I call them blogs but they are really sites to collect and dispense information for my classes. They contain lots of information, keep students backpacks paper free and eliminate the complaints that come with lost assignment sheets!
I love to make letters! This class lets me combine my
love for typography, lettering and images all in one.
Our current class blog contains weekly fun videos on letters, class projects, pics of the students at work
and at crits and links to several useful sites on hand lettering.
I began this class 3 years ago feeling that illustration was growing out of it’s long time tradition of mostly print. Rather than being the person waiting for a project call, illustrators can be the instigator and take control of the reins. The skills we have as problem solvers and the innate abilities we have as artists – composition, color, light, etc – can easily apply to environments, surfaces and venues we normally would not consider. Each student knows to bring in one idea for an original artists product. It could be print based, 3D, a toy, an interactive product – but it should be something challenging and new. Students make 25 prototypes of their idea. They are exposed to various prototyping methods, have class visits from artists making their own projects and field trips to shops that sell artist products. Students also learn about research, material, unit costing, branding and identity and writing a creative brief. Students are required to sell their products at the MICA ArtMarket in December.
This class was run as a research course tracing the lineage of illustration back in time through narrative art to engage the ancestors of contemporary illustration, to draw attention to the disconnect that has occurred between what is called fine and commercial art, to establish a set of conditions that can be used to define work as illustration, to demonstrate the commonalities of narrative art to modern applied arts professions and to deepen an understanding of the importance of illustration. Students surveyed the MICA collections, and online blogs and sites; visited the Baltimore Museum of Art Print Collection, the Society of Illustrators Permanent Collection, and the Brandywine River Museum; attended a galley talk by Ed Sorel formerly of Push Pin Studio; heard a class presentation by Peter Kuper, visual journalist and author; attended a lecture by Jerelle Kraus, former NY Times Op-Ed art director and author. Students worked in teams to produce a written paper and AV presentation on an assigned topic, including: Pre-Literacy Narrative painting, frescoes and sequential panels; Portraits as Status and Propaganda; Caricature and Parody; Visual Journalism and Pre-Photography; Poster Art and Café Life; The Golden Age of Illustration in Europe and the US; Comic Strips, Magazines and Ads: Rising Middle Class consumers; Early Illustrated Children’s Literature and Post-Golden Age Books; The Push Pin Effect : 20th Century Revivalism meets Pop Art 1950-1970. The History of Illustration blog is a repository of bibliographical information.