The art of learning of art

Photoshop: Josh Lemke

2011-05-09T16:29:00.000-07:00

Been a while since I posted Photoshop work. I rediscovered these as I was sorting some files.
Josh Lemke was a very talented and driven student, somewhat out of his element in the more conservative environs of a for-profit college.
However, he was also a driven student and a driven artist.
When given the Photoshop assignment of an even poster, he designed three that function as a triptych.

the triptych seen as a single image

This piece (pieces?) succeeds on many levels. It stimulates interest in the event, it works from a range of distances, and echoes the sensibility of the subject matter.
However, it is not without its problems. The choice of font has issues, It's inconsistent with the Walker's identity. While a thick chunky font was required to make this work, this choice detracts a bit.
There's also the deliberate decision to omit the event dates. Josh's though on this was that it would increase interest in the poster(s) post-event.
However, the work succeeds on many more levels than those at which it does not.
After graduating, Josh worked at the school in question for a couple years, then moved on into mural painting, a discipline more in keeping with his ideology and art sensibility.

Josh with fellow artist Peyton Russell at the Gainseville, FL mural

I've since lost track of Josh, but I KNOW he's out there making great art!

Lessons from the students

2011-03-13T14:27:00.000-07:00

I interviewed this week for the 2011 SES, now called Pre-College Summer Sessions.
I should hear with the next week or so whether or not I passed muster. I'm reasonably confident, but take nothing for granted.
In preparing for the interview, I reflected on the last 11 years, during which I've taught 11 sessions of one of the two programs, and all 6 of the others.
This is a great experience. I get to challenge myself to new possibilities through working with high school age students, as opposed to the college and returning adult students in my more standard teachign rotation.
At the end of every session, I hand out index cards and ask the students for recommendations. Books, movies, games, music, anything they think I might not have been exposed to that might be of value to me, or just fun. I won't provide links for these. I take them as an opportunity for research, and encourage you to do likewise.
I'm always amazed at how much they really know, given their relatively short lives. I know people in their 40s and older who aren't as receptive to such a wide array of possibilities.
Here are a few of their recommendations, presented verbatim from the cards.

2009 brochure, designed by Jenna Brouse!

Four Eyed Monsters: independent movie

This is Art: website

Architecture in Helsinki

Bands I like- Death Cab for Cutie, Rilo Kiley, Bright Eyes, Band of Horses, Hotel Lights, the Postal Service. Thank you!

Sufjan Stevens (music), What's Up Doc (movie)

books: anything by David Sedaris movies: nevermind, I can't think of any good ones

band: Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground

Velvet Goldmine Watch it. It's a nice movie about glam rock. One man emboides every glam rock god ever! Also, take a listen to Tiger Army's "Music from Regions Beyond..."

movie: Waking Life

Cyanide & Happiness online comic @ exposim. net It's, quote "fuckin hilarious" Google it

Movie The Fountain thanks Diana!

Speed Grapher anime'

book: The Magus John Fowles

Boys and Girls in America: the Hold Steady

Tsubasa Reservoir by Clamp. It's a manga, so if you do not care for manga, I am sorry. I did not know.

Band" Kamelot CDs: BLack Hole & Epic. Russian Literature: Baba yaga and Kosche. You have to look this one up.

I'm going to save the rest of these for another day. It's such a delight to recognize the imagination and spirit of the burgeoning adults (I find the term "teenager" demeaning) that I want to save some of it!

Storyboards: The Man Who Shot liberty Valance, part 7

2011-03-08T14:04:00.000-08:00

Here we go with two more panels of the Liberty Valance boards!

The beginning of another ongoing gag in these. The Sherriff, Link Appleyard, played in the film by the great Andy Devine, grows in every panel in which he appears.
This is the kind of gag you can get away with in any of three conditions.
1. A classroom setting with a forgiving teacher, one who would rather encourage creativity than squelch it.
2. Working with a client you know VERY well.
3. Working on a broad comedy.
Luckily for the students, one of the three applied here!
Pretty straightforward content. Again, the use of the term "point of view" is ambiguous.
Next, for variety, a different kind of student work.

Towards a philosophy of teaching

2011-03-08T09:04:00.000-08:00


Promotional comic on teaching from Marvel and Office Max

As I apply for teaching jobs for spring quarter and fall semester, I am given to reexamine the parts of that application.
There are the usual: cover letters, CVs, recommendations, and in the case of studio courses, work samples.
When applying for some positions, such as a Visiting Scholar position, it's also mandated to supply a statement of your teaching philosophy.
This can be daunting.
First, you have to have thought about what your teaching philosophy actually IS. The first time I was posed this question, I thought that I didn't have one, and immediately realized that I did.
The funny thing is that I had the same reaction when someone first told me they liked my art style!
While teaching is a skill, a craft, a discipline and a philosophy, much of it is learned by doing. And as Kierkegaard notes, we live life forwards and understand it backwards. So a teaching philosophy evolves out of classroom experience, which in turn involves the balance between the pragmatic aspects of dealing with student issues coupled with administrative concerns.
Let's face it. This can be a daunting profession. So when summarizing your philosophy on your work, it's crucial to, as the song says, accentuate the positive. If your teaching philosophy rambles on about the inability of students to construct an argument, or the difficulties of budget limitations, not only will you not get the position, but you probably shouldn't get it!
Teaching is an art. Like any art form, its material rewards are sometimes low. You have to get something else out of it to make it rewarding beyond the paycheck.
What else do you get?
That's where your teaching philosophy comes in.
I'm currently rewriting mine. I was surprised to discover how it's evolved from its initial core position to its current one.
Initially, I simply held that we can't really teach students anything, that all we can do show them things and that it's up to them to learn from them.
There's truth in that, but there's much more to it.
It relates to the larger issue of measuring achievement vs. retained and applied knowledge as goals for students. It also relates to the issue of pedagogy, a necessary but problematic dance in which teaching risks becoming performance as an end in itself, rather than a means to the larger end of expanding the student's knowledge base and world view as related to the material taught.
And if your teaching philosophy is not all about the students and their needs, it's about the administration, or worse, about you.
Teaching is for the students, above all else. It has to be.
I'll table this discussion for the moment and give my man Harry the last word.
The risks of bad teaching are made apparent in this Harry Chapin song, a longtime favorite. Please note that the subject in question is art, arguably the most powerful force in shaping a mind, body and spirit.

Students Teaching Students

2011-02-22T10:46:00.000-08:00

Something a bit different, in the name of variety.
Every summer for the past 11 years, I've been graced to teach in the MCAD program known as Summer Expressions Seminar (SES). I've not heard yet if I have the appointment for this year, but I have hopes.
In 2010, I added a wrinkle to the assignment in my class, which is the Liberal Studies portion of the college prep program. In the past I've had them storyboard less common fairy tales.
This time, I also had them work in one another's disciplines and teach one another. For example, a painting student would work with a comic artist, or an animator, or a gamer.
The point of this was to help them understand their own craft and to communicate that craft to one another.
You learn by teaching.
Here are some panels from one of the more successful pairings.

The students, Taylor Smith and Sarah Williams, bought their own styles to the work and advacned the story at the same time.
Inspiring!
It also serves to make the point that every discipline, including storyboarding, is much more flexible than many teachers would have it be. The boards presented here from college level courses are very professional, but that has its down side when teaching the novice. A good teacher will find a way to encourage students into growing into a desired result, not to browbeat them into doing the work in one regimented way. This assignment is an attempt to recognize that and encourage both professionalism and a sense of freedom and accomplishment.

Storyboards: The Man Who Shot liberty Valance, part 6

2011-02-20T16:19:00.000-08:00

I've not taught studio for a while, and so have neglected this blog. As I have a backlog of material and hope to have more soon, it seems a good time to pick it up again. My apologies to the faithful readers. I will make amends for my absence, starting now!
Here's the next frame of the Liberty Valance storyboards.

Again the definition of the shot as "over the shoulder" is a bit vague. Looking at the depth of field, I'd be tempted to just go "long shot" on this one. It's a fairly static camera.
What's noteworthy here are the stage directions. The doctor throws the chip and it bounces on the table. This is clear both in the caption and in the image.
Once again, I love the tones of those French gray markers!
Working backwards affords a luxury that a storyboard artist doesn't have in a real-world environment. It's not your job to block out all character and camera motion, though understanding these things is crucial.
It's your job as a storyboard artist to apply images to the words of the script. That's it.
But to really know how to do that, you must understand both the theory and practice of filmmaking. This is problematic. The language used on a shoot is often quite different than that used in classes. And all these languages evolve over time.
So which language do you use? You use the one that best suits the needs of the director with whom you are working.
Terry Gilliam often does his own boards. On Brazil, his boards were little more than thumbnails. But as he is the director and he knows what he means, that's sufficient.

Storyboards: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, part 5

2010-05-18T14:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, I got busy teaching and have neglected this blog for far too long. Now that I'm catching up on my work, I can take time to correct the situation.
Here's the first part of Board 2 of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

Again, the clean sharp line, just enough detail in the background, a concept I have issues with in my own work. I quibble with the definition of shot 9. Yes, it is an OTS shot, but I don't see that as its primary function.
Look what's happening here. The primary point of the shot is that the character moves but the camera does not. I would define this as a group shot, or by distance, a MLS, also known as a Cowboy shot (cowboys were shown from the waist up in TV shooting because they couldn't ride and were sitting on a saddle over a barrel).
I like the warmth of the French gray markers.
Students who lacked experience with hand skill based art would ask me constantly if they could do their storyboards digitally. Once, I relented, and the results were awful. For this kind of work, especially at this level, the best ways of working are either all hand work or a hybrid.

Photoshop: Markus Burke

2010-01-31T17:06:00.000-08:00

Another approach to the movie poster assignment.
Markus is a deeply enthusiastic young man. His initial idea for this image incorporated a dozen small images and tried to tell the whole story of the film in one poster.
It didn't work.
After discussing his ideas, he came to an awareness of the power of suggestion.
He created an image that's about motion, energy and wild pacing.
Most significantly, he created an image that makes effective use of the program and says more with less.

There are still some legibility issues, and the novice's love affair with filters is evident. But Markus made giant strides in his understanding of design on this image.

He learned that control of the tool is better than using it as a toy, at least if you aspire to be a professional.

Thoughts on studio vs. Liberal Studies classes

2010-01-24T17:17:00.000-08:00

As I'm not teaching studio this quarter/semester (my schools are on different systems), I find I muse of late on the implications of that.
What are the advantages of one over the other, from a teacher's standpoint?
I love teaching ideas. The value of what's being done has to be part of doing it, and if what you're doing doesn't stand up to some measure of scrutiny, then it's just busywork. So studio courses clearly need a humanities/ liberal arts framework.
But ideas require context, and ideas about art need the context of the art itself. While it can be a self-conscious process, an awareness of the history and theory of the discipline in which one works can, and ought to, inform the work.
Any studio teacher worth their salt must incorporate some theory into their teaching. In order for a drawing to be most effective, it must incorporate design considerations, mathematical principles and a measure of psychological insight. Communicating that to a student, especially a novice, is challenging, to say the least. Students at that level often tend to take a defeatist tack- "I can't do that!" The studio teacher's challenge is to get them out of their own heads and into the work itself.
The humanities teacher, on the other appendage, must of necessity be a bit of a pedagogue. The implicit didact in this position has a measure of necessity. While ideas are fluid, core principles underlying those ideas form a foundation that is crucial to the successful absorption of any of the ideas presented in a humanities class. So the didactic position is necessary to get the work started, to say nothing of completed, if any such work can be said to be complete.
As I prepare for the paradigm shift of going from the digital arts studio back into the lecture hall as a primary arena for the first time in more than half a year, I find my thoughts turning to these concepts.
There's an associated, more universal concept, that I got from an early teaching mentor, William Wells.
We can't teach them anything.
All we can do is show them. It's up to them to learn.
This is both a sadness and a liberation, and applies equally to the studio teacher, the humanities teacher- any teacher.

Photoshop: Renardo McAffeee

2010-01-19T17:12:00.000-08:00

I'm chagrined that I've not posted here for more than 3 weeks. As I'm teaching a humanities class and not studio courses this semester, I am posting older work again. I may post some of this quarter's papers, if they are strong enough.
This particular image is in response to the movie poster assignment. I suggested to Renardo (pronounced Renaldo) that he incorporate elements of Russian constructivism into his work on this one. He responded with a reduced palette, angeld type, and the line of silhouette figures grounding the image.
The posterization of the main images is quite effective. Given the way so many posters for these FX blockbusters are loud and over the top, this tightly controlled image and oh-so-clear typographic treatment are a welcome change of pace.
Renardo is a scary talented designer. His personal commitments make his course enrollment sproadic, but he alwasy delivers inspired, solid work. I look forward to seeing his professional progress!

In the interests of contrast, here's one of the posters used for film's actual campaign. By contrast, louder and out of balance, certainly less appealing.
I hope to be a more faithful correspondent on this blog in the future!

Illustrator and InDesign: Khoua Eh Lee

2009-12-31T08:12:00.000-08:00

Sneaking in one last post before the end of the year!
This piece is part of the final assignment in InDesign class. The student, Khoua Eh (pronounced Khooie) Lee created an illustrated book from Robert McCammon's short story Nightcrawlers, which became the best episode of the new Twilight Zone of the 80s (not to be confused with the new Twilight Zone of more recent years, hosted by Forrest Whittaker).
The story deals with Vietnam vets who... well, read it for yourself. The link in the title above posts the whole story.
There's a very manic, nail-biting, edge-of your-seat sensation in both the story and the episode. While Khoua Eh's internal illustrations were not as successful as they might have been in conveying that sense, the cover, created in Illustrator CS3, does so admirably.

Khoua Eh is a student who moved into design from animation, and has made great strides as a designer in recent quarters. He's about to enter Portfolio class, which is a whole fresh challenge- but I think he's up to it!

Photoshop: Jeffrey Bailey

2009-12-20T18:57:00.000-08:00

As the quarter just ended, we'll take a break from the storyboards and present something else.
Once again, a success story from the movie poster assignment.
This is the work of Jeff Bailey, a design student who is about to enter the Portfolio class. Though this was done a couple quarters ago, Jeff revisited the piece as part of the Calendar design project in InDesign class.
Jeff is a very spritied and professional individual who just landed a paying internship in the design field!

Jeff completed this piece more than half a year before the documentary on Dr. Thompson was released, and he was unaware of the forthcoming documentary during the creation of this image! I find his use of the Find Outlines filter, combined with the stark,vibrant palette, very effective.

For use of the piece in his calendar, he deleted the credits, studio logo and ratings. I must say that it's a cleaner piece without that stuff, but it's crucial to recognize that in the field one does not have the option of omitting mandated copy!

For comparison's sake, here's the poster of the actual film:

A very different approach, but one more influenced by Jeff's favorite illustrator, Ralph Steadman.

Storyboards: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, part 4 and whole board 1

2009-12-13T19:07:00.000-08:00

The conclusion of the first board. I will speed up posting these, as at this rate, it will take me more than two months to do the whole thing!

It takes a bit of decoding, but it's possible to follow every move from these boards. The recurring problem is the overuse, sometimes inaccurate, of the term "full shot", which refers to a full-figure shot, also called a long shot.

Here's all of Board One.

Next week, the top tier of Board Two.

Storyboards: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, part 3

2009-12-05T09:58:00.000-08:00

More about this assignment:
After viewing the entire film, the students pick one scene of at least 5 minutes and prepare a full-pasteup board. This board shows every camera, character and object motion. It also documents every sound in the film. Essentially, they are dissecting a well-made film as a learning tool.
There is a facile aspect to this. I've been on enough shoots to know that the anlaytical aspects are often instinctive during the shoot, so looking at filmmaking form a theoretical viewpoint does not always apply. However, it's still useful to look at shot composition and continuity.
There are some technical errors on these boards, but most are minute. The most galring error is the misspelling of Rance Stoddard's name in the captions. Aside from having access to imdb.com, a source of record for film information, the students could have watched the movie more carefully, as the name is spelled out in big letters on screen in the story!
Ah well. A small concern, but one that would be embarrassing in a story meeting.
This week's panels:

Storyboards: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, part 2

2009-11-27T14:09:00.000-08:00

These are the last two panels of the top tier of the first board. There are eight or nin boards in all.
The assignment was to deconstruct a scene from a classic film. Every action, object motion and sound was to be documented.
The clip had to be at least 5 minutes long, unless an exceptionally elaborate scene was chosen.
Left to their own devices, students will usually go for the most glamorous scene, the scene with the highest energy. Usually I try to back them away from such amibitions just a bit, but with Josh Purple on board, I thought "hm... maybe they can pull this off after all."
When the panels of each board have all been posted, the board will be posted as a unit.

Storyboards: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, part 1

2009-11-24T09:32:00.000-08:00

This one goes back quite a ways. This was the first truly successful project from one of my college-level storyboard classes. It is not without its problems, but given the subtleties and complexities of some of the material, these guys just shined.
The team was Kelahir Johnson, Josh Purple, Ryan Fogarty, and Jason Tordsen, I believe.
More on their current activities in a later post.
Here are the title card and panel one from this very elaborate board.

I will have much more to say about the challenge of this project and how these students rose to it over the next few weeks!

Photoshop: Anthony Weis

2009-11-04T08:54:00.000-08:00

This is as much about the layout as it is the control of Photoshop, which is as it's supposed to be. This is a poster design for a fictional film of David Mack's Kabuki, one of the best designed comics of the last 20 years, and that's saying a lot!

This design is clean and effective but poses some intriguing challenges. The support text gets lost a bit in the white space, as it's light on light at that point. However, the polarizing solution, the inversion of the background color, offered below, makes the masks in the sun/Japanese flag less effective. I tend to prefer the white background, and want to find a way to resolve the text issue.

Consider the black background version below.

Anthony Weis is a challenging student, in the best way. He questions ideas, is eager to learn, works very hard and has a natural affinity for the arts as a discipline. He genuinely cares about developing a stronger aesthetic. He's also unusual in that he began his education training to be a pilot, and is double-majoring in digital art!

addendum, Rob Cardinal

2009-10-24T16:28:00.000-07:00

Strolling through Rob's Deviant Art site, I find he's posted his portrait shot for the class assignment.

What fascinates me about this image is the emotional impact it has on most people. In crit, we found ourselves composing stories about them, only to discover that Rob had just asked them and snapped their picture, and that he didn't even know them!

Shows just how much art really does come from interpretation, even when you're dealing with human beings as subjects and something as supposedly rooted in "reality" as photography.

But we know better.

Don't We?

Digital Photography: Rob Cardinal

2009-10-24T06:15:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted here for a while, as I'm waiting for promised work from some students in a current class.
However, just to keep things moving, here's a digital photo by Rob Cardinal done for the Macro assignment.

Since I don't want to get into a rut and only post digital work here, I will find some past storyboards and post them very soon.

Rob trained as an animator, but decided his path lies elsewhere, and is beginning his career as a freelance photographer, specializing in Macro. He works as a prison guard for now, and is skilled, knowledgeable and driven. You can see a bit more of his moving work at his MNArtists page, which he sorely needs to update. Let's go, Rob!

Photoshop: Tracey Logelin

2009-10-11T13:44:00.000-07:00

Tracey is a talented designer with an eye for precision and aesthetics. Her work and her attitude were always very professional.
This piece was done for a very direct assignment, a thematic collage in Photoshop. She chose to forego the usual mundanities and explore a theme less travelled of late.

My only problem with it was that she used a satellite dish for an old time radio antenna! Still, the contrast of the sepia and the grayscale works well, and draws the warmth out of the cool grays.

Tracy is still hard at it. She graduated about a year and a half ago, and we had an e-mail exhange recently about issues around Web clients and designers.

Fpr more on Tracey, visit her MNArtists page.

Graphic Design:Business card, Kou Lee

2009-10-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

I can't recall which class Kou was taking when he created this work. I believe he had just completed Graphic Design and was in Pre-press. I do recall commenting on his ideas.

This was submitted for a design contest. It won!

Kou just graduated. His body of work is substantial, versatile, controlled, elegant and quite impressive. Look for further postings of his work in weeks to come!

Until then, to see more of Kou's work, go to his impressive website, Magiq Umbrella.

addendum, Matt Hensche

2009-10-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

I posted this image as part of an announcement of this space on my personal blog. However, the reduced color image was much too interesting to not re-post here. The light, the muted tones, the textures- all in all, a very successful image.
Last I checked in with Matt, he was diligently working as a photo clerk at a job for which he's substantially over-qualified in every sense. Here's hoping his situation has improved. Anyone who combines such a strong aesthetic with such a fierce work ethic is entitled to commercial and creative success!

Matt Hensche, photography

2009-10-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

Matt was a student in the first Digital Photo course I taught- has it been a year and a half already?
Always a keen eye and a solid work ethic, not to mention a quiet positive attitude, Matt's work has a confidence about it that invites the viewer in.

Welcome, students of all kinds

2009-09-30T12:41:00.000-07:00

Hello!
The purpose of this blog is the presentation of the work of my students, from my various teaching positions.
The work will primarily be visual art, but on occasion I will post some student writing.
I will post no student work I was not given permission to post.
When comments are offered, I will attempt to make them positive.
I will also discuss the intricacies of the art and teaching businesses, as I understand them and am learning them as I live them.