First Day of Freshmen Illustrator Course

On September 12, 2009, half of the class of 2013 had their first Illustrator class. During the Education section, Chou gave us a brief introduction to some of the basic Illustrator tools. Then Eliza gave us a lesson about the Rule of Thirds. Both lessons seemed to go quite well and the students were listening and engaged. Some of the students wanted more explanation about the Rule of Thirds, so Chou did a drawing on the whiteboard to illustrate the concept again.

After a short break, we moved on to our challenge list. First, Chou talked about each of the challenges and then everyone started working on the list: make a penguin picture that illustrates the Rule of Thirds, use the stroke and fill tools to alter some interesting text, use the pen tool to connect the dots, and use the Radio Tower image to practice typing on a path. The students also used the warp tools to make their penguin pictures interesting, and they practiced making backgrounds to the images. Most of the students didn’t finish all of the projects, but they did end up spending a lot of time experimenting with different tools and effects with their penguin drawings. Some students were able to finish the connect-the-dots projects.

Nick's Radio Tower--type on a path

Marci's Snake
pen tool

Nandi's Penguin

Rule of Thirds

During the certification period, we did our first critique. Chou talked about not taking the critique to heart and not trash talking, and Eliza talked about phrases we could use to talk about the artwork. Then, the class looked at penguin drawings and commented on what the artist did well and what the artist could improve. We mostly focused on deciding if the artists applied the Rule of Thirds, but we also talked about the overall picture. Sophia used space really well by using the symbols library and changing the sizes of things to show distance. Saige had created a drawing with a horizon line that followed the Rule of Thirds and had also used space to show distance.

Sophia's Penguin
Notice the effect creation of a sense of space by resizing elements from the symbols library.
Notice, too, the effective placement of the penguin according to the Rule of Thirds.

Saige's Penguin
Notice the horizon and foreground set in accordance to the Rule of Thirds.
Notice, too, the placement of the penguin and the hut in accordance to the Rule of Thirds.

Overall, it was an excellent day. The students learned a lot, and even though we were not able to get to everything on the challenge list, the projects turned out well.