Syllabus

Illustration 2: Painting for Illustration
IL265
Course Objectives
Illustration 2 continues the introduction of fundamental drawing and communication skills from Illustration 1, introducing wet color media.
Grading
These courses involve of both in-class and out-of-class assignments. Out-of-class projects will be graded on research (including sketches and visual reference), composition (the design of the picture plane), communication (whether or not your image reads as you intended it to), and technique (your use of the various media explored in this class).

Additionally, participation in critiques, adherence to deadlines, and attendance will be factored into the final grade. Every absence sets a student back dramatically.
Attendance:
• There is no penalty for a single absence.
• The semester’s final grade is lowered by one letter upon the second and third absences.
• Upon a fourth absence, the student is automatically failed.
• The first “free” absence is in lieu of excused absences. Save it for an emergency.
• If you come to class late or leave early, you will be marked as tardy. You can receive multiple tardies for a single class.
• Three tardies equals one absence.
Professionalism
• Late work is lowered by one letter grade per week after the deadline.
• If you can not deliver your work in person, have some one else bring it.
• A project will be reduced by one letter grade for late or incomplete thumbnails, sketches, or research.
• When size or format is specified, projects not meeting those requirements will be reduced by one letter grade.
• Each project receives two grades: One upon critique, and one when turned in.
Participation
• All students are expected to participate meaningfully in critiques, discussions, and in-class exercises. You will receive a Participation grade at the end of the semester equivalent to one project.
Grades
A • Exemplary work, professionally acceptable
B • Solidly good work
C • Acceptable work, meets assignment expectations
D • Flawed, does not successfully meet assignment expectations
F • Failing grade, work is unacceptable
Materials Binder
Maintain a sketchbook or binder in which you will keep any handouts presenting in class (including this syllabus), copies of your thumbnails, and visual research from each project. Bring this binder to each critique, and plan on maintaining it through subsequent Illustration classes.
Mounting and Presenting Your Work
• Leave a protective border of at least three inches on all sides of your mounted original.
• Cover, or “flap,” your work, first with tracing paper, then with cover stock, or some other heavy weight paper.
• Use a sharp blade and a straight edge to trim excess cover paper so that it is flush to the mounting board.
• Securely attach a completed archive label to the back of the piece.
Materials
Acrylic paints
Titanium White
Burnt Umber
Cool Yellow, such as Lemon Yellow
Warm Yellow, such as Cadmium Yellow Light
Cool Red, such as Alizarin Crimson
Warm Red, such as Cadmium Red Medium
Cool Blue, such as Pthalo Blue
Warm Blue, such as Ultramarine Blue
Any other colors that strike your fancy

Matte medium
Palette paper
A variety of brushes, both round and flat, in various sizes
Long metal ruler
Illustration Board
Large pad of tracing paper
Sketchbook
Pushpin

Acrylic Paints
Almost one hundred years old, acrylics are considered a new medium in the world of art materials, where durability is judged in centuries. They are extremely flexible and can be used to emulate oil, watercolor, and tempera techniques. Acrylics are water soluble from the tube, but waterproof when dry. Because acrylics dry quickly and permanently, it is important to keep your brushes wet until you are ready to clean them.

They are composed of the same pigments found in other paints, such as oil or watercolor, but suspended in a polymer resin emulsion (basically, plastic). Aside from pigment and resin, a tube of acrylic paint contains water, a coalescing agent (to help form into a film of paint), and small amounts of other additives to maintain consistency. The difference between a cheap and expensive brand of acrylic paint is how much resin is in the tube. The highest quality paints are 65% resin. Most paints are 40 to 45% resin, meaning that 55% of what you brush onto the paper is going to evaporate right off the painting surface.

Acrylics can be used in conjunction with oils, although only as a first stage. Oils can be painted over acrylics, but acrylics should not be painted over oils. Oil dries very slowly, and if trapped under a layer of fast-drying acrylic, cracking can occur. Also, acrylic does not adhere well to oil surfaces.

Acrylic Materials
Acrylic gesso: composed of Titanium white, inert pigment (such as chalk), and a stiffer version of the same polymer resin used in the paints, acrylic gesso is used to create a smooth, bright ground before beginning a painting. It is different from genuine gesso, which is composed of fine chalk and size.

Matte and Gloss mediums: unpigmented polymer resin used to adjust the consistency and opacity of paint, formulated to create either a shiny surface (gloss) or a dull one (matte). They also make excellent archival adhesives.

Gel medium: a thicker medium that bulks up paint for thick, impasto painting techniques.

Retarder: slows down the drying time of acrylics

Painting Terms
Alla Prima: An opaque use of oil paint in which each brushstroke is the final effect desired in terms of color, value, and texture. As opposed to underpainting techniques where the paint is leyered and each layer effects the character of the paint layers above and below it.

Body: Describes the density of pigment, medium, or application of paint. A thinned down, transparent layer of paint has little body. “Body Color” describes paint applied opaquely, either because of the density of pigment, or the addition of white.

Covering Power: The ability of paint to obscure what it is painted over.

Fat: Refers to the quantity of oil in a paint, painting medium, or ground. When paint is fat it is rich, non-absorbent, and has a slick surface. Used in conjunction with the term “lean.”

Lean: Paint with a low concentration of oil, a degree of absorbancy, and is less rich or greasy than “fat” paint. This may be the result of diluting with a thinner.

Fat Over Lean: A painting technique wherein the paint begins lean, and becomes increasingly fat as additional layers are applied. The lower, leaner paints have greater absorbency, allowing the fatter paint to adhere, prevents “sinking in,” and cracking.

Glaze: A transparent layer of paint that leaves the layer beneath it visible.

Ground: A base layer that acts as a barrier between the surface of the paper or canvas and the paint itself. The ground is intended to improve the surface for receiving paint. In the case of oils, gesso is the most common ground. The ground can also be an underpainting, for instance, in acrylics.
Impasto: The use of thick paint to create texture that stands above the painting surface.

Scumble: A half-covering layer of opaque paint, made by lightly dragging relatively dry paint over a surface, or by stippling thin paint.

Sinking In: The dulling of oil paint as it dries, leading to loss of color saturation or an uneven finish.This is caused by either an absorbent lower layer of paint, or by using too much of a thinner.

Thinner: A solvent added to paint to reduce it’s consistency, such as turps. The solvent evaporates upon drying.

Tooth: The texture of the painting surface, be it paper, canvas, or board, or of the ground applied to that surface. Tooth helps paint adhere.

Underpainting: A deliberate approach to painting the lower layers of an image to create effects in the later layers. this may include using colors that are intended to optically mix with later colors.

Wet On Wet: Painting into paint that hasn’t dried, so that the new paint can be worked into the existing paint.

Wet On Dry: Painting onto dried paint so that the new paint doesn’t disturb the existing paint.