Introduction to Digital Media
Dr. Samantha Krukowski
A. Make, record and collect lines. Bring to class five lines you have made yourself, photographs of five lines you have found in the world, and five physical lines you have collected.
B. Replicate your lines using Adobe Illustrator.
Bring all of your lines to class (the second part you will need to print)
Project 2: Figure | Ground
A. Create a physical composition, using only black and white paper, that emphasizes the relationship between figure and ground. The composition should consist of two primary shapes that repeat to form a pattern—one white, one black. Think carefully about scale as you go.
B. Using Adobe Illustrator, re-make this composition, allowing it to evolve based on the shift from analog to digital media.
Bring both compositions to class (the second part you will need to print)
Project 3: Altered Images
A. Start with five photographs that interest you. Scan or download each photograph into the computer at the scale you want to work with at no less than 300dpi. Do not take images off the web for this exercise.
B. Change the content of each image using Adobe Photoshop so that each original image is transformed. DO NOT use filters. Think about the evolution of each image given your alterations.
Bring all ten images to class (the digital five you will need to print)
Project 4: Collage
A. Make a physical collage. DO NOT use recognizable materials or images—focus on the overall composition and the way each part relates to the next. Search for your content in unfamiliar places. This means no models or products, advertisements or loaded stuff. Pay careful attention to what is over and what is under.
B. Make a composition using Adobe Photoshop that is inspired by your physical collage. Your composition should have no fewer than 20 layers. Save your composition in both .psd and.jpg formats, print the .jpg version.
Bring both collages to class (the digital one you will need to print)
Project 5: Image Sequence
Create ten sequential images, each 6”x6”, that explore the effects of time on one object.
Step 1: Choose your object.
Step 2: Consider it in time.
Step 3: Identify 10 moments.
Step 4: Depict them.
You may complete this project using any tools and media you wish.
Project 6: Stop-Motion Animation
Treat your image sequence as a beginning storyboard or score for a stop-motion animation. Develop this sequence further by inventing a world for it, full of characters, motifs, colors, textures, themes...Create a one-minute stop-motion animation that reveals both the sequence and the world.
Project 7: Experimental Video
Using Adobe After Effects, create a short video that incorporates the components, ideas and techniques used in your previous projects. Consider at least the following as you organize the parts of your video: WHAT (lines, forms, icons, motifs, patterns, textures), WHEN (storyboard, minor and major, counterpoint, repetition), HOW (the overall character of your visual and spatial and aural worlds)
Project 8: Website Critique
Identify and critique two websites made by artists to promote their own work--one which you consider excellent, awesome, fantastic, out there--and one which you consider awful, lame, terrible, worthless. For each site, comment on:
-The work being represented
-Content and its relationship to the site as a whole
-How well or poorly the site suits its purpose
-Design—color, typography, image choices, typography, scale
-Navigation and structure
-Use of any particular technologies you can identify
-Biases which may affect your judgment in each case
Don’t worry if you don’t feel you have the vocabulary to discuss one or more of these categories. Just write down your best responses.
Project 9: Website
Create a website using your webspace account that is a portfolio of your work in this course. The site should showcase what you have done, but also extend its character given your structural and design choices. Use your site to document, order, and discover things about what you have made. Your website is due in two versions, one online, and one on an archival CD or DVD.