Advanced Digital Imaging

ARTS-4971-01 and ARTS-6971-01

Tiltshift Gasholder c.2011 Matt Bacon, ADI Spring

Advanced Digital Imaging An upper level studio exploring individual visual arts projects contributing to thesis or

dissertation development. Topics in creative personal expression in imaging, installation, and digital/physical mixed

media practices will be studied drawing from issues raised in class projects. Advanced studies in high resolution digital

photography, gesture drawing, painting, illustration, montage/collage, assemblage, processing, archival digital printing,

stencil art, and set design/projection lead to an independent final project and web portfolio.

Prereq: a related 4000 level arts course, or permission of instructor.

Credits 4

Course Location:

West Hall 214 Digital Imaging Studio (home studio)

West Hall 415 Advanced Graphics Production Studio (for high end printing)

Instructor:

Kathleen Ruiz

Associate Professor of Integrated Arts

email: ruiz@rpi.edu

phone: 518-276-2539

office: West Hall 314c

office hours: Thursdays 2:00 to 4:00 by appointment

please use sign up board on office door WH 314c

* Projects & Readings

* Required Materials

* Required Events

* Resources and Tools

* Details

* Learning Outcomes

* Grading Criteria & Policy, Attendance Policy, Academic Integrity Statement

* Drop Box Information

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of the course students will be able to:

1. demonstrate the ability to conceptualize, design, produce, and express ideas through advanced gesture drawing, digital painting, montage/collage, digital photography, assemblage, high end archival digital printing, mid-range digital printing, processing, stencil art, and projection projects through short study projects, final project and web portfolio documentation of all works.

2. develop art making strategies which merge concept, process and form - encouraging approaches that are at once inquisitive, analytical, creative, experimental and articulate.

3. examine the work of several artists, theoreticians, and institutions who engage in digital and physical art creation.

4. design and plan a detailed artist statement document which expounds upon individual concepts, processes, creative exploration, technical experimentation and references for the final project.

5. compare, contrast, describe and critique the strengths and weaknesses of their own artwork and that of their fellow classmates relating to formal, aesthetic, and content attributes.

6. successfully articulate informed, philosophically and socially aware ideas relating to art, technology, and culture as demonstrated in class discussions and critiques and in short written reaction papers to the relevant readings and events.

Requirements and Suggestions

Evaluation

Students must demonstrate satisfactory achievement of course objectives through fulfillment of

course projects and by contributing to class discussions and critiques.

Grading

35% short studies (5% each x 7): emotion sketches, gesture drawings, mid-range digital prints, high

end archival digital prints, assemblage, stencil art, projection

45% Final Project

10% Participation in class

10% Event& Reading reaction papers

Letter grade equivalents for the course are as follows:

A=4.0, A-=3.67, B+=3.33 B=3.0, B-= 2.67, C+= 2.33, C=2.0 C-= 1.67, D+=1.33, D=1.0,

F=0.0

If you are concerned about your creative trajectory or your grade at any point during the semester,

please do not hesitate to contact your Instructor and schedule an appointment during office hours.

Participation: you are invited, encouraged, and expected to engage actively in discussion, reflection

and activities.

Class Attendance Policy

As an enrolled student, you have made a commitment to this class and your attendance is a

significant part of that commitment. Attendance will be taken at every class. An absence is

considered excused if the student has informed the course instructor by phone, email or in person

before the beginning of the class and the excuse is considered reasonable by the instructor. All

students are required to be on time and in attendance for each and every class. Students arriving to

class more than 10 minutes late may be counted as absent. Two (2) unexcused absences will result in

a reduction of one entire letter grade.

Adherence to deadlines is expected. It is the individual student's responsibility to keep track of

deadlines and to present the work to the class and instructor on the specified dates. 15% per day will

be subtracted from late assignments.

If a student needs an official excuse, please go to the Student Experience office – 4th floor of

Academy Hall, x8022, se@rpi.edu

Academic Honesty

Statement On Academic Integrity

Class Specific

Collaboration and discussion about class projects is actively encouraged, and is in no way considered

cheating. This is a studio course, and personal ownership of information is not deemed to be

appropriate. Original drawings, images, montage, collage, assemblage, stencil art, projections, final

project art are required except where indicated otherwise. Projects are expected to reflect personal

endeavor.

Academic Integrity

Student-teacher relationships are built on trust. For example, students must trust that teachers have

made appropriate decisions about the structure and content of the courses they teach, and teachers

must trust that the assignments that students turn in are their own. Acts, which violate this trust,

undermine the educational process. The Rensselaer Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities

defines various forms of Academic Dishonesty and you should make yourself familiar with these. In

this class, all assignments that are turned in for a grade must represent the student’s own work. In

cases where help was received, or teamwork was allowed, a notation on the assignment should

indicate your collaboration. Submission of any assignment that is in violation of this policy will result

in a penalty of a grade of F given for failure in the course and also further disciplinary action as

outlined in the Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities.

Addressing Academic Dishonesty at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Intellectual integrity is critical to the foundation of all academic work. Academic dishonesty,

therefore, is considered a serious matter and will be addressed as such. As defined in the current

Rensselaer Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities, examples of academic dishonesty

include, but are not limited to: academic fraud, collaboration, copying, cribbing, fabrication,

plagiarism, sabotage, and substitution. Additionally, attempts to commit academic dishonesty, or to

assist in the commission or attempt of such an act, are also violations of the academic dishonesty

policy. If found in violation of the academic dishonesty policy, students may be subject to two types

of penalties. The instructor administers an academic (grade) penalty of F, and the student may also

enter the Institute judicial process and be subject to such additional sanctions as: warning, probation,

suspension, expulsion, and alternative actions as defined in the current Handbook of Student Rights

and Responsibilities.

How to take the course (in a nutshell):

Show up prepared with all materials and supplies needed to work in studio. Attendance is mandatory

every week. Do the work and the assignments. Do the readings and come prepared to ask questions.

Turn work in on time. Contribute to the discussions. Check the course website for the latest

information about assignments and activities.

Required Materials

• An active RCS account

• A high capacity (8 gig or more) usb drive or external hard disk

• Approximately 7 to 10 dvds

• Other materials on a project basis

• You will be making a number of manifestations of your work. The costs vary, but be prepared to

incur at least $85 in fabrication/material costs.

• Phaser laser printer high quality paper cost of $6.00 for 30 sheets

Electronic Communication

Email: All students are expected to have an active electronic mail account, and should check mail at

least four times a week for class information. Some essential class information is communicated by

email only.

Work Habits

Always back-up your work frequently; that is, every time you make something you think is worth

keeping. Systems crash when least expected and you could lose all your work. It is a good idea to

make three backups (on different media), as storage media are sometimes unstable. Always save

onto your own media or into your account as files left on hard drives will be removed.

Also, please keep in mind the highly addictive aspects of working with computers. Many people lose

track of time and later wonder why they have severe back, neck and eye problems. It is a good idea

to take a rest every 15 to 20 minutes. Look up or beyond your computer or, better still, at a long

distance to relax your eyes. Take a walk or stretch. Fatigue can lead to frustration. Stay in touch with

your body's needs.

Try not to harm or deface any equipment in any way or lose files and folders belonging to our class or

other classes.

For problems in the studio please be specific in your email and contact:

http://helpdesk.hss.rpi.edu/pl/submit-service-request-ticket-system

Please follow the guidelines for working in each studio very carefully, as you will be held personally

responsible for problems you incur. At all times please keep the lab clean after each use.

Reserve all gear beforehand at

http://www.arts.rpi.edu/pl/iear-studios-facilities/equipment-room

Project Assignments & ReadingsWork as if these were your last works in your life. What messages are you compelled to express?

outlining your reactions to the material presented. All readings require a short one page typed reaction paper

Your ideas and what the reading meant for you.

Projects: Techniques Readings Lectures

Emotion Sketches (7)

due Jan 24

Freeing up

expressive gestures

Introduction

Emotion Sketching

Gesture Drawings (7)

due Feb 7

what is the figure,

landscape or object

doing?

Gesture Drawing

due Jan 29

Gesture Drawing

Lecture

Model in Studio:

Thurs Jan 31, 6:15

to 7:50pm and

Tues Feb 5, 6:15 to

7:50pm

11” x 17” Laser Prints

(7)

due Feb 21

on high quality laser

printer cardstock

montage, collage,

drawings,

photographic works

or combinations

thereof

Includes studies in

* Table Top

Photography

* Toy Techniques

* 3D Roundtable

Photography

* ECU Photography

* Portrait

Photography

* Landscape

Photography

* High speed

photography of

transient

phenomena

Barthes 15,16

Barthes 46-48

due Feb 5

Saunders, Escape from Spiderhead

due Feb 12

Solso

Context, Cog., & Art

due Feb 19

Solso

Visual Perspective

due Feb 26

General Photo

Lecture

Barthes Lecture

Toys of Today are

the Realties of

Tomorrow Lecture

Table Top

TiltShiftToy,

3d Roundtable,

ECU Lecture

Photographing

Transient

Phenomena

Montage_Collage_

InspiringArtists.htm

Landscape

Photography

Lecture

Large Format Archival

Prints (3)

due March 21

(minimum size 42” x

36”, max size 84” x

42”)

montage, collage,

drawings or

photographic works

or combinations

thereof

Includes the above

plus

Large Format

Printing on the

Epson 9800

Portrait

Photography

one on canvass *Processing

* Photographic

Sculpture

* Montage & Collage

* Printing and

Painting on Digital

Canvass

Lecture

Processing

Assemblage (1)

due March 28

using digital and/or

analog techniques,

found objects,

textures, etc. for 1

expressive 3d mixed

media approximately

17”x 11” x 10”

composing image &

object,

juxtaposition,

making meaning

MoHoly-Nagy Contributions of Arts to Social

Reconstruction

and

Make a Light Modulator

due March 26

Assemblage

Lecture

Stencil Art 1

due April 4

Portraits , graffiti,

digital to analog

personal readings and research on graffiti

and stencil art

Stencil Art Lecture

Projection 1

due April 11

imaginary places

and spaces from

light

* Chrissie Iles: Between the Still and Moving

Image

and

* Lev Manovich: The Poetics of Augmented

Space

http://www.streamingmuseum.org/articles-

and-essays/lev-manovich-the-poetics/

due April 9

Projection Lecture

FINAL PROJECT

and 5 page cited

research paper

due May 2

personal expression,

and direction

Personal research readings

web portfolio &

documentation

due May 7

summation of all

perfected works and

documentation of

works in situ

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Emotion Sketches:

Jan 24 due

Create a series of 7 digital drawings suggesting emotional states using either of the following techniques: digital drawing

with stylus or traditional drawing scanned into digital space, or any combination thereof.

Other Examples:

Mohammad J Alfarouqi

Jeffrey Sult

Jimmy Kane

kirsten Lopez-Palmer

Steve Hall

Consider basic emotions or characteristics: i.e.- Joy, Jealousy, Anger, Love, Sadness, Depression, Happy, Peace, Fear,

Sickness, Masculine, Feminine, and etc. As you work on one at a time, take the characteristic/emotion into mind, and

try to remember what that specific thing feels like.

Just let the pencil go where you feel it should as you progress. Let your feelings and intuitions guide you. The main ideas

of the exercise: to LET GO of preconceived notions! It helps to stimulate your creativity!

You cannot use literal symbols or pictures: no intentional tornadoes, hearts, clouds, fluffy bunnies, etc.

Print your best 7 drawings on the Phaser laser printer

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Gesture Drawings

Feb 7 due

Reading : Gesture Drawing and create a short reading reaction paper

Project: 7 finished gesture drawings printed on 11” x 17” phaser laser cardstock

We will work with a live model in studio for digital life drawing gesture studies. We will also work from objects and

the landscape.

“digital action” drawings in action of World-renowned dancer and choreographer Bill T. Jones with Paul Kaiser and

Shelley Eshkar http://www.cooper.edu/art/ghostcatching/

…………………………………………………………

We will conduct a series of modeling sessions in studio to help develop these skills further:

8 - 30 second poses = 240 seconds (4 minutes)

8 – 60 second poses = 480 seconds (8 minutes)

4 – 3 minute poses = 720 seconds (12 minutes)

3 - 5 minute poses = 900 seconds (15 minutes)

We will have a series of 4 landscape studies = 2 at 30 seconds, 2 at 3 minutes; 60 + 360 seconds (7 minutes)

And 4 object sketches = 2 at 30 seconds, 2 at 3 minutes; 60 + 360 seconds (7 minutes)

Pick your best 7 and print them on the Phaser printer paper 11” x 17”

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Montage, collage, drawings or photographic works

processing or combinations thereof due Feb 21 (7) high quality 11” x 17” Laser Prints on cardstock

using any technique of montage, collage, drawings or photographic works or combinations thereof

Pastorino Diaz Aeroclub

Table Top Photography

Toy Techniques

3D Roundtable Photography

Portrait Photography

Landscape Photography

ECU Photography

IN STUDIO 214

Phaser 7760DX Laser Printer

Suggested printing settings for printing on high quality laser card stock semi-gloss paper 11x 17”:

Printer set up:

printer: manage colors

- tabloid

- tray 2 special paper (thick cardstock/glossy)

Image quality (automatic)

Print Settings on computer:

-use printer manger colors

-tabloid (11x17)

-tray 2 for special paper (thick glossy paper) set on computer and on printer

- image quality (automatic)

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Montage, collage, drawings or photographic works

processing or combinations thereof March 21 due

(3) Large Format Archival Prints

Epson 9800 prints

(minimum size 42” x 36”, max size 84” x 42”)

(at least one on canvass)

HÖCH, Hannah, Sans titre, 1920

You can use any of the themes from the topics list, or from your own set of concerns and work them into highly

developed, finished large scale works using any using any technique of montage, collage, drawings or photographic

works or combinations thereof

PRINTING TO OUR EPSON 98,000 High end printer:

general overview of printing to the Epson 98,000 printer

&

Print this Sheet (must be filled out for printing to the Epson 98,000 archival printer

* use high end monitors to view your image, do not rely on your laptop monitor for high end printing

Photographic Sculpture

Montage & Collage

Printing and Painting on Digital Canvass

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Processing:

see examples, experiment with programing and raster based techniques and if desired incorporate into your work

processing.org

Applets:

Interesting visualization that maps out your mouse track over time:

http://www.makeuseof.com/dir/mousepath-track-mouse-movements/

Creates a graph of the pages for a specified URL:

http://www.aharef.info/static/htmlgraph/

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Assemblage:

due March 28

using digital and/or analog techniques, found objects, textures, etc. for 1 expressive 3d mixed media

approximately 17”x 11” x 10”

Joseph Cornell

Assemblage: a sculptural technique of organizing or composing into a unified whole a group of unrelated and often

fragmentary or discarded objects.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Stencil Art:

due April 4

(Please be considerate and responsible by stenciling on approved surfaces only!)

Experiment with the techniques learned in studio create and create (1) stencil artwork that dialogs in site.

You can use either hand cutting techniques or laser cutting technique.

Graffiti depicting graffiti removal by Banksy. Created in May 2008 at Leake Street in London, painted over by August

2008.

Hand Techniques

http://www.instructables.com/id/Creating-Complex-Spraypaint-Stencils-by-Hand/

Full-Color-Stencil-Art-with-Halftoning:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Full-Color-Stencil-Art-with-Halftoning/

Kyle McDonald : http://kylemcdonald.net/

http://vimeo.com/kylemcdonald

All work must be in exact and proper format before laser cutting:

Laser Cutting Technical Info

Laser Format Template

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Projection:

due April 11

create 1 projection or 1 series of works for installation, or performance, or impact

Marcel Duchamp Rotoreliefs 1935 http://www.urbanscreen.com/

Reading:

Chrissie Iles: Between the Still and Moving Image

Lev Manovich: The Poetics of Augmented Space http://www.streamingmuseum.org/articles-and-essays/lev-

manovich-the-poetics/

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Final Project due May 2

Étienne-Jules Marey

A large and challenging, well thought out, and technically perfected and installed final work.

This project should be about a topic of personal interest to you using the techniques, issues and ideas learned during

the semester.

Your inspirations, art historical referencing, philosophical influences, theoretical background, and technical

documentation will be articulated in a The Chicago Manual of Style 5 page paper properly cited and footnoted in

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Web Portfolio & Documentation

due May 7

of all works in standalone format submitted on dvd (must be in html format or a format that can be loaded onto the

RCS servers)

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::