2/26/15 2D Design

Today's Class-  Tonight we began the design portion of the semester with a new graded project in composing with black and white.  The medium for this is the woodblock print and the subject is a book illustration of your choice.  I showed a brief history of printmaking slide show, along with slides and copies of student prints, then let everyone get to work.  All present students were given a piece of plywood of the type I use.  Toward the end of the evening I gave a basic demonstration of safe and effective cutting procedures for using an x-acto knife to cut a wood block.

How to make this up-  You can't start cutting the block until you have the wood, and next week I'll have some for those who missed tonight, but you can work on the design on paper before then.  The blocks are approximately 6" x 8", and can be used either vertically or horizontally.  The subject should be a literary illustration, which can come from a novel, short story, poem, from fiction or non-fiction.  No kids books, comics or already illustrated stories.  It can be a specific scene, or something that sums up the whole book.  It must be representational, but it doesn't have to be realistic to be effective.  What I'm looking for here is to have both narrative elements and an interesting black and white design.  Above and below are student examples from previous semesters.  More detailed instructions and additional student examples can be seen here.

Homework-  This graded black and white illustration woodcut project is due at the beginning of class on March 12, 2015.  You need to complete the cutting of the block for then.  On that day I'll bring in ink and printing tools and we'll print them during the class.

For next week 3/5/15- We are going to start our study of color with a group of portfolio exercises in basic color theory and color mixing.  Bring your 18" x 24" pad, pencil and eraser, acrylic paints, brushes, palette, and palette knife.