WELCOME TO:

DEVELOPING THAT GREAT IDEA – Visual thinking, before you launch your computer.

Many of us with a creative bent have a “third eye” that allows us to give birth to a great idea. We’re often asked to create a brochure, flyer, or poster for our club or organization or family event. How about you small business owners? You can’t afford to hire a professional designer, just yet. Most amateur designers will fire up their computer launch a software program (usually the wrong one) and type all the text. Then, they start moving things around and altering the look of some until they stumble on something that looks pretty good. No plan, no idea and usually they end up with a spaghetti supper poster that looks strangely similar to that wedding invitation they saw and liked.

You may be a professional designer and you’re wondering, “where did my creativity go? I used to come up with ideas more quickly.” You need to return to basics. We all do.

There is a logical, step-by-step procedure to follow. We will learn to brainstorm an idea, to create thumbnails and rough sketches and to develop ideas based on a plan. Visual design starts with visual thinking, using our third eye. Learn to exercise the right side of your brain and to develop the mind-to-hand skills that are necessary in professional design.

IT WORKS!

DEVELOPING THAT GREAT IDEA – Visual thinking, before you launch your computer.

By the end of this course you will:

1. Learn how to visually brainstorm
2. Appreciate the value of unplugged preliminaries
3. Create proper thumbnail visuals
4. Execute professional, refined roughs

Course Instructor: Ron Plante

Contact Information: rcplante@artdesignvillageclasses.com

Classes meet when it’s convenient for you.

Download all information and/or documents for each lesson from the Art-Design Village site: artdesignvillageclasses.com
Then, when you’ve followed the lesson, completed the assignment, scanned or photographed it and you’ve submitted it to the instructor, you will have access to the material for the next lesson.

“Office Hours” for Instructor Feedback or questions:

Instructor will be available on line to answer any questions, clarify issues, offer additional information and provide feedback on exercises, via email at rcplante@artdesignvillageclasses.com

Course Work

Course exercises are highly encouraged, in order for you to fully realize the benefits of these lessons and to gain access to the material for your next lesson. Doing so will provide the opportunity for beneficial constructive criticism from the instructor.

Class exercises can be sent to your instructor as a PDF, jpeg or tiff image. Digital photos or scans of your work are recommended. Please allow adequate time for the instructor to review your work, in order to get timely, meaningful feedback. Be sure that your name appears clearly on your work. You may send a document explaining or describing any issues, but this course is an unplugged course and producing your design exercises digitally is not in keeping with the spirit of the learning objectives. For ArtDes1, please work unplugged.

*Attention Teachers. If you’re taking this course as Professional Development, please notify the Instructor, prior to beginning the course. 80% attendance and submission of all exercises are required for certificate of participation.

Text Book(s) There is no required text for this course, but at the end of the course, the instructor will offer a list of “Want to read more about it?” books that you can order from your favorite dealer or check out from your hometown library.

Required Materials

It is not necessary to purchase high-end art supplies, for this course. Thumbnail and rough sketches do not require fine-art quality tools. We recommend common materials available anywhere you’ll find school or office supplies.

In order to fully enjoy the benefits of taking this course, it is recommended that you have:

• Internet access and Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader
  (download, free from Adobe: http://get.adobe.com/reader/ )
• Audio listening capability on your computer
• Image capturing capability (scanner, digital camera, cell phone photo, etc.)
• A few inexpensive drawing or “street” pencils (street pencils is a term we use for the
  familiar, standard yellow, number two, eraser tipped pencils).
• A small box (12-15) of assorted color pencils and or markers
• A sketch pad or sketchbook, approx. 9” x 12” max.

Some materials will be useful for future courses.

How to take this course.

Following registration for the course, you’ll have access to Lesson 1 materials and subsequent lessons will be available as you submit each assignment. Download all lesson materials, read all instructions and complete all exercises, in order to fully benefit from the lesson objectives. You may choose to send photos or scans of your work to the instructor for evaluation and feedback, but since this is an on-line course, digital images are necessary. Be sure to include your name and email address on everything that you send in. If you have issues, questions or remarks, please email the instructor, through the Village website. This is not a credit earning course and therefore, there will be no grading of work. The instructor will review your work and make comments, so that you can continue to grow as an artist/designer. Your opinions, feedback and input are important to us, so please don’t hesitate to contact us. Note: access to the later portions of the course are dependent on interaction with the instructor.

Refunds - If you need to drop the course before you gain access to Lesson 3, you may obtain a full refund. After you have access to Lesson 3 and higher, no refunds are possible.

ArtDes1 DEVELOPING THAT GREAT IDEA

SCHEDULE

If you enjoyed this course, be sure to sign up for ArtDes2 The Next Step!!

Thank you for visiting!