Illustration Courses
ILLUS 3712-01
THE SILKSCREENED POSTER
SECTION DESCRIPTION
For half a millennium, posters (or broadsides as they were called) have attracted the attention and sparked the imagination of viewers through much of the world. The best posters are both visually striking and communicative. Designs usually incorporate image and text; but are often effective with either text or image alone. In this class we will learn the essentials of silkscreen printing in the context of studying a bit of the history of serigraph poster design: from historic fine artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec and Alphonse Mucha, to more contemporary illustrators like Seymour Chwast and Shephard Fairey. Students will be designing and printing several editions, experimenting with hand- drawn and digitally produced art and typography. The nature of the silk-screened image allows for investigation of various color palettes or structures for a single image. No printmaking or digital experience required.
Open to Junior or Senior Illustration Students.
Elective
ILLUS 3716-01
COLOR WORKS
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course is intended to help students design with color through the use of acrylics, watercolor, mixed media and a medium of their choice including digital. We will explore ways of creating harmony, contrast, hierarchy, focus, color as an element of expression, for composition and for developing an illusion of space in a work of art. By developing an understanding of opacity, transparency, temperature, value, complementary relationships, saturation and how all work differently depending on the medium, students will gain an understanding of how to create delicious color without fear. Students will be expected to experiment with various color grounds as well as a variety of limited palettes. Assignments will be working from models in costume, include color charts, color studies and culminate in a final series of the students choice.
Open to Junior or Senior Illustration Students.
Elective
ILLUS 3720-01
ARTISTIC MEDIUM: ILLUSTRATION
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course is designed to teach the student about contemporary use of Illustration media and how to use and combine them creatively, safely and effectively. Students will acquire the skills and confidence to evaluate new mediums and techniques on an ongoing basis with minimal expense and difficulty through the use of limited palettes. Mediums covered will include: acrylics, gouache, casein, watercolor, markers, crayons (wax and water-soluble), colored pencil, scratchboard, ink, oil (for illustration), and associated tools, palettes, and surfaces.
Open to Junior or Senior Illustration Students.
Elective
ILLUS 3722-01
DIGITAL + ANALOG
SECTION DESCRIPTION
With the wave of new technology, it's easy to forget what we can do with our hands, putting pencil to paper and utilizing traditional materials. There is no question that digital tools are integral to the illustrator, but in addition to mastering the technical functions of a program and using it directly to create images, they can open up new possibilities in what we already do with traditional materials. This course will create a dialogue between the handmade and the digital through in class exercises combining age old techniques, including linocut, collage, drawing/painting, with modern tools such as the risograph and photoshop. We will explore different ways digital methods can help with workflow and use the computer to facilitate the steps involved in creating an illustration. This course will challenge students to think beyond the realm of digital brushes and filters, with projects touching on the ways image making can be applied in the real world of design, advertising and publishing.
This course fulfills the Illustration Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.
Open to Junior, Senior or Graduate Illustration Students.
Elective
ILLUS 3736-01
WATERCOLOR: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MEDIUM
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course will present the transparent watercolor medium to students in a manner both logical and painless. Students will explore the broad uses for watercolor through still life, figure painting, and outdoor landscape painting. Guest critics and demonstrations may augment class discussions.
Open to Junior or Senior Illustration Students.
Elective
ILLUS 3748-01
PEN, INK & SCRATCHBOARD
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course introduces students to a variety of pen and scratchboard styles through a series of assignments which include drawing from life and executing well-defined illustrative problems. A variety of pen tips and their effect on pen handling are explored. Other aspects of pen drawing to be considered: Intelligent design of page with subject, the compositional impact of the arrangement of tone, and the sensitive selection of appropriate pen and scratchboard styles for a given problem.
Open to Junior or Senior Illustration Students.
Elective
ILLUS 3754-01
PHOTO ONE: DIGITAL
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This is an introductory course in digital photography. It covers all the basic techniques of digital workflow: capture, photo editing, and inkjet printing. You will learn how your camera works and how to control it to get the results you want. You will also learn how to download and manage your image files, edit them for best results, backup them religiously, and make excellent inkjet (digital) prints. Beyond technique, there will be at least one visiting artist, regular lectures covering the history of photography, an optional weekend field trip to Boston, and regular group and individual crits geared toward developing your style, focusing your ideas, and making better pictures. Most students use a DSLR (digital single-lens-reflex) camera, which you must provide, but other types are also OK, such as a good point-and-shoot or an ILC (interchangeable lens compact) model. We will discuss cell and tablet phones, but a dedicated camera such as one of the above models, will give you better results and more control. While this course is an introduction to photography, and assumes no prior knowledge, students with some photography background or those with analog-only experience may also benefit.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00 - $150.00
Open to Junior or Senior Undergraduate Students.
Elective
ILLUS 3756-101
PHOTO ONE: ANALOG
SECTION DESCRIPTION
A basic black-and-white course in photographic technique and visualization. Students learn to use the camera, process film, and make prints, as well as to apply creative aspects of the medium. No prior experience in photography is required, but students must have their own 35mm camera with manual aperture and shutter-speed controls. Refundable deposit for any equipment that is borrowed and returned in excellent condition.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $150.00 Deposit: $100
Elective
ILLUS 3760-101
THE COLLAGED IMAGE
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course will focus on the creation of expressive imagery through the combination of collage and mixed media. Students will work with a wide range of materials and collage elements, including their own drawings and paintings, photographic images and found objects. Techniques used for developing layers of both texture and meaning will be explored and later applied to specific illustration problems.
Elective
ILLUS 3770-101
EMBROIDERY: MATERIAL AS STORYTELLER
SECTION DESCRIPTION
What makes the needle and thread such captivating storytellers? Embroidery: Material as Storyteller is a space for students to explore the narrative potential of traditional and digital embroidery. Through lectures, workshops, and discussions, as well as a visit to the Costume + Textile Collection at the RISD Museum, this course aims to equip students with a comprehensive understanding and a solid skill set in embroidery, textile materials, and narrative techniques.
With a theme centered on illustrative and narrative embroidery, we will experiment with threads, patches, and found fabrics through additive, subtractive, and collaging techniques. Additionally, we will explore the narrative potential in e-textiles and smart embroidery, creating responsive embroidery pieces from a radical, critical, and situated perspective. Open-ended prompts will be interspersed with in-class projects, and students will acquire hand and digital embroidery skills to apply to assignments. We will look at artworks from a diverse range of artists, such as Dindga McCannon, Iviva Olenick, Irene Saputra, Han Cao, Orly Cogan, Nneka Jones, Alexandra Drenth, Michelle Kingdom, Katia Shumkova, Ana Torma, Ana Teresa Barboza, Elsa María Meléndez, Richard Saja. The final week of Wintersession will bring together the themes from previous class lectures and projects while also providing space for additional solo exploration.
Elective
ILLUS 3772-01
3-D ILLUSTRATION
SECTION DESCRIPTION
While most illustrations are flat, working in three dimensions allows for the engagement of a whole new range of material and conceptual possibilities. Whether using traditional materials or digital technologies, sculpture is enormously nuanced in what it can suggest. In this class we will examine how objects and various sculptural strategies can be used to convey complex concepts and ideas. A survey of contemporary sculpture and 3D illustration will provide plenty of conceptual, process and material exploration. The class is offered in conjunction with RISD CoWorks to promote experimentation, interdisciplinarity, and access to advanced technologies. Projects are structured to introduce you to a variety of materials and methods of working, including paper manipulation, box making, character design, model-making, 3D printing, and laser-cutting. Additionally students will learn how to light and photograph three-dimensional work for reproduction or portfolio. The class promotes development of personal expression, strong conceptual solutions, excellent craftsmanship and good design.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $100.00
Open to Junior or Senior Illustration Students.
Elective
ILLUS 3778-01
MOVABLE ARTISTSBOOKS: SHAPE SHIFTERSAND TRANSFORMERS
SECTION DESCRIPTION
There is something magical about opening a seemingly ordinary book only to see a gloriously three dimensional structure burst forth from its pages. Upon closing the book, the large, complex sculptural form folds seamlessly back into flatness. In this studio students will learn to create such structures: movable artists books that pop up, unfold, transform into sculptures, theaters, installations, interactive experiences. Students will learn the basics of paper engineering and experiment with various pop-up structures as they create their own original, movable artists books. Even though our exploration will begin with structural, material, and formal investigation, students will be encouraged to treat form and content as an interdependent whole, as they envision their increasingly complex independent projects. Demonstrations, hands-on in-class work and homework, independent projects, discussions, research, introduction to digital fabrication; historic and contemporary examples in the expanded field from movable books to large scale art installations; artists talks, visits to RISD CoWorks, Nature Lab, and the Special Collections of Fleet Library will be part of our inquiry.
Open to Junior, Senior or Graduate Illustration Students.
Elective
ILLUS 3904-01
JOURNALISTIC ILLUSTRATION
SECTION DESCRIPTION
In this course, students take on the role of the reportage illustrator and visual essayist by developing a series of images in a sketchbook journal, on site, with emphasis on observation, documentation and investigation of non-fiction subject matter. Finished art will be created for a number of the investigative assignments as well as a completed stand-alone visual essay of a self-generated topic. The long tradition of reportage (illustrative reporting) will be examined and discussed, as will the contemporary manifestations of journalistic art in print and in digital formats. Emphasis is placed on authorship, concept, and drawing skill development afforded by working on site are also a focus.
Open to Junior or Senior Illustration Students.
Elective
ILLUS 3916-01
SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATION
SECTION DESCRIPTION
From Leonardo's rich notebook studies to Audubon's great horned owl, to NASA's Mars Rover simulations, scientific illustration derives from rich traditions stressing scientific investigation, good design, close observation and technical mastery. We will begin with a study of the structuring strategies nature uses to create its enormous diversity of forms. Scientific drawing conventions, interesting drawing techniques and tools will be presented. Students will produce a variety of black and white, color and digital solutions exploring aspects of this broad field. The class will culminate with a final project allowing each student to explore a scientific area of interest.
Open to Junior or Senior Illustration Students.
Elective
ILLUS 3920-01
SCIFI AND FANTASY ILLUSTRATION
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This course will be a short introduction to Science Fiction and Fantasy illustration in the form they are most frequently seen--book covers. Subjects will include (besides the usual aliens, futuristic looking machinery, and dragons) materials and techniques, reference gathering, working with a manuscript, working with the paperback format, etc...The goal of the course is to familiarize the interested student with the means and methods of producing a realistic illustration of an unreal scene.
Open to Junior or Senior Illustration Students.
Elective
ILLUS 3924-01
CREATURE LAB
SECTION DESCRIPTION
This class is designed to train students in the art of creature creation/design. Students will study animal anatomy and physiology with a focus on adaptions to meet specific environments. Following a structured process to design beasts for a variety of genres, the class will explore the genres of fantasy, science fiction and horror. Also featured will be class discussion regarding the psychological implications of different aesthetic choices using existing creatures from film and literature as case studies.
Open to Junior or Senior Illustration Students.
Elective
ILLUS 3934-01
A BEAUTIFUL CORNER
SECTION DESCRIPTION
How does one artfully navigate a creative landscape in CG character and environment design despite the deluge of derivative art and industry homogeneity? This class challenges students to swim against the current, to create a character and setting design that is unique and amazing. Sessions will be a balance of critical thinking, through ZBrush instruction, studio work and class critique. Critiques will focus on the inventiveness of the character and environment, the credibility of essential form, legibility of the designs and their suitability to the narrative outline.
Estimated Cost of Materials: $25.00
This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration majors.
Open to Junior or Senior Illustration Students.
Elective
ILLUS 3936-01
CHARACTER CREATION
SECTION DESCRIPTION
In this course we will explore the process of designing characters as well as the objects they possess and the environments they inhabit. Through a series of projects that emphasize conceptual thinking and functional design, students will learn the problem solving skills used in design as a means of supporting a narrative. Full color works in variety of media will be critiqued on their clarity of vision and strength of presentation. This course is a continuation of the ideas presented in Character Design, and will serve both students who have taken that class and students new to this subject matter.
Open to Junior or Senior Illustration Students.
Elective
ILLUS 3936-01
CHARACTER CREATION
SECTION DESCRIPTION
In this course we will explore the process of designing characters as well as the objects they possess and the environments they inhabit. Through a series of projects that emphasize conceptual thinking and functional design, students will learn the problem solving skills used in design as a means of supporting a narrative. Full color works in variety of media will be critiqued on their clarity of vision and strength of presentation. This course is a continuation of the ideas presented in Character Design, and will serve both students who have taken that class and students new to this subject matter.
Open to Junior or Senior Illustration Students.
Elective
ILLUS 3938-01
WORLDSMITH
SECTION DESCRIPTION
As visual artists, we all have a story to tell. One of the keys to creating a convincing narrative is persuading your viewers of the believability of the world into which you invite them. The creation of graphic novels, games, animations, movies and theater sets often start with a world guide - a document that fully describes the setting. Sometimes these are simply textual or visual references and sometimes they are books in their own right; but regardless of form, their purpose is to make sure that all the creative people working on a project will build a consistent reality. This course is intended to familiarize students with the process of generating and illustrating the visual parameters of an invented environment in which a story happens - defining first the umbrella under which the story unfolds, then establishing a more particular space/time/habitat that includes anything relevant to the story: environment, history, culture, clothing styles, architecture, animals, etc. Beyond the invention of a setting for a visual narrative, in this course students will also learn how to design a style guide for intellectual property worlds (IP). Each will create a visual "bible" for envisioning their IP world-a document that clearly defines and describes the world within which the narrative unfolds.
Open to Junior or Senior Illustration Students.
Elective