Pre-Final, Art 3 & Art 4H

Before we begin the brunt of our final project I want you to quietly and on your own answer the questions you can find HERE. They should be straightforward but if you have questions please let me know.
If you are in Art 3, please read THIS POST for directions on what to do today.
If you are in Art 4, please continue working on the drawing you started on Monday.

For both groups, you will not be turning in a photo of your assignment once you are finished, but you do need to:
1) work for the remainder of the period and be as productive on the drawing as possible
2) know that you are not finished until I end the drawing and/or the bell rings
3) turn in a drawing project to me

Art 4 Daily Drawing for 1/28

Ok, this will be fun.
I want you to open up to the last class period's list of brainstormed subjects and follow the below directions.

• draw on top of the list(s) you made last class
• draw in pencil only
• draw an apple looking into a mirror
• reflected in the mirror must be a pineapple
• you must include some sort of context outside of those three objects
• you must come at least close to filling at least one page with your initial line drawing
• you must at least begin shading at least one of the above three mentioned objects
• I should be able to see drawn images and text in the photo you upload to canvas today
• you may NOT draw from photographs/images
• set the timer on your phone for 15 min as soon as you finish reading this and don't stop drawing until the timer goes off - other than that you shouldn't be looking at your phone for images at all (or any other image source)

This isn't about perfection, it is about working. Not overthinking, just working. Go.

Vans Custom Culture 2015

I just put a lot of the pertinent info regarding the why/how's of the Vans Custom Culture Contest for 2015 on Canvas. Please check there for more info. You can also check HERE.

What, the LG Museum announcement already?! Whoa!

Welcome back and all that jazz.
I just received an email from the Museums of Los Gatos referencing the high school exhibition they will hold in the spring.

Art 4's, you will be required to make a piece for this exhibition. While I will try to spend some time brainstorming with you in class, the sooner you can start thinking about it, the better.

Here is what I know so far:

That is the theme. Bridges: facing challenges. I can think of a lot of options and possibilities so far so I hope you can too. There is more information here, so please check it out.

AmazonSmile

AmazonSmile must be new, but I was able to select our very own New Millenium Foundation as the future recipient for Amazon donations based off of my purchases. Pretty cool. You should do the same.

Cat's Corner T-Shirt Contest

CATS CORNER T-SHIRT DESIGN CONTEST
Do you want to see the entire student body wearing your design? Designs for next years Cats Corner T-shirt are due may 9th in L5.  There will be an all school vote to choose the design on may 15th in L5 during tutorial!! Come and place your vote for next years t-shirt!

See me about how we can incorporate this as part of your assignment/study drawings.
Would love to see one of you have your design chosen.

Museum Opening

There were shenanigans.
And people doing weird things. Although by "people" I might just mean me.

At any rate, it was a good and crowded opening at the Art Museum of Los Gatos tonight.
Franny and Sofia were represented by their families and myself and there was a lot of other really good work on display from school all over the county.

Read the previous post to see about the extra credit that is available, and check my Instagram to see a couple of funny pics. I believe the show is up until May 11th.
If I get around to it I'll post some from my phone tomorrow.

Even More Extra Credit

Tomorrow, 4/24, is the reception for the county wide exhibition that Sofia Kuta and Franny Lin had work accepted into. The reception lasts from 6-8, with awards at 7.

I would like to encourage you to attend the show not only to see their work, but to see the work made by other local high school students. I have yet to see the show and am looking forward to it.

The show is up until May 11 and if you take a selfie in front of either Franny or Sofia's art while it is on display and email it to me I will give you some extra credit for attending.
Ideally you would go tomorrow, but any day between now and the 11th with work.

Additionally, don't forget that there is a call for student art for a smaller show at the museum which closes on April 30th - next week.
If you copy me on the email you need to send the museum I will get you points for that as well - regardless of if they choose your piece or not.

There is a lot of good work from this year that you should be proud to show so do it! Now!
Or now!

If you need help getting a decent pic of your work, let me know.

Cheers.

More Art Needed

I said I would, so here it is.

If you want to donate art to help as two different fundraisers, please see me and/or Emily Blaker for details.
They are good causes and your peers are trying to do good things, so...

For EXTRA CREDIT, if you submit something to the Jr. Art Docents/Museum Exhibition that is coming up in May, please make sure to copy me on the email.
If you do, I will get you some extra credit at some point.
Also, send them a good photograph. Get rid of misc background; take a pic straight on; etc.
You can get a decent image from your phone - and crop it there, too - or you can use the camera in class (all the art 3 and 4 students know how to use this by now).

You Want $$$?

Here is an interesting opportunity from the District Attorney's office that can pay you some cash money. Let me know if you have any details.


Greetings,

I am writing to ask you to spread the word among all high school students about a contest run by the District Attorney's Office to make a poster that raises awareness about Teen Dating Violence (please see attachment).  The contest will award a prize of $500 to the first place poster, $300 to the second place winner and $200 for third place.  In addition, the winning poster will be used in the DA's Office's October campaign for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

The deadline for entry of the 24" x 36" posters is Friday, May 16.

Please send this information to all students, their art teachers and anyone else who might be interested in submitting a poster.

We are looking forward to seeing your fantastic entries!

James Gibbons-Shapiro
Assistant District Attorney
70 West Hedding Street
San Jose, CA  95110
408-792-2985
jgibbonsshapiro@da.sccgov.org

Art 3 - 2nd Semester

I am copying this for the Art 3's straight up from the Schoology site as I want to make sure I don't lose the info, so this is most likely a duplication for those that it pertains to. FYI.


We are going to begin second semester with three quick projects (ok, maybe four - but three for sure). This will require you to brainstorm a bunch, make fast decisions, and get your final copies completed quickly.
All three of the of the images will be small in an effort to allow you to meet the quick turnaround times. I hope this helps.
At least one of these designs will be loaded onto Society6 by the end of the project.

Here are the details:
You have three topics you have to create imagery for (remember, since your image(s) is going online you cannot straight up duplicate an image that has been created by someone else - though you can combine different ideas and change up someone else's idea(s))

The topics are:
Geometry - pick a geometric shape (regular hexagon or circle, for example) and start from there (do you repeat that one shape, do they overlap, do you fill them with color or patter, etc.);
     does this help?
          http://society6.com/search?product=prints&q=geometric&submit=Search
     or
          http://www.pinterest.com/awcomeon/nature/


Animal - pick an animal and do something different to it (you could create an interesting effect with color dripping or combine two different animals into one, etc), keep the background simple here - maybe really simple (yeah, a hint);
     maybe something like this
          http://society6.com/product/Glass-Animal-Flying-Fox_Print#1=45
     or some of these are pretty great
          http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=animal%20watercolor

Typography - pick a word or a phrase, pick an awesome font, then make it more awesomer together.
     do you want to see some examples here, too
          http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=typography%20poster&rs=ac&len=10
     or
          http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=handmade%20type&rs=ac&len=12

Each piece should be turned in on a 9x12" piece of paper (you may or may not use every square inch, depending on the assignment's section)

You might find this helpful if you are going to create something with the intention of putting it on an iphone:
     http://www.lifeproof.com/en/iphone-5/specs/
or here, starting around page 15
     https://developer.apple.com/resources/cases/Case-Design-Guidelines.pdf
    

I really want you to have fun with this. You will have just over one week to create each design. I do not care which design you turn in 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, and you will have a grade sheet for this assignment, but it will be your responsibility to turn in each image with the grade sheet (you will be turning in the grade sheet three times in total - don't worry, there will be plenty of reminders along the way)

Were it me, I would get out my sketchbook and start brainstorming right away. I mean a lot of ideas, too. Get them from your brain, twist other people's ideas around, steal your friend's idea(s) - whatever it takes. And you might as well share your ideas, too.

I would guess, roughly, 2.5-3 class periods for each piece is what you will get. This is subject to change so make sure you are paying attention.

New View in Guidance

Benz is at it again. Adorning the guidance office with the awesomeness that is your diligence. Stop by to check it out.

Art 2 + Update (the ec is for all adv art students)

Yeah, I know, the end of the semester is approaching way faster than any of us would like.
Well, I want another break, but I feel the pressure of finishing the semester strong and continuing to get a lot of stuff done.

So here is what you, Art 2's, need to know for the remainder of the semester.
First, keep checking the calendar to keep up with the due dates.

We will work on our advertising project for a few class periods, and you have until Tuesday, Dec. 10th to finish it. That is 4.5 hours of class time - give or take.

You must:

• make it visually appealing
• include hand-drawn typography
• encourage students to take art - or at the very least, pique their interest
• use different parts of ads/ad styles from your assigned decade for inspiration
• have thumbnail sketches in your sketchbook
• print out some inspirational pieces and tape them into your sketchbook

Know that I will be looking at your sketchbooks as you work and I will be looking at them for a grade on Friday of this week.

Extra Credit for this semester will be due before you leave class on Monday, 12/16.
You have two options for this extra credit.

• take a study drawing you have completed this semester and have a do-over;
• meaning, think about what didn't work; how can you make it better; was it the idea you liked, but the execution suffered; was it just straight up rushed; etc.
• you must include the original study drawing as well as the new one, side by side
• take one of the ideas from the back of your study drawing sheet (section 5) that we haven't gotten to yet, do one of those topics.

I will say this though: they need to be awesome. For real.

If I am giving you extra credit I expect you to really go above and beyond. Wow me. Turning in your average pencil line drawing isn't going to cut it. If you turn something in I will give you extra credit, but I will give you more extra credit the more fantastic it is.

Also know that you may get class time to work on this, but don't count on it. We still have other things to cover that are not yet on the calendar so you will probably need to count on doing the extra credit outside of class.

The Pumpkin Patch is Coming

You know you look forward to it every year, and it is almost upon us once again.
The annual glass pumpkin sale is coming up in just a couple of weeks on the front lawn of the school. Yes, your purchase helps the art department directly; yes, your purchase helps a local artisan directly; yes, your purchase gets a gift of something unique for someone you know (note, this someone may actually be you).

If you are a student I know how you can get some community service hours (hint, the flier above is it).
If you want more information, you can find out about the Magical Glass Pumpkin Patch here.

It's good for you, it's good for me, it's just plain good. Really. 'Nuff said.

El Gato Submission

You are awesome and creative and should share that information with your peers.
El Gato (the school newspaper) is giving you the opportunity.

If you need help taking pics, please ask for it.

Here is the info that was passed along to me for me to pass along to you.

El Gato's student life section is accepting art, poetry, and post-secret submissions today and tomorrow. Thursday at the absolute latest! You can submit it anonymously or not to an el gato staff member, drop it by room 506, or submit electronically to billylepage@gmail.com or wade.wallerstein@gmail.com

Take advantage.

Seriously.

Extra Credit Opportunities

I have decided that there are two upcoming opportunities for you to earn extra credit for class.
They both involve making art because, well, this is an art class.
Also because Black Ops or Mario Kart can wait. Really.

So here are the details...

#1 Los Gatos Ballet
 A dance themed drawing or painting. If you want to do something ballet themed that would be even better. If you wanted to use as a source image an image from a dancer at Los Gatos Ballet you can go to Doug Speidel's portfolio of LG Ballet dancers/dances here and check some out.
I have to know by MARCH 1ST if you are creating a piece for this, what the media is, and what the size is.
Really, I think it would be best to keep the images 16x20 or smaller.
They need to be good pieces and not just a semi-decent study drawing type pieces, just fyi. If I'm giving extra credit and you are putting it out there in public I just need you to recognize that you are helping put a "face on" the LGHS Art Department through your efforts.

The auction itself is on March 23rd, and I have to have the piece before March 22nd.
Yes, I need to know by Mar. 1st if you are doing a piece for LG Ballet, but you don't have to have the piece finished until the middle of March.



#2 Los Gatos Art Museum
For the second year in a row the LG Art Museum is hosting a county wide competition for high school students.
The theme is Art + Tech + Culture. They are asking about the effects of technology in our lives.

For example:
"Your artwork might be created using new media technologies - computer graphics, robotics, animation - the sky is the limit"
"Your observations about the impacts of technology in our lives are equally relevant, both globally and individually.  What is the impact of technology in education, here and in developing countries? What are the issues surrounding compromised privacy?"
"How has technology affected social behavior? What is the new etiquette?"

You can get more information at the Museums of Los Gatos website here for more complete information and a list of due dates.
The first date you really need to be aware of is March 22nd, as that is the date you need to have a photo of your piece emailed to the museum.

I need to have proof that you are finished with this piece and have emailed it to the museum so you need to make sure that you cc me on the email. You should know my email address, but just in case you are feeling to lazy to look it up, it is:
tsmith@lgsushd.org


P.S. You need to appropriately photograph your piece in order to put your best foot forward. This includes setting the correct exposure and white balance. I can help with this.

Art 2 Pastry Pics

So I thought I was intending to ask for you to all bring pics of cupcakes (with much color) in them, but there obviously needs to be some clarification.

While I can see how there are great options available outside the realm of cupcakes, there are also many roadblocks there.

The benefit of choosing cupcakes is that there is consistency of subjects and problem solving. Also, if you think about it, even of two people choose the same image the subsequent drawing will certainly be different.

I would like to also note that there are often problems that arise with certain textures that can be bothersome and time consuming, and I am trying to minimize frustration while maximizing good drawings.
But I am open to possibility. So with that being said, yes, I want at least two good pics of cupcakes. Not even of French macaroons.
HOWEVER, if you find something in addition to this and are very inspired, bring that in as well. I will consider it on an as needed basis.

Be prepared to isolate the dessert from any background that might be in the image as well.
If you have questions, fb me.