Digital Drawing and Painting

I decided to offer a new class called "Digital Drawing and Painting". Which is exactly what it sounds like. I do not know of any other school that offers this class, outside of a college classroom. I would love to be proven wrong, because frankly I would give anything for a little advise or feedback from other teachers trying this out on the high school level. 

To start us out, I gave the students a worksheet. This is to see what their skill levels are in the classroom, and it will also help me to see which students can just start drawing at the drop of a hat, and which ones need some time to process all the information and need to research references. 

Many of the students in my class have never used an electronic sketch pad before, nor have they use a digital art program. This worksheet helps them get used to downloading, saving, and working with the tools in the program (Fire Alpaca, I will be doing a whole post with software as the main focus) 

If you want a copy of the file, you are free to drag and drop it from this post. 

Here were a few of my student examples. Let me know what you think in the comments. 

Chimeras in PhotoShop

This is a project that I believe teaches PhotoShop at its most PhotoShopy-est.

This is a lesson I do with my 7th graders, to help them start thinking about how to effectively mix photos. When we first start out at the beginning of the year I just show them all the tolls they can use, and those photoshop creation end up looking a little like the internet threw up all over the assignments.

This project, though it may seem similar teaches subtly. The students are told to find two animals that they want to combine together. We also learn about the term chimera, which has origins in greek mythology, and how the term has become used in our language as well as in pop culture.

When the students choose their animals they are  encouraged to choose to animals that could match each others colors and textures. This teaches planning, and originization that is useful in all photoshop endeavors.

Next they place both images in photoshop.

They choose one animal to be the dominant photo, and cut away the background of the other, so it can fit into the other animals picture.

Then using the blending tool, opacity control, and filters, the students work to make the picture look like one new photo.

Note: This assignment does use copyright images, so student are told what rules are involved with using other people photos for transformative purposes, as well as what they can then do with these photos after they are completed. It is important to always establish a baseline with your students, so they know where they stand when they create are working with photo found online.

This assignment is fun and the students reacted very well to the challenge. Below are a few student examples. Please Enjoy!