Graphics lesson, 13th March

In today's lesson you are experimenting with initial ideas, using practical/digital processes.  You need to take one of your potentially most effective ideas and try it out in whichever way you feel will be most successful.

At home, you will also need to write up your work.  This doesn't need to be too lengthy, but should include evaluative comments (was it successful? Why? What could be improved) and explain the processes you have used.

Graphics lesson, 6th March

Today you will need to work on your responses independently, ensuring that all responses are complete by the end of the lesson.  If you have finished all three, you will need to devise your own development task in order to further your ideas.  Some examples of these could be:

• Refine a response (re-shoot photos, improve use of materials, use primary images)
• Sketch a series of idea developments stemming from your response work
• Combine artist ideas from your different responses to create a new piece of work
• Brainstorm a specific area of interest
• Anything else you can think of!

You also need to make sure all work from Tuesday's masterclass is in your book.

Graphics lesson, 6th February

To be able to:

Research a theme from given starting points

Compile visual information to support the development of your ideas


In today's lesson you will have your first classroom lesson as part of the exam unit.  You will need to produce a mindmap of your ideas in response to the paper.  You will then need to use your Pinterest account to compile a board of images relevant to the brief.  Make sure you use notes from Tuesday's trip as well as the starting points given in the exam paper.  The Corelli College AS exam Pinterest board can be found below:

http://www.pinterest.com/corelliart/as-graphics-exam-2014/

Digital mind maps can be created at:

http://www.wisemapping.com

Checklist:

1 mindmap showing a range of ideas in response to the exam paper
1 Pinterest board with at least 15 pins.  At least 2 new images pinned to the exam board.

Homework:

Produce a series of 3 sketches and 5 photographs supporting your ideas (primary research)

Printing write up

For next week, make sure all print work is written up on your blog.  The week after that is the final deadline for your coursework, as we will be starting the exam unit at the beginning of February.  Pictures from today can be found in the folder below:

Y:\SIXTH FORM SHARED AREA\Art - Graphics\Graphic Communications AS\2013-14\Mr Davies\Printing Jan

Graphics lessons, 9th and 16th January

In your lessons this week and next you will be working on an outcome that incorporates some of your practical skills from this year.  You need to produce a piece of work that uses etching, screenprinting or some other printing or practical process.  This could be a business card, t-shirt or some other promotional tool.  Printing facilities will be available on the 16th, lessons 1 and 2 only, so all preparation should be done by then.

You also need to make sure you have your Pinterest clearly accessible from the front of your blog, with a board of client presentation examples if that has not been done already.

Graphics lesson, 12th December

In tomorrow's lesson you will be using your assessment feedback to improve your project so far.  You need to assess whether your artist research is influencing your own ideas sufficiently (AO1), whether you have adequate experimentation (AO2), whether your ideas are recorded well (AO3) and the quality of your emerging outcomes.  We will use the slides above to discuss each of the objectives, and you can use these in future as a break down of the assessment matrix, which can be found in the shared area.

Graphics lesson, 5th December

Yesterday you fed back to each other on your logo design developments and improved your designs accordingly.  Those that did not present this week will do so next week.  You now need to incorporate your logo into a new blog banner.  You need to use at least one other template that can be found in the blank templates section of the Illustrator templates folder:

To complete your design work this week you also need to edit your background/layout using elements of your logo (e.g. colour, shape, composition).  Your blog should look very different by Thursday next week!

Lastly, you need to make sure your posts have been updated with clear titles and you should be up to date, or at least close to being so, with all work set so far this year.

Graphics lesson, 28th November

In today's lesson you will be presenting one of your designs to the rest of the class, as was set last week.

After this, you will all be working on Illustrator to experiment with the composition of your logo designs.  You will need to use the pen, pencil or paintbrush tools to create paths, and use the pathfinder tool to construct your basic shapes with those paths.  You will then need to try shifting your shapes around in order to experiment with composition.  Look at your logo research for inspiration!

At home you will need to create a presentation for your blog of at least 10 alternatives of one of your initial logo designs.  Try making the following changes:

• Colour - Use a range of colour schemes across your design work
• Composition/layout - change the positioning of your typography, change scale of design elements
• Typography - Use alternative typefaces to give your designs a different feel

The emphasis should be on improving existing designs, not starting afresh, so make sure you are keeping elements of your previous designs.

Graphics lesson, 21st November

Today you started experimenting with your logo designs, using Photoshop and (eventually) Illustrator to render digital versions.  Some of you also tried practical processes such as screenprinting.

At home you need to create a presentation about one of your designs.  You should include your chosen design with explanations on artist influence, as well as how your design is meeting various aspects of the design brief (see the shared area).  You can use Powerpoint, Prezi, or any other presentation software, as long as it is compatible with your school login.

Good luck!

Graphics lesson, 14th November

To be able to:

Understand AS assessment objectives and how they affect the design process

Create designs that show understanding of assessment

Today you are looking at assessment procedures in order to understand how to further your work.  You will produce initial designs for logos influenced by your previous research, and plan to experiment with materials in future lessons.

At home you will need to finish writing up your initial designs.  You will also be required to collect primary images supporting your idea development.  These can be photographs or sketches.

Graphics lesson: 7th November

In this lesson you have been given the design brief for the rest of your project.  This can be found in the folder below.

Y:\SIXTH FORM SHARED AREA\Art - Graphics\Graphic Communications AS\2013-14\Mr Davies

You need to create brainstorms on the Client profile, Aims and Objectives and Target Audience sections.  You can do this digitally or on paper.  You will also need to start researching existing logos, annotating your research in order to analyse each design.

At home you need to research graphic design companies.  Create a presentation page on each of three companies, including logos, examples of work, existing clients and other relevant information.

To be able to:

• explore ideas relating to a theme
• analyse existing design work

Success criteria

• 3 brainstorms produced with a range of ideas explored (Client profile, Aims and Objectives, Target Audience)
• 1-2 pages of annotated logo research.  Refer to formal elements in annotation (Line, Tone, Colour, Texture, Pattern, Shape, Form)
• Homework: 3 presentation pages on graphic design companies (include logos, examples of work, existing clients and other relevant information) 

Etching workshop with UEL students

Following the workshops led by University of East London students yesterday, you will all need to write up the etching process on your blog, using photos from the folder below.  Make sure you include evaluative comments about what you felt was successful about your use of the technique, and what you might do to improve on your work.

Y:\SIXTH FORM SHARED AREA\Art - Graphics\Graphic Communications AS\2013-14\Initial experimentation\Etching

Graphics lesson, 9th October: Colour Theory

In tomorrow's lesson you will look at how colour can be used in different ways when designing.  You will learn how to use a restricted colour palette to give your blog a sense of identity.

Firstly, you will undertake a series of collage experiments using combinations of colours, that you will match with a list of given adjectives.  Then you will take one colour and place it next to a range of others that will teach you the principle of colour context.

You will take the websites found for homework this week and look into how their colour affects our perception of them.  You will learn how to extract colours using the eye dropper tool, and you will use colour extraction when developing your own piece of typography.  Lastly, you will use your developing knowledge of colour theory to develop your blog.

Learning objectives.

To be able to:

Understand how to use colour theory effectively (colour context)

Use the work of others to influence your own design work

Use the eye dropper tool to extract colours from sources

Success criteria:

You have used colour to successfully represent adjectives
You have used an adjective to describe your chosen websites
You have used font and colour to represent an adjective
You have developed your blog design to include a limited colour palette developed from your colour theory work today.

Homework:

Write up collage work and typography piece as a blog post

Graphics lesson, 3rd October, Screenprinting

In tomorrow's lesson you will be screenprinting using your papercut work from last week.  It is important that you use this lesson to master the process of screenprinting, as it may well be a technique you return to either as part of your coursework unit or later in the year as part of your exam.  Once you have finished screenprinting you will need to write up your processes on your blog, with a step-by-step guide illustrated  with photos from the morning's session.  If you complete this you can also review your work so far and make sure any outstanding work is complete using the checklist.

At home this week you will need to gather a list of at least 5 websites that you like, based on their use of colour.  Take screenshots of their page and accompanying each write what you like about the use of colour.  You should also include links to the sites that you write about (click on Link along the task bar above where you write your post)

Y:\SIXTH FORM SHARED AREA\Art - Graphics\Graphic Communications AS\2013-14\Initial experimentation\Screenprinting

(Ammended)

V&A 'Memory Palace' - Artist Studies Lesson

In today's lesson we looked at how to analyse an artist's visual style and then visually capture it through using the same techniques and materials they do.

You all chose an artist from the exhibition to take inspiration from and in your books presented:

• A title page with their name 
• A series of notes describing their visual style
• An example of their work
• A series of sketches or ARTIST STUDIES taking apart their visual style and trying to replicate it

For next week you must ensure that this is completed as well as bringing in your chosen piece of text to base your book on and write up the notes you made of the artist onto your blog.

Due by next Tuesday

Graphics lesson, 26th September. European Day of Languages

As part of European Day of Languages, you need to describe each others' work in lots of different languages, which will then be developed into typography work, using the paper cut and screen print artist Rob Ryan as inspiration.  In your sketchbooks, write down words that others have used to describe your work, translate these into a few different languages, then turn these words into paper cut works using a cutting knife and cutting mat.  At home this week, you need to create a digital typographic brainstorm, writing some of your words out in a number of fonts that reflect their meaning.  This needs to be written up on your blog as documentation, with successful fonts explained (what font type, use of colour, etc)

Useful links:
http://www.cilt.org.uk/home/valuing_languages/european_day_of_languages.aspx
http://rob-ryan.blogspot.co.uk/

Trip to V&A Museum - Tuesday 24th September

Meet @ front of school @ 11.35am.

"If you could keep only one memory, what would it be? This summer the V&A presents a dramatic vision of the future through an immersive exhibition experience. Sky Arts Ignition: Memory Palace is a walk-in story that brings to life a new work of fiction by the author Hari Kunzru. This narrative world is visualised through a series of commissions by 20 internationally acclaimed illustrators, graphic designers and typographers."

Link to Exhibition Site

Check out the site for a full description of the exhibition and videos made by each of the artists to show their working process...

Book Making Experiment 2 - Tuesday 17th September

In today's lesson you were taught how to fold and make an a5 concertina book with a hard-back front and back cover.
The book was a way of presenting a series of experiments drawing a personal object of your choice using a range of graphic drawing materials.

Book Making Experiment 1 - Tuesday 10th September

In this lesson you were asked to bring in magazines/newspapers that reflected your interests.
You were taught how to fold and cut an A3 piece of paper to create an A5 book.
You were then asked to design a collage for each page of your book in a way that would build up a sense of narrative as the book progressed. The book could be about anything you wanted but had to involve image and text, and be related to your own interests.
Books where then photocopied and folded to create final outcomes.

Independent study, 19th September

At home or in college this week you will need to develop a new banner for your blog.  This will be an image that replaces your title, so the title of your blog needs to be included in it.  You also need to use at least one vector drawing from today's lesson.  Please create at least 3 alternative designs so that you can choose the most successful.  Use the template in the folder listed below.

Y:\SIXTH FORM SHARED AREA\Art - Graphics\Graphic Communications AS\2013-14\Resources

In addition to this, you will also need to write up today's work.  Post your .png images onto your blog with a brief explanation of your processes and some evaluative comments outlining successes and possible improvements.

Grapics lesson, 19th September

In today's lesson you will be starting to experiment digitally using Adobe Ilustrator.  You will use both the Pen tool and Pencil tool to trace your drawings as a series of vectors.  You will be split into two groups, with the groups rotating across two tasks.

Task 1: Use the Pen tool and a mouse to trace your drawing.  Learn how to use the Pen tool to create curves, straight lines and angles, and combine all three to develop your hand-drawn work from last lesson.

Task 2: Use the Pencil tool and a graphics tablet to trace over your previous drawings.  Use a range of brush strokes to make a more detailed, layered development of your hand-drawn work from last lesson.

By the end of today's lesson you will be familiar with two of the key processes that you will be using throughout the next two years when developing digital design work.  You will also have more visual material to develop the look of your blogs.

Graphics lesson, 12th September 2013

Today you produced a number of drawings and prints based on observations of the objects you have brought from home.  You also photographed the work, these can be found at the address below

Y:\SIXTH FORM SHARED AREA\Art - Graphics\Graphic Communications AS\2013-14\Initial experimentation\12September

You will need to use the photos of your work to develop your blog at home.  You need to add a gallery page with all your photographs, and you will also need to use your photos as part of the design of your page.  Try cropping images or adding filters to enhance your images.  They can be used as a background, a banner at the top of your page or an image anywhere else on your blog.  You can combine an image with text to form your blog title in the form of a banner.

Tasks: 5th September

Welcome to Corelli College's AS Graphics blog!  The tasks set in today's lesson are as follows:

Register with Blogger.com
Register with Pinterest.com
Follow Corelli Art on Pinterest
Create a board on Pinterest and add 10 images that you are interested in.  These could be examples of graphic design, works or art, or any images that you feel represent you in some way.
Create a blog on Blogger.  The title of your blog needs to include your name, as well as the words "AS Graphics"
Design a look for your blog.  Go to "Template", choose a basic template and then click on "Customise" to edit individual elements, such as background and font colours.

At home, complete the following tasks for Tuesday's lesson:

Bring in a magazine that shows an interest that you have outside of school
Collect 5 objects that represent you in some way.  These can be sentimental but will need to be kept in school so nothing too valuable!