Project Description:

Create a Surrealist collage that will have a dream-like quality similar to the works of Magritte, Dali and Ernst.

SURREALISM

Artists:

Salvador Dali (Spanish)

"The Persistence of Memory"

Rene Magritte (French)

"Not to be Reporduced"

Max Ernst (German)

"Two Children Threatened by a Nigtingale"

WORLDS of Imagination “Beyond Reality”

The Surrealist movement was about recovering from the destruction of World War I and II.
The Surrealists turned INWARD – escaping into a private reality based on

• DREAMS (including nightmares)
• MEMORIES
• and FEELINGS

The new science of Psychology suggested that the “UNCONSCIOUS” mind guides our inner feelings, fears and desires, and that CLUES to this unconscious can be found in DREAMS.

Surrealist art is about:

• JUXTAPOSITION of objects – joining of objects in unusual combinations
• NATURAL LAWS are reversed
• SCALE CHANGE
• DOUBLE IMAGES echo and repeat
• SYMBOLS

Great place to look for ideas. http://speckyboy.com/2011/09/07/30-breathtaking-surreal-photoshop-tutorials/

Objectives/Goals:

• To become more proficient with using selection tools, layers, image adjustments and masking tools in Photoshop.
• To create realistic light and shadow so that objects look as if they fit into the scene.
• To be responsible in following copyright laws when using digital images from public domain photo websites.
• To use compositional principles of design like balance, center of interest, and harmony in the collage project.
• To show a liberation of the mind by emphasizing the critical and imaginative powers of the subconscious. To show a strange and unreal-like imagery in the collage.

Grading Criteria:

1. Quality.
2. Composition and design.
3. Use of the Photoshop tools.
4. Fulfillment of the objectives.
5. Effort.

Procedures:

1. Search and collect images. You want to look for an image that will be your background and images that you will use in the background. It is a good idea to find images that have the same light source.
2. Open Photoshop and create a New Document. 9×12 in. or 12×9 in. and at 120 resolution.
3. Drag and drop the background into the new project.
4. Using selections, layer masks and blend modes you want to start adding other elements/objects to your scene.
5. Making image adjustments so that the color, contrast and brightness of all the objects work with the background.
6. Adding lighting effects and shadows when needed to objects.

Resources:

Tutorials about how to create surreal landscapes: 01 | 02

Tutorials about shadows

http://www.photoshopcafe.com/tutorials/cast_shadow/cast_shadow.htm

Creating a lighting effect

http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/light-window/

http://fx.worth1000.com/tutorials/161386/lighting-a-giant-elephant **Must Read!

Student Examples:

The image above is the cover of Carl Dair’s book Design with Type. One of the inspirations I found when preparing for this lesson. Carl Dair was a great typographical designer in the 1950’s and 1960’s. I have put together some basic rules of logo typography using some of Carl Dair’s design ideas as well as some ideas from Alex White’s The Elements of Graphic Design.

Design by Drew R.

Great job to the rest of the students! It was a hard choice.

In this project you are going to create two minimalist poster designs. One will represent a “fruit of the spirit”, the other will be based off of a book or movie.

Objectives/Goals:

You will:

• learn about minimalist art and using the fewest, barest essentials of art and design.
• become more proficient using Illustrator tools.
• learn to create logotype design and the 7 contrasts.

Procedures:

1. Choose your two subjects.

• Fruit of the Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

— Galatians 5:22-23

• Book or Movie

2. Research and Sketch. Research your two topics and sketch two designs for each design. Sketches will be 20 points.

3. Create a New project. Set size at 11” x 17”.

4. Start building the different objects and shapes. Make sure to set up layers for different objects.

Tools to use:

Pen Tool

Shape Tools

Fill and Stroke

Transparency/Blend Modes

Minimalist Poster Examples

by Christian Jackson

Designs by Risa Rodil

When you finish you last assignment I would like you to go to Stock Exchange and find a picture of an object of your choice. This could be a mundane house hold item, sport item, food item, etc. Please make sure that you are choosing an object that have a good amount of curves so you can have good practice with the pen tool, points and handles. Make sure to lock the image layer and drawing in a separate layer.

Student Examples

Curtis McWilliams

In this activity you are going to use the pen tool to draw an apple. Later you will fill the the shapes and use a gradient to create a shine to your apple.

Save the image below in your AI Activities folder.

Here are a few important tips.

Make sure to turn the fill off.

Make sure to create each part of the apple into separate shapes. Stem, leaf and body of the the apple all need to be separate objects.

When creating a new point and curve, click and drag out the handles as you move around the shape. You will spend less time creating curves.

When drawing curves that follow the drawing, start the points at the peak of the curves.

Less points create smoother curves.

Good amount of points.

Too many points.

Make sure to close you shapes.

Color

As you can see below, the different shapes I created for the apple are overlapping. Even though I can see lines I do not want to see now this is going to change when we start filling and arranging the layers.

Filling the shapes. Make sure to select the shape first. Double click inside the fill box to open the color picker. Pick two different browns for the top of the stem and the side of the stem. Pick a red for the body of the apple and a green for the leaf. Make sure to turn the stroke (outline) off each time you fill the shape. You apple will start to look like the apple below.

Adding the Gradient. To open the Gradient palette go to Window > Gradient. Select the body of the apple and click on the black and white bar in the Gradient palette. This will apply the gradient to the shape.

Change the gradient Type to Radial. To create a highlight and two values of red you will need to select the black square and pick a dark red color from the color picker. Click under the bar, in between the white and red boxes to add another gradient color. You will want to pick a lighter red value using the color picker. It is important that you move the handles around to place the right amount of each color in the gradient. You can see the Gradient palette below in the picture. You may use this as a guide for color placement.

Use the Gradient Tool from the Tool Box to click and drag and position the highlight.

1. Save all files in your AI Activities folder.

2. Review the Pen Tool cheat sheet below.

The picture below shows you symbols you will learn to recognize as you practice the pen tool. I have also given you a Pen Tool cheat sheet to help you as you work on the practice activity.

Images will be taken in class with strong light source. Students will create a negative and positive image in Illustrator using a photo of their face with dynamic contrast of light and shadow. Student will unify the composition using shapes when tracing shadows that have similarities.

Examples of Negative and Positive Space used in design and photography.

http://www.tutorial9.net/articles/design/enhancing-your-art-with-negative-space/

http://layersmagazine.com/negative-space.html

http://www.graphicdesignblog.org/brilliant-negative-space-logos/

The master of negative and positive space – M.C. Escher

Check this out! Simeon Elson is a graphic artists that creates artwork using the same methods we are using for the Notan project.

Another example of Negative and Positive Space.