VISCOM_1002 :: WEEK 1 FILES

Page 1

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Illustration Technologies Syllabus, page 1

syllabus

15-Week Course Week 1

Discussion of purpose of the class not about design, but about design technology Class policies attendance / tardiness in-class participation take-home assignments grading system The Mac OS X Environment using the dock transferring files via the network saving files and burning CDs scanning What is illustration software used for? vector vs. raster graphics view examples of each

Week 2

The Illustrator Workspace the artboard the scratch area navigating: hand tool, navigator, zoom preview vs. outline using palettes using guides Shapes Ellipse Rectangle Rounded Rectangle other shapes Introduction to tools Selection Tool Direct Selection Tool Shapes Stroke and Fill tear-away hidden tools Stroke: adjusting scale strokes and effects: preferences Transformation scaling rotating skew flip copying, pasting, duplicating


The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Illustration Technologies Syllabus, page 2

syllabus

15-Week Course Week 3

Introduction to Layers for use as a template The pen tool lines bezier curves converting corner to smooth curve adding / deleting points cutting joining

Week 4

Using bezier curves effectively too many points too few points More of the pen tool cutting joining converting using Smart Guides effectively editing primitives

Week 5

Pen tool exercises Working more with curves Drawing complex paths

Week 6

Layers show/hide lock/unlock active layer selections within layer create new moving objects within layers deleting print dim merge Purpose of layers for image organization

Week 7

Different ways to combine paths The pathfinder palette shape modes expand pathfinder options


The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Illustration Technologies Syllabus, page 3

syllabus

15-Week Course Week 8

Review of pathfinder tools Arranging paths Send backware / to back Bring forward / to front Pasting in front in back

Week 9

Pathfinder Exercises Combining pathfinder tools with pen tool

Week 10

Type purpose of type in Illustrator type tool character palette paragraph palette type tool tear-away options type on a path create outlines text wrap sampling type using the eyedropper creating ligatures using type as a mask

Week 11

Drawing tools pencil brush Brushes applying removing art, scatter, pattern, calligraphic opening additional libraries Brushes creating new brushes creative use of brushes

Week 12

Strategy in Illustrator using primitives, pen tool and brush effects together effectively creating complex line illustrations tips and tricks Technical illustration standards for instruction manuals for design patents


The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Illustration Technologies Syllabus, page 4

syllabus

15-Week Course Week 13

Color Swatches palette Colors palette PANTONE速 libraries CMYK vs. RGB - handout transparency palette Saving colors Eyedropper Gradients creating saving object blends Appearance and Graphic Styles Gradient Mesh specifying number of mesh lines applying color to the mesh editing mesh points modifying mesh lines applying transparency

Week 14

Critique Week

Week 15

More strategy making shaded/color illustrations planning before drawing modeling in technical illustration


The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Illustration Technologies Week 1, page 1

class policies Illustration Technologies Purpose of Course

Illustration Technologies is a class designed to give you an in-depth knowledge of industry-standard layout software. The focus of this class is to familiarize you with illustration software so that you can effectively use it as a tool in your designs. Illustrator software is merely a tool—knowledge of software cannot be substituted for good design, no matter how indepth that knowledge is. However, not having an in-depth knowledge of the necessary tools can only serve as a hindrance when you try to execute your ideas.

Attendance and Grading

This class will not provide you with beautiful portfolio pieces. It will, however, teach you what you need to know in order to successfully create portfolio pieces in your other classes, without getting bogged down by the difficulties of the software. Software training lends itself well to numerical grading structures since the results can be quantitatively and objectively calculated. For that reason, you will be receiving a letter grade for this class. Grading is based on: • completion and correctness of in-class exercises (50%) • completion and correctness of homework assignments (50%) Since there will be 1 or 2 in-class assignments every day, attendance is mandatory in order to achieve a perfect score. Missing 3 or more classes will result in a grade of F. Every 3 classes will conclude with a small open-note quiz which you will hand in for a grade at the end of the class period. The main purpose of the quiz is to make sure you understand all of the concepts covered in class during those weeks. Your instructor will go over the answers to the quiz once everyone has turned it in; the corrected quiz will be returned to you the following week to be included with your notes for the class. Completion of the Technology Labs is required for your foundation evaluation. You will not be permitted into intermediate level Visual Communications courses without credit for both Type Technologies and Illustration Technologies. Since class only lasts 1.5 hours, it is mandatory that you be punctual to every class. Tardiness of 15 minutes or more will be counted as absent.

Grading Distribution In-class assignments: 50% Homework assignments: 50% 92 - 100% 84 - 92% 76 - 84% 66 - 76% 0 - 66%

A B C D F

You can only receive credit for the course if you have a cumulative grade of C or higher. There is no extra credit.


The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Illustration Technologies Week 1, page 2

materials for class Illustration Technologies

You will need to purchase a flash drive in which you can store all of your in-class assignments and take-home assignments. You will also need to have CD-Roms for some of the assignments, including the take home assignment for this week. In-class assignments are due the day they are assigned. They will not be accepted after the day’s class ends. Homework assignments are due at the beginning of the following class period. Homework assignments should be completed in one of the Mac labs on campus for best results. Your instructor will inform you of how he or she wants you to turn the work in.


The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Illustration Technologies SAIC VISUAL COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT

Student Performance Evaluation Instructor: Please distribute this notice to every student in your class and review it.

To all VisCom students: Your progress in the Visual Communication department depends on more than the successful execution of projects. It also requires a proactive attitude toward your studies and your peers and a respect for your work that you demonstrate every class period. Your input and energy in and around this course is vital! You help shape the class dynamic. And beyond the classroom, and as much as your portfolio, this energy will define you and carry you as a designer and an artist in the field. At midterm and at the end of this course, your instructor will evaluate you on your performance in four areas. Both evaluations will be reviewed alongside your portfolio during our department's portfolio review, and will contribute to our decision to admit or not admit you to the intermediate level Visual Communication courses. Your instructor will also weigh your performance in these areas to determine your grade of credit or non-credit for this course. This same evaluation is given in each of the following classes: Intro to Visual Communication, Illustration Technologies Lab, Beginning Typography, Type Technologies Lab, Beginning Graphic Design, Computer as a Motion Graphics Tool, Package Design --------------------------------------------------Evaluation Criteria

Your instructor will rank you for each of the following criteria:

+

+

–

–

5 4 3 2 1

1. Work Habits

. shows up on time . shows up for critiques prepared . works in class (does not disappear from class or sleep in class) . comes prepared with tools and project material . commits to the process (sketching, prototypes and mock-ups,

reworking based on feedback, &c.) 5 4 3 2 1

2. Participation

5 4 3 2 1

3. Commitment

. presents work in critiques coherently and enthusiastically . both supports and challenges the work of others . takes encouragement and criticism from others constructively . participates in lectures and other group discussions . engages the class work (assignments, in-class exercises,

readings, research)

. engages course content and its core ideas 5 4 3 2 1

4. Self-initiation

. takes risks . asks questions (during or after class or via email, of the

instructor or classmates) to be clear on assignments Other comments relating to performance.


The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Illustration Technologies Week 1, page 3

mac os x

Getting Familiar With Your New Home Using the Dock

Mac OS X has a very convenient menu bar known as the “Dock.” By default this bar will be located at the bottom of your screen. This bar can be customized according to your preference. To make it larger or smaller, or to turn magnification on, go to Apple > Dock.

A Customized Dock

When you have an application open, it will show up on your dock with a little black arrow underneath. You can also grab and drag application icons onto your dock to have a permanent shortcut to that app on your dock.

Talking to other Machines

You should have an “Application” icon on your dock. This looks sort of like an “A” made out of pencils (see image to the left). Clicking on this icon will reveal a list of most of the applications loaded on your machine. If, for some reason, an application you need is not listed here (Toast is often not in this list, for example), you can click on the Macintosh HD icon on your desktop, click on the Applications folder and search for the software you need. Your instructor will have you access files from time to time from the server. You can always access every machine in your lab at any time. Your instructor will make a file on the machine he or she is working on at the beginning of every class period in which you can retrieve or place files.

You Don’t Need a Password!

Changing your Dock Preferences You can change the positioning, hiding and magnification, or click on Dock Preferences for more options.

To access other machines via the network, go to Go > Connect to Server, or hit command-k. A window will pop up asking you to enter an IP address. Instead, click on the Browse button. You will see several icons in the next window; click on the one called “World.” Your instructor will tell you which computer name you will be looking for. When you find it, double-click on it. The next window that pops up can be a little intimidating because it asks for a username and password. Every school and company is a little different in how they handle this window. At SAIC, however, it’s really easy. Make sure “Registered User” is checked (checking “Guest” won’t get you anywhere). The “Name” field should already be filled in as “Student.” Leave the “Password” field blank. Click “Connect.” An icon with that computer’s name will pop up on your desktop. You can then close all the other windows that are open on your desktop and access the other computer simply by double-clicking on its icon.

Connecting to the Server Pay close attention to your instructor so you will know which computer he or she wants you to access.The exact steps may have changed, so take notes.


The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Illustration Technologies Week 1, page 4

illustration software The Software Workflow

There are two types of graphics: vector images and raster images. Vector Images

Vector images can be enlarged and reduced as large or small as you want without losing any information. Vector images use mathematical relationships between points on a path to define an image. Photography cannot be converted to vector art, but many types of illustration can be successfully created as vector graphics. Illustrator is used to create vector-based graphics. Photos should only be used in Illustrator as templates. Illustrator should never be used for layouts, as tempting as it might be. Illustrator documents can only be one page, and text in Illustrator is much more limited and cumbersome than in those applications which were designed for it.

Raster Images

Raster images are composed of pixels—tiny squares each containing color information that, together, form an image. Photoshop is exclusively used for raster images; when you create a new document in Photoshop, you are prompted to select a value for the number of pixels per inch. This tells Photoshop how much information your image can hold. Any graphics that are going to be printed will need to be 300 pixels per inch at 100% actual size. Images that have less information than that, or that have been enlarged beyond 100%, will look “pixelated” when printed because the same amount of information is spread out over a greater space. Photographs are raster graphics, and anything that is scanned is automatically converted to raster data. Photoshop, as its name implies, is to be reserved strictly for photo and image manipulation. Composing layouts, even composing text, in Photoshop should never be attempted. Once you have created or manipulated your images to your satisfaction, you can place them into a layout. A layout is a visual composition that brings several elements together to create a cohesive whole. Layouts are commonly composed of both images and text or text only. A combination of two or more images is also considered a layout because it is still a composition of two or more elements on a page. Illustrator should NOT be used to create multipaged layouts. Layouts should only be created in software that is specifically designed for that function: Adobe InDesign

Vector graphics are defined by mathematical relationships and can be reduced or enlarged without corrupting the integrity of the image.

Raster graphics are made up of pixels—tiny square containing color information—which become apparent if the image is enlarged too much.

Illustration software for vector art (Illustrator)

Photo manipulation sofware for raster art (Photoshop)

Page Layout software (InDesign)

Print / Press / PDF The workflow of design: from image creation to placement in a layout to print. Vector art is created and edited in Illustrator; raster art is created and edited in Photoshop. Final graphics are placed in a layout using InDesign, and from there are sent to print.


The School of the Art Institute of Chicago Illustration Technologies Week 1, Assignment

take-home assignment Scanning

Find three separate examples of vector art. Scan these examples in one of the VisCom labs at the appropriate settings, in color. Save the files as TIFs. Print the examples out in black and white on the lab laser. Burn a data CD containing the images. Name the CD [your name]1_2 (for instance, John Smith 1_2). Hand in both the CD and the b&w printouts at the beginning of class in Week 2.


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