Course Syllabus

ART 2430 Digital Drawing and Painting

Course Description

This studio course introduces students to drawing and painting using digital methods. Investigations will include idea generation; preliminary and finalized sketching; observational and conceptual drawing and painting; direct and indirect processes; input, output and storage; and transferring analog skills to digital methods. Both analog and digital components will be utilized to experiment with the digital tools and techniques available to visual artists. This course will culminate with a curated final portfolio of digital and printed works. Students should complete ART 1110 and ART 1120 before taking this course. A program fee is required.

Justification

This course is intended to provide students with the skills to produce digital artwork that can be used for a variety of visual arts genres, including, but not limited to animation, graphic design, game design, and fine art.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Material Proficiency: Demonstrate a proficiency in materials and techniques—Strategies will be taught working with both analog and digital mediums and include idea generation; preliminary and finalized sketching; observational and conceptual drawing and painting; direct and indirect processes; input, output, and storage; craftsmanship; transferring analog skills to digital methods; navigating the Macintosh operating environment—Mac (i)OS; and developing skills in digital imaging software and hardware. These skills and proficiencies will promote confidence in future endeavors in the field.
2. Principles of Concept: Demonstrate an integration of conceptual principles—Through the exposure to a variety of digital drawings and paintings by contemporaries in the field, students will develop a sensibility that allows them to communicate their own unique concepts as they apply them to digital drawing and painting.
3. Historical Context: Demonstrate a fluency in historical content and context—Students will be exposed to an array of historical artworks from the fields of drawing, painting, illustration, and animation in both analog and digital formats. This process is designed to inform students of the broad development and context of digital drawing and painting and its influence on society and contemporary art. Artistic influence and imitation is a revered and healthy part of the creative development of art students.
4. Critical Theory: Demonstrate the ability to critically analyze a work of art—Students will develop an ability to critically analyze works of art through verbal critiques of the work of their peers and professional artists relating to the relationships between technology, form, and content. This skill will foster a greater ability of students to be critical of their own work within the creative process.
5. Creative Process: Demonstrate the application of the creative process—This course teaches strategies for cultivating creative practice, expressing ideas, solving problems creatively, engaging with challenging concepts, and experimenting with digital drawing and painting methods. Through hands-on studio projects, students will engage the digital design process into their own practice. This will include the process of THINKING about the design parameters, LOOKING at what others have created prior, and DOING—applying what they have learned. Utilizing a sketchbook to record and develop this process will be highly encouraged as part of the process.

Course Content

Course topics and learning tasks include idea generation; preliminary and finalized sketching; observational and conceptual drawing and painting; direct and indirect processes; input, output, and storage; craftsmanship; transferring analog skills to digital methods. Both analog and digital components will be utilized to experiment with the digital tools and techniques available to visual artists.The artistic genres, major figures, and movements covered in this course will be representative of a ranging variety in gender, nationality, language, identity, perspective, and background.