As this year wraps up, the course I’ve spent the lion’s share of my time working with, Digital Imaging & Communication, is being retired.
It’s a mixed bag: it’s time for this guy to go. The workshops have screenshots of old versions of GIMP, and it’s full of little issues. I’m really excited for the shiny new content that will be taking its place!
On the other hand, though, the older and clunkier a course is, the more help we need to give it as online instructors: meaning I have a TON of extra content created for this course that I don’t get to use anymore!
That being said, I think that these resources are still useful: they will just need a bit of a makeover.
Writing Constructive Feedback
This was a set of guidelines I set up when I introduced a Critique-style discussion board in the course. I was a little worried–after all, in a face to face environment a critique is easier to moderate. It happens in real time, and students know each other. Online, I was afraid that there could be issues with respect.
I created this document with suggestions about how to phrase things, and the expectations of any students participating in the discussion board. I never had any issues with student comments: I don’t know if this had anything to do with that, but I still think it’s a useful resource for any introduction to an art critique environment!
GIMP Program-specific Tutorials
The course was taught in GIMP, and was filled with workshops that used screen captures of an older version of the software: some of the icons and setup of the program had changed, which led to confusion for students who were still trying to learn their way around.
For the earlier assignments, I created some detailed step-by-steps for navigating the program.
I’m sure it won’t be long before these are also outdated, but for anyone working in GIMP 2 (specifically 2.8) these will be current.
Working with Layers Google Doc
Tracing an Object WalkthroughÂ
–> this is specific to a project from the course (the “Beautiful Building” assignment) but contains instructions for taking a photograph, creating a separate layer on top of the original photo, and tracing it. It includes the straight line shortcut.
Color Picker Chrome Add-on
This was a cool tool I came across in the chrome store and created a tutorial for: it allows you to pluck a color’s HTML code right off of anything you’re viewing in chrome, so you can use that exact color in GIMP or any other imaging software.
The Final Portfolio
This was a very student-led part of the course–it’s applicable to any Digital Art course. The course I taught was very broad in scope: graphic design, photo editing, and illustration were all covered, so the portfolio was open to any kind of digital work students were interested in creating.
With any assignment that broad, students needed some direction when it came to choosing the path they’d take for their portfolio work, and the course didn’t offer any. I created some extra resources, like this infographic to explain what was being asked of them, and a portfolio full of resources designed to inspire them and get the creative juices flowing.
If any of this is useful, let me know! I’d love to see how it finds a second life in another classroom.