CQU: MMST11010 Illustration & Visualisation

Week 1

LECTURE 1:

A/ Welcome:

Introduction
Expectations
- Some case studies of industry professionals
- Contexts
- Minimum requirements
Unit structure
- Lectures
- Tutorials
- Text book
- Reading resources
- Assessment in brief
Relax & enjoy

B/ Lecture 1:

Physical, psychological and cultural aspects of drawing
Seeing is an interpretive process
Worldview and point-of-view
Seeing involves culturally learned prejudice

TUTORIAL 1:

Welcome
Textbook
Materials list
Tute exercises overview

Exercise 1.1, a-c: Pre-instruction drawings

Relationship of tutorials to lectures
Assessment

READINGS, ACTIVITIES 1:

Re tutorial:

From the prescribed text: (Edwards, 2012),

• pp:XIII-XXXIII, Introduction;
• pp: 26-43, on L-brain & R-brain theory

Re lecture:

Arnheim, R, 2004, Visual Thinking , Uni of Cal Press,

• pp: 13-36, on the intelligence of visual perception. CRO

Week 2

LECTURE 2:

What is drawing?
Fundamental elements of drawing
- Point
- Line
- Tone
- Unmarked areas
Developing skill with drawing fundamentals
Qualities of line
- The drawing implement and the drawing surface
- Technique in using the implement
Expressive qualities
Stylistic qualities
More drawing basics
- Contour drawing
- Gesture drawing
- Calligraphic drawing
- Structural lines
Style as fashion, and genre
The relationship of style to purpose and intent
- Table 1: Some channels of visual communication correlated with: the purpose; some typical contexts; typical stylistic considerations; and, the main factors in consideration of the approach

TUTORIAL 2:

Exercise 2.1: Vase and faces
Exercise 2.2: Upside-down drawing

READINGS, ACTIVITIES 2:

Re tutorial:

Edwards, B, 2012, (prescribed textbook)

• pp 44-61, Chapter 4, on crossing over from L-brain to R-brain.

Re lecture:

Speed, H., 1913, The Practice and Science of Drawing, Seeley, Service & Co, London.

• pp: 31-38, Chapter II, Drawing, LINK

Discussion exercise a/ Week 2

Week 3

LECTURE 3:

What is visualisation?
Introduction
Composition and the concept
- Composition defined
- Figure and ground
- Purpose
- The ‘not-so-blank’ page
- The creative brief
Responses to the brief:
1/ Brainstorm
2/ Raw concept
3/ Thumbnails
4/ Concept roughs
5/ Comprehensive visual
The importance of visuals
- Significant milestone
Visualisation and assignment 2
Conclusion and note about this week's reading

TUTORIAL 3:

Exercise 3.1: Pure contour drawing
Exercise 3.2: Modified contour drawing
Exercise 3.3: Modified contour drawing 2

READINGS, ACTIVITIES 3:

Re lecture:

Hart, J., 1999, The Art of the Storyboard: Storyboarding for Film, TV and Animation, Focal Press,

• pp: 27-56, Chapter 3, Drawing the Basic Storyboard: The story Concept is What Counts. The emphasis is on storyboarding for movies. CRO

Sibley, B., 2000, Chicken Run: Hatching the Movie, Harry N Abrams Inc,

• pp: 80 & 81 and pp: 168 & 169. Two spreads showing storyboards of scenes from the movie. CRO

Assessment:

Assessment item 4, Quiz #1 opens

Week 4

LECTURE 4:

Seeing and portraying spatiality
Framing and the picture plane
Depth Cues, or ‘Clues'
- Foreshortening
- Overlapping
- Diminishing size
- Vertical location
- Convergence
- Atmospherics, or aerial perspective
- Textural changes
Zones of depth

TUTORIAL 4:

Exercise 4.1: Negative space drawing of a chair

READINGS, ACTIVITIES 4:

Re tutorial:

Edwards, B, 2012, (prescribed textbook)

• pp 110-135, Chapter 7, Perceiving Spaces.

Re Lecture:

Bardell, W., 2003, Depth Cues for Information Design, Masters thesis, School of Design , Carnagie Mellon University. LINK

Week 5

LECTURE 5:

Selecting a viewpoint
Two-dimensional views
- Orthographic
Three-dimensional views
- Paraline, or parallel
- Oblique
- Isometric
- Linear perspective
Summary & conclusion

TUTORIAL 5:

Exercise 5.1: Experiment with informal, one point and two-point perspective drawings
Exercise 5.2: Two-point perspective drawing

READINGS, ACTIVITIES 5:

Re tutorial:

Edwards, B, 2012, (prescribed textbook)

• pp 136-165, Chapter 8, Perceiving Relationships.

Re lecture:

Ching, F. D. K., 1990, Drawing, A creative process, John Wiley & Sons,

• pp: 108-127, on perspective. CRO

Lister, M., Dovey, J., Giddings, S., Grant I., & Kelly, K., 2003, New Media: a critical introduction, Routledge,

• pp: 125-136 [Section 2.7, VR as a medium of art: a quantum leap forward?]. CRO

Week 6

LECTURE 6:

Schemas of human proportion and other representational systems
The significance of worldview
- Egyptian canon
- Byzantine schema
- Gothic geometry
- Renaissance realism
Point of view and subjectivity
- Islamic non-representation
- Indian symbolism
- Australian Indigenous worldviews
Style, iconography and iconology

TUTORIAL 6:

Exercise 6.1: Observation of frontal and profile heads and filling in "blanks"
Exercise 6.2: Copying a successful Portrait example
Exercise 6.3: Profile portrait of a person

READINGS, ACTIVITIES 6:

Re tutorial:

Edwards, B, 2012, (prescribed textbook)

• pp 166-201, Chapter 9. Drawing a Profile Portrait.

Re lecture:

Panofsky, E, 1974, "The history of the theory of human proportions as a reflection of the history of styles", in Meaning in the Visual Arts, The Overlook Press,

• pp: 55-107. CRO

Assessment:

Assessment item 4, Quiz #2 opens

Week 7

LECTURE 7:

Light & shade, texture & colour
Introduction
Scales of gray
Rendering tonal values
Common terms referring to tonal qualities
Lighting
Shadows
Reflections & refractions, translucence & transparency
Colour
Common terms referring to colour qualities
Cultural influences
Finding one's own colour sense

TUTORIAL 7:

Exercise 7.1: Copying exercise
Exercise 7.2: Cross-hatching
Exercise 7.3: Drawing a tonally modelled, volumetric self portrait

READINGS, ACTIVITIES 7:

Re tutorial:

Edwards, B, 2012, (prescribed textbook)

• pp 203-237, Chapter 10. Perceiving Lights, Shadows and the Gestalt.

Re lecture:

Color On! Magazine Colour theory 101 articles

“The artist as neuroscientist“, Patrick Cavanagh. Nature. 3/17/2005, Vol. 434 Issue 7031, p301-307.

Week 8

LECTURE 8:

Cartooning: contexts and heritage
The paradox of print cartoons
Kinds of cartoons
Historical development
The cartoonist’s conceptual toolbox
The cartoon in the newspaper context
Future trends
Conclusion

TUTORIAL 8:

Introduction to cartooning
Exercise 8.1: Experiment with the power of the doodle to express character and emotion
Exercise 8.2: Experiment with body language

READINGS, ACTIVITIES 8:

Assessment:

Assessment item 1, Drawing Exercise Portfolio due

Week 9

LECTURE 9:

Fantasies become actualities
Comic characters as commodities
The role of new media, then and now
Ukiyo-e in Japan
Emergence of comic books
Cartoon characters as trademarks
Loonies, super heroes and adventurers
Arch-rivals and antiheros of the comic
Australian illustrated children's fiction
New wave of Aussie comics

TUTORIAL 9:

Exercise 9.1: Three-dimensional primitives
Exercise 9.2: Rounded characters
Exercise 9.3: More expression please
Exercise 9.4: Body language in action

READINGS, ACTIVITIES 9:

From Hogan's Alley to Coconino County - Four Narratives of the Early Comic Strip: The Business of the Strips, by David Westbrook

Seduction of the Innocents and the Attack on Comic Books: The Comic Book Villain, Dr. Fredric Wertham, M.D., by Jamie Covillex

Assessment:

Assessment item 4, Quiz #3 opens

Week 10

LECTURE 10:

Renaissance revisited
Introduction
Flatland Homer versus Homer cubed
Precision versus expression "a terrifying thing"
Fundamental reliance on hand-drawn visuals
Virtualisation of drawing tools and practices
Working between manual and digital workspaces
Hyperimage

TUTORIAL 10:

Exercise 10.1: Primitive animals
Exercise 10.2: Simple backgrounds
Exercise 10.3: Concept and storyboard visualisation

READINGS, ACTIVITIES 10:

A short excerpt from “The Simpsons” Complete Seventh Season DVD. Video stream of intervew with creative team from PDI via about.com

Assessment:

Assessment Item 2 Concept Visuals due

Week 11

LECTURE 11:

Illustration and info rmation visualisation
Introduction
What is illustration?
Decision-making is a fundamental skill
Medium-specific and context specific considerations
Contexts and genres for applied images
Stylistic approaches
Selecting, mixing & matching techniques
Information Visualisation
Conclusion

TUTORIAL 11:

Exercise 11.1: Make a colour wheel using only 3 coloured pencils
Exercise 11.2: Practice layered colour shading techniques
Exercise 11.3: Produce a colour pencil version of your exercise 10.3.5

READINGS, ACTIVITIES 11:

Re tutorial:

Web links provided on tutorial web page

Re lecture:

"Why Illustrations Aid Understanding" David Kirsch 2002.

Assessment:

Assessment item 4, Quiz #4 opens

Week 12

LECTURE 12:

Anatomy of an underground mine rescue: case study of info-graphics
Investor's view
Situational overview
Supporting graphics
Interactive graphics
An emerging narrative
Parallel documentation across the visual media
3-D modeled graphics
Interactive timeline
Conclusion

TUTORIAL 12:

There are no set tutorial exercises for Week 12. Use the time to work on assessment item 3.

ACTIVITIES 12:

Assessment:

Assessment item 3, Comprehensive Storyboard Visual due next week

Assessment item 4, All quizzes close next week