Digital Skills for Artists - ART 1793
Instructor: David Stoddard

Goals for the course
This course is an introduction to digital technology, and to digital tools for artists and designers. It provides you with a solid foundation should you wish to pursue art using a computer. One goal is to help students feel comfortable using the equipment in the Digital Studio (RFA 143) by teaching all art majors or minors how to utilize the studio. Additionally, the course strives to reinforce your sense of composition and design, as well as other practices of being a professional artist or designer.

Your personal goal should be to feel comfortable with the computer as a tool for making art, and to produce finished work that is worthy of inclusion in your portfolio.

In class
You will learn how to use several tools for art production, the file management sytem, the peripherals, and the network within the studio. We will work with two main software tools, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. During the semester I will offer demonstrations on the use of Adobe Illustrator -- a vector graphic program, and Adobe Photoshop -- a bitmap graphic program. There will be a wide variety of exercises and projects involving their use.

The projects for this course will focus on the principles of design as a backbone of your projects. They require work in class and outside of class using your hands, your mind, a sketchbook, as well as a computer -- of course.

Grading
Your grade in this course is based on projects as well as other criteria. You will receive grades for each project, based on the quality of your work. While grading, I take into consideration craftsmanship in the use of tools and of presentation, the creativity of your projects, and the aesthetic appeal of your work. Concept is an important aspect of design, but the concentration will be on these other qualities during the grading process for this course.

Projects will determine 80% of your total grade for the course (20 points per project). I will give you a critique sheet with my evaluation for each of the projects. The specific criteria for each project will vary depending on what is being emphasized. Good craftsmanship, and creativity are always considered a plus. The remaining 20% of your grade will be based on other criteria: participation, attitude, critiques, meeting deadlines for assignments, and the overall personal progress you make. These things will be apparent from the projects you submit and your general attitude with regard to the work, attendance etc. Participation in critiques will be noted and will affect your final grade. Critiques help you develop an artist's vocabulary as well as offering valuable feedback to fellow class members.

Be passionate and engaged , do more then just meet the guidelines of projects, and make each project your own in some creative manner. Don't be a zombie! (Especially, one of the slow zombies) Most importantly, have fun! If you are not having fun making art, then find something that you enjoy doing and do that. Due to the "portfolio" nature of this course, much of the grading may happen late in the semester. If I think you are having problems and need to improve your habits or your work, I will let you know as early in the semester as possible. If you think you have a problem that may affect your grade, talk to me about it. I respond well to students who are interested in learning and improving. I will make an effort to help you if you make the effort to help yourself.

Projects
We may do more or fewer projects than are listed here depending on time and the pace of the class (these projects may also change depending on the needs of the class). If I determine it might be beneficial to build in more time on a given project, or that we can work on more projects, we may do either. The likely projects are listed below.   1. Self-portrait series - 3 finished pieces   2. Symbols, pattern designs and compositions - develop 3 symbols, multiple studies and 6 finished pieces   3. Creative expressions with images and type - blending vector and bitmap graphic information - 4 finished pieces   4. Web galleries - a gallery of all the work finished in this course. You will receive details about these when it is time to begin each project. Also, check the assignment link for project specifications at http://art.hsu.edu/dad/1793/assignments.html.

There is an in-class critiques for each project. Following each critique, you will be given one week to rework and submit finished, mounted work. This is intended to give you feedback and time to improve your work. Please take advantage of it.

Course Materials
Textbook:
No Required Textbook --I'll mention in class, that Photoshop and Illustrator both have great Help menus -- these are pretty much the whole user handbooks for these programs. If you have questions about how to use a tool, check there for answers. If you are a person that might learn more by following a video tutorial then you may want to subscribe to lynda.com. For $25.00 a month you get unlimited access to hours of video tutorials designed to teach beginners. They have great lessons on Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop along with about 30 other popular graphics programs. These are tutorials by artists for artists. I love the online training library.

Recommended books: The Adobe Illustrator CS3 Wow! Book (WOW!) by Sharon Steuer -- A very valuable reference for future work you might want to do. It includes work by very talented illustrators. The Wow! series of books are not only great references on how to use cool software tools, but they have lots of examples by artists that use the software. This book costs about $40.00 new, although you may find used copies cheaper. If you like to learn tools by following step by step instructions from a book, this is a very good tool for you.

You should also look at the Links page on the course web page to see online tutorials, as well as the work of professional artists that use the tools we are using.

Materials and tools you will need:
• A Sketchbook
• We will be using digital photos in the course. We have a camera that we can all share, but if you have your own digital camera you can be more flexible about when you take your photos.
• 1 –2 package of photo quality inkjet paper. You need between 10-20 sheets. Cheap is not usually better in this case. HP, Kodak, or Epson photo inkjet paper will work best.
• Black foam core board (black core), spray mount, and an Xacto Knife with new blades. You will need to mount about 13-15 pieces of work. 
• CD -Rs, DVD-Rs, and/or a USB mini-drive. Losing your work because you did not save it in more than one place is not an excuse for not having your work finished. So, back up your work!

Attendance
If you miss more than three classes, you will loose five points from your final grade. If you miss a day scheduled for a critique, you will loose 5 points from your final grade. If you miss 5 or more classes, I strongly recommend dropping the course. As per university attendance guidelines, students may be dropped from the class for non-attendance on the 5th absence. If you are having problems, it is better to talk to me about it as early as possible. Do not expect individual instruction for classes you miss. You are responsible for the information that is covered while absent. Arriving late or leaving early will adversely affect your grade. 2 tardies = 1 absence.

Digital Studio Hours
The Digital Studio is open to art students during regular business hours (8AM to 5PM). If you are enrolled in this course, you will also have access whenever the Russell Fine Arts building is open. Please read the rules for the Digital Studio posted inside and outside the door to the lab. Always clean up after yourself.

Contact
Office: RFA 243. My hours are posted outside my door.
Phone: 230-5020. If I don’t answer, leave a message.
E-mail: stoddad@hsu.edu

Website
The schedule, assignments, links, and this syllabus can be accessed on the web at http://art.hsu.edu/dad/1793/index.html

Other Policies
Students with documented disabilities are entitled to all reasonable accommodation due them under Section 504. Students must notify instructor of special needs so that accommodation can be provided. Instructor reserves the right of flexibility as individual opportunities and class needs dictate.

It is university policy that plagiarism is treated seriously and will, at the least, result in failure of the class and could result in expulsion from the University.

The syllabus is a general guide for the course and is subject to change at my discretion. I will keep the class informed of changes if they are necessary.

University Accreditation
National accreditation boards are constantly reviewing the university. This process is design to insure that institutions of high education like HSU meet national standards for education. Part of this process requires instructors and professors to state the desired “outcomes” for each course. These are the ideas and skills that students should obtain by completing a course successfully. Below is the list of desired outcomes for this course.

Digital Skills for The Artist
To successfully complete this course each student should understand and have the skills to do the following:
Be able to work using Mac OS X operating system
Be able use the Local Area Network within the Digital Studio to transfer files and work.
Be able to send and receive e-mail.
Be able to use the web for simple research purposes.
Be able to use the laser and inkjet printers with in the lab and understand when to use each.
Be able to flatbed scanners and digital cameras.
Be able to use Photoshop to open, clean up, resize, crop, and save image to a variety of formats.
Have a general understanding of image resolution and file formats.
Work confidently with the main tools in Adobe Illustrator demonstrating a solid mastery of the Pen Tool specifically.
Demonstrate a solid understanding of the use and difference of vector-based graphics and bitmap-based graphic formats.
Understand the terms and concept of the RGB and CMYK color systems of digital imagery.
Be able to mount your work and present it with a high level of craftsmanship.
Be able to use and understand the basic terms of type within Adobe Illustrator
Be able to work with pattern in Illustrator and Photoshop.
Be able to demonstrate in your work an understanding of the basic principles of design.
Be able to understand the techniques for creating symbolized representation of objects
Be able to understand and demonstrate a high level of craftsmanship in vector-based rendering.
Be able to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of work created in the course in critiques.
Be able to copy, store and back up your digitally stored images and work to a variety of media.