Photoshop Collage: Juxtaposition Theme

Juxtaposition Collage:

A collage is a work of art created by combining different imagery for different sources. Your assignment challenge is to create a collage from different photographic sources to convey the concept of Juxtaposition. Use the selection tools in photoshop to combine different images, you can use other tools like the eraser tool to blend two photo's together. Use whatever tools you need to complete your image.

Assignment Details:

• Your image must be created in Photoshop at a size of 10"X8" with a resolution of 72 DPI.
• You must have a minimum of 6 objects you have cut out and composed.
• Your design must adhere to the concept of Juxtaposition, the arrangement of conflicting elements, ideas or concepts. Such as a car driving on water, or football players in the antarctic, or penguins in outer space.

Have fun!

- Mr.W

Don't Feed The Trolls

Hello Students,

Please change your blog settings to block comments and set all comments to be moderated "always".

Your comment settings should look like the one shown here...

To change your comment settings:

• Log into your blog
• Click on the "design" tab
• Go to "settings" and then "posts and comments" and change your settings to the example above
• Save your settings before finishing

Thanks! - Mr.W

Developing Your Photoshop Skills: Using Selection Tools and Layers

Hello Students,

Having good Photoshop skills is a standard in almost all digital media careers. Our next project will require the use of photoshop selection tools and layers to create an interesting collage of images. Work through these two tutorials below, download a sample image to work on and try out the steps yourself. Only proceed with these tutorials when you have completed our previous assignments from this week.

Photoshop Selection Tutorials:

Complete the 2 tutorials listed below. Upload your practice image and the results to your blog when complete.

Tutorial 1: Using Photoshop Selection Tools

Tutorial 2: Using Photoshop Layers

- Mr.W

It's Bloggin' Time!

Hello Students,

Despite all of the hype with blogs in recent years, a blog is just a means for publishing work on the web in an easy to read and update format. Some blogs are very personal, resemembling a diary, while others seem more akin to newspaper or magazine, design styles vary. For our class this term, you will keep a blog to post your graphic work and writing examples, work must be posted to be eligible for grading. You are encouraged to customize your blog and use it as a platform to display your design skill progression and evolution of personal style.

Your Assignment:

• Create a personal blog using blogger.com
• Customize the appearance of your blog to make it your own
• Post the results of your first projects: Icon Art, Box to Car, Place and Trace
• Email the URL of your blog to your instructor so it can be included in the new link list

A Rough Guide to Setting Up a Blogger Blog:

This is a snapshot of one of my class blogs, I started with a basic template and customized the colors and banner art to suit my style. I have 5 different blogs for the classes I teach and one to show my professional work... a little customization will go along way in making your blog standout.

Step 1: Go to http://www.blogger.com and sign up for a blog

The setup is easy, read each screen and explore the options. The guide below is a rough outline to setup of your blog, it may not be 100% accurate.

• Blogger now is part of Google, so if you have a Google account (which allows for things like gmail) you should use that to set up your new blogger account. If you don't have a Google account, now is a pretty good chance to set one up. Otherwise, it is just a matter of following the instructions on this page. Sign In or Sign Up and create your blog
• Be sure to check the "terms of service" box; of course, you might actually want to read through it a bit first, though the rules are pretty standard for these sorts of services.
• Save your username and password some place. In fact, I would encourage you to write it down some place. Don't lose this!
• The "Blog Title" will be what appears in the title portion of your blog site itself.
• For the address of your blog don't have any spaces, it can be different than your "Blog Title".
• The "word verification" section is a security set-up the blogger folks have; simply type in the word you see in the funky font into the provided box. Click "continue" when you're done.
• You can choose any template you want for your blog, and you can also change the template later if you would like. Click continue when you're done.
• After waiting a few moments, you should get a screen that says your blog has been created. Good for you! Click on the "start posting" arrow and get to work!

Step 2: Get posting!

• The posting screen for blogger is pretty straight-forward. Give your entries a title, type in the appropriate window, and use the editing tools for your blog entry as you want. We'll talk about more advanced options for your posting later, but if you know any basic html, you can incorporate most of that code into your blog posts.
• To post or "publish" your post, click the button at the bottom of the screen "Publish Post." If you start writing something but you don't want to post it until later, click where it says "Save as Draft."
• When you publish your post, blogger will process the information and then, if everything worked (and it usually does), it will give you the option to "view blog." Take a look at it; you should notice a couple of things:
  • The address for your blog-- something like http://stevendkrause.blogspot.com-- is the address for your blog. Send this URI (web address) to me! I will link to your blog from the class web site.
  • Readers should be able to post a comment to your post by clicking on the "comments" link.

Step 3: Do some adjustments to your account

There are a number of different things you might want to do to make your blog a bit more useful. But here are a couple of things you really should do no matter what.

Blocking blog spam. I know, hard to believe, but yes, the world of spamming extends to blogs too. Fortunately, Blogger has a pretty decent security feature that will eliminate almost all spam posts from your blog. Here's what to do:

• If you aren't already logged in, log in to your Blogger account. You did remember your username and password, right?
• From the "Dashboard" screen, click on the name of your blog.
• Click on the tab "Settings."
• Click on the link near the top of that page under the tabs labeled "Comments."
• Set "Who Can Comment?" to "Only Registered Users." It isn't essential that you do this, but I'd recommend it.
• A bit further down, set "Show word verification for comments?" to "Yes." This is a security feature that requires the comment poster to type a specific word that shows up as slightly distorted text in a window.
• Select "Save Settings" at the bottom of the page.

Time zone. It'd be nice if the time was right on your blog, right? Here's how to do that:

• If you aren't already logged in, log in to your Blogger account. You did remember your username and password, right?
• From the "Dashboard" screen, click on the name of your blog.
• Click on the tab "Settings."
• Click on the link near the top of that page under the tabs labeled "Formatting."
• Under "Time Zone," select the right time zone (and if you're reading this as part of one of my classes, that'd be "Detroit." Duh.)
• Select "Save Settings" at the bottom of the page.

Doing things to customize your blogger blog. There's lots of stuff you can do customize your blog. At a minimum, I'd recommend including some links to your classmates' blogs or other blogs you like to read, but there are a lot of other things you can do, too-- include pictures, lists of stuff you like, etc., etc.

• If you aren't already logged in, log in to your Blogger account. You did remember your username and password, right?
• From the "Dashboard" screen, click on the name of your blog.
• Click on the tab "Template."
• Make sure the "Page Elements" tab under this is selected, and click on "Add a Page Element." From here, simply follow the instructions. Be sure to save you page element additions and double-check that it worked.

Trouble-shooting:

"Hey, what should I do if it didn't work?!" Well, blogger really is pretty easy to use, try asking the person to your left or right and I bet you can figure out the issue. It's important to collaborate and share information. 

Have fun!

 - Mr.W

Develop Your Pen Tool Skill

Pen Tool Practice Exercise 1:

Pen Tool Tutorial:

Read through this tutorial carefully and follow along with illustrator using the pen tool. You will be required to turn in a pdf file that demonstrates your steps of pen tool practice in each step of the tutorial, additionally at the end of the tutorial there are 10 black shapes. You must trace these shapes using the pen tool. You may download the images, and use the FILE/PLACE function in Illustrator to place the jpg on your artboard for tracing.

View the tutorial here: http://www.vectordiary.com/illustrator/drawing-with-pen-tool

When your Pen Tool Exercise is complete you can move on to this next assignment, Place and Trace. The goal is to further practice your Pen Tool by tracing line art over a photograph.

Pen Tool Practice Exercise 2, Place and Trace:

1. Search for a photograph online that you would like to trace... make sure the image is at least 1000 pixels wide so that it contains some good details. Look for images that have details that can be traced, flat looking images may not trace well
2. Download your image and import it into Adobe Illustrator
3. Lock down the layer that contains your photograph, create a new layer to create artwork on above the image
4. Using your Pen Tool only, trace line art over your photograph, make sure there is no Fill, Outline only! Vary the thickness and other stroke properties to add depth to your illustration
5. Turn off the photograph layer to see your line art. Keep drawing until your image contains a good level of detail. Save your file often to avoid losing work to software crashes, etc

Place and Trace Examples:

Introduction to Computer Graphics: Vector vs Bitmap

Hello Students,

What does this car have to do with video games? Today's lesson is about the two image creation methods that exist in digital media. Raster or bitmap graphics are what most computer users are familiar with... these could be a photograph on a website or a video that you watch. The other method is vector graphics.

It's all about connections. Pierre Bezier was an engineer and one of the founders of geometric modeling and in the field of calculating curves for CAD/CAM systems and was a leading engineer at Renault, bringing this technology to auto manufacturing. Early video games such as space invaders used vector graphics also. Now a bezier curve can exist in 2 dimensions or three, modern video games can use 3D models that are comprised of "Nurbs" or "Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines". These are basically 3D objects that are created by bezier curves and have "surfaces" between the curves to create a shape. These are all examples of vector graphic technology being used in different ways.

Raster or Bitmap graphics are also used in video games. Early games used small graphics called "sprites" to create animated video game characters. In modern 3 dimensional games, bitmap graphics are used to create textures on 3D graphics.

Let's Make Some Pixels! Bitmap Icon Art Assignment:

• Open Photoshop and create a new document, set width and height to 500 Pixels and resolution to 72DPI
• Go to the photoshop PREFERENCES menu and choose GUIDES, GRIDS AND SLICES and set the GRIDLINE to EVERY 25 PIXELS and the SUBDIVISION to 1
• Select the BRUSH TOOL and in the BRUSH OPTIONS load the SQUARE BRUSHES SET and set brush size to 25 Pixels
• Create a new layer in the layer palette
• Begin to draw your image, use different colors from the COLOR PICKER and paint your image in square by square
• When finished create a new folder for this project, then go to File > Save for Web and Devices, Set file format to GIF and save a file for turning in. Then go to File > Save and save a Photoshop version of your file.
• When you are done creating Mario try creating your ow character from scratch! Use your imagination and make a cool character.

• Vector Assignment, Transform Box to Car:

  
  

  

  "Box to Car" Illustration created by R.O.P. student Josh Booker

  
  

  • Open Illustrator and create a new document, File>New
  • Draw a box about 4X4 inches
  • Click on the Pen Tool and hold to reveal the hidden tools and select the Add Anchor Point Tool (it looks like the Pen Tool with a + next to it)
  • Begin clicking on the box outline to add anchor points, several to each side
  • Switch over to the Direct Selection Tool and Click-Drag an anchor point to move it
  • Continue dragging your anchor points to modify the shape
  • Keep adding anchor points and moving them to create the outline of an automobile
  • Add more anchor points and adjust to smooth out your creation
  • Use Illustrators simple drawing tools such as the circle tool and pen tool to customize your creation. Add colors too!
  • When finished create a new folder for this project, then go to File > Save for Web and Devices, Set file format to GIF and save a file for turning in. Then go to File > Save and save an Illustrator version of your file.

Hello Step-Up Class of 2014!

Hello Step-Up Class Students!
Welcome to Mr.Wilson's lab. This week we are going to learn about a different topic of digital media each day! Here is our agenda for the week:

• Monday: Creating computer graphics, bitmaps and vectors, pixel art
• Tuesday: Video and Motion Graphics, Lightsaber visual effect
• Wednesday: Digital photography, levitation photos, green screens
• Thursday: Animation, pixel animation with Photoshop, vector animation with Flash
• Friday: Put all you new skills to work on a fun group project and watch all our stuff!

Step-Up Class Day 3:

Removing Green Screens with Photoshop:

Open up your photo in Photoshop...

Create your initial selection by going to Select > Color Range

To see the selected area, chose Quick Mask preview mode. I've also checked the Invert box to invert the selection. That way, the colors I choose will be masked out, and the remainder will be actually be the selected region. Click on the left-most eyedropper tool and click on the image in the green area. To fill in the entire green area, click on the middle eyedropper and continue clicking in other areas of the background to add those colors to the selection.

Hit ok and your selection will be loaded...

Next you will refine the edge by using the refine edge feature. Go to Select  > Refine Edge...

As shown here, I've chosen to view the resulting image on a white background, so it's easy to see how the settings will be applied. There is also a new Smart Radius setting that tells Photoshop how far out to look for adjoining details. I've also used the Paint Edge tool (just to the left of the Edge Detection box) to paint around acoustic foam where I want CS5 to look a little further out. Lastly, I've chosen output to New Layer with Layer Mask. With this setting, CS5 will automatically duplicate the Background layer and add the mask. Adjust the settings for the best results based on your image...

Hit ok and you will have a layer with your selection masked out...

Next replace your background, you can use a nice gradient or another photograph even. Refine and edit your layers for the best results.

If your image needs finer selection editing (such as areas where green stays in hair/clothing) read the tutorial link below for expert tips:

http://www.wetzelandcompany.com/Photoshop_Tutorials/GreenScreen.php

Previous Student Work Samples:

Step-Up Class Day 1:

Bitmap and Vector Graphics: What's the difference?

What does this car have to do with video games? Today's lesson is about the two image creation methods that exist in digital media. Raster or bitmap graphics are what most computer users are familiar with... these could be a photograph on a website or a video that you watch. The other method is vector graphics.

It's all about connections. Pierre Bezier was an engineer and one of the founders of geometric modeling and in the field of calculating curves for CAD/CAM systems and was a leading engineer at Renault, bringing this technology to auto manufacturing. Early video games such as space invaders used vector graphics also. Now a bezier curve can exist in 2 dimensions or three, modern video games can use 3D models that are comprised of "Nurbs" or "Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines". These are basically 3D objects that are created by bezier curves and have "surfaces" between the curves to create a shape. These are all examples of vector graphic technology being used in different ways.

Raster or Bitmap graphics are also used in video games. Early games used small graphics called "sprites" to create animated video game characters. In modern 3 dimensional games, bitmap graphics are used to create textures on 3D graphics.

Let's Make Some Pixels! Bitmap Icon Art Assignment:

• Open Photoshop and create a new document, set width and height to 500 Pixels and resolution to 72DPI
• Go to the photoshop PREFERENCES menu and choose GUIDES, GRIDS AND SLICES and set the GRIDLINE to EVERY 25 PIXELS and the SUBDIVISION to 1
• Select the BRUSH TOOL and in the BRUSH OPTIONS load the SQUARE BRUSHES SET and set brush size to 25 Pixels
• Create a new layer in the layer palette
• Begin to draw your image, use different colors from the COLOR PICKER and paint your image in square by square
• When finished create a new folder for this project, then go to File > Save for Web and Devices, Set file format to GIF and save a file for turning in. Then go to File > Save and save a Photoshop version of your file.
• When you are done creating Mario try creating your ow character from scratch! Use your imagination and make a cool character.

Vector Assignment, Transform Box to Car:

"Box to Car" Illustration created by R.O.P. student Josh Booker

• Open Illustrator and create a new document, File>New
• Draw a box about 4X4 inches
• Click on the Pen Tool and hold to reveal the hidden tools and select the Add Anchor Point Tool (it looks like the Pen Tool with a + next to it)
• Begin clicking on the box outline to add anchor points, several to each side
• Switch over to the Direct Selection Tool and Click-Drag an anchor point to move it
• Continue dragging your anchor points to modify the shape
• Keep adding anchor points and moving them to create the outline of an automobile
• Add more anchor points and adjust to smooth out your creation
• Use Illustrators simple drawing tools such as the circle tool and pen tool to customize your creation. Add colors too!
• When finished create a new folder for this project, then go to File > Save for Web and Devices, Set file format to GIF and save a file for turning in. Then go to File > Save and save an Illustrator version of your file.