Digital Design and Illustration

Avon Lake City Schools 

Curriculum Framework

Digital Design and Illustration

Course Overview:

This is an introduction to digital drawing, an extension of traditional drawing, with emphasis on design. Students will create unique and expressive artworks on the iMac. The class will benefit those who want to pursue a career in art, design, or postsecondary educational art experience. Through digital artwork projects, students will bridge existing drawing/painting techniques with design basics on the computer. Through guided art projects, students will learn Adobe Illustrator, the ‘industry standard’ in graphic arts. This class would support students who already have an interest in design, drawing, photography, and typography.

Textbook (Title and Publishing Company): 

Online/Supplemental Materials:

Assessments: 

Project Rubrics

Student and class critiques

Content/Topics/Learning Goals

Subject to Pacing and Schedules

1st Quarter- 

Students will know/learn: 

  • Basic history of art/design

  • Basic history of Adobe Illustrator (pixels vs. vector imagery)

  • Intro to elements of art: LIne, Shape, Value, Form, Space, Color, Texture

  • Intro in the ‘hierarchy’ of design:  Emphasis, Balance, Movement, Repetition

  • Intro to Adobe Illustrator:  Brush tool and primitive tools

  • Intro Adobe Illustrator:  Line, Shape, selection tools, anchor points, bounding box, etc. (primary tools)

  • Basic design exercises

  • Large-scale Abstract drawing in Adobe Illustrator

  • Vector Insect Project:  Articulation and drawing

  • Semester Slides Student Portfolio:  Visual Journal of Student’s Work Pt. 1

  • Criticism of famous artworks (4 parts to an artwork: subject, content, context, form)

2nd Quarter- 

Students will know/learn:  

  • Critiquing student art

  • Gradient Mesh:  Creating modeling and form

  • 2D vs 3D imagery in Illustrator

  • Creating Depth in a 2D image:  The 8 elements of depth in a picture plane

  • Vector Landscape Project

  • Basic Typography

  • Typography and imagery: Masks and Clipping Masks

  • Final Studio Project:  Summative use of tools

  • Criticism of famous artworks (4 parts to an artwork: subject, content, context, form)

  • Semester Slides Student Portfolio:  Visual Journal of Student’s Work Pt. 2

  • Creating a final art portfolio and critique of a final/semester portfolio

3rd Quarter- 

  • Semester course….

4th Quarter -  

  • Semester course….

Last Updated:

September, 2023