Film: Drawn Animation

In film class our next challenge is to create a short 6-10 second drawn animation which will due on Friday.  The basic rules is that the animation needs to loop so the end must match the beginning.  An easy way to create a drawing animation is to morph like the student example above.

We are also working on the beginning of our spec script, the first 15 formatted pages are due on Wednesday.  You can use the free template on Microsoft Word or this one for Google Docs: Google screenplay formatter

Our first extra credit assignment is also due on Wednesday and a good example is the winning short animation from Sunday's Oscar ceremony, Piper from Disney.

Welcome Back From Winter Break

Welcome Back From Winter Break!  I was in Spain and France and had a great time explore Barcelona, Figueres, Bilbao, and Paris over the break.  It was great to visit creative locations such as Antoni Gaudí's famous Park Güell in Barcelona seen above.  The food and culture is tremendous, one of my favorite Spanish foods is churros y chocolate seen below.

I also visited Salvador Dalí's house and museum in Figueres which was like visiting the mind of the artist himself with surrealistic room designs where the artist lived and worked later in his life and were he was buried.

It also houses one of his coolest pieces, a room seen below which is a portrait of actress Mae West when viewed from the right perspective.

I also had the chance to visit the amazing Guggenheim Bilbao Museum designed by architect Frank Gehry which also houses Jeff Koons iconic 'Puppy' sculpture.

AP Art: Heckscher Museum's Long Island Best Show

Today is the final day before winter break and it's also the last day to enter your work into the Heckscher Museum's Long Island Best Show.  Above is an example of a piece that Anna created based on the drawing by Roz Dimon from the Long Island Biennial 2016 shown below.

Film: The Pixilation

In Film class we learned about the first basic form of animation: The Pixilation.  Above are a few of the best examples of the form including PEZ, Aardman Animations, and the Brothers Quay.  We will begin by using the free app VINE camera to create a short pixilation animation between 6-10 seconds by this Friday February 17.

Art Honor Society: Our Upcoming Field Trip To NYC Museums

In Art Honor Society we will be participating in a field trip to NYC to visit the Cooper Hewitt Museum and Museum Mile on St. Patrick's Day in March.  Above is a great example of some of designer James Victore's work, an artist we study in class, that is featured in one of the exhibits.

The Cooper Hewitt has some really great, new design features such as digital touchscreen tables where you can research, play, and create using the digital pen you receive on entry.  You can also use the backside of your pen to store your favorite items- here's some of my favorites from my visit this weekend: Tim Needles Cooper Hewitt Visit.

One of the highlights of the museum is the immersion room in which you can draw and design on a digital table and have it projected onto the digital walls like wallpaper.  Here's the basic of how to use the digital pen below:

Digital Media: Finch Robots

In Digital Media class we are working on writing code for our new Finch Robots.  Today we will be seeing how well our coding works by turning them into drawing robots and creating some robotic art in class!

A4 Technology can enable students to progress at their own pace & to merge learning in & out of school seamlessly! #tlap pic.twitter.com/jwf0Cz07qE

— Tim Needles (@timneedles) February 14, 2017

Studio Art: Designing Video Games

Last week we designed 2 short video games using coding thanks to Code.org and this week we will continue working of design projects by creating a peace poster design for the Shanti fund's annual contest.  Makes sure your computer coding is completed by Tuesday if it is not already and that the class codes listed below are entered:

Period 1- HPTPDZ    Period 7- HQGGSK

Japan Society Junior Fellows Program

We are nearing the end of the submission period Japan Society Junior Fellows Program so if you want to try to host a Japanese student here at Smithtown East and travel to Japan this summer check out the link above for more information.  This is our 4th year of participating in the program and it's been an informative and exciting experience!

Scholastic art and writing awards

Today is the announcement for the Scholastic art and writing awards regional winners and I am very proud to announce that we won an all-time record for our school- 8 Gold Key awards, 3 Silver Key awards, and 2 Honorable Mention awards.  A big congratulations to the following students:

Luke Gelfman-
1  Gold Key in Design
3 Gold Keys in Drawing and Illustration
1 Silver Key in Drawing and Illustration

Anna Koke-
1 Gold Key in Printmaking

Danielle Napoli-
2 Gold Keys in  Printmaking
1 Honorable Mention in Photography

Kelsey Opinante-
1 Silver Key in Comic Art

Stephanie Rowe-
1 Silver Key in Comic Art

Ilysa Sirota-
1 Honorable Mention in Mixed Media

Jamie Werner-
1 Gold Key in Fashion

Art Honor Society: Sketchbook Project 2017

Today in Art Honor Society we will continue work on our 2017 collaborative Sketchbook Project, you can view the first 3 pages which are currently in process below by Mr. needles, Anna, and Emily. For this year's theme we decided to have each artist use the previous drawing as inspiration much like the telephone game.

We will also go over the details of our upcoming field trip to NYC to visit the Cooper Hewitt Museum along with it's highlights like the wallpaper room shown below and we'll discuss our Spring mural designs and exhibition.