Visual Thinking Assignment #2 - in class...

Create 10 ink blots (as per directions and demo). Out of these 10, select what you feel is the best - best meaning either the most visually appealing or the one that you seem to see something in (or, if your lucky - both).

You will have 3 days to turn that inkblot into a finished piece of art by adding to, subtracting from, pasting into or on or otherwise manipulating the blot to turn it into a finished form (as per examples in powerpoint).

Your only restriction - it MUST have an obvious Focal Point (as per lecture on Principles of Design).

The purpose of this exercise is to help and loosen the strings wrapping your thinking process so tightly.

Looking for shapes in the clouds is not only a relaxing and entertaining passtime, but one that helps develop flexible thinking patterns as well as stimulate creative visualization skills (creative visually was a technique often used by Einstein).

As we get older, we rarely have time to look at the clouds.  This presents an interesting alternative.

The purpose of this exercise is start gaining someknowledge about what is known as The Personality of Design , as well as to begin working with a focus on the Elements of Design instead of simply subject matter.

Design Personality is the way artists communicate to an audience without resorting to subject matter (or in combination with subject matter).

Recall from the lecture - subject matter is what you draw - deisgn personality is how it works and/or what it says.  This lesson focuses on line, shape, direction and to a small extent - color (which is really a unit in and of itself).

Lecture notes and podcast are below in the PDF named design personality.

Your assignment?  Select and item, and in 9 steps slowly transform it into something else.

The connection between the two objects can be visual or intellectual (or both), and the transformation should be narrative in nature (it should tell a story or make a statement).

See attached grading rubric for details on grading, and design analog sheet for sketches and documentation. 

Step 1 - select the two images and story (5 options) and make sure you have accurate visual reference for both the beginning and ending step of each option.

" The Twelve Days of Christmas " is an English Christmas carol that tells a tale of an series of increasingly grand gifts (given by a man courting a woman) on each of the twelve days of Christmas.  F irst published in England in 1780, the song is actually French.

What exactly are the 12 days?

The twelve days in the song are the twelve days starting Christmas day, or the day after Christmas (December 26 - Boxing Day or St. Stephen's Day) to the day before Epiphany, or the Feast of the Epiphany (January 6, or the Twelfth Day).  Twelfth Night is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day".

What does it mean?

A bit of modern folklore claims that the song's lyrics were written as a religious song to help young Catholics learn their faith.  There is no evidence supporting this claim, or that this is anything but a purely fun song about an extravagant (and clearly rich) fiance.

What are we doing?

We will be using the 12 Days as a purely visual/aesthetic exercise and a "creativity marathon" - how fast and how hard can you think and work?

Each day you will be required to create sketches for a visual interpretation of each day (1 - 12) - sketches to be completed during the class period and the final piece due for critique the following day.

Yet another exercise in theme and variation...

Communication through pure design, and design as narrative...