Something new and exciting here at the Digital Art Teacher: I’ll now be offering Photography lessons! As part of these lessons, I’ll be adding new blog posts discussing what quality photography looks like and giving simple tips to help improve student photography.
I admit that it has been a very long time since I have blogged on this site...I have been working through a lot of technical difficulties of late. I have also been revamping the site to be a little more user friendly. And one more thing...
The truth is that I was terrified of copyright, and I almost gave up the whole Digital Art Teacher idea all together. Ironic, isn't it? Since my latest blog post was all about copyright. Anyway, I found out that I had unintentionally broken copyright, and I pretty much ran away with my tail between my legs.
It’s HERE!!!
It’s finally here!! I am proud to announce that my first set of lesson plans and video tutorials are now available!
You don’t have to have a doctorate in law studies to understand how copyright works, you just need to pay attention!
The first thing you need to know is that everything that you create is copyright protected! Original works are protected the instant you finish them.
if you take a selfie of yourself in front of the Eiffel Tower, protected!
If you manipulate a photo you took in photoshop, protected!
Ahhh, Copyright. A vast sea of “grey area.” There is a lot of confusion when it comes to copyright. What is it? Who/what is protected? When can you copy something? Why can’t I use this image, but I can use that one?
I have battled through teaching copyright for the past 5 years and I think I have finally come to understand it. At least, I understand it as well as any non-legal minded art teacher can. :)
Sometimes I forget about incorporating holidays into my lessons. I know at some schools celebrating holidays has been frowned on, but so far not at my school (cross your fingers, hope to die..).
Merry Christmas!
I hope that the semester has ended well for you. I am specifically thankful for those of you who have followed me through my digital adventure. I have so many plans for the new year, both for this site and for my classroom and I really hope that you will join me as I add more lessons and insight to this site.
Be sure to do something FUN over break! I have been working like a dog over this last semester and I definitely need this reminder! If you are a workaholic make sure that you take some time off to BE with family or friends this holiday season.
The option bar is directly related to the object you have selected. It gives you…wait for it…options for the object.
For example, if you have a text box selected, you would expect to be able to change the font, text size, text orientation, color, etc:
The tools panel is what controls everything you do in Illustrator.
Just like you wouldn’t be able to use a hammer to screw in a screw, if you don’t have the right tool or don’t know how to use the right tool in Illustrator, you will be unable to do achieve the effect that you are looking for.
When looking at the tools in the toolbox, I like to start with the most simple of tools. No matter what version of Illustrator you have (mine is CS6), your version will have these simple tools:
For someone who has never used it, diving into Adobe Illustrator can seem like diving into the middle of the ocean without a life vest. Eventually, you just get tired of treading water and find yourself sinking.
I vividly remember this feeling when I first began teaching design. I just didn’t want to do it anymore. Of course, quitting wasn’t really an option for me. I couldn’t just quit teaching in my 3rd week.
So, I trudged through it and after making many, many mistakes, I found some good solutions to the problems that I came up with.
