Learn how to animate the fun, old-fashioned way! Students explore a number of different animation techniques, including drawn animation, flipbooks, paper cutouts, zoetropes, clay animation, and stop-motion. They write, storyboard, and finish both group and individual projects.
A final film, which students can take home on DVD, will be created and screened at the final exhibition.
Chances are that your first drawing of a house was a square with a triangle-shaped roof, two windows, a door, and a chimney. In the windows, or next to the tree outside, you drew your family.
This studio begins with a series of quick exercises introducing students to concepts of scale, proportion, and model-making techniques. A slide presentation showing a variety of houses from San Francisco and abroad introduces students to the diversity of what people call "home."
The final project challenges participants to design the house of the future, expressing their imaginations using SketchUp, a digital drawing and modeling tool.
Chances are that your first drawing of a house was a box with a triangle-shaped roof, a couple of windows, a door, and a chimney. In the windows, or next to the tree outside, you drew your family.
This studio begins with a series of quick exercises introducing students to concepts of scale, proportion, digital model-making techniques and sustainable design concepts, including sustainable design elements such as green roofs and walls, windmills, solar panels, water catchment systems and solar chimneys. Students view a slide presentation in which they are introduced to the diversity of what people call "home," showing how culture and location created different row house styles.
The final project challenges participants to design a sustainable row house of the future for an urban infill location in the Bay Area, using SketchUp, a digital drawing and modeling tool.
Arduino is a very popular open source electronics platform that can allow you to create all kinds of interesting, interactive projects, from kinetic sculptures (moving parts) to wearables (miniature electronic devices that you can wear!) Participants learn the essential basics of programming and how to apply these skills to an individual project using electronic components such as LED's, motors, and sensors. Class meets in CCA's state of the art Hybrid Lab!
Photography as a creative art form is magical and inspiring. This studio introduces students to the fundamental principles of 35-millimeter black-and-white photography.
Participants learn how to use a camera, compose a picture, develop film, and work in the darkroom. Slide and book presentations further expose participants to the medium's exciting possibilities.
Participants are encouraged to talk about the images they make and what they find compelling about one another's work.
Students should bring a working 35-millimeter (preferably manual) camera to the first class.
In this studio, students explore drawing beyond the frame. Particular emphasis during the morning session is given to drawing as discovery, experimenting with line, tone, texture, scale and composition, and developing a range of new skills by working with different subjects (from still life to clothed model). Students are introduced to alternative methods of drawing, alongside experimenting with charcoal and graphite, pastels, ink and mixed media.
During the afternoon session the work is transformed by altering the drawings, using media such as plaster, wax, latex, and found objects, for an outcome that is both experimental and sculptural.
Students collaborate with each other to create short animated films with characters, props, and environments that they model themselves out of clay. Exploring animation techniques, storytelling, and production design, stop-motion comes to life with voices, music and sound effects in a modern digital environment.
All projects are collected on a DVD that also documents the creative process.
POW! ZIF! BAM! Cartoon drawing students learn the language of comics in this exciting studio, exploring everything from superheroes and manga to the Sunday funnies.
Students flex their creative muscles, learning how to design memorable iconic characters, cinematic composition, and advanced comic storytelling techniques.
This fun workshop explores the many methods of creating both jewelry and small-scale sculptures. After watching demonstrations of riveting, forming, metal fabrication, and other techniques, students begin their own experiments using nonprecious materials such as copper and brass.
Participants develop unique combinations of elements, and have the opportunity to create a one-of-a-kind piece of jewelry or small-scale sculpture in sterling silver or another material.
Students are encouraged to bring in old chains, nuts, bolts, washers, small toys, and costume jewelry to use in their new creations.
Photography has undergone rapid change since the advent and popularization of digital technology. This studio provides the opportunity for students to create visually exciting digital photographs using Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom to produce professional quality prints.
In addition to print production, the class explores alternative approaches and uses of photography through the scanning of images, production of handmade books and 'zines, and using the internet as medium for exhibition and publication.
Required equipment: Must provide your own digital camera
All two-week students take Explorations in Drawing as an afternoon studio.
Participants work with their instructor to explore the rich materials, concepts, and techniques of drawing. A number of sessions focuses on drawing from a clothed/costumed model, while others investigate both traditional and nontraditional approaches to various subjects, including nature, architecture, and abstraction.
Participants develop the ability to see and then translate visual experience into drawing, using pencil, charcoal, pastel, and other media.
In the morning studio, participants experiment with composition, content, color, and scale, while learning the technical aspects of using acrylic paint.
The afternoon session explores the rich materials, concepts, and techniques of drawing.
Focus will be on developing the ability to see and then translate visual experience, through investigations of both traditional and nontraditional approaches to various subjects, including nature, architecture, abstraction, and the figure.
Think like a fashion designer. Focusing on drawing and design thinking in equal measure, students explore what it means to be a fashion designer, learning how to communicate their ideas while designing their own fashion collection. Working with drawing, collage, and basic draping techniques, students investigate how to express color, pattern and movement through fashion. Students also learn about fashion trends and how fashion designers get inspiration for their designs.
Let's make a movie! In this class, students dive immediately into making a film. As a team art, filmmaking provides every student with the opportunity to experience the many roles on set -- from writing/directing to acting, cinematography, editing, art department, and more. Working with film language, digital cameras, lighting, sound recorders, scriptwriting, and editing software, students immerse themselves in the conceptual and technical fundamentals of narrative and non-narrative filmmaking. But the fun doesn't stop there. Students learn to put together sets in the Production Stage and use the green screen cyclorama to create composite imagery and other visual effects. The final film, which students can take home on DVD, will be screened at the closing exhibition.
The computer and Adobe Creative Suite are essential tools for graphic designers. In this course, participants work with these tools to create package designs, logos, posters, and more, while gaining basic skills in typography, composition, color, and presentation.
No prior computer experience required. One student per Macintosh computer.
Illustration is essentially the art of telling a story through pictures. Using one or more images, illustrators through the years have found dynamic ways to capture and communicate a narrative in posters, book covers, comics, greeting cards, and more. Students develop ideas on how best to convey a story with a single image, while exploring different mediums, including colored pencils and gouache. At the end, a small zine of artwork produced in the class will be printed for students to keep!
Motion Graphics are employed on television shows, commercials, music videos, and the internet. This course introduces students to motion graphics as they relate to special effects, animation, and design.
Working with Adobe After Effects and Adobe Flash, participants learn to create dynamic motion, moving typography, and more. By combining video, text, and still images, students produce a variety of short projects.
No prior computer experience required. One student per Macintosh computer.
Cave paintings dating back 25,000 years testify to the human urge to create images. Students explore the expressive medium of painting through a variety of subjects, working both from observation and imagination.
Participants experiment with composition, content, and color while learning the technical aspects of using acrylic paint.
All instructors encourage creative thinking and personal expression.
Have you ever wished you could make multiple copies of a favorite drawing? Printmaking, one of the first methods of mass communication, allows artists to do just that. (In ancient times, some people even thought black magic was involved.)
In this exciting studio, students create their own original prints using techniques such as monoprint, relief, and intaglio. They learn about inks, rollers, papers, presses, and other basic equipment of the medium.
Artists get their ideas from many different sources, from personal experiences, live subjects, and even art-making materials themselves.
This course opens a conversation between found, repurposed objects and traditional sculpture media and techniques including plaster casting, woodworking, and construction with natural fibers.
Combining recycled artifacts can generate humorous and unexpected visual narratives. Students focus on scale, symmetry, and form while experimenting with contrasting materials to create a balanced and harmonious work of art.