Steppin' this Fall in STYLE!

In the American culture the sneaker is an icon. Famous sports players have shoes designed just for them. So, to introduce students to layers, brushes, patterns, and fills in Photoshop, students had the opportunity to design their own unique tennis shoe. They were quite creative! They each attempted a UnderArmour and a Nike shoe. Each requires applying colors differently. Click on any shoe to see it enlarged.

WE WANT YOU!

    

 Digital Arts’ students began to learn about redesign and how to design on a grid.  First, they were introduced to working in a grid in Adobe InDesign and the importance of this grid in print and virtual layout.  Then, we discussed the history of the poster to the right.  This poster was a common personificaiton of the American government that, according to legend, came into use during the War of 1812.  It was created by James Flagg (inspired by a British recruitment poster showing Lord Kitchener in a similar pose). It was this image more than any other that set the appearance of Uncle Sam as the elderly man with white hair and a goatee wearing a white top hat with white stars on a blue band, and red and white striped trousers, and was designed to give people a positive outlook, a sense of patriotism and confidence.  This poster has been redesigned, copied, and imitated in various ways.  8^th graders were asked to create their own redesign of this poster to convey a message and begin our redesign unit.  Stay tuned for their favorite restaurant’s menu overhaul!  You’ll be impressed! 

Kaleidoscopes & Macro Photography

Macro photography is the art of taking close-up pictures to reveal details which can’t be seen with the naked eye. These images are highly focused and detailed and are often used for nature shots. In this project, students walked around the campus of Calvert to take macro photos of their own using the macro camera setting. They focused on interesting shapes and forms while paying close attention to color, lighting, and composition. After selecting their favorite photo, they used Photoshop to crop it even more and then rotated, flipped, and duplicated the cropped tile to form an abstracted kaleidoscope image. Below is a brief example of the process. Students took their original photograph and cropped a section that would add interesting shape, dimension and color to their kaleidoscope. Then, brought the cropped image into Photoshop, where they flipped, rotated and duplicated the image to create the desired result.

Stop-Action movies

First semester, 8th grade Digital Arts class created stop action animation videos in Windows Movie Maker. They were given a choice to make an object move using 150-400 pictures to show movement. The students shared with me that they learned a great deal from this project. Primarily - PATIENCE! It take a lot of patience to take that many pictures and try to maintain a smooth appearance. They learned that using a tripod or table to steady the camera may have helped them. The following are the student's videos that are complete.

Nike and Under Armour Sneakers

Sneakers are not only what our Sixth Graders wear to school every day. They are an iconic symbol and an expression of one's personality. Learning about layers and color applications, Sixth Grade Photoshop designed their own Nike and Under Armour sneakers. Check out the finished products: