Digital Art Foundations
Digital Art Foundations (ART 2600C-004)
This course introduces students to core digital art practices through hands-on projects that combine image-making, design, and motion. Students explore collage as a conceptual and technical tool, transform photographic images into expressive digital paintings, and develop a personal typographic identity through logo design and branding. The course culminates in time-based work, guiding students through storyboarding and stop-motion animation. Emphasis is placed on creative experimentation, visual storytelling, and developing technical skills using digital tools, alongside critique, printing, and professional presentation.
Surreal Collage to Motion Design
In this project, students were introduced to surrealism as a visual and conceptual strategy rooted in dreams, the subconscious, and unexpected juxtapositions. Using Adobe Photoshop, students created a series of five surreal digital collages by combining photographic imagery, textures, and symbolic elements into imaginative compositions. Emphasis was placed on visual storytelling, conceptual coherence, and technical skills such as compositing, masking, and color integration. After completing the collage series, students translated their still images into motion, transforming their surreal compositions into short animated works that explored movement, timing, and atmosphere.
From Photography to Digital Painting
In this project, students transformed their own photographs into a series of digital paintings through careful analysis and intentional decision-making. Beginning with raw images, students developed custom color palettes, broke down compositions into basic geometric structures, and explored a variety of imported brushes and layering techniques in Photoshop.
The project emphasized understanding light, shadow, color relationships, and composition, while encouraging students to reflect on how their visual choices, image selection, brush use, and color work together to create cohesive and expressive digital paintings.
