My grade 8 tech class are currently on a unit that involves slide design and giving presentations. We’ve looked at different presentation styles such as TED, Ignite, Pecha Kucha and RSA (and RSA Animate). Next week they’ll begin focusing on slide design and to prep them for this, I’ve created the slideshow below, based on the popular book by Garr Reynolds. I’ll also be giving a 5 minute speed geeking session on the topic to staff on Monday. Feel free to use the resource as you see fit. I’ve added my own two cents of information in the second half.
Students (and teachers) may be interested in this series of tutorials for digital painting in Photoshop offered by Ctrl+Paint. Description:
Are you totally new to digital painting? This Digital painting 101 series is a great place to start. I teamed up with Lifehacker.com to create this 5 part introduction to painting in Photoshop. The first four sections introduce the layout and tools, and the final video is a narrated painting demo to put it all together.
I don’t have permission to embed the videos, but do check them out.
Found via the Drawn blog.
I am busy but motivated this year. I find myself teaching just over 10 new units (out of 20), as teaching time for visual art at my school has doubled. With all the cutbacks to the arts I am reading about nowadays, I’m happy. Needless to say, I’m also swamped developing new units, implementing the MYP in grade 6, learning and co-teaching IGCSE (to eventually fade out?) & IBDP Art, as well as finding and creating resources for the new units and undergoing an accreditation at my school. But where else would I be able to have the flexibility, freedom and choice to develop my own units? That’s myelement.
Currently my grade 10s are studying foreshortening in figure drawing. As the classes generally progress, I find the gap widening between those that can and those that cannot. In order to assist, I created this basic tutorial for them at home. It’s difficult as it is the first time for most of them to attempt this. The video is not great, but I hope it helps as a reference. One thing I didn’t utilise in the video was using circles for the knees and elbows.
During class, we measure using markers instead of pencils and they usually have 10-15 minutes to tackle the proportions. We get them to use a yellow marker at first as it does not allow them to erase. They then go over their lines with a darker marker. If any of my students are reading this, let me know if the video helps.
I’ll also try to post some student work soon. You can also view the unit wiki here but it needs a slight update, as I have already changed/dumped some items.
Slouching for long periods is harmful to the back. I am guilty of this. As school begins, my goal this year is to remember to use gooder posture (!) when seated at my desk developing those unit plans on my laptop. It may also be beneficial to share this 3 minute video with students and other staff. (Allow a few seconds for the video to buffer)
The excellent Tuts+ Network have just made another welcome addition to their family in the form of Sessions. This is something I have been waiting for as some online tutorials for Photoshop/Illustrator etc. at times do not offer me enough steps to clearly understand.
Sessions are blocks of articles, interviews, tutorials and content on a particular creative subject.
Sessions are hosted around the Tuts+ network depending on where each article fits best. So for example web design posts might appear on Psdtuts+ or Nettuts+. This site is like a table of contents for each session.
The aim is to provide lots and lots of mini courses on different topics! That way you can get a variety of knowledge about the creative fields.
From here you might want to jump into our detailed Tuts+ sites to delve deeper into the technical aspects of creativity!
Their first project is right up my alley as I was planning on developing a similar unit for my grade 8 students next year on character development/illustration. Keep your eyes posted as they add different elements each day and projects in the future.
OK, I’ll be the first to admit that my intro video on graphic design is not the best I’ve done. I made it for my grade 9 Art Foundation class as a back-up resource to use at home. I won’t really be using it in class as a lesson (click here to view the week by week lesson breakdown). It’s a real challenge to teach graphic design as well as some Photoshop and Illustrator skills in ten 80 minute lessons. No time to waste.
However, I do recommend the book I gathered the info from. My co-worker Jamie R. once summarised it perfectly by saying you could read it in 15 minutes. This is actually true. The other book is not so bad either, and their website is rather good in offering design problems to solve. I’ve also uploaded a more basic version of the video in slideshow format below, though I’m not so sure you’ll find any use in it. It is very basic and does not go into much depth regarding layout, colour or type. If you teach graphic design and have some resources/projects on hand, I’d love to hear from you! Really, please. (And yes, I know the slide designs aren’t great even though it is on design!)
Benoit Philippe contacted me offering the above ebook as a resource. He describes it as:
…a collection of 17 practical exercises for artists. I have learnt some of them over the years and designed some to fulfil my own needs. I am a painter, so most of these exercises are visual ones. However, many of them do not require specific artistic skills and are suitable for anyone regardless of their age or level of artistic ability.
These exercises are varied and you probably already own most of the required materials.
You can use them as warm-up before you start a new project or as a way to explore new avenues. I also hope teachers will use these exercises in their classes as they are great fun.
The Duarte Blog created this presentation on the top “5 tips for Getting PowerPoint to Sing!”
1. Treat your audience as king (meet audience needs, not yours)
2. Spread ideas and move people (your presentation is not another meeting, you should convey meaning)
3. Help them see what your saying
4. Practice design, not decoration
5. Cultivate healthy relationships (with your slides and audience)
