Art Center Classes - Summer 2022 // Robert Pastrana


Drawing, Simplified

14 Weeks / Mondays / 7–10 pm


You don't have to rely on natural talent or years of practice in order to draw well. Quickly improve your current drawing skills by learning a core set of facts about form, space, and value. Whether you're drawing from life, photo reference, or your imagination, this class will help you draw more quickly and accurately.

Intro To Illustration

14 Weeks / Wednesdays / 7–10 pm


Sharpen your conceptual problem-solving ability while deeply exploring the creative process in this portfolio-building class. Weekly lectures and demos, ranging from process, media and technique to business and marketing are meant to introduce students to the wide world of professional illustration.

Mastering Color

7 Weeks / Thursdays / 7–10 pm


Color can be mysterious and frustrating. In this seven-week class, you'll learn how to control and choose color, how the psychology of color actually works, and the difference between traditional and project-based approaches to color choice. Lectures cover digital and traditional media approaches to color.

Mastering Composition

7 Weeks / Thursdays / 7–10 pm


Whether you're creating a page layout, painting a picture, or designing a user interface, composition is so much more than how you organize your page. The best compositions help us achieve our main creative goal – to make effective and memorable work that resonates and communicates with our audience.

 

Sharpen your conceptual problem-solving ability while exploring the creative process in this portfolio building class. Near weekly demos in a variety of mediums are a class staple. The class ends with a lecture about having a career as an illustrator.


Class ID: ACX-654-01

Traditionally, learning how to draw meant that you would practice by drawing from observation. With time and patience, your drawing skills would eventually start to improve. There's another way to better your drawing skills and it's an approach that's faster and easier than the conventional approach of drawing from life. It starts with ideas rooted in basic perspective, but without most of the intimidating technical demands typical of the subject. From there, we'll learn how to accurately indicate basic form and dimension. Working with a practical set of visual facts, concepts and techniques, you'll find that these ideas guide your efforts as you draw. This approach not only removes a lot of the guesswork that plagues a beginner's progress, it also supports you when you draw from your imagination.

This is an ideal class for aspiring illustration, entertainment design, and product design majors. The class is also beneficial for working professionals who need to clearly convey concepts visually – those working in such fields as advertising, photography and graphic / ux design.


Syllabus

Week 1 - Class Overview
• How to 'See' When You Draw
• Eyeballs in Space: Height and Distance
• Basic Perspective Part 1

Week 2 - Foundations
• Basic Perspective Part 2
• Don't Draw What Can't Be Seen
• Convergence
• Foreshortening
• When Right Looks Wrong

Week 3 - Intro to Form (Part 1)
• The 'Tread Lightly' Approach to Drawing
• A Good Square Anywhere
• From Squares to Cubes
• Drawing The Five Basic Forms (Part 1)
• Sketching The Five Basic Forms (Part 1)

Week 4 - Intro to Form (Part 2)
• Drawing The Five Basic Forms (Part 2)
• Sketching The Five Basic Forms (Part 2)
• Finding Your Way - Navigational Tools
• Transferring Information Across Dimension


Week 5 - Manipulating Form Part 1
• Cutting - Part 1 (Basics)

Week 6 - Manipulating Form Part 2
• Cutting - Part 2 (Advanced)

Week 7 - Managing Scale
• Measuring / Transferring Height
• Mirroring Information
• Multiplying, Backward and Forward
• Dividing, Equally and Unequally

Week 8 - Multiple Objects / Environments
• Midterm Review / Q and A
• How Two Rights Make A Wrong
• Guided Sketching for Environments
• Working Iteratively - From Rough To Polished

Week 9 - Going Organic
• Translating The Basic Forms
• Making Up for Lost Corners
• Geometric Reduction Exercises
• Wireframing Exercises

Week 10 - Shadows
• The Four Lighting Conditions
• Casting Basic Shadow Shapes
• Advanced Shadows Conditions

Week 11 - Going Organic
• Translating The Basic Forms
• Making Up for Lost Corners
• Geometric Reduction Exercises
• Wireframing Exercises

Week 12 -Value Part 1
Value and Form
• Local Value
• Identity Crises
• Shadows and Value

Week 13 - Value Part 2
• Value and Composition
• Value and Hierarchy
• Value and Color

Week 14 - Finals / Q and A
• Final Presentations

drawing
 
illustration

Sharpen your conceptual problem-solving ability while exploring all aspects of the creative process in this portfolio-building class. Weekly lectures and demos, ranging from process, media and technique to business and marketing ideas are meant to introduce students to the wide and varied world of professional illustration.


Class ID: ACX-380-01

This class helps beginning and intermediate students explore the many different approaches that professional illustrators bring to their work. We focus on this in two ways – by exploring the painting process and by introducing proper technique through a wide range of different media.

We start by learning how to come up with strong concepts for our work. To follow, we'll learn to work in stages; from sketching and composition all the way to value and color. These concepts work together to help create meaningful, successful illustrations.

Demos are shown throughout the course. Students will learn different approaches to acrylic, watercolor, colored pencil, oils / alkyds, and mixed media. Students aren't expected to try all of the mediums demonstrated throughout the semester - these demos are meant to introduce new, novel techniques and materials to the class as a means to inspire further exploration.

This class is beneficial as both an introduction to the field of illustration and for portfolio development. Students looking to apply to the day program are well served by this class.


Syllabus

Week 1 - Class Overview
• The Illustration Process (Overview)
• Illustration - A Good Idea and a Good Painting
• The Difference Between Fine Art and Illustration
• Coming Up with Ideas: Brainstorming
• The Best Start - Really Ugly Sketches
• How Print Size Affects Your Composition

Week 2 - The Illustration Process In Action
• How to Test Your Ideas
• Demo - Refining Your Rough Sketches
• Demo - Getting Your Drawing on the Board

Week 3 - Value
• Nothing's More Important than Value
• Demo - The All-Important Value Study

Week 4 - Color
• Color Theory Overview
• Demo - Translating Your Value Study to Color

Week 5 - How to Start a Painting

• Starting a Painting Well - Underpainting Explained
• Demo - Acrylic, Part One - Building your Foundation

Week 6 - How To Finish A Painting
• How to Finish a Painting - Goals
• Demo - Acrylic, Part Two - Blending in Acrylic
• How to Stay True to a Successful Study

Week 7 - Another Way To Paint In Acrylic
• Demo - Applying Texture Medium
• The Benefits of Toning Your Board
• Value Oriented Color vs. Impressionistic Color

Week 8 - Texture Mediums and Acrylic Paint

• Demo - Drybrushing as a Substitute for Blending

Week 9 - Transparent Color / Preparing Paper
• Demo - Working on Different Surfaces - Stretching Paper
• Demo - Using Transparent Watercolor

Week 9 - How To Approach Mixed Media
• Successful Mixed Media
• Demo - Making (Almost) Any Surface Paintable

Week 11 - Colored Pencil Techniques
• Lecture / Demo - Colored Pencil Techniques (Solvent)
• Lecture / Demo - Pencils and Mixed Media

Week 12 - Oils and Alkyds
Lecture / Demo - Oils and Alkyds
• Demo - Mixed Media (Using Acrylics with Oils / Alkyds)

Week 13 - Glazing
• Demo - Glazing Acrylic Work with Oils or Alkyds

Week 14 - Being an Illustrator
• Much More Than Painting - Being an Illustrator
• Illustration Resources
• Final Crit

 
color

To the uninitiated, color can be mysterious and frustrating. In this seven-week class, you'll learn how to both control color and develop methods for choosing winning color palettes for your work. We'll explore how the psychology of color actually works and explore both traditional and project-based approaches to color selection. Lectures cover both digital and traditional media applications of color.


Class ID: ACX-128-01

This class is for beginning and intermediate students looking to better understand, manage, and approach color. The information applies to both traditional and digital media.

Students will learn to identify and control the three attributes of color, learn different approaches for selecting color for their work, and learn about the psychology of color.

The information best benefits those with interests in illustration, concept / entertainment design, graphic design, fine art, photography and advertising.


Syllabus

Week 01 - Class Overview
• Class Introduction
• How We See
• The Only Two Problems You’ll Ever Have
• The Three Attributes of Color

Week 02 - Value
• The Importance of Value
• The Relativity of Value
• Mood and Value
• Form and Value
• Focus and Value

Week 03 - Hue
• The Color Wheel – Organizing Color
• Additive and Subtractive Color
• The Problem with Language
• Paint, Print, and Digital
• Simplifying and Managing Hue
• Color Temperature

Week 04 - Saturation
• The Two Ways of Controlling Saturation
• Using Saturation to Communicate Emotionally
• Matching a Color

Week 05 - Color Relationships
• Relational Palettes and What They Do
• The Danger of Predetermined Palettes
• Two Approaches to Unifying Color
• Not Everything Should Look 'Nice'
• A Better Way to Choose Color

Week 06 - The Psychology of Color
• Using Color to Describe Emotion
• The Pecking Order of Emotional Communication
• Color Across Culture

Week 07 - Putting it All Together
• Responsible Color
• Self Expression vs. Function

 
composition

Whether you're creating a page layout, painting a picture, or designing a user interface, composition is so much more than how you organize your page. The best compositions help us achieve our main creative goal – to make effective and memorable work that resonates and communicates with our audience.


Class ID: ACX-127-01

Composition is really about visual communication. Instead of concentrating on the mechanics of composition, students will learn to identify and control the elements that give power and meaning to our work.

Class instruction is geared towards beginning and intermediate students. A
content-directed approach is emphasized as students learn to use the tools of composition, use compositional themes, and purposely organize information on the page.

The class is taught from two perspectives - a picture makers point of view (fine artists, illustrators, and photographers) and a graphic designers point of view. Having both disciplines in the same classroom environment gives students a deeper understanding of the material.


Syllabus

Week 1 - Introduction to Composition
• Composition is Communication
• Separating Form from Content
• An Introduction to Content-Driven Design

Week 2 - Compositional Elements
• The Tools of Composition Part 01
• How Composition Communicates
• Compositional Themes
• Shape Awareness
• The 'Order' of Seeing

Week 3 - Informal Composition
• The Tools of Composition Part 02
• Creating Hierarchy
• Guiding the Viewer's Eye
• Breaking Down / Analyzing Compositions

Week 4 - Formal Composition
• Intro to Grids and Layout
• Analyzing Hybrid Compositions

Week 6 - Value and Color
• Before Color, Value
• Hue and Saturation
• Color and Composition

Week 6 - Creating Space and Form
• Creating and Controlling Space
• Odds and Ends

Week 7 - Putting it All Together
• Things to Do When You're Stuck
• Final Presentation