Course Description
MART 372 is an introductory class in digital illustration focusing on digital drawing techniques, layout, and design using Adobe Illustrator. This is a very powerful tool, especially when combined with digital painting tablets and pressure-sensitive pens. We will use Illustrator to create vector graphics for professional web, print, illustration, silkscreen and poster design. We will investigate how Illustrator interacts with other software such as Photoshop, Adobe Animate and InDesign.
This is a hands-on class. Understanding file management and basic computer applications is important since there will be no time scheduled for introductory lessons. This class will be taught through lectures, demonstrations, and feedback sessions/critiques.
Student Learning Objectives (SLOs)
Upon successful completion of this course, a student will be able to:
- Brush sets - Students will identify a brush set, create a vector based custom brush and add it to a custom set of brushes to be used in more than one image file.
- Create a vector - Students will create a vector translation of a raster image using vector based object oriented software.
- Personalized letter - Students will create a personalized letter form based on an existing typeface.
Administration
Grading
Grades
| Letter Grade |
Grade Value |
Range |
| A+ |
100 |
100 - 97.5
(Not available through WebSmart) |
| A |
95 |
< 97.5 - 92.5 |
| A- |
90 |
< 92.5 - 87.5 |
| B+ |
85 |
< 87.5 - 82.5 |
| B |
80 |
< 82.5 - 77.5 |
| B- |
75 |
< 77.5 - 72.5 |
| C+ |
70 |
< 72.5 - 67.5 |
| C |
65 |
< 67.5 - 62.5 |
| C- |
60 |
< 62.5 - 57.5 |
| D+ |
55 |
< 57.5 - 52.5
(Not available through WebSmart) |
| D |
50 |
< 52.5 - 47.5 |
| F |
< 47.5 |
Not available, only NP |
Grading Components
| Assignment |
Percentage |
| Assignment 1 |
25% |
| Assignment 2 |
25% |
| Assignment 3 |
25% |
| Assignment 4 |
25% |
Grading is based on assignments and participation in class and crits. Assignments must be complete to receive a passing grade.
Failure to do an exercise/homework assignment will result in a one step grade drop, so a B+ would become a B, a B a B-, and so forth.
Guidelines for a High Grade (B+ or higher)
- Attend all classes and avoid being late or leaving early
- Participate in critiques and volunteer constructive criticism to other student's work
- Do your reading and research for your projects and explore more than one solution
- Successfully incorporate skills and disciplines acquired from earlier projects into later projects
- Neatness counts! Turn in clean, well-presented work (well named layers, etc.)
- Be resourceful, be creative and when in doubt, ask
Rules
- All work for assignments must be original. Don't copy existing designs. You can use bitmap images that are not your own, but everything else has to be original. Also, don't use the packaged symbols that come with Illustrator or other vector-based media you didn't create yourself.
- This is not a Photoshop class, this is an Illustrator class. The only project that allows use of Photoshop is the final poster project, and even then it is to do only one thing in Photoshop. Creating elements in Photoshop and using them for assignments will result in that assignment being given a failing grade. Be prepared to work outside your comfort zone! It is very easy for me to tell when something has been imported from Photoshop into Illustrator.
- You must create your work in Illustrator Creative Cloud or Affinity Designer for this class.
- A few minutes will be available at the beginning of class to upload your assignment, but all assignments are due at the beginning of class on the assignment's due date. Don't count on having time to work on the assignment on the day of the crit.
- Late assignments are lowered by one full grade
- Unless otherwise arranged, assignments will not be accepted and failedafter the beginning of the next class session after it's due
- Attendance at the final is required
- Plagiarized work will be immediately failed. This means that, except for homework, all your assignments must be original workm created by you.
- Creativity and neatness count!
Misc.
- Please consult your class schedule for any drop class information and CR/NC grading policies as this is the responsibility of the student.
- Sometimes student works will be used by Cañada College for educational purposes and to promote the program or college or in galleries or shows or other forums. It is important to always include your name in your file so proper attribution can be given. Unnamed or improperly named files may be attributed to ‘Anonymous’. To ‘opt out’, submit a request in writing at the any time during the semester.
Recommended Text
Adobe Illustrator CC Classroom in a Book
Adobe Press, 2022
ISBN-10: 0-13-762215-5
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-762215-3
Zipped PDF of Adobe Illustrator CS5
Classroom in a Book
which is still a pretty good version.
*TBA Hours: TBA hours (To Be Arranged hours) is required time spent on working with the Illustrator/Designer outside of Lecture time. Heretofore, TBA hours had to be tracked by either logging-in to a management system in one of the labs or handing in a time sheet. The requirement to track and report your hours has been dropped, but you are still required to spend at least 2 hours a week working with the app.
