Syllabus, Art 42, Intro to Digital Illustration - College of the Redwoods

Syllabus, Art 42, Intro to Digital Illustration 

Semester & Year: Spring 2013 

Course ID and Section Number: E2037 

Number of Credits/Units: 3.0 

Day/Time: Mon/Wed 11:35 – 3:45pm 

Location: CA126 lab 

Instructor’s Name: Michael Jenner 

Contact Information: Office location and hours: no office, I check email frequently 

Phone: no phone 

Email: michael-‐jenner@redwoods.edu 

Course Description (catalog description as described in course outline): An introduction to 

Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop for use in digitally-‐based fine art, design, illustra-‐ 

tion, and photography. Students will complete a series of fine and commercial art-‐based 

projects using each of these computer applications. Note: Skills in basic drawing and color and 

design will help a student complete the required projects with greater proficiency. 

Student Learning Outcomes (as described in course outline) : 

1. Draw proficiently with the pen tool in Illustrator, using layers effectively to stack objects. 

2. Depict a variety of shapes, including stroked, filled, gradient-‐based, and masked imagery. 

3. Use the concepts of line, composition, value, space, perspective, color, texture, and other skills to 

create well-‐designed compositions in Illustrator or InDesign for products, magazine covers, 

articles, illustrations, and fine art. 

4. Build a portfolio of work to present in a professional manner for both critiques and grading. 

Special accommodations: College of the Redwoods complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act in 

making reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. Please present your written 

accommodation request at least one week before the first test so that necessary arrangements can be 

made. No last-‐minute arrangements or post-‐test adjustments will be made. If you have a disability or 

believe you might benefit from disability related services and may need accommodations, please see me 

or contact Disabled Students Programs and Services. Students may make requests for alternative media 

by contacting DSPS. 

Academic Misconduct: Cheating, plagiarism, collusion, abuse of resource materials, computer misuse, 

fabrication or falsification, multiple submissions, complicity in academic misconduct, and/ or bearing 

false witness will not be tolerated. Violations will be dealt with according to the procedures and 

sanctions proscribed by the College of the Redwoods. Students caught plagiarizing or cheating on exams 

will receive an “F” in the course. 

The student code of conduct is available on the College of the Redwoods website at: 

http://www.redwoods.edu/District/Board/New/Chapter5/Ap5500.pdf 

College of the Redwoods is committed to equal opportunity in employment, admission to the college, 

and in the conduct of all of its programs and activities. 

Syllabus insert.doc

The demonstrations will be presented at the beginning of each class with time afterwards reserved for 

practicing what you’ve been shown in order to complete the EXERCISES that will be turned in each day. The 

exercises are designed to provide you with the skills required to then complete the assignments due every 

three weeks. A large portion of your grade will be earned by doing these daily exercises. Files may be provided 

for the daily exercises as needed, but usually with Illustrator we will create what we need each day from 

scratch. For the assignments, you will shoot your own images or use your own scanned drawings, or create the 

imagery from within Illustrator. The skills you learn each class will be incorporated into your graded 

ASSIGNMENTS to demonstrate comprehension and application. A camera is not required. Although we do 

have three checkout cameras, availability will be limited. 

Books & Supplies: There is no book required for the course. I had one picked out, but the author was using 3 rd 

party software to achieve the results, so I have to look around for a better book. I have a few on order that I’ll 

bring in the first week and you can take a look to see if you want to order one of those online. All students will 

need at least one 4gb USB thumb drive to save your work to. Form safe working habits, save early, save 

often. Always copy your work to the desktop of your computer into a folder with your name on it to work from 

there. Replace the old file on your USB drive with the updated file before you leave. If you have questions 

about this process, please ask me. Do not work from your thumb drive, this method is very prone to errors. 

The drive is simply not fast enough to keep up with you while you work. 

Participation/Involvement: Attendance is critically important for this course as most of the work will be done 

during class time. It is absolutely crucial to your grade that you show up with all your supplies, participate fully, 

and work diligently for the entire class period. If you must miss a class, you’ll need to complete at least 3 hours 

of work per missed class. Remember, if you expect to receive an “A” in this course, all missed work must be 

made up completely and correctly. Another basic requirement for getting an “A”: miss no more than 4 classes 

throughout the semester. It is your responsibility to label each assignment clearly and save it to your folder on 

your station’s hard drive and to your USB for back up. If you turn in an assignment late, it is your responsibility 

to bring it to my attention during class time so that I can copy it for grading. 

Please schedule advising, financial aid or medical appointments outside of class times. Work must be 

submitted for critique for best possible grades, not at the tail end of a critique or afterwards. In other words, 

we must be able to view the work and make comments during the critique. Work submitted after the critique, 

even if the same day, is considered late work. 

ATTENDANCE FOR CRITIQUES IS MANDATORY, MISSING ALL OR PART OF ANY 

CRITIQUES WILL ADVERSELY EFFECT YOUR GRADE FOR THE COURSE 

Class Conduct: I insist upon a professional and studious atmosphere in all my courses. If you consistently arrive 

late or leave early, chat during work sessions, distract other students, or somehow lower the concentration 

level of the classroom-‐you will be strongly discouraged from taking this course. This course is for serious 

students, but don’t worry if you feel you have little skill at art. Give me 100% of your involvement, be willing to 

do your best, and you should have no problem succeeding in this course. 




What do you need to do to earn your grades? 

Complete the exercise demonstrated each class to save it to your desktop folder and your USB drive each day. 

Take photos or create graphics specifically for the assignments. Use all of the techniques demonstrated for 

each assignment. If you miss a class, download the files to make up any work missed as soon as possible. Do 

not wait until the end of the semester. If you choose to do your last project using Photoshop, all images used 

should be your own shot specifically for the assignment. 

Grading: 

A -‐ Utilize all techniques listed, submit the completed work in time for the cri-‐ tique, fit into accepted design 

rules, effective color use, any text should be spell-‐ checked. Aesthetically excellent, revisions made based on 

feedback. No room for improvements. 

B -‐ Same as above, however the artwork could be qualified as very good, but may not be excellent; a little 

room for improvement, a couple of small changes. 

C -‐ Same as above, however, the artwork could be described as good, but not of the same caliber as B work, 

with room for substantial improvements. 

D -‐ Work that does not meet all of the criteria, incomplete work. F -‐ Not received, or does not meet most of 

the criteria. 

Academic accommodations are provided to students who have a verified disability. In order to have a mutual 

understanding between the instructor and the student of the determined accommodations, a DSPS Support 

Services Agreement (SSA) form is developed each semester between the student and the DSPS office. Each 

student who is eligible for accommodations in the classroom will provide a copy of the SSA form to his or her 

instructor. 

You are expected to adhere to the College of the Redwoods code of student conduct. Plagiarism and 

inappropriate behavior will be dealt with accordingly. You can find the student code of conduct standards on 

the CR website at: 

http://www.redwoods.edu/District/dsps/ResourceGuide/StudentCode.asp 

A web site I think everyone should see, just as a source of inspiration, watch the movie, it’s wonderful: 

deepastronomy.com/

Syllabus, Art 42, Intro to Digital Illustration - College of the Redwoods

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