Typography How To

Typography!

We are going to making TYPOGRAPHY designs. These are essentially really fancy Wordles- which means I'll be nice and let you off from Wordles for the rest of the trimester :)

Good typography uses layering, changing of fonts, changing of colors and opacities to really make the image stand out. All of the words used should enhance your subject.

HOW TO:

• Create a NEW document in Photoshop:
• Set the dimensions to AT LEAST 4000 x 4000 pixels and the resolution to 300 dpi. Bigger is better!

• You will need an image to use for this project. You can take your own photo, or use one from the internet. You want something with an empty background, and with an interesting shape that will work with the text. I'm going to use this eagle:

• Open your saved image in photoshop, cut it out if you need to remove the background. Place your subject in a new layer in your empty canvas you made in the first step.
• You should now have TWO layers. An empty 1st layer and a second layer with a guide image in it.
• Resize your guide image. Use the "show transform tools" button to drag the corners and center your subject. It doesn't matter if it's kind of blurry because we're going to delete it at the end!
• Familiarize yourself with the TYPE TOOLS.
• Press the "T" button. Now you should have a type menu at the top of your screen. You will want to use all different font sizes, shapes, colors and styles. Make sure you know how to change these things!
• Create a NEW layer for EACH text box you create. Make one now to begin.
• Create a text box over a section you wish to work on. I started with the Eagle's beak and zoomed way in so that was all on my screen.
• Type in words that work with your subject. Shape, color, and stylize them. Keep doing this until it looks appealing to you.

 

You can check to see what it's looking like by "hiding" your subject layer. In your layer window, "close the eye" on your subject layer and it will show you your words!

This is a LENGTHY process if done properly, but highly rewarding in the end. I expect you all to use your class time wisely for this. In the end, you should have well over 100 words in your typography projects.

These Projects will be due at the end of NEXT week.

On Thursday, May 30th for Period 3, and

on Friday, May 31st for Period 4

That will give Seniors 1 week for their FINAL PROJECTS and Underclassmen a week and a half!

There is no Final "Exam" for this class- but you will have a final project worth the same amount as an exam. It will have a project and written componant. We will go over it at the conclusion of this project.

Altered Colors and Andy Warhol

The Digital Art world is limitless. We've explored scanners, blogs, wordle creating websites, cameras and photo touch ups. Now, let's make actual pieces of art.

This week we will be exploring the world of color.

Color Theory

The three Primary Colors are Red, Blue and Yellow. Primary colors are the 3 basic colors that all other colors can be made from.

When you're creating a work of art, or altering one, it's important tho think about which colors will look good with each other. This is when knowing about Complimentary Colors will come in handy. Complimentary colors are colors that suit each other, look pleasing next to each other. They reside across from each other on the color wheel.

For example, you'll notice that Red & Green are across from each other- Christmas colors! Not for no reason!

Secondary Colors can be made using 2 Primary colors. Yellow + Red = Orange.

Tertiary Colors can be made by mixing a Primary & Secondary color. Orange + Yellow = Yellow Orange.

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Andy Warhol

It's very likely that at some point in time you've seen something by Andy Warhol. Perhaps his most noticeable work of art is probably his images of Campbell's soup cans and Marilyn Munroe.

Around 1960, Warhol had decided to make a name for himself in Pop Art. Pop art was a new style of art that began in England in the mid-1950s and consisted of realistic renditions of popular, everyday items. Warhol began with Coke bottles and comic strips but his work wasn't getting the attention he wanted. In December 1961, Warhol gave $50 to a friend of his who had told him she had a good idea. Her idea was for him to paint what he liked most in the world, perhaps something like money and a can of soup. Warhol painted both.

Unfortunately, Warhol found that he couldn't make his paintings fast enough on canvas. Luckily in July 1962, he discovered the process of silk screening. This technique uses a specially prepared section of silk as a stencil, allowing one silk-screen to create similar patterns multiple times. He immediately began making paintings of celebrities, most notably a large collection of paintings of Marilyn Monroe. Warhol would use this style for the rest of his life.

Warhol's signature style is bright unnatural colors and repetition. His colorful icons were often displayed in a series.

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Using knowledge of the Color Wheel & Andy Warhol, we will be creating colorful artworks by altering our photographs in PhotoShop.

Start by choosing one of your favorite photographs you took last week.

Open this photo in photoshop and make sure it has good Contrast. Contrast is a strong difference in lights/darks/colors. You can fix this in PS if the photo doesn't already have it.

Tools to use to alter the color palette:

• Paint Bucket tool
• Adjustments --> Hue & Saturation --> slide the Hue bar
• Color Replacement Tool! This one will be your best friend if you want to keep lots of details.

Create at least 6 different versions of the same image and combine them all as one image.

We will talk about how to combine images into one later this week.

Wordle Wednesday!

HAPPY WORDLE WEDNESDAY!

Every Wednesday, I will post an image on my blog. Your task will be to create a WORDLE about this image.
What is a WORDLE you ask? Wordle's are word clouds. They are a visual way of displaying a large amount of words. Eventually, you may be able to create your own wordles in Photoshop, until then, there is a lovely website that makes them for you, all you have to do is enter in the words!

Wordle is the place to be.
Tagxedo is also fun- shaped word clouds.

You must use AT LEAST 15-20 different WORDS in every wordle. Without this many it may look kind of lame. The more, the better.

*Note, Wordle.net is lame, so you'll have to screen shot your finished wordles in order to save them. You can screen shot a selection by holding down COMMAND SHIFT and 4. Then you'll get a cross looking tool you can use to select the outline of your Wordle.

Example:

Today's photo is THE SCREAM.

This is a painting by Edvard Munch from 1893.

What words does this make you think of?

You can choose to wing it, and write whatever words come to mind first, or if your curious, you can read more about THE SCREAM below and perhaps the story will bring even more words to mind... 

From The New York Times: "...Over the years these colors may have been further intensified, in our imaginations, by the text Munch carved into the work’s gilded frame. As translated by MoMA, it reads: “I was walking along the road with two of my friends. The sun set — the sky became a bloody red. And I felt a touch of melancholy — I stood still, dead tired — over the blue-black fjord and city hung blood and tongues of fire. My friends walked on — I stayed behind — trembling with fright — I felt the great scream in nature.” "

From The Smithsonian: "Munch's The Scream is an icon of modern art, a Mona Lisa for our time. As Leonardo da Vinci evoked a Renaissance ideal of serenity and self-control, Munch defined how we see our own age—wracked with anxiety and uncertainty. His painting of a sexless, twisted, fetal-faced creature, with mouth and eyes open wide in a shriek of horror, re-created a vision that had seized him as he walked one evening in his youth with two friends at sunset. As he later described it, the "air turned to blood" and the "faces of my comrades became a garish yellow-white." Vibrating in his ears he heard "a huge endless scream course through nature." He made two oil paintings, two pastels and numerous prints of the image; the two paintings belong to Oslo's National Gallery and to the Munch Museum, also in Oslo. Both have been stolen in recent years, and the Munch Museum’s is still missing. The thefts have only added posthumous misfortune and notoriety to a life filled with both, and the added attention to the purloined image has further distorted the artist's reputation."

My Wordle: (I wont do this every week, but so that you can see what it is...)

Photography 101: Framing your shots

I could type a ridiculous long blog here, but I would want to steal everything from this blog:

JOURNOGRAPHICA: Basic Photo Tips: Framing Your Shots

So why not just click that link and explore? :)

The Rule of Thirds in action

Please create your own Blog post on THE RULE OF THIRDS.

Blogger Set Up!

Blogger Set-Up

1. Log-in to your Google Account.

Username: First Class E-mail 

Password: lunchnumber24

2. Click MORE . . . a drop down menu appears . . . Click BLOGGER

3. You should see something like this . . .

4. Click NEW BLOG . . . Now you’re here . . .

5. Title : Be creative but appropriate!

6. Address: first initial last name - Digital Art    example: rpeabody-DigitalArt

7. Choose a template.

8. Click CREATE BLOG

9. Now, you have a blog . . . start POSTING . . .

10. When you log-in you come to the DASHBOARD . . . you will find your blog here . . .

NEW POST    SETTINGS       VIEW IT