Free University MOOC The Fundamentals of Graphic Design from CalArts – Imagemaking

What Is Graphic Design?

According to Michael Worthington at CalArts, Graphic Design is a resource for conveying an idea, a product, or a message to the public.

“Graphic Design is all around us! Words and pictures—the building blocks of graphic design—are the elements that carry the majority of the content in both the digital world and the printed world. As graphic design becomes more visible and prevalent in our lives, graphic design as a practice becomes more important in our culture.

“…this course will teach you the fundamental principles of graphic design: imagemaking, typography, composition, working with color and shape… foundational skills that are common in all areas of graphic design practice.”

The CalArts MOOC The Fundamentals of Graphic Design is Free Here: https://www.coursera.org/learn/fundamentals-of-graphic-design/

Things That Are Created Through Graphic Design:

Books – Including Picture Books, Comic Books, Graphic Novels, etc.

Logos

Web Design

T-Shirts

Boxes and Packaging

Posters, CD Labels and Inserts,

“Design is a way of communicating something to someone else through a visual means.” – Michael Worthington

All designers communicate through Text [Typgoraphy] and Image [Illustration], and these two elements are often tied together through color and composition.

The Elements of Graphic Design

Image
Text
Color & Shape
Composition

Imagemaking

Much of Graphic Design Involves Imagemaking.

How an Image is Represented Affects the Message that the Image Communicates.

Some Images Are Recorded Literally and they do not transmit any or at least not much of an abstract idea. An apple that is drawn or painted literally is merely an apple. The materials and the techniques may differ, but the apples are simply apples.

Apple Line Drawing – A Simple, Clean Contour Line Drawing

Apple Gesture Drawing

Apple Shaded Graphite Pencil Drawing

Apple Shaded Color Pencil Drawing

Apple Marker Drawing

Apple Cut Construction Paper Collage

Apple Cut Construction Paper Collage 2

Apple Close Up Watercolor

Apple Acrylic Painting

Apple Core – Still Literal

Apple Watercolor Wash – Less Literal

Apple Design Less Literal

Apple Design – Even Less Literal

Apple Design – Even Less Literal – Computer

Apple Mono Prints

In this assignment I’d like you to experiment with a variety of imagemaking techniques to create a range of images of a single household object. This assignment is graded, and it will also help you towards completing the optional peer review assignment at the end of this week, Brief 1.2: Making Images, Making Meaning.

Choose a household object. Choose something that comes in different varieties, something that isn’t too visually complicated, or too simple, and something that is easily recognizable.

Make at least 10 images of your object. Make each image with different techniques, and in a different way. Make them all approximately the same size, 5 x 5 inches, each in the middle of an 8.5 x 11” or A4 (vertical) sheet of paper. If you make your images by hand, please scan them at 300ppi at 100% of size.

Choose your 10 best images and bundle them into one PDF document for upload. Please submit 10 and only 10.

Please include a title for your assignment, and submit! After submitting, you will be prompted to review two of your peers’ assignments. Good luck!

As mentioned, the goal of this assignment is to encourage you to make images, as many of them as possible (though you are expected to submit 10). The result is for you to expose yourself to as many different types and methods of imagemaking as possible–here you are learning through process.

For peer review, you will be assessed on whether you have met the required number of images (10!) and the degree in which you have incorporated a variety of techniques/approaches/strategies in your set of images. Specifically:

• Did you submit a single document comprised of 10 images? (4 pts)
• To what degree have you incorporated a variety of different techniques and/or approaches in their imagemaking? (4 pts)

To pass this assignment, you must satisfactorily meet the required criteria as above and review two of your classmates.

You are encouraged to make more than 10 images, but please submit only 10!

There’s no right or wrong way to approach this assignment, the goal is to get you making images! You can mix and match techniques, or invent your own techniques and aesthetics. You just need to end up with 10 different images of the same object. Some may take you a few minutes to make, others might take a lot longer. You can use this exercise as a way to investigate new techniques, or revisit familiar ones. If you use this exercise as a way to surprise yourself you’ll probably surprise your audience too!

To create your images, here are some materials you can consider:

• Pencil
• Crayon Charcoal
• Photograph
• Watercolor
• Colored pencil
• Marker
• Collage
• Flat
• Illustrator drawing
• Scanned objects
• Clay
• Chalk
• Sculpture
• Found trash
• Scraperboard
• Lino cut
• Monoprint
• Blind drawing
• Potato print
• 3-d model
• Photoshop manipulation
• Ballpoint pen in one continuous line

Also think about what kind of imagemaking aesthetics or strategies you might employ:

• Any historical design or art movement
• Cartoon
• Realistic
• Surreal
• Symbol/icon
• Impressionistic
• Abstract
• Historical
• Complex
• Minimal
• Cubist
• Decorative

 

Drawing a Butterfly Step by Step

Butterflies are the staples of several different types of painting. We often see them in paintings of the garden, and we also see them in more fantastical settings–i.e. those with fairies. In fact, if you look closely at many of the fairy paintings, you will be able to see that the fairy wings are actually butterfly wings.

The agony of drawing a butterfly is the fact that it is symmetrical, and drawing anything in perfect symmetry is difficult. However, I usually draw one side of things like butterflies and then fold my paper and put it in a window or on a light box and trace the other side from what I drew on the first side. In the above drawing, you can see that I drew that butterfly by folding the paper several times.

If you jump into drawing a butterfly and try to draw the entire thing perfectly from the start, the task can be overwhelming. I suggest drawing the outline of the butterfly first and break the rings into 4 sections.

Next, begin to draw the decorative details of one top segment and mirror that on the other side.

Repeat the process on the bottom segments.

Add even more details.

Let’s Draw Disney’s Jim Crow

Jim Crow is one of the goofy guys who sings When I See An Elephant Fly in Dumbo.

The crows were strutting about, guffawing, and making fun of the ludicrous idea that a fat elephant–even one with big ears–could fly.  This is indeed a stylized presentation of how black people were perceived to  “shine” in 1941, the time that this film was made.  By today’s standards, this clip would be considered prejudicial.  Yet, I do not reject it for that reason.  In my opinion, this is a testament to vintage Hollywood, and regardless of whether we consider it politically correct now, it does represent an era.  This remains one of my favorite of the old, animated Disney clips.

If the Jim Crow crow were human, he might look like the above photo.

The 1977 movie Scott Joplin has characters who are costumed and behave in the same way as Dumbo’s crows.  I suspect that this dress and behavior is more history than many would like to remember now.  I think that the purpose is to demonstrate that Joplin was not the typical piano man; yet, it also shows that the piano men and other shiners did exist at the time.  We all have parts of our history that we would love to gloss over, but I don’t believe that the glossing is in anyone’s best interest. I am an advocate of understanding history, and if need be, move on.  To understand, we must initially acknowledge.

Likewise, in order for an artist to illustrate fashion throughout history, he must first know a bit about history–the history that actually was.

The Dumbo crows are anthromorphic.  Their wings, legs, and other featurers were drawn to seem human. They even wear clothes.

This is not an authentic Disney drawing, but it is a close look-alike.  Disney separated the wing tips with purple.  We’ll add purple and blue to the black, when drawing our cartoon crow.

An outline of Jim Crow.

We’ll begin by establishing some guide lines

In the above drawing, Jim Crow is standing fairly straight and holding his arms almost straight outward–in a cross-like manner.  Note that the center line does not go upward through the middle of the crow’s neck.  It is off to one side.  His shoulders [wings] are well above the center line horizontally.  Put a dot halfway between the middle and the top of his hat.  Put another dot halfway between that dot and the top of the hat.

I place a pink dot in the center of Jim’s actual neck.  That will help when we actually add his clothes.

Jim’s head is tilted.  His eyes follow one diagonal and his hat is cocked at another.

Begin by drawing the circle for the rounded part of the head.

Jim is looking to the left and upward.  The guides for his eyes will be arcs and not straight lines.

 Draw the whites of the eyes.

 Draw the pupils but do not color them.

Leave the pupils as outlines.  We’ll color with colored pencil.

Draw the beak and tongue.  Note that on the right, the beak is wider than the head.

Draw the neck.  Again, note that the neck is to the right of the center line.

Place a dot where I have added the pink dot.  Againk the clothes will actually wrap around the center of the neck [the pink dot] and not around the center guide line. The 2 outer vertical lines show where, in relation to Jim’s head and beak, the outside of the vest will be drawn.

The lines at the waist, pulling away from the button, are stress lines, showing how the crow’s body tugs at the clothing, to move around the wider part of the body, Jim’s belly.

Now draw the legs and feet.  Again, use the outer vertical lines to help place these.  After you draw the toes, you will add the claws. the shoe-like things going around Jim’s ankles are spats.  See notes about spats below.

Add the claws and draw the wings.

Note that the wings are hand-like.  The left one has 5 fingers.

Jim is wearing a Bowler or a Derby hat.  See notes below.

Draw the hat in 3 parts:  the base, the top, and the band [or ribbon].

The tail is more feathers [like the wings] and is drawn similarly.

Draw Another Jim Crow:

The above crow is standing relatively straight.  We indicate his spine by a straight line.  In the following, the crow is bending, and his spine is more diagonal.

The red line is a more accurate representation of what the spine is doing in the above image.

Whereas, the first crow’s head is in a 3/4 turn, this crow’s entire body is turned.  Several things will move into play.  For instance, you will draw the nearer leg and wing larger.  That is because as things move farther away in perspective, they are drawn smaller and smaller.

To be sure that things line up correctly, it is good to understand where upper things lie relative to lower, i.e. how does the beak line up with the feet?

The crow’s tail is far right of the neck and beak.

Where the head will be, draw a circle

Draw arcs to serve as guides for placing the eyes

Draw the beak:

Draw the bottom part of the hat

Add the band [ribbon] and the tear drop shadow to the hat

Before we add the clothes, it is important to realize that the body is not a flat surface.  It is 3-dimensional.  I have redrawn the spine to show that it is severely curved–causing the crow to puff out his chest.  The vest will puff out accordingly, and the very front of the shirt will arch out in front of the spine.

Notice that the shoulders [where the wings connect] and the head meet at the top of the spine.

This Jim Crow is holding his arm up and a bit backward–much like the policeman does in the book Frosty the Snowman

On the left wing, you see the tops of the fingers [the side where the fingernails are], the palm is facing away from the viewer and is not seen.

The left wing is different.  The side facing the viewer is the palm side of this anthromorphic crow’s “hand.  A line on the bottom shows where the arm turnns to allow the hand to flip upwards.

The crow’s wings are like the arms and hands of the blonde girl on the top left of the above cartoon.

.

Jim Crow is wearing spats around his ankles.  This was a fashion trend during the 19th and early 20th Centuries. Spats emerged in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century as a fashion accessory, evolving from the “spatterdashes” worn to keep mud out of walking boots into a fashion accessory to dress up any pair of shoes.

 Fred Astaire

Disney’s Jiminy Cricket wore spats in the 1940 film Pinocchio.  Dumbo was released in 1941

 Bowler Hat

 Bowler Hat Variation

 The same type of hat was called a Derby in America

 

Painting for Tots at Jacki Kellum Studios

Orange Daisies Painted by a 4-Year-Old in a Jacki Kellum Art Class

Very young children have a natural ability to paint that they inevitably lose, as they mature.  Parents too often wait until the child is older–in school–even in middle school–before they provide art classes.  Yet, valid art instruction from a properly trained instructor is crucial for preschoolers and kindergarteners.  609-204-9528 Call or text Jacki Kellum now to get into the fall Painting for Tots Class, which is geared toward expression and creativity–as opposed to what an adult might consider to be more realistic. The students paint from actual flowers and not from photographs of flowers.

Email: jackikellum@gmail.com 

Lily Painted by a 4-Year-Old in a Jacki Kellum Art Class

Primrose Painted by a 4-Year-Old in a Jacki Kellum Art Class

A chart showing gerbera daisies painted by kids of different ages in Jacki Kellum Classes.

Beginning Cartoon Class at Jacki Kellum Studios

Whether you want to draw cartoon faces, fashion models, or more realistic portraits, the first step is that of learning how to place guide lines and then drawing the facial features according to those lines.

609-204-9528 Call or text Jacki Kellum now to get into a fall art class and learn how to use Draw Simple Cartoons. Email: jackikellum@gmail.com

Prices:  Depending upon how many are in the class, the cost is $20 per hour or hour and a half–paid in advance–one month at a time.

Week 1:  Draw Cartoons Facing Front

Week 2: Learn to Draw Turning Cartoon Heads

Week 3:  Expressions

Week 4:  Add a Body

Learn to Draw and Shade in Perspective – Jacki Kellum Studios

This Knight is nothing more than a group of cylinders and spheres that have been drawn and shaded with perspective. 609-204-9528 Call or text Jacki Kellum now to get into a fall art class and learn how to use perspective to make simple drawings seem more realistic. Email: jackikellum@gmail.com

Prices:  Depending upon how many are in the class, the cost is $20 per hour or hour and a half–paid in advance–one month at a time.

If students have never drawn, they should take the Beginning Cartooning Class before this one. 

Week 1:  Learn to Draw and Shade a Sphere

Turn a Sphere into a Fat Cat

Week 2:  Learn to Draw and Shade a Cylinder

Add an arch doorway and draw a group of cylinder buildings in perspective

Week 3: Use Cylinders and Spheres to Draw the Knight of the Drawing Table

Week 4:  Learn to Use a Ruler to Draw in 2-Point Perspective

Weeks 5 and 6:  Draw and Shade A Cone — Put It All Together to Draw and Shade a Castle

Jacki Kellum’s Middle School Girls’ Art Class Is Painting a Girl with a Braid

Painted by 7th Grader Anusha Yangela

Drawing and painting people is very frightful for most would-be artists–of all ages; yet, it is a skil needed for almost every art career.  These girls are conquering a huge chunk of the obstacles that others have yet to face in studying art.

Painted by 6th Grader Margot Whalen

Painted by 7th Grader Andrea Celestino

6th Grader Sophia Linn is painting

6th Grader Arya Patel is painting

Supply List:

For paper, we used the non-slick side of poster board.

The image was initially drawn with Ultramarine Blue Prismacolor Pencil.

The Following Ceramcoat Paints:

• Butter Cream
• Santa’s Flesh
• Fuchsia
• Terra Cotta

For white, use Liquitex Gesso in a squirt bottle.  Be sure the brand is Liquitex, and be sure that it is in the squit bottle.  The other gessos tend to be too thick and they do not lend themselves to painting.

Jacki Kellum’s Middle School Girls’ Art Class Is Drawing and Painting Faces

Andrea Celestino has begun to paint her mermaid.  Andrea will enter 7th grade in fall.

Margot has begun to paint her mermaid.  Margot will enter 6th grade in fall.

Jacki Kellum Studios – 609-204-9528

Arya has begun to paint her mermaid.  Arya will enter 6th grade in fall.

Sophia has begun to paint her mermaid.  Sophia will enter 6th grade in fall.

Anush is ready to paint her mermaid.  Anusha will enter 7th grade in fall.

Fall Classes Will Learn to Draw and Paint Crows and Maleficent

Something about autumn always makes me think about crows–I suppose the reason is that fall is the season of scarecrows and what is a scarecrow without crows to scare.

And speaking of scaring-autumn is the season of Halloween and other things scary.

With these thoughts in mind, as school begins in September, my students will begin to draw and paint crows.  Later, the middle school students will move beyond that and will also draw Maleficent and her costumes [and the younger students will draw other animals — particularly those from Jungle Book].

http://creatthecrow.deviantart.com/art/How-I-draw-Crows-138331937

What is the difference between a raven and a crow

http://www.how2drawanimals.com/8-animals/87-draw-raven.html?limitstart=0

Distinguish between realistic and cartoon drawing

http://granitoons.deviantart.com/art/How-to-draw-Stan-the-Crow-51494718

Disney’s Dumbo was released in 1941.  The entire film is a masterpiece, but one of my favorite scenes is when the crows strut around, making fun of the notion that Dumbo might become a Flying Elephant.  The delightful song is: “When I See An Elephant Fly.”

In 1959, Disney’s Sleeping Beauty was released and with it came a more sinister blackbird.  

In Sleeping Beauty, the scariness of the Raven is reflected in the character and behavior of the wicked Maleficent–at least, that is what happens until a fairy turns the bird  into a  stone gargoyle.

In Disney’s 2014 Maleficent, the Raven is part of the charater of  the much more benevolent figure–that of Diaval, the human into whom the Raven turns.

I don’t think that anyone would believe that Diaval is a foreboding character; but in that Maleficent’s wings are raven-like, there still is a suggestion of crow-like creepiness in the 2014 film.  It is suggested iin Angelina Jolie’s character and not in Diaval.

This is an excellent example of how very important costuming is. More than anything else, Maleficent’s costume suggests the essence of the crow.   Art [including artistic costuming] happens after the student has learned a great deal about many different aspects of life and technique.  The artist assimilates what he has learned into his own style or his own approach to subject matter.  The student who knows how to draw crows will be better equipped to design a crow-like costume than one who does not.

In the fall class, we’ll begin by drawing Disney’s cartoon crows.

Then, we will focus on drawing more realistic crows, crow feathers, the claws, and other crow details.

After the study of crows, the middle school students will begin drawing Maleficent’s costumes.

This is an extension of the middle school  study of fashion illustration.  After the fashion students study the costumes of Maleficent, they will begin drawing all of the costumes from Cinderella.  Looking far ahead into spring, the students will later begin drawing the costumes of the new and coming Jungle Book.  I teach several Indian children and love Indian fashion and design.  This should allow us a great opportunity to study that.

The younger students will follow the study of crows with a study of the animals of Jungle Book.

Understanding the Guide Lines for Drawing Faces

Whether the face is cartoon or more realistic, I always begin by lightly sketching the guide lines to help me place the eyes, nose, and mouth.  I have been drawing faces for half a century and I still do not skip this step.

As the head turns, the lines also turn; and the feautres follow.

Even if the head isn’t round, the lines should be drawn.