FACULTY INFO
Professor: Chris Matusek
Google Voice: 708.653.0315
Email: [email protected] and [email protected] (for use with Google Apps)
MV Office Info: F130, 708.974.4300; Office Hours: By appointment ONLY

COURSE IDENTIFICATION
ART 146: Introduction to Computer Art
Meeting: MW, 9a–11:40a
Meeting Room: F216

​Credit hours: 3
Contact hours: 6: lecture 0, lab 6
Prerequisite: None

COURSE DESCRIPTION
This studio course provides an introduction to computer applications in the visual arts. A Macintosh computer software-based approach to visual image manipulation and generation is provided, including the integration of computer hardware, software and peripheral devices as tools to create and combine traditional and contemporary visual ideas. This course involves both the theoretical understanding and practical application in the utilization of computer hardware and software to capture, combine, manipulate, and generate two-dimensional visual images in both art and design. Fee is required.

TEXTBOOKS/READING LIST
Required Texts

• Instructor handouts
•  Web research, tutorials, blogs

Optional Texts

• Adobe Photoshop, Visual Quick Start Guide, Peachpit Press
• Adobe Illustrator, Visual Quick Start Guide, Peachpit Press
• Adobe InDesign, Visual Quick Start Guide, Peachpit Press

Supplies

• Portable storage device: Flash drive or portable hard drive; Network directory (groups and student)
• Unlined (sketchbook) and lined paper, pens and pencils, binder, portfolio
• Online accounts: Google Accounts
• Other supplies as needed to complete projects

SOFTWARE
Adobe Creative Cloud:  Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat Professional

PLATFORM
Macintosh iMac, OS X

COURSE GOALS

• ​ART 146 is a general overview and introduction to producing digital art and design work. 
• Art students are expected to have already acquired some of the traditional essentials of imaging, illustration and design.
• In this course, you will learn the basic operations of computer graphics hardware, peripheral input/output devices, and typical types of software used to draw, paint, combine, manipulate, and enhance electronic images.
• You will be introduced to the creative potential as well as the constraints of computer graphics.
• Students are expected to focus on a goal and to be articulate regarding their work while constructively critiquing others.

COURSE END COMPETENCIES
The student’s final grade will depend upon the student’s comprehension of the following course-end competencies. By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate the basic operation of, as well as identify, the input, processing, and output hardware of an iMac-based computer-graphics workstation.
• Demonstrate and explain the use of the basic functions of the Macintosh operating software, the basic operations of applications, and equally important, the management of document files.
• Describe the nature of, the advantages and disadvantages of bit-mapped, object-oriented, Portable Document Format and PostScript art application software, and the images they create.
• Demonstrate the use of basic painting/drawing tools and menus of typical graphic-art software.
• Input images via flat-bed scanner, mouse and card readers/digital cameras.
• Show the ability to use standard two-dimensional design principles in capturing, combining, manipulating and generating traditional and contemporary visual images.
• Output images via laser or inkjet printers, and demonstrate understanding of the advantages and limitations of each format.
• Demonstrate knowledge of basic digital technical terminology and theoretical concepts.
• Be able to save, copy, delete, organize, understand & maintain document links and output the files they create to the appropriate format. Students must produce a portfolio of advanced work that will demonstrate to a future employer the quality and substance of students’ thinking and image making.
• This course is NOT a training course on the technical aspects of software. The emphasis of this course is on art and design. Technical issues will be discussed as they impact on design. Our goal is to link basic technical proficiency and strong, creative comprehension into creative projects. CONTENT IS KEY. The student will learn to use the computer as a vehicle for expression. The student will gain knowledge of the computer and applications used in this course while learning to communicate their ideas. The student will strengthen the verbal skills needed to support these ideas and develop a visual language. 

MAJOR CONCEPTS
As stated above, there are four components to this course:

• The operation of a Macintosh-based workstation including hardware/software, the central processing unit (CPU), the graphic-users interface (GUI), and the use of removable storage disks and the internet.
• The generation and manipulation of bit-mapped images with paint and continuous-tone software applications, and an explanation of various graphic image file formats.
• Input of images/photographs using flash drive, scanner, memory card, and digital camera
• Output of images for hardcopy production via laser and inkjet printers
• These components detail the following concepts: Graphic File Format Distinctions (i.e., PSD, JPEG, AI, EPS, PDF, etc.) and Raster images (bit-depth, resolution, RGB vs. CMYK, memory needs)

POINT BREAKDOWN

• Participation, Punctuality, Preparedness, and Presence – 30 points (1 points / meeting)
  Attendance is taken at the start of class. The student must budget their own time. No lectures, demonstrations or in-class assignments will be repeated; In rare exceptions appointments can be made to discuss missed content.
• Student Blog, Visual Journal – 15 points (1 point per week for on-time, complete blog posts.)
  Each student is required to keep a blog and post every week for this course. This blog is a visual journal - a record of demonstrated techniques, lectures, research, preliminaries (thumbnails, sketches, and roughs), each project (including variations and final versions) should be posted and contextualized with artist statements (an explanation of your artwork in terms of craft, composition, and concept). This is an integral part of the learning process and grading.
• Project / Critique – 45 (1-3 points based on craft, composition, and concept)
  Every week will be a presentation or critique. BE PREPARED! All work will be considered only if follows individual project guidelines. There will be 5 major projects - raster, vector, layout, student proposed, portfolio.
• Midterm / Final – 10 points (2 @ 5 points each)
  There will be a midterm / final. or - 2 museum / gallery trips that you must attend and blog about or - 1 of each.

NOTICE OF COPYRIGHT
Materials in this course—unless otherwise indicated—are protected by United States copyright law [Title 17, U.S. Code]. Materials are presented in an educational context for personal use and study and should not be shared, distributed, or sold in print—or digitally—outside the course without permission.
 
As a student your ability to post or link to copyrighted material is also governed by United States copyright law. The law allows for students to post or link to copyrighted materials within the course environment when the materials are pertinent to course work. Instructors—or other staff of the institution—reserve the right to delete or disable your post or link if in their judgment it would involve violation of copyright law