Final assignment for Spring 202 media arts!

Illustration Assignment 

Mirror, Mirror!

• Theme: The theme of the project will be mirrors and reflections. There is potential in  creating a character confronting themselves in a dark mirror or reflection which reveals something of the inner character of the person or character. Any other content of the piece can be up to the student. Images should have at least two figures and a background. Be inventive as to what the mirror or the reflection in the piece is. 

• Objective: To work with photographs, drawings and other reference to combine and create a new image which tells the story. To explore the medium of acrylic  and to be inventive in the ways you use your reference and tools.

• Requirement: Somewhere within the work there must be a reflection of the character. It should be a central focus of the piece.

• Student will be required to use principles of color theory, composition, design and a strong concept and other means of creating complex imagery.

• Grading:   Assignments will be graded and judged on the quality of the reference obtained, the creativity of the sketches, the use of acrylic, inventiveness of the work and the finish of the final artwork.

Week 1:

Show up to class with 20 well thought out Thumbnails in a 4”w x 3”h ratio. I would like to see a range of sketches building up to these thumbnails. Students should also have a bunch of reference for costume, background and other elements they would like within the image.

Week 2 

In process of collecting references, sketching for final image. Final images should be 12 x 16 on board. 

Week 3: 3 color comps due with different color treatments

Week 4: Finals due

If you need photos Shoot your own reference rather than rely on the internet. Use your cameras, set up costumes even if you need to use yourself. We will need to see your reference in class and talk about it. 

Illustrations by Dave McKean, Android Jones, steve prescott, Bobby Chiu, peter mohrbacher, Dean Cornwell

Things to contemplate in this project:

- color

- texture

- composition

- layers

- brushes

- reference gathering

- using distortion on 

Images

Acrylic Assignment Due April 13

Acrylic Assignment A.

Acrylic painting Exercise 

Since we are all stuck at home, I figured you can grab a personal item such as an old pair of shoes, or something else you left at home when you went to college.  Set them up with a single light source and paint them three times using three different triad color spaces. from the color  wheel…here are examples of color triads, the secondary triads will make for more subtle color ranges 

Each Painting should be about 8 x 10 and feature one main object in a triad color space. This is mostly about getting used to how acrylic works and understanding the limits and uses of the medium. If you only have paper I would recommend gessoing the paper or hitting it with a medium( such as matte medium to seal the pores of the paper. Even on board it pays to seal it as you will lose a lot of time as your paint gets sucked into the board. 

Doing a detailed drawing is always a good first move, trying to figure things out later will only lead to disappointment. 

Try doing a wash of color to start out and get rid of the white space and then start painting from there. Acrylic can be washed with water and glazed with medium. “glazing” means suspending the pigment in clear medium whereas a “wash” with water will lay color over board but the luminosity of the paint will be lessened as the water evaporates. suspending the pigment in medium gives a depth to the work. 

Working Dark to light like with oil paints works well but treating acrylic like watercolor ( thin washes and glazes over a drawing can be effective too. Its a pretty versatile medium.

These paintings will be due next week  and will count as in class work for this week and next week. 

We will have an overarching assignment due later in the semester. 

Color notes

When you mix all three colors of your Triad together, you will create a wide range of Neutrals that harmonize with your palette. Add White or Gray to these for even more variety.

*  Remember that your initial mixtures, as shown at the top of this post are the starting point. You will achieve an endless variety of Tints, Tones and Shades, by adding White, Gray or Black.

*  Your colors will be much more harmonious if you choose one of the colors in your selected Triad as the Dominant color.

*  You don't need to work with just three colors. For example, you might use a cool and a warm of each Hue, or several different versions of one Hue. The variety of approaches is endless and entirely up to you.

*  You also don't need to work with all the mixtures of the three colors. Select a range instead, especially with the Primary Triad, otherwise the results can be overwhelming.

*  Your color mixtures will look even better when you add a tiny speck of your Dominant color to each pigment as you paint. 

• As always, painting will be more succesful  if you're familiar with how your colors interact first. Before you begin, test your colors in your sketchbook.

If you are using digital, applying color layers that are low opacity over the piece will act very much like a glaze or a wash, you can then add or subtract from that layer to reveal the original colors.