Project Work Flow
Each assignment will start with a project brief that includes objectives, an overview, a detailed schedule, and lists of video tutorials relevant to the project. The tutorials are in lieu of in-person demonstrations. Plan to watch them, take notes, and then complete the exercises they describe. For every project you will be expected to post:
- Thoughtful written feedback given to your peers throughout process and as a final online critique
- Your final piece posted to this site with a written reflection and final work category tagged. Your written reflection should describe the problem posed and how your illustration solves that problem.
At the end of each project, I’ll ask you to fill out the Self-Guided Rubric for the project. You are welcome to refer to it as you work to make sure you’re staying on top of things. I will also fill out the rubric, paying special attention to the points where we differ in our assessments. My intention here is twofold: 1) to help you with a practice of self-generated feedback and discernment about your work and 2) to involve you with the assessment so that any final grades are reasonably anticipated and not an unpleasant surprise.
Missing Classes + Late Work
There is no attendance taken in this class. That said, please make every effort to attend our few in-person meetings. Please let me know as soon as possible if something comes up that prevents you from tending to class work.
All work is due by 12:00 PM on the day of class. Work turned in (posted, emailed, etc.) late will be lowered by a half letter grade for every class period it is late. E.g. A piece that would have earned an AB will drop to a B. Always turn in late work. Late is better than nothing and you will have made the work and hopefully learned from it…which is the thing that helps you in the long run.
I will not be accepting resubmitted work in this class. Get it in on time or late, but get it done.
Project Lists
These are the projects we’ll cover in this class as well as a little bit about what I hope you’ll gain from them. I will post the specific details of each assignment as we begin them.
Gouache Introductions – This project is intended to help you dive in to working faster, to build a familiarity with gouache, and to learn the ropes of posting text and images to our various platforms. The content is intended to help you all get to know each other better and to start thinking about what we’re doing here in an illustration class.
Contemporary Illustrators – This is a mini-project within the one above. It is intended to make sure we’re all look at, appreciating, and analyzing the work of contemporary illustrators. Please feel free to post additional illustrators as you come across them.
Surface Design – This project introduces repeating patterns as a product that you might produce as an illustrator. We’ll also explore using mock-ups to present our pattern illustrations in appropriate contexts.
Farmers’ Market promo piece – Working with a community partner to serve their needs through illustration. Details to follow.
Editorial Illustration – This project introduces the concept of editorial illustration and creating images that work easily well in print or digital environments.
Final Illustration and Reflection – We will collaborate and establish the parameters for this assignment in class.
