Art Honor Society: Sketchbook Project Due Today

Our National Art Honor Society Sketchbook Project is due today so any final touches need to be completed today so we can mail it out in time for the summer tour!

Art Honor Society: The Jon Burgerman Collaborative Mural

In Art Honor Society Thursday we took a look back at our work on the Jon Burgerman Collaborative Mural we worked on 2 years ago this week and worked on designing some of the Zen Garden that we are planning to work on in May in the school courtyard. Our induction ceremony will be on May 25 this year so we hope to complete the Challenge Day mural by that point as well.  It's been a productive year!

Film: Creating an Animated Gif in Photoshop

In Film class our 3rd animation challenge is creating an animated GIF in Photoshop.  The video above shows the basics.  Create a 6-12 frame animation using different layers then open a timeline to convert them to animation frames.  Next make any adjustments then publish and share it with me along with the other 3 challenges by Friday.  Below is a more advanced animation example if you wish to take it further.

Studio Art: Mini-Comics

This week we are drawing and designing Mini-Comics in Studio Art class.  We will learn about the basic elements of a story, the folding techniques, and the variations in the media.  Then we will brainstorm ideas and begin drawing and designing our own.  You can base you comic on the character you created in our warm-up cartooning activities or start create new original characters but the final comic should include 8 pages including a cover with your name and a title and a back with Smithtown High School East, the year, and Mr. Needles written.

We will begin learning how to fold the paper and create the book then sketching out a simple storyboard like the student example seen above.  Once we have a storyboard in full color we'll create the final min-comic like the examples seen below.

After you comic is shaded, toned, and/or colored you should open it back up to one piece of paper and scan it.  We will be scanning these comics after they are completed to show and trade them. The cover and back should be fully toned and colored with the title and your name. Below are a few finished student comics from previous classes.

A number of former students have become comic book artists and work in the film industry creating films based on comics.  We'll take a look at a few during the process of this assignment.

AP Art: Long Island's Best Artwork On View Alongside Mitchells Spring Collection

Congratulations to AP Art students Anna Koke and Ilysa Sirota who's Long Island's Best Artwork from the Heckscher Museum was chosen to be exhibited alongside Mitchells Spring Collection in Huntington.  The work will be on view in the storefront window from April 23 - May 20, 2018.

Digital Media: Webcomics

We are continuing work on our webcomics and the rough draft is due today at the end of class.  The final colored comic is due (5 pages) on Friday 4/27 and again you can use any medium and break it up anyway you like.

Studio Art: Typography

In class we have been working on a type design project so it's time to learn a bit more about Typography and the terminology that goes along with it.  We learned some of the basic terms involved with type that you can review on our quizlet here- Typography terms


We will continue to create a letterform design this week until we have a full set and then I will show you how you can digitize them and create a font.  We will also learn a bit about the history of type to understand better where it might go next.  Remember it's not just an alphabet we are dealing with its a living language that is constructed through design and usage.

Today we are completing our Typography and tomorrow is a short quiz on the terms.  Make sure you font designs are complete for Monday in class.

AP Art: The Sketchbook Project

The AP Art class and the National Art Honor Society are currently working on this year's Sketchbook Project which is due in 2 weeks.  Our theme is THIS IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS and students are designing and creating pages within that theme.  Take a look at some of our previous Sketchbook Projects here in the digital library.

• Postmark by: April 30, 2018

Studio Art: The Gratitude Project

Our last drawing for The Gratitude Project will be to illustrate a quote for ourselves.  Choose or write a quote that will inspire you and use a full page to illustrate it in any media and with any embellishment that fits.

Digital Media: Webcomics

In Digital Media we will present our research and begin our webcomics concepts.  You are free to create a comic in pretty much any format on pretty much any topic (as long as it's appropriate for school).  You can also create it in any media from Photoshop to old school paper and pencils.  It will be due on Monday April 23.

Film: Class Animation

In film class we explored a variety od animation styles and techniques and we will now begin working on our class animation.  We will look at this great example of animating radio host Ira Glass on Storytelling as our inspiration.

Studio Art: The Gratitude Project

This week we are continuing our social emotional learning work with The Gratitude Project.

Monday: we are taking a note from illustrator Kate Bingaman-Burt and creating an illustration of a mix-tape of our favorite music like the one shown above.

Tuesday: we will illustrate a few of our favorite things

Wednesday: we will use artist Jon Burgerman as an inspiration to create some doodle art

Thurday and Friday we will create an illustrate quote poster with advice or inspiring words directed at ourselves

Digital Media- Graphic Novels

In Digital Art we are beginning a new project on Web Comics and Graphic Novels. Each of us will create a short 12 frame comic next week.  Above is an hand drawn example from last year's studio art class by Alvaro showing the final comic and below is an image of how it's laid out using one piece of paper folded into 8 parts and cut in the center.  We'll start with a short research project to create an 12 page slideshow of the style and content of some of the most important graphic novels (the outline and assigned novels are from NPR's list of 100 favorite comics and graphic novels and they are posted in Google Classroom).



Before we begin working on our comic which will be due on Tuesday next week we are going to examine graphic novels as an art form and discuss storytelling.  We will look at successful writers such as: Neil Gaiman, Daniel Clowes, Craig Thompson, and Will Eisner and look at some of the most well respected graphic novels such as: Maus and Persepolis along with some of the fan favorites such as: The Walking Dead and Scott Pilgrim.  We will also look at groundbreaking new forms such as Hyperbole and a Half and Dash Shaw's Online Comics,



I had the chance to interview the author of well known graphic novels turned films Persepolis and Chicken With Plums Marjane Satrapi and below is an excerpt relating to her work being read in schools: 


I work as a high school teacher in a pretty conservative area and your book is part of our curriculum. It’s kind of amazing. Look at how far things have come.
That makes me very happy.  Truly, truly.


I was wondering what you would say to those kids, especially with the movie, there is the scene of the Americans that might make them question you?
Well, just consider that a human being in the world is a human being.  The privilege of loving your family and being kids and wanting to eat ice cream and going to the movies is not only something you want.  Everybody in the whole world, they want to have a peaceful life.  We have some psycho people, you have them here too. They are everywhere, you know, they are like ultra-religious or whatever. You have a few of these guys, but unfortunately if they are crazy you hear them much more, than the other ones. From the second that we consider that the “other one” is a human being just like us and that it’s not an abstract notion, you know, “Middle Eastern, Muslim, Axis of Evil” then it will become very difficult to bomb these people.  Just consider that the “other one” is just like you wanting to play, wanting to go to the movies, wanting to have, you know, the latest t-shirt that is very much in fashion, listen to the music, falling in love, if they consider that, then you know, this is the only thing that I can say, I don’t have any pretension that is more than that.

You can read the full interview along with an interview with her collaborator Vincent Paronnaud on Short & Sweet NYC.

AP Art: Digital Submission

Today in AP art class we will begin the AP Studio Art Digital Submission process for the AP test.  All 12 breadth works should be photographed and posted on the online website like the example above by next Friday April 20. Make sure all the work is sized and the media is stated and the sizes are set before submitting.  Below are the codes to enter:

School Code: 335001
School: SMITHTOWN HIGH SCH E CAMPUS
Teacher Key: xwt0100

Happy Friday!

Ww will be working in digital media class & NationalArtHonorSociety to create an adult sized Light Bright inspired by the one I played with at #NAEA18 in Seattle this year (pictured above) this spring. We hope to then use it to create interactive pixilated animations!