they turned out...

 

Now, before anyone says, "You just endorsed them 'lifting' other peoples' work just like Fairey did!!" Calm down. I absolutely did not. They were very aware of the fact that their work was not solely their own AND they would not and could not call it that. They were also made aware that what we were doing was a study and so it was kind of like doing a mastercopy of Shepard Fairey's work and that required them to use what someone else already did BUT they could not take credit for the other person's work and they would need to be able to explain where and how their image originated.

iPlan with Keynote: Graphic Design presentation

Here is the quicktime movie of the Graphic Design presentation I will show on the first day of Graphic Design class next week.

(Some of the content within the presentation was not originated by me but proper credit will be given in the narration I provide when I give the presentation to my classes. If you see anything that you have done within my presentation PLEASE accept my gratitude for providing me with such great inspiration to draw from and include and share with my students. Your brilliance will be nothing less than a great springboard for them to create their own amazing works of art.)


Graphic1stDay from dreampraycreate on Vimeo.

Some things I tried to do within the presentation were the following:

• I really REALLY wanted to not only tell but show what I wanted them to understand. I was very intentional with the images that I used.
• I didn't want to overload them with information but provide just enough that would probe them to think on their own.
• I wanted to use only examples of Graphic Design artwork and as many masterworks as I could because I seriously subscribe to the belief that some of the best learning is that done from those who really REALLY know how to do it!
• I really REALLY wanted to use visual art vocabulary straight away so that they start getting used to hearing it and start get used to applying it and using it.  
• I absolutely wanted to kick off the class with not only a thought-provoking experience that would *hopefully* inspire very natural discussions and questioning but also catapult them into creative processes that would lead swiftly into an art activity that could be done as soon as the presentation was over. 

So there's my Graphic Design's first day of class plans. Don't forget that I also showed you 2D Design and 3D Design's presentations on the days before today so if you are new here to this blog and haven't seen those, check my archives and you can see them!

iPad art Apps nutshell review: Art Set vs. Artrage vs. Procreate

Officially I have had my new iPad for less than 24 hours and though I feel like I am still managing a sharp learning curve (despite the fact that I have always considered myself to be very "tech savvy") I am really understanding the pluses to having it for the purposes of digital art and the art classroom.

Now, to be completely fair, I have railed against using the iPad for art classroom purposes since... well, last night before I downloaded a whole bunch of really art cool apps! One of my seniors from the recent school year mentioned a couple of these to me and I must say that I was completely dismissive to the point that I was unfair. What can I say? For as much as I might claim to be a forward thinker, I can be very stodgy and set in my ways. *shrug* Anyway, that's quickly changing and I am fast becoming convinced that I need to have a class set of iPads for my art classes OR (better yet) they should be made standard so every student will be equipped with them. All of that being said? Let's dish on the apps!

Right now Apple is running a great promo where you can get a new Macbook or iPad and they will give you a complimentary iTunes giftcard - the larger the purchase the larger your iTunes giftcard. Because I just got an iPad, my iTunes was for $50 and that could be used in either the app store or the iTunes store. Now, while $50 doesn't seem like much compared to the $100 I could have gotten for one of the Macbooks, $50 can really be stretched pretty far in terms of getting just apps alone. I think I have a little more than $25 less on the card and that's even with me loading up my iPad with art apps for me as well as almost a screen full for my little girl! (I plan on reviewing some of the apps for her in time just for fun.)

****SKIP THIS PART IF YOU DON'T CARE FOR BACKSTORY****

Now, my major motivation for finally taking the plunge and getting the iPad in the first place is because it's a learning accommodation that came strongly recommended from my educational psychologist. (He got zero kickbacks for my purchase so him pushing the device so aggressively said a lot about the iPad I think!) (I also plan on doing some reviews on the iPad as an aid for learning disabilities when I get that figured out as well.) Still, just because I got the iPad for work doesn't mean I have to make it all work and no play!

Over a month ago, I stumbled upon an amazing paintbrush stylus for digital tablets called the Sensu brush. I was admittedly very skeptical about the possibility that anything digital could imitate real-life painting enough to make any kind of investment in it worthwhile. I totally ate my words on that though once I did a little research and found out just how on point the Sensu was though! Now, I don't have one yet (but it is coming - YAY!! - ordered mine two days ago and have been anxiously awaiting its arrival since getting shipment confirmation).  All of that being said? As soon as I was sold on the Sensu, I was that much more sold on getting my hands on an iPad ASAP. My cashflow just wasn't permitting such a thing though and I had to strategically plan and wait patiently until just last week! So yeah. I finally have an iPad, I will soon have a Sensu brush, and sorry for my long-winded way to get to the Apps reviews.

The Sensu website recommended half a dozen art apps but I opted to try out only two of them - Artrage and Procreate. Other people's reviews (in the App store as well as elsewhere online) heavily informed my decision to do so. also ended up picking up Artset in the app store because it was less than $2 to do so and it got really decent reviews because of its simple functionality. Here are all three of them in a side-by-side comparison where I just tried out some of the tools they have within them. The most simple of the apps is on the left and then as it goes right, the apps get more complicated but also have that much more technical range. I was mostly interested in just comparing the marks for this review.

****OK. Here are the actual reviews****

 From left to right there is Art set, Artrage, and then Procreate.

Now, I haven't had time to use any of the apps outside of preliminary poking around of them (meaning, I haven't made any full pieces of art yet) but I cannot help but tell you I am already impressed but one thing of all three: how closely they imitate real marks of studio tools on supports like canvas, paper, etc. Definitely there will never be anything like the REAL thing of pencil, pen & ink, paints of any type, etc. but for these to be digital renderings? I'd say they aren't bad at all. Above you small shots of what I will present to you for all three. For each one I took blank document and then just applied the digital tools in black/dark grey and wrote out (with each of the tools) what each one was for labeling purposes as much as seeing what they looked like when they were applied. (Does that make sense? Kind of a confusing way to explain it but that's really what I did.)

First there is Art set. For quick and easy purposes, I think even my daughter could use it well enough, Art set is pretty nice and the digital marks are pretty close to being like the more expensive/intense art apps.

Art Set for iPad

Another really nice thing about Art set? It's easy to navigate. The actual workspace with the tools seem very realistically design. Your color picker/palette is literally a row of colors (in artist color names) in whatever medium you are using - meaning if you are doing coloring pencils, it's a tray of pencils. Then the different tool/mediums that are there are also lined up in a tray for you to pick what you want. It's definitely very intuitive in feel and then saving whatever you do for purposes of sharing later is just as easy. Pretty much all of the user reviews said what I found to be the truth so that's good to know too! I like having reliable reviews. This app was not included in what the Sensu makers recommended and while I can understand it doesn't have quite the range and functionality for a more advanced user/artist, I feel like it would have been worth a mention at least for getting your digital art "feet" wet.

The next app up is Artrage. This one was recommended by the Sensu makers as well as assorted other folks on the web. Here is the rundown of what it offers...

Artrage for iPad

Now, Art set did allow for you to adjust the width and shape of the stroke but not nearly to the incredible degree that Artrage lets you do it. Also, Artrage has greater range in letting you determine what your surface/support looks like as well as giving you a bucket-fill tool. The tools themselves have a more refined functionality to them but once you lay the marks down, I almost have to say I prefer the way the Art set marks looked. I could change my mind once I get into more advanced functionality because Artrage allows for layer manipulation and effects and filtering of marks (kind of like Photoshop) so we'll see.

The last one I have up is Procreate. This is by far and away the most complicated and advanced of the three apps both in the available tools/mediums as well as the finer adjustments about picking the shape of the stroke itself.  It also has pattern options that you can use (see the wood grain at the bottom and weird geometric thing to the side). It has all of the same tools that previous two had and so I didn't include those in the samples of the marks and tried to include the more unique ones like the gel pen - there were at least four or five other types of pens.

Procreate for iPad

That about sums it up for the preliminary looks at all three apps. I will definitely be experimenting more with them each in time - there definitely seems like specific reasons for each of them considering what kind of artwork I want to work on/mess around with - so I don't forsee deleting any of them just yet. I will say also that I didn't think a stylus would be all that necessary - even though I already bought one but I really just got it for the paintbrush - but I get it now after trying to use each of the apps. For each of them I feel like it would have helped to have that instead of just dealing with the pad of my index finger. So, what I also figured out is if you want to just do your index finger and don't want to deal with a stylus, I would recommend going for Art Set, Procreate, and then Artrage.

Lesson idea: Cartoon Planets - Digital Illustration

Here are some student pieces from the Digital Studio class. It took them approximately three weeks to do fundamental "skill-building" tutorials (hacked and then authored mostly by me from things I found around and about the web intended to teach the basics of the program) in Adobe Illustrator in order to get to a point where they could do a simple but mostly self-directed project like this. 

I gave them a hacked/adapted tutorial to make a cartoon sun to help steer them but told them they could use it to inform some of their creative process/design decisions and instead make an illustration of a planet (of their choosing) in personified form. Here are some of the best of the bunch. I think overall they did a really great job!

I REALLY enjoyed steering the students through this project and it worked out beautifully to be their first "big" self-directed pieces since it allowed for them to not only explore some of the more interesting functions of Illustrator and REALLY flex their imaginations but it also required them to apply some of the basic skills they had built for themselves thus far - working with gradients, closing paths, manipulating shapes, layering paths and shapes (with the pathfinder).

I also really liked how drawing in the idea of what it takes to personify an inanimate allowed for great class discussions to better inform their creative processes and decision making that toed subject matters outside of the visual art realm. (I LOVE when I can bridge the gaps into cross-curricular arenas!!)

WiPs: MVEMJSUNP - Digital Cartooning

Second semester brings me a whole batch of new classes and Digital Studio is one of them. It is the advanced class (based in Illustrator) that follows Graphic Design (that is based in Photoshop).  At this point all of the students I end up with with Digital Studio are ones I had in Graphic Design so I'm always excited to do this class since I know each of them are prepared in very specific ways that lend themselves to very fun endeavors in the way of Illustrator. 

The class always starts with what I call heavy "skill building" which is basically a series of half a dozen simple tutorials (that I adapted from various free instructionals online) that help to instruct you upon some of the most basic understandings of what the Illustrator program can do and how to do it. It's kind of a "test the waters" time for most of the students where they have a lot of space and time to make mistakes galore that will eventually serve as teachable moments for them. 

Last week the last set of skill-building items was introduced as well as their first major project guided by a tutorial. In previous years we have done cartoon sun illustrations - that I have never shown here on the blog since the tutorial originated from another tutorial I found online and I forgot where so I feel bad about showing work with no link back.  Overall the illustrations were the same with slight stylized tweaks since each student artist DID inject their own personal twists without intending to - something that is inevitable within the body of any artist's work.

This year in Digital Studio I changed things up by offering them the tutorial to make a cartoon sun but told them to take lots of creative liberties with it. The ways the tutorial instructed were malleable enough that it was possible for them to use the basics of the steps in order to do something different that went more in the way of creating cartoons of any planet in our solar system over just doing a sun. This is why this project is called MVEMJSNUP. (In case you didn't pick up on it, it's an acronym and mnemonic device use to remember all of the planets and their order of the solar system.) (Fun fact: Also, it's something that was in the show Saved by the Bell and was the winning answer that Zach gave in order to win the academic tournament that Screech was somehow not involved in. *HA!* I am a serious Saved by the Bell fan if you didn't know.)

Anyway, I'm delighted to report that this project is going very well overall. The students have been very motivated to work on their pieces and have also done things like looking up satellite images of specific planets they are trying to create so they get coloring and visual texture correct. I've also actively pushed ongoing conversation about how to visually depict different types of personalities and/or moods with regard to how facial features might look. I've also talked about what it means to personify something - which is essentially to what we are doing - and like so much of the other things I have brought up in class for them to consider for their projects, it really draws in cross-curricular connections - something I try to do as much as possible.

I estimate it should take them at least another week or so to complete their pieces but here are some snaps of them hard at work. See if you can guess the planets/part of the solar system they are aiming to create! 

Lesson idea: Tilt-shift with Photoshop (Artwork) - Digital

These pieces are a continuation of the collective I started to show you when I introduced the lesson plan idea here.

The difference with the sampling of these images from the others is that these are not photographic and fall in the category of being more classically studio art. They are paintings and drawings/illustrations. It was both interesting and challenging for the students to render this type of work in tilt-shift as compared to the photographs because it really forced them to envision what the rendering might look like before they even applied it. In a lot of cases they had to start over with their renderings OR select new images of artwork because the tilt-shift effect didn't work as it needed to adhere to the classic style of tilt-shift stylings that utilized a linear gradient, and required a boost in saturation and contrast.

The students who were most successful with their finished pieces also ended up being students who have felt most challenged in previous projects that some of the more advanced students did really well while some of the advanced students struggled and produced pieces that weren't as well tilt-shifted.  I really like the idea of this project regardless of the way most of them turned out though because it draws in the fantastic idea (that sometimes exists of visual art) that a piece of art can be so compelling that you want to get right into it and surround yourself with it. One of my favorite movies ever is "What Dreams May Come" and this project as it applies to artwork rendered in tilt-shift style definitely indulges my own ideas of "what if" with regard to the idea of the movie.

Lesson idea: Tilt-shift with Photoshop - Digital

I've always been a fan of tilt-shift photography but never been able to able to execute it in actuality because of the expense of a real tilt-shift lens or even a lensbaby.  As with so many types of specialized visual art, it can be very cost prohibitive UNLESS you realize that you can skirt around the challenge if you only employ the wonder that is Photoshop.

This project idea is a bit of a back-pocket-shoot-from-the-hip type thing only because it's a bit of a quickie to do the rendering. I prefer doing projects that require at least a week's worth of class time but the tutorial (I used one found online) for the tilt-shifting can be done in less than a class period for two images at least.  The biggest challenge for the students has been picking an image that would be able to be tilt-shifted well enough. I didn't require them to use their own images and instead allowed them to use third party sources with the understanding that the integrity of this project was more within the creative process than the finished product despite the fact that the product is indeed "very cool" to look at.

The students were required to complete two sets of images  - one pair that is photographic in nature and the other pair that was of classic art media (painting, drawing, etc.)  My goal with this project was to inspire such enthusiasm and enjoyment for the creative process alone that they would do more than the requirements for a grade. I'm happy to report that this indeed has happened and many of them have done almost as many as ten renderings already with lots more momentum to keep doing more.

Here are some of the most well-done tilt-shift renderings that have been turned in thus far. They aren't required to turn in all of their work until next Tuesday so I will try to post more student pieces next week. (Please note: I do not have the sources for these images and they are of third party sources. The students do not claim these images for their own and if one of them belongs to you, I am more than happy to credit you for the image or remove it from being published here. Thank you!)

Lesson idea: TypeFACE portraits - Digital

 This is the second year that I have done this project idea in the Graphic Design course (the first year's student work examples are HERE) and I am amazed at how far the students pushed their work this round. I believe the jump in complexity that is shown is attributed to a number of factors including my insistence to raise the proverbial bar every time I repeat a project idea and the amazingly natural talent I've been seeing in the rising underclass art students.

I presented this lesson a little differently to the students than I did last year in the following way:

• I held off doing it almost a month later in the project timelines than when I did it last year during Fall semester
•  I presented a full powerpoint presentation that included not only very solid examples of typography portraits I found via the web but also a tie in lesson to the study of typologythat encouraged a deeper investment of understanding for type in all of its forms
• I limited the background color palettes for all of the projects to only black or white and color was only allowed to be used on the foreground lettering/type layers

I did not give the students a step-by-step tutorial for this project and instead required them to think back on prior knowledge and skills that they have been building since the beginning of the course. It was interesting watching the different approaches they took and seeing the ways they chose to overcome design challenges. They have definitely become very knowledgeable about the different ways photoshop can be used and also the ways a project can be completed from start to finish. They are showing solid abilityand working knowledge about how to look at a project idea and deconstruct it to be able to figure out how it comes together. I'm so proud of them and it's stuff like this that makes me so proud to be in the classroom every day with them and do what I do.

Anyway, enough of the bragging. Here are some of the best pieces I've seen turned out this round. Some of the students have photoshop at home so they spent significant time out of class working on their pieces but the majority of the pieces were worked on during class time alone (about eight meetings of 55 minutes a piece) with one or two study halls worked in there.