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FREEHAND DRAWING IN THE DIGITAL REALM

Arch 416| Special Topics in Architecture
College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Washington
Digital Commons Classroom 007F | Catalyst Share Space (requires UW NetID login)

materials: Wacom Intous2 Stylus, available at University Bookstore Technology Center

Lecturer: Anne Hayden Stevens MA Design, UC Berkeley

This class explores freehand drawing and its potential role in digital media. Using a stylus and tablet to draw in paint and photo imaging programs, we will combine the power and flexibility of digital tools with the rich traditions of freehand drawing.

THE
COURSE

The first part of the course will focus on becoming comfortable using the stylus and tablet and mastering the fundamentals of Adobe Photoshop through gestural and figurative drawing from observation. We will then explore connections between traditional approaches to landscape, collage, and narrative forms and contemporary digital approaches to these themes.

Practical issues specific to digital media will be addressed in this class throughout, starting with decisions about resolution and file types, moving through basic image manipulation and color correction, to a variety of printing opxions. In lecture and discussion we will connect the histories of printmaking, photography and drawing to contemporary digital practices.

Students should have drawing experience and solid familiarity with the Macintosh interface. Knowledge of Photoshop is helpful but not required.

PARTIAL SYLLABUS

In this course we will explore the connections between your existing drawing skills, the digital realm, and the potentials of a hybrid approach to drawing and painting across the paper and digital environments.

Usually there are four projects, each with weekly components:

• a self portraiture project that will evolve into a project of placing yourself in an environment
• a study of a master work
• a text and image project
• synthetic project: drawing for design studio

Weekly I will lecture on digital media and teach parts of Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. While this is primarily a class concerned with image making and the concepxual nature of digital media, you will become careful digital craftspeople as well, so you will be required to master the development of useable, carefully built digital files.

GRADING

• active participation and completion of all projects.
  
• completing all work on time and turning in all the projects at the end of the quarter in a portfolio.