Digital Media: Accelerated Intro to CS Course

This quarter's coding assignments are based on pushing our knowledge from using Blockly to other programming languages like Java Script so after you complete the Classic Mazehttps://studio.code.org/hoc/1 on code.org we will complete the full Accelerated Intro to CS Course (part of which we have already completed)

Painting: Choice Assignment for Scholastic

In Painting class we began our first Choice Assignment for the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. the painting can be any media and have any content but the sketches are due today and the final painting will be due December 1.  I will share materials based on you sketches today and Monday and we will have class time each week to work on these paintings for the remainder of the month.
Here is a link to some of the award winning art in the painting category last year: PAINTING WINNERS.

Studio Art: Sketchbook Artists Quiz

Today we will review the artists we learned about during our sketchbook unit to prepare for the quiz on them tomorrow and we'll be using our class Quizlet to study.  This post features work from one of the artists R. Crumb including his list of artists who inspired him below.

SCD- STEAM & SEL: Promoting Choice, Authenticity & Relationship Skills in Learning.

STEAM Learning and Social Emotional Learning are both major areas of focus in education today so we will explore the midpoint of pairing these two methodologies in working with students.  Our Makerspace at the SEL summer camp was focused on engaging students in fun STEAM activities with student choice.  We'll review some of the areas of focus in STEAM and what we've learned some of the best practices are in using social emotional learning with students in the first half of the session.  We'll also review engaging and ways to teach with student collaboration such as Quizlet Live and Kahoot.

The second half will be devoted to putting our ideas to the test with a hands on STEAM Makerspace featuring 5 core activities:

• Coding Video Games

• Drawing Robots

• Flextangles

• Augmented Reality

• 3D Design

Digital Media: Star Wars Game

Today we will brush up on coding in preparation for our big hour of code project next month by using Code.org to program and play a Star Wars game.  We will begin in Blockly and then move on to Java Script to code.

After you move through the first 14 levels you will have a chance to create your own Star Wars game. Try to create a game complicated and challenging enough that someone could play for at least 2-5 minutes the share it with the class to play.  Save and publish (and copy and email me) the code by the end of the class on Wednesday for the final grade.

As always be sure to sign in before you start so that you receive credit for the coding.  This week I will also review all of your coding work and grades as this is the final week of the quarter.

Extra Credit: Batman Sketch Night

AP Art, painting, and studio art students can earn a extra credit this moth but attending the Batman Sketch Night at Cinema Arts Center in Huntington next Friday, Nov 10 at 6:00 PM and drawing some Batman figures. The event is a fundraiser for the local Jeffrey K Fisher Drawing Studio in Smithtown and features:

 LIVE DRAWING, GUEST ARTISTS, VENDORS, COSPLAY, CONTESTS, and RAFFLE PRIZES!

6pm-7pm FREE, Open to the Public, Kid-Friendly photo-ops with BATMAN, his allies and the Rogues Gallery!!

7pm-10pm Draw Professional Cosplay Models as they pose for a LIVE COMIC in Gotham City's Caped Crusader's latest ADVENTURE

*Bring supplies or $5 for basic sketch materials!
Come in your own Dark Knight cosplay for a chance to win a special prize!

Art Honor Society: Starting the Wyland Mural

Today in Art Honor Society starting the Wyland Mural by critiquing all of the student designs and choosing our final design and sketching it out on the final canvas.  We have 30 student designs to look at and we will choose our favorite design ideas today together and formulate our final design.

Digital Media: Digital Portrait Drawing with the Wacom Tablet

This week we will learn about digital drawing using the Wacom tablet and Adobe Photoshop. We'll begin with a fairly simple drawing that will allow us to explore the possibilities of using these tools. Each student has been assigned an artist who uses media art or helped pave the way for it and you will have to find a high quality image of the artist and create a detailed tracing on a new layer in Photoshop. We will do this step by step together in class but the first step is finding a good, high quality, large image to work from and formatting it in Photoshop with a 300 resolution and a medium size (around 8").

When you begin the drawing make sure you are on the layer (not the background), that you save frequently, and that you are working with a color not found in the image- it helps to zoom in while drawing as well. The drawings will be due on Friday November 1 and then we will make that tracing into a more detailed rendering, add background colors, a quote from the artist, a small frame, and a #Needlesclass watermark to share on social media. The final project will be due at the end of class on Wednesday November 8 Above are 2 examples of the project from a previous classes.

Also remember to study our Digital Media Class Quizlet to prepare for the Q1 vocabulary test on Friday. Tomorrow we will prepare by playing Quizlet Live.

Digital Media Period 2

1. Dan- Douglas Coupland
2. Angelo- Vuk Ćosić
3. Steven- Andy Warhol
4. Vincent- Jim Campbell
5. Ericson- Marina Abramovic
6. Meghan- Scott Snibbe
7. Kevin- Yayoi Kusama
8. Sara- Marilyn Minter
9. Chris- Takashi Murakami
10. Jessica- Yoko Ono
11. Connor- Nam June Paik
12. Michael- Jon Burgerman
13. Noah- Bill Viola
14. Paul- Nick Cave
15. Victoria- Marjane Satrapi

Digital Media Period 4

1. Max- Robert Rauschenberg
2. Hayley- Lauren Greenfield
3. Chris- Shepard Fairey
4. Philip- Sebastião Salgado
5. Austin- Gregory Crewdson
6. Erin- Swoon
7. William- Sigmar Polke
8. Tom- Tim Hetherington
9. Joshua- Barry McGee
10. Spencer- Jerry Uelsmann
11. Kelly- Robert Frank
12. Joe- Liu Bolin
13. Will- José Parlá
14. Mike- Matthew Barney
15. Liam- Wayne White
16. Jordan- Chuck Close
17. Alexander- Salvador Dalí
18. Brian- David Salle
19. Gabrielle- David Hockney
20. Gregory- Keith Haring
21. Kevin- Herb Ritts
22. Henry- Alexander Calder

Studio Art: Artist Trading Cards

 In Painting and Studio Art classes we are creating Artist Trading Cards this week as the last project of the quarter.  They are small 2.5" x 3.5" art cards that can be shared with other artists around the world.  We will create a series of 5 cards in any media that all fit into a theme chosen by the artist and we'll send out 4 of the 5 cards to other students in the 2018 Worldwide Artist Trading Card Swap. In the past we have seen our cards travel to 3 continents and we have received cards from students in 12 countries and 18 states. The 5 cards will be due by the end of the class on Friday and when the are complete we'll label the backs with our first name, school, location, year, and my twitter handle @timneedles so we can find out where they end up!

AP Art: Submit to the NAHS News

Today is the last day for AP Art who are also in National Art Honor Society to submit their artwork into the NAHS News.  Well send along a submission detailing some of our recent activities such as our field trip to an artists studios in Bridgehampton and the projects from the end of last year: The Sketchbook Project and the Vans Custom Culture Contest

AP Art: Artist Research Project

this week we will work on our AP Art: Artist Research Projects in class I selected 2 artists for eact student who in some way connect to the work I've seen,  Below are the instructions:

Create presentations using Google Slide with a cover slide featuring the artist's image, a page of 20 bulleted (and interesting/relevant) facts from the artist's biography with sources, and 20 full size images of their work.  

Below is the master list of artists.  After the research and presentation you should create a piece inspired by anything you learned about either or both of the artists.  We will share the presentations on Wednesday and have a short test on all of them on Friday.

1. Chris- Esao Andrews & Andy Kehoe
2. Joe- Farel Dalrymple & Keith Haring
3. Jon- Beau Stanton & FAILE
4. Kelsey- Barry McGee & Donald Baechler
5. Peter- Chuck Close & Salvador Dalí
6. Stephanie- Marilyn Minter & Alphonse Mucha
7. Kayla- Daniel Danger & Swoon
8. Danielle- Liu Bolin & Andrew Wyeth
9. Ilysa- David Hockney & Janet Fish/John Baldessari
10. Jae- Jordu Schell & Wayne White
11. Needles- Robert Rauschenberg & Yayoi Kusama

Studio Art: Illustration Friday

Today in Studio Art I'll be grading the remainder of the Wyland Ocean Mural design and Sketchbook work and we'll work on the new Illustration Friday theme- SUGAR.  Above is my example, feel free to interpret the prompt in any creative way!  Next week is the end of the quarter so be sure to hand in any incomplete or late work by November 1.

Art Honor Society: Wyland Art Contest Week 1

Today in Art Honor Society we will begin our mural painting and finish preparatory work on the Wyland Art Contest. We will start the mural next week so well finish and critique the designs.

AP Art: Hartford School of Art

University of Hartford | Hartford Art School from University of Hartford on Vimeo.

Tomorrow we welcome Hartford Art School (Thursday 10/26 periods 5-6 in art room 157).  They will talk about their program and review portfolios.  We've had a number of alumni attend Hartford including Aidi Wang, Jess Brett, Dylan Ahern, and Steve Ponzo who went on to create Children's Books like Peanut Butter and Ellie.

Studio Art: Sketchbook Week

This week we will continue working on our Sketchbook designs following a different prompt each day (listed below.  you can see some of my sketchbook advice and practice on the Sharing Our Notebooks Blog.  Remember that our first quiz is on Friday on the artists we learned about who use sketchbooks and art journals, you can study on our Quizlet here: Art Class Quizlet.

• Words
• Geometric Shapes
• Portraits
• Asymmetrical Balance
• Analogous Color

Digital Media: 3D Logo Design In Photoshop

In Digital Media we will work on creating original, creative 3D Logo Designs in Photoshop this week.  The design will be for our own "design companies we will use throughout the year.  Each student should create an entirely original design and complete it, including 3D rendering by Friday for a grade.  You can include text as well but remember to include the basic rules of logo design: 25 Logo Design Tips and simple is usually best as you can see below.

We will also have our last vocab quiz of the quarter on Friday on 3D printing so practice the terms on our class Quizlet.

AP Art: The Portfolio

In AP Art we are going to discuss how to assemble a good art Portfolio.  The pencil drawing above was from my high school portfolio and how I wish I knew then what I know now!  I'll share some successful student portfolios and advice as we prepare work to show for the upcoming portfolio reviews in class and at schools.

Our first class portfolio review is Wednesday period 5-6 with Hartford Art School and there are also portfolio reviews with a number of colleges at Heckscher Museum on October 19 and 26 including: SCAD, SVA, Pratt, RISD, Purchase, MICA, MASSart, and Ringling as well as the National Portfolio Review at Pratt  November 12 with pretty much every art school.

Painting: Sketchbook Week

In painting we learned about how different artists use their sketchbook and looked at examples from:

Peter Beard

Sabrina Ward Harrison

Dan Eldon

Austin Kleon

Lynda Barry

Ronald Searle

Lisa Congdon

Robert Crumb

Eugene Delacroix

Janice Lowry

This week we'll start off each day with a short sketchbook exercise and then create a full page in the sketchbook with different media each day.  On Friday we'll have a short quiz on the artists we learned about.  Here's a link to study the artists on the class: Quizlet

AP Art: NYSATA Artist Mentoring Field Trip with Christine Chew Smith

Wednesday we traveled to Bridgehampton, NY for the NYSATA Artist Mentor series to visit artist Christine Chew Smith and create work with her in her art studio. After a studio tour, students from AP Art created collages, assemblages, and other artwork alongside the artist.

Studio Art: Wyland National Art Challenge

In Studio Art we are working this week on creating designs for the 2017 Wyland National Art Challenge.  we'll begin by creating a design in our sketchbook then flesh it our with color and complete it.  We will take all the final images and talk about our favorite designs then choose one for our collaborative mural which we will paint in November.

Painting a Fredrix® Classroom Mural Canvas with Wyland® from Fredrix® Artist Canvas on Vimeo.

Celebrate St. James Art Contest Winners

Congrats to Ilysa from AP Art on winning the Celebrate St. James Art Contest in the 11-18 age group for her pastel drawing of the St. James General Store and to Alexis from Painting who, along with Ilysa, won an art supply package for her painting of the St. James train station.

Digital Media: 3D Logos in Photoshop

After our Photoshop vocabulary quiz in Digital Media class today we will continue learning about Adobe's 3D capabilities by learning to create 3D Logos in Photoshop.  The tutorial above gives the basic instructions and we'll learn the process and create logos for our own "design companies" which next week.  We'll also talk a little about branding and advertising in the process.

Art Honor Society: Field Trips and Mural Painting

Today in Art Honor Society we will finish planning our Fall field trips, work on some Mural Paintings, and set up our first gallery exhibit for the year.  Next week we will take part in the NYSATA Artist Mentor series and be taking our first field trip of the year to an artists studio where we will create collages with artist Christine Chew Smith in Bridgehampton, NY (below is an example of her work from recent exhibitions).

Digital Media: 3D Character Design

We will begin test printing some of the Digital Media students 3D Character Designs today in class as we review vocabulary for the first quiz on Friday.  Here's a great example from the period 4 class of a 2D and 3D character design created online.

Digital Media: Terminology & Vocabulary

In the first month of school we learned about Photoshop, green screen, coding, and 3D printing and this week we will review the new terms we learned for a quiz this Friday.  We will be using Google Slides along with the class Quizlet below to review and it can be accessed at home to study.

• Digital Media Art: Photoshop Basics

• Digital Media Art: Coding
• Digital Media Art: 3D Printing

Painting: Figure Painting

In Painting we've been studying the proportion of the human figure by painting the skeleton from different angles and distances so we will now progress to Figure Painting.  We'll take turns posing for quick studies and paint them in our sketchbooks.  We'll do a number each day but the best 5 will be graded so you have some freedom to experiment and make mistakes while you work.  The focus of these studies is more on getting the proportions right than the likeness of the model so while every detail isn't necessary do be sure to attempt details like facial expressions, hands and feet which are more difficult.  Below is an example I did in class last year on Halloween.

National Art and Media Art Honor Society: Introduction

Today is the first full meeting of the National Art and Media Art Honor Society in Mr. Needles art room 157 after school at 2-3pm.  We'll be discussing some of this year's events and activities as well as opportunities for scholarships and contests.  Below are some of our upcoming Fall activities that we'll be participating in:

• Classroom, School, and Community Murals

• Wyland Marine Life Mural Contest

• Fall Museum Field Trip

• Japan Society Junior Fellows Program

• Mentor Artist Program

• The Gratitude Project

• Guest Artist and Alumni Programs

• NAHS T-shirt Design Competition

• Spooky Hallways

• Vans Custom Culture Design Contest

• Collaborative Sketchbook Project for the Brooklyn Art Library

• Global Artist Trading Card Exchange

• Special Art and Technology Workshops

• Creating Self-driven art

• Scholarships, College Visits, Conferences, and Contests