For Monday, November 1st

For both classes - we'll be thick into working on the first project in our Final Five. For those who missed Wednesday - we'll go through ALL your work to figure out what those finals will be. Be prepared to dive in and WORK!!! Hope everybody has a great Halloween!

For Wednesday, October 26th

For Both Classes: Be sure to bring in all your projects Wednesday so we can pick out your final five! (Check the new link above for details.)

3010 - You'll turn in your Macy's Day Parade artwork Wednesday after critique, then we'll talk individually about your final five.
     Here's the illustrator we talked about, Peter Sis, especially the cover for Madlenka.
     Also remember to be gathering your Color Boards project - 2 to 3 collaged layouts of your personal color palette colors.

3050 - You'll turn in your Texas Snake Roundup project after critique, then we'll talk individually about your final five.

For Monday, October 25th

Hi Guys! In drawing we were talking about going ahead and purchasing "YourName.com" and sitting on it if you need to, if an actual website is still far off in your future. Grabbing your domain while you can is a good idea in today's web marketing environment. I asked Mr. Webb if he had a favorite place to buy domains and he said he likes http://cheapdomains.com/. I don't believe this is a hosting company - but purely a domain purchasing site.

To both classes - Gather all your projects for this semester together and bring them to class on Wednesday. We'll decide which projects will become your "Final Five" for the semester!

3010 - Monday we'll go over your Macy's Day parade (from above) images. You were already showing good progress today so I'm excited to see what you do. Remember - you are the stage director. Plan your lighting consciously! You'll turn your finals in first thing Wednesday.
     I've posted the image of a wine bottle which reflects the light source as both a hard shape and also as a gradient - as we discussed in class.
Per Copyright: Ryan and all - here is a site with copyright free images you can use on blogs, etc. without worry: Wikimedia Commons. Along that line, I've also posted the link to my own copyright guidelines (click the Angel). You should click through on the "Orphan Works" link as that is especially relevant to the topic we discussed. Also, here are YouTube's Terms - #6 especially pertains to our discussion. By posting a video on YouTube, you are promising it is yours to share, and that you are giving users permission to share through YouTube's embed function. Vimeo doesn't offer an embed feature (if I remember correctly), so you have to link to a video on their site (I think).

3050 - Monday we'll go over your "Texas State Fair: Rattlesnake Round-up" t-shirt and do more work on them. They'll be due first thing Wednesday.
     Bianka - here's the link to Mingei World Arts. They carry a lot of Day of the Dead items.

For Friday, October 22

REMINDER: I will not be here Wednesday, so please keep an attendance list and we'll go over TWO projects on Friday.

3010 - Wednesday, take your ornament to a final level of rendering and begin diving into the new project... The Macy's Day Parade, from above! I'll want to see both projects on Friday.

3050 - Wednesday, take your licensed product line to that next level. Make sure it's an idea that could potentially go viral or pull a customer into a store. Make it something unexpected, ironic, clever. If you've already done that, take it to a presentation level.
     Also, start on our new project: "Texas State Fair: Rattlesnake Round-up" t-shirt design. If you'd like to mix it up a bit, you can pick a different state or critter, but keep in mind this will be a t-shirt design. We'll go over both projects on Friday.
     Here is Stephen's link: Underconsideration.com - "Flaunt."
     Sue - here's Scoutmob and "What's up with all the 'staches'".

Note: I should be smacked for how many times I said 'think outside the box' today, but to give you incentive - here's a video of a town that is trying to pull in tourist revenue by advertising in a highly inventive way...

For Monday, October 18th

Note! I will be gone Friday, so please keep an attendance list as you are expected to come to class. I'll expect to see lots of progress by Monday, but know you guys will wow my socks off! (p.s. - Just because I love his work - check out Travis Louie.)

3010 - Ornament: Combine shape and surface design to create seasonal ornaments. Check out some of the links below for 3050 as I think they may help inspire you guys too. You may deal with the individual ornaments or a layout/design of ornaments - here's some inspiration. Here's the charity I told you about, Robert's Snow. Y'all are adding some great links in the comments, so check them out. Here's another: Droog.com.

3050 - Licensed product line - choose a theme, logo, or pattern and create a family of related products around it. For instance - a party line applied to cups, napkins, tablecloths, hats, ties, whatever! Here are some sites for inspiration: cafepress.com, zazzle, centurynovelty.com, orientaltrading.com, tobasco, Bulldog merchandise, Crate and Barrel kids, etc. Here are some illustrators making their living with licensed products: Joy Allen, Jenny B. Harris. Trade show for licensed products: Surtex, National Stationary Show. A good agent who represents licensing artists, Cruise Creative.

For Wednesday, October 13th

3010 - Hi Guys, Wednesday we'll go over and turn in your final illustration for our "Doughboy" project before moving on to our next one. Really put some time into that last draft. Remember, it takes me five days on average to render an illustration. I'm fairly certain you can take your illustrations further!
     And look up Maxfield Parrish if you didn't have a chance to look at the book in the classroom. He was a master of light and how it affected the colors in shadows and such. Also, to the right is the cover of the picture book I kept talking about - Snowmen at Night, illustrated by Mark Buehner. Another up and coming illustrator who plays with light well is Brandon Dorman.

3050 - Love, love, love what I'm seeing so far guys! Wednesday, I'll need to see your final iteration of "Infestation" as well as your selected illustrator. We'll also start a new project.
     Sue, here's the illustrator I was telling you about, Brian Froud. But y'all check out the illustrators in 3010's notes too. There are some good ones! See you Wednesday!

For Friday, October 8

Reminder: Friday will be a work day - you are all expected to attend class as usual. Somebody please set-up a roll as last time, and everybody sign in. I'll be back on Monday.
     A few of you mentioned some good print sources while we were in the gallery - could you please add the links in the comments section?

3010 - We started our new project named "Doughboy." You all seemed to have a good handle on the goal. Create a drawing of something inherently good, evil or benign and make it its opposite (or assign it's mood) via lighting and color. Obviously shading will play a BIG role in this project, so choose your light direction carefully and draw well! Since you'll have a full day without feedback on Friday, I'll hope to see some highly developed images on Monday. Feel free to use any media you choose. (If you were absent, please be sure to read "Illuminating Color.")

3050 - We also started a new project - "Infestation." A few of you were overlapping on themes - that's okay. I'll want to see an illustrator you would hire for the project and highly developed images for Monday. Remember, in crowd scenes, pay specific attention to coincidence of line, making sure shapes are still readable and the image is easily decipherable for the viewer - tricky to do with a busy composition. Hence, the challenge.

Have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing you all on Monday! Here are some smiles to get you through (in case you haven't found this site yet): Cute Overload.

For Wednesday, October 6

3010 - Good progress today guys! For Wednesday I want to see your chosen elements, your faves from all you've created, rendered fully. They will be images you could potentially use as a website/blog 1) header, 2) background pattern, 3) border, 4) content/line break icon, and if you like - a favicon (that funny little square at the beginning of URL addresses). If you have several designs that you'd like to see together, do more than one grouping! And please don't make us search them out on pages with images you're not as crazy about - cut them out as separate elements. We'll go over these first thing, turn them in, then move on to our next project.
     As a reminder, here is the pattern building method at Design Sponge.

3050 - Awesome, awesome progress guys! For Wednesday I want to see your completed ideas of how your products fit together for a potential point-of-purchase display header. I don't want to see the whole display, just your drawing. Remember the title of your product and the products themselves will be the stars here, and I want to see them rendered well.
     We'll go over these first thing, turn everything in, then move on to our next project.
     Sue, here's the Shel Silverstein video I told you about:



     I mentioned Garth Williams today - one of my all time fave illustrators. They're actually auctioning off some of his original sketches right now at the Heritage Auction Galleries - gorgeous stuff!

     NOTE: Friday I'll be out of town, talking at Auburn, so it will be a work day. (Everybody will have new projects on which to concentrate.) You will be expected to attend class and sign a roll.
     Also - my show is up in the Graphics gallery space and will be through October. Hope you'll stop by and have a look!

For Monday, October 4

3010 - Once we got rolling, I loved seeing what all of you were coming up with today - and all individual too. Can't wait to see what you share on Monday! Remember, I'd rather see the separate elements than have you placing them in a website/blog layout. Work on keeping your lines and shapes clean if you're going for those big bold shapes. Cave painting type images would, of course, be much looser. And experiment with mixing media like I showed you.
     Along the lines of the Wave of Kanagawa (to the right), a modern illustrator who used shapes in a strong way is Guy Billout.

     Vasilisa - Here's the illustrator I was telling you about, Bernie Fuchs. He was famous for leaving sepia areas with implied information (like the eyes on your Great Gatsby project).

3050 - Once again, great progress guys. I hope you got some good ideas from the videos we watched. Remember the line DNA: Design, Nature, Art! For Monday I'd like to see more fleshed out (sorry!) ideas. Keep in mind that more developed ideas need to be more fully rendered - concentrate on line quality and shading. If you were to present them to a design group, they'd need to fully relay your idea.
     I also want to see print outs of an illustrator you would hire for the project.
     We briefly talked about the sculptor, Henry Moore.
Stephen - Please go have a look at the New York Times Op-ed video under "videos."