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ARTX110: Digital Art—Syllabus Winter Quarter 2018, Kalamazoo College Richard Koenig, Professor Meeting
Time: Tuesday & Thursday 8:30 to 11:30 AM Meeting
Place: Room 122 of the Light Fine Arts Building Class
Homepage: http://people.kzoo.edu/~rkoenig/educator/digital/digital.html Office
Hours: Tuesday 3:30 to 5:00 PM and Wednesday 2:30 to 4:00 (or by appointment) Office
Location: Light Fine Arts Building Room 203, Phone: 337.7003 Security
(emergency only, for safety issues): 337.7321 E-Mail:
rkoenig@kzoo.edu Course
Goals The
objective of this introductory studio art course is to provide the student with
a working knowledge of, and skills associated with, computer-based
art production. For those of you who have not taken a studio art course
before, we design, produce, and then analyze (critique) artworks in this class. The
computer is a powerful tool but does not obviate the need for visual
fundamental theory and execution, so we will first look at and discuss elements
of design, composition, and color theory. In addition, to help us contextualize
this kind of artistic production, we will spend some time looking at a brief
history of digital art as well as its relationship to artwork in general. For
our work, we will be using Macintosh computers with Adobe software (both
raster- and vector-based programs). Early on we will create work that consists
primarily of images and sometimes text. Later we can move to time-based and/or
conceptual forms as your interests dictate. Your completed pieces will usually
be turned in as digital files, but could also be output to hard copy or
ÒpublishedÓ online. In addition to producing digital works, we will analyze our
work in critiques where we will be concerned with technical, formal, and
conceptual questions regarding this technology-based form of artwork. In doing
so we might consider where a work sits in relation to existing artwork, media,
and/or popular culture. By
the end of this term we should know more generally about this technology-based
form of artwork and its relationship to contemporary art production; we will
have gained experience with basic computer techniques and design concepts; we
will have honed our ability to analyze these types of images (like that of a
text); and we will have amassed a small body of creative work of a digital
nature. Introduction Digital
art is based in the computer—a hard machine that functions on logical
algorithms. But in the end, the artwork that has been produced with the aid of
this device seems to be closer to, and have an affinity for, Dada, Surrealism,
Conceptual Art, Happenings, Performance, and even Earth Art. When
looking at computer-based work from the last twenty-five years one notices a
propensity for appropriation and reconstitution, akin to some works produced in
the Dada and Surrealism movements. The work is inherently non-material as with
Conceptual, and in the end, Happenings, Performance, and even Earth Art. And,
as with those earlier forms of artistic production, digital art seems to revel
in the use of wit, humor, and subversion. PhotographyÕs
influence on painting in the 19th century was profound—providing
it with the freedom to move toward non-representational and abstract forms. The
work of painters in the Cubist fold then influenced and altered photographic
practices—showing that the conceptual discussion went in both directions.
In this class, weÕll look at how Digital Art, in a similar fashion, has been
having an on-going two-way conversation with contemporary art. Evaluation Merely completing the requirements for an assignment will not
necessarily ensure a good evaluation for that assignment. I look at technical,
formal, and conceptual aspects of your work but also the level of exploration
and risk taking. Below is a breakdown of how your final grade will be
determined: 15% Assignment
One (Basic Collage Exercise and Triptych) 20% Assignment
Two (Image/Text and Printed Piece—Darwin Poster) 5% Midterm
Journal 10% Midterm
Participation 15% Assignment
Three (Quick test plus Two Animated GIFs) 20% Assignment
Four (Open Project) 5% Second
Half Journal 10% Second
Half Participation Attendance Attendance is mandatory—it is crucial that you miss as few
of the meetings as possible as the instruction builds upon itself. After two
unexcused absences your grade can be lowered at my discretion. One must have
documentation to obtain an excused absence. Also, two late arrivals will be counted as one
absence. If you do miss a class, get notes from
another student. Journal (10%) You
will be required to keep a digital journal while in this class. In this you can
record your Òtalking pointsÓ from any and all of our readings, as well as ideas
for your assignments, etc. I will take a look at this journal around midterm
and at the end of the course. (The journal will ultimately be worth 10% of your
final grade). Participation (20%) This is very different than attendance—it is in addition to
it, if you like. Good participation means one actively and candidly contributes
to the conversation during critiques, while also being supportive of your
peers. It means one arrives to the classroom on time, is prepared, and shows by
means of facial expression and body language that one is following what is
going on. It means, quite simply, that one contributes to a positive class
atmosphere. Along those lines, one important note about critiques: we criticize
the work, not the person making the work. Please turn off phones, do not email,
Facebook, text, or twitter during structured class time. I feel that this
aspect of your performance (participating, exhibiting good citizenship in the
classroom) is so important that IÕve recently raised the percentage for which
it accounts within your final grade. Assignments—In
General There
will be a total of eight pieces due this term—seven assignments plus your
final project. These
assignments must be done on time as we critique them together during class
time—please look closely at the schedule for these dates. In most cases,
have the assignment in finished form saved in a Dropbox
folder that I will set up for the class. Then, during critique, we can easily
access this file on the computer that is connected to the digital projector.
One of the projects, however, will be printed and critiqued in the photo
classroom. Assignments—In
Particular Assignment
One (15%) Basic Collage Exercise—use Photoshop to create
three digital collages. Each should contain at least four different elements.
One collage could be about the digital process itself. It might also be good to
make one that includes the use of these three elements: a digital photograph,
something scanned, and a pure graphic element (like a gradient). Finished
pieces should be 6Ó by 9Ó at 150 PPI (digital file). Triptych—use Photoshop to create one piece made
up from three interrelated images. You could use this form to produce a
self-referential implied narrative. Explore the use of metaphor in the creation
of a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Finished piece should be
approximately 9Ó by 18Ó at 150 PPI (digital file). Assignment
Two (20%) Image/Text—use Photoshop and/or Illustrator to
blur the lines between image and symbol (text) in an integrated way. This is very important: do not make an aphoristic
poster (image with saying simply overlaid thereon). The point is to meld image
and text so that itÕs difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins.
Your finished piece should be approximately 7.5Ó by 10Ó at 150 PPI (digital
file). Darwin Poster—This will be a collaborative
project with student from Human Physiology. As a small
group, you will use Photoshop and/or Illustrator to create a printed piece for
Darwin Day on campus. This assignment demands high resolution (printing)—also,
we will work in CMYK mode. Formal design and complexity with unity will be the
focus here. Finished piece should be 12Ó x 18Ó at 300 DPI (hard copy). Assignment
Three (15%) Use Photoshop to create a simple test animation. This
test is to get your feet wet with this process. Animated Gif One—use Photoshop to create a
simple, but resolved, animation. The finished piece can be relatively small, 4Ó
by 5Ó at 150 dpi, but should be made up of at least ten frames (digital file). Animated Gif Two—now that you know what youÕre
doing, do another one, hopefully a bit more complex and meaningful than the
first. Assignment
Four (20%) Open Project—the aim of this assignment is for
you to play to your strengths, and to make something a bit more substantial
than weÕve done thus far (you have three entire weeks for this). You could use
I-Movie or Photoshop to create a more advanced version of the animated Gif.
This piece can be much larger, longer, and itÕs easy to add sound or music
using the video program. You could use InDesign to create a book. You could use
Photoshop to make a well-developed series of images—printed for the wall
if you have an affinity for output. Or you could make an artwork designed
specifically for the web (harking back to the dream of New Media). In any case,
you will be required to orally present your idea before the class before you
begin. Hardware, Lecture, and Lab
Time Our
usual meeting place will be Fine Arts Room 122 (FABLAB). You will note that
there are fifteen new Apple I-Mac computers, with the very latest Adobe
Creative Suite software, on which you will be working. This room is accessible
to you from 7:00 AM throughout the day till 1:00 AM except for organized class
times (8:30 PM to 3:30 PM Tuesdays and Thursdays). Please note—my other class meets in this room Tuesday and
Thursday afternoons from 12:30 to 3:30 PM. Due to this you will not be able to
work in the FABLAB during that time. I
usually begin each class period with a PowerPoint lecture so please come on
time each day. After that, there will be time for a variety of demonstrations
or open lab time. There are additional resources in the Center for New Media
found on the first floor of the Library, particularly scanning and high quality
output devices (including 3D printing). To
complete your work to a satisfactory level, you will have to spend time outside
of class working. Do not leave things until the last minute, especially when
hard copy is due—I will notice the lack of quality and grade accordingly.
Look, think, and plan ahead to ensure your best production. Lab
Fee and Costs You
will be charged $25 for a lab fee in this class. This pays for output materials
(ink and paper). In addition, you will have to provide for data storage (USB
drive) to back up and ultimately save your work. Text/Readings There
are no required textbooks for this course—I will give you handouts for
this purpose. Please see our schedule for dates of particular readings and
discussion sessions. For each reading I want you to come to class with three
questions or Òtalking pointsÓ two which you can refer for discussion (these
notes should be entered into your journal as we go along). For
further reading please see the bibliography on the class website for a list of
books that our library owns so you can pursue the original, or additional,
reading material. Disability/Prerequisite Any
student with a disability who needs an accommodation or other assistance in
this course should make an appointment to speak with me. There is no
prerequisite for this class. Gathering
Source Material I
would encourage the use of your own source material for this class unless you
have a conceptual reason for appropriating imagery. An easy way to avoid the
possibility of copyright problems, as well as assuring image quality, is to
totally create your own artwork rather than lifting it from the web or scanning
the of work of someone else. For this reason, it is probably a good thing if
you have access to a camera (a phone camera should be fine for our needs).
Also, one can creatively use a scanner to gather content (scan text, two- and
three-dimensional objects, for example). Please cover the platen (scanner glass)
with a piece of acetate so as to guard against scratches if you are scanning
rough objects however. FABLAB—Saving Your Work The
iMac computers in the FABLAB will save your work during the term—but you
will have to use the same computer (remember to sign out). In any case, you
should ideally save all of your work in at least two places as you go along.
The second place beyond the computer on which you work could be a flash drive
and/or in the cloud—for this you can open a free account with Dropbox. I will have a group folder there so you can turn
in digital files that way. At the end of the term remember to take all of our
files off of the computer (one way or another), as these files will be
permanently removed without notice. Please
do not eat or drink in the FABLAB. |