Sessions28
- Part IEditorial
- 01Tue Aug 25Course Introduction
- 02Thu Aug 27Reading an Editorial Brief
- 03Tue Sep 1The Pen Tool
- 04Thu Sep 3Thumbnail Review
- 05Tue Sep 8Shape Building and Pathfinder
- 06Thu Sep 10Color Systems
- 07Tue Sep 15Type and Image
- 08Thu Sep 17Project 1 Hand-In, Project 2 Opens
- 09Tue Sep 22Capturing a Drawing
- 10Thu Sep 24Starting the Drawing
- 11Tue Sep 29Brushes From Your Own Marks
- 12Thu Oct 1Capture and Check-in
- 13Tue Oct 6Color for Print
- 14Thu Oct 8Setting Up for Screenprint
- Oct 13No class
- 15Thu Oct 15Project 2 Critique
- Part IISurface and Motion
- 16Tue Oct 20Package Structure and the Dieline
- 17Thu Oct 22Illustration on a Dieline
- 18Tue Oct 27Pattern and Repeat
- 19Thu Oct 29Mockups
- 20Tue Nov 3Print Production
- 21Thu Nov 5Project 3 Critique
- 22Tue Nov 10Illustration in Motion
- 23Thu Nov 12Preparing Artwork to Move
- 24Tue Nov 17Timing and Easing
- 25Thu Nov 19Loops and Export
- 26Tue Nov 24Rough Loop Review
- Nov 26No class
- 27Tue Dec 1Final Work Session
- 28Thu Dec 3Final Work Session and Export Check
ART 220 · Charleston Southern University · Fall 2026
The whole term
Every meeting with what it reads, what it owes and what it argues. The term chart is still the way to find the next session; this is the way to see all of them against each other.
The work
- 15%Project 1. Editorial Illustration (3 weeks)due Sep 17A publication has assigned you the art for one feature article: a featured illustration that runs as the hero at the top of the story, and two spot illustrations that run through it. The article runs on the web, in the newsletter, and as a card in a feed. Read the article, then design a hero that carries what it argues and two spots that belong to the same family: one palette, one drawing logic, one voice. Hand in production-ready vector files. You will learn the pen tool and curve construction, shape building and boolean operations, color as a reusable system, and how design principles work at editorial scale.
- 15%Project 2. Illustrated Poster (4 weeks, with Fall Break)due Oct 15A poster for a real Charleston exhibition or festival, or a recent film or book, made from a drawing you make by hand. You pick one subject from a list of thirteen, and the words the poster has to carry are given to you. You finish a real drawing on paper, then capture it and build the poster from it at 18 by 24 inches, in whatever software suits it: cleaned and colored in Photoshop, traced to vector in Illustrator, or anything else. The words can be drawn by hand, set in a font, or kept small so the picture does the talking; whichever you choose, you plan them in the first thumbnail. The file is set up for screenprint, with each color on its own solid black layer and registration marks, so it is ready if we get into a screenprint shop to print. That may not happen. It has to stop someone from across a room and still read as a small image on a phone. You will learn how poster artists handle words and pictures together, mark-making that survives capture, scanning and clean-up, and color under a drawn line.
- 20%Project 3. Packaging Illustration (3 weeks)due Nov 5A small food or beverage company needs packaging for a new product. The logo already exists; you are given a simple wordmark to place. You will design the package and the illustration system that covers it. The artwork has to work on a dieline, survive a fold, and hold up on a shelf. Hand in production files and a photographed mockup. You will learn dielines and package structure, how an illustration behaves on a surface that wraps, pattern and repeat, and print production basics: bleed and color separation.
- 25%Final Project. Animated Illustration (4 weeks)due Dec 8You choose the subject and the venue. Design an illustration that moves and deliver it as a seamless loop along with the still image it came from. You will learn to prepare artwork for animation, timing and easing, and loop construction and export, using every tool the term has covered.
- 15%ExercisesShort technique assignments completed in class and handed in the same day: pen tool and curve work, shape building, color systems, scanning and clean-up, flatting, rigging and easing. An exercise scores 2 for correct completion, 1 if it has errors or is submitted incorrectly, and 3 at the instructor's discretion for work that substantially exceeds the requirements. An average of 2 is full credit. Late exercises are never accepted, but your lowest score is dropped.
- 10%ProfessionalismCome to class prepared with your supplies, files and sketches. Take part in critique and be ready to comment on other students' work. Attendance at critiques is mandatory, and you may be marked absent if you do not have the required work to present.
- 100%The whole grade
The weekly exercises
6 exercises, set on the day and taken in the next class week. Scored 0 to 3: a 2 is correct and complete, a 3 substantially exceeds the ask, and the lowest is dropped, so 5 of them count. Never accepted late.
- undefinedPen tool traceset back
- undefinedShape buildingset back
- undefinedColor systemsset back
- undefinedBrushes from your marksset back
- undefinedColoring your scanset back
- undefinedEasingset back
Part I · Editorial
Illustration that runs beside writing: vector spots for an article, then a poster drawn by hand and finished digitally. Editorial art runs wherever the article runs, a page, a phone, a newsletter, a share card, so the work is judged at every size it appears. Sessions 1 through 15. Fall Break falls inside Project 2, so the poster critique is the first class back.
Course Introduction
Introductions, a walk through the syllabus, and an overview of the toolsets the course covers. Project 1 is assigned.
Set
- Project 1. Editorial Illustration (3 weeks)back Sep 17
- Reading for Reading an Editorial Briefback Aug 27
Reading an Editorial Brief
Where editorial illustration runs now: article pages, newsletters, apps, social cards. Developing a concept from a piece of writing, and making an image that reads at every size it will run. Thumbnailing on paper, in class. Also covered: using AI for research and concepting, and how to cite it. Christoph Niemann's TED talk on visual language is screened in class.
Reading
- Ways of Seeingchapter 1
- Ways of Seeingepisode 1, watch from 26:05 to the end
- You are fluent in this language (and don't even know it)screened in class
- Christoph Niemannthe artist's page, after the screening
- Abstract: The Art of Design — Christoph Niemann: Illustrationoptional, after class, about 35 minutes
Set
- Concepts and thumbnailsback Sep 3
The Pen Tool
First, editorial illustration: three kinds of it, how illustrators find the idea in an article and draw that, and where to find the best of it. Then the pen tool, demonstrated: anchor points, handles, and building a curve with as few points as possible. Exercise 1 in class.
Reading
- The Bézier Gameoptional practice, keep it open while you work
Due
- Pen tool traceExercises
Thumbnail Review
We start in the L. Mendel Rivers Library: what it holds on design and illustration that you can use as reference, and how to use its flatbed scanner on the main level, which is free. Then back to the room. Thumbnails pinned up and read as a group. We are looking for three different concepts, not three versions of one, and for whether an idea still reads at stamp size. Leave with one direction chosen.
Reading
- Anatomy of a New Yorker cartoonabout 21 minutes, watch before class if you can, the first ten minutes are shown in the room
- Thumbnail Sketches: Tutorial for Self-Taught Artists and Beginnersshown in class, and under Materials below
- Guide to Thumbnail Sketchesthe written guide behind the video, for anyone sent back to re-thumbnail
- How to do 50 Thumbnail Sketchesoptional, after class
Due
- Concepts and thumbnailsProject 1. Editorial Illustration (3 weeks)
Set
- Vector draftsback Sep 10
Shape Building and Pathfinder
Today you make pictures without the pen tool. Thirty circles on paper first: one shape, thirty meanings. Then the same idea in Illustrator with twelve given shapes you can move, turn, copy, and cut, but never resize and never redraw. Three pictures, then one pushed further. Work time on your vector drafts after.
Due
- Shape buildingExercises
Color Systems
Global swatches, and why they exist: edit once, and everything painted with it changes. Value first: a picture that fails in gray fails in color. Then a tour of how illustrators use color, on the real pictures, from Malika Favre's three-color covers to Saul Bass, Whistler, Jon Klassen, Mary Blair, Tomer Hanuka and Hiroshige, with each picture's own count under it, so a palette reads as a choice among many and not the only one. Then the tools: Adobe Color, Coolors, oklch, Color Oracle, and Swatches, Color Guide and Recolor Artwork in Illustrator, with the same ideas in Photoshop. Exercise 3 runs in class on your own Project 1 set: every loose color down to three globals without losing the read. Vector drafts are desk-checked at the start. The target is one palette across the hero and both spots by the end of the day.
Reading
- Malika Favreoptional, browse the covers before class
Due
- Vector draftsProject 1. Editorial Illustration (3 weeks)
- Color systemsExercises
Type and Image
The last taught block of Project 1. Where the illustration meets the type: lockups, the clearance a headline needs, the share crop and the thumbnail, and what a designer needs in the file. Then a long work session: the family placed in a real article layout, proofed at run size and at one inch, and the file cleaned for Thursday.
Project 1 Hand-In, Project 2 Opens
No group critique today. Project 1 is handed in on Blackboard: the first hour is a file check against the hand-in list, and the upload closes at 1:30. With the file goes one sentence on what the article argues and how your hero carries it. Then Project 2 is assigned: an illustrated poster for a real Charleston exhibition or festival, or a recent film or book. It is drawn on paper and set up for screenprint. We look at how poster artists handle words, drawn, set, or kept small, and at posters where the picture does the work. In class: sort posters by how they handle words, then pick a title and try its words three ways on paper.
Set
Capturing a Drawing
Mark sheet first: twenty minutes, every mark you own. We scan a few and photograph a few and compare them. Then how to capture a drawing: scanner or phone, resolution, black and white points. Then Corita Kent, the artist of the day: a teacher in Los Angeles who made posters out of words, cut or written by hand, three colors at a time, and printed enough for everyone. Then thumbnails. This is the thinking part of the project. Fold a sheet into eight frames and work through your subject one way at a time: as an object, as a symbol, as a pattern, as words, and then as a scene. One page each. Then take the ones you liked and refine them on a fresh sheet. Saul Bass, Noma Bar, Shigeo Fukuda, Alexander Girard, Corita Kent and Tomer Hanuka show each page done all the way.
Starting the Drawing
Thumbnails on the wall first: everyone's refined sheet pinned up, one question each, what is it for and the one thing to fix, then a word about the work between now and the critique. Then the drawing starts, from the chosen thumbnail onto the full sheet, 9 by 12 or bigger, and that is most of the day. While you draw: Tomer Hanuka, the artist of the day, who draws and inks by hand and colors on the computer, and then the basics of shadow and texture in Illustrator and in Photoshop, so you know where the drawing goes after it is scanned. Tuesday is scanning and importing. The drawing is due finished Thursday, October 1, scanned and turned in that day.
Reading
- Successful Drawingoptional reference, free on the Internet Archive
Due
- Title, thumbnails and words studyProject 2. Illustrated Poster (4 weeks, with Fall Break)
Set
- Finished drawing, capturedback Oct 1
Brushes From Your Own Marks
Your mark sheet becomes a set of brushes. Three illustrators whose texture comes from their own hand, pictures only: Jon Klassen, Owen Davey and Tom Haugomat. Then how to turn a scanned mark into a brush tip in Photoshop, and into Art and Scatter brushes in Illustrator. Exercise 4: three brushes from your own marks, a line, a tone and a texture, a test sheet, and one brush tried on your poster. After the break, drawing time. The drawing is due finished Thursday, when we scan it in class.
Due
- Brushes from your marksExercises
Capture and Check-in
Your finished drawing, in black ink on paper, is due at the start. Today it goes into the computer as a clean black and white image, with the words included if you drew them, and from here on the color, shading and refining all happen digitally. First the two weeks left until the poster is due on Oct 15, and a check-in: everyone says which step their poster is on. Then scan the drawing in class, to pure black ink on pure white paper. If it is not finished, the library's flatbed scanner is free. Then AI in production: one thumbnail from Tuesday's class run through four tools, Krea, Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude, with the prompts shown and what each one got wrong. Exercise 5: color your scan on the computer, the black line on top and the color on layers under it, in Photoshop or Illustrator. Then work time with desk visits.
Due
- Finished drawing, capturedProject 2. Illustrated Poster (4 weeks, with Fall Break)
- Coloring your scanExercises
Color for Print
Color as light, then color as ink. Why there are three primaries, how screens went from the first mechanical TV through color tubes to the blue LED in your phone, and why print runs on cyan, magenta, yellow and black instead. Then how things get printed, walked back from the office laser printer to the copier, offset, the halftone and the woodblock. Then the risograph and screenprint, how they work and where they came from, with dance flyers from the 1990s and a riso zine from 2020 as the examples. Then the limited palettes from session 6 again, one color, black and a spot, tints, with the paper counted as a color. Last, the inks in your file and the separations you hand in on Oct 15. Then work time with desk visits: get your poster to three colors plus the line, each on its own ink layer.
Setting Up for Screenprint
How a screen gets made from your file, and why every film is black on white. Then we set up your own poster for screenprint, one step at a time, in Illustrator and Photoshop: inks in printing order, color run under the line, traps where colors meet, lighter shades turned into dots, marks and a label on every film, the films themselves, and a last check. Then everyone presents their poster as it stands, followed by work time with desk visits, the last class before Fall Break. Finish the poster over the break and make the separations before Oct 15.
TueOct 13
No class: Fall Break
Project 2 Critique
Full critique, the first class back from Fall Break. Each proof hangs next to its original drawing. Project 3 is assigned at the end: one supplied carton, one package face.
Set
- Project 3. Packaging Illustration (3 weeks)back Nov 5
- Illustration on the flat dielineback Oct 22
Part II · Surface and Motion
Illustration on a package, then illustration that moves. Sessions 16 through 28, and the final critique in the exam slot.
Package Structure and the Dieline
The supplied carton: panels, folds, glue flaps, and what the shelf sees first. Fold a blank one in class. Then name your product and start roughing the illustration on the flat dieline.
Illustration on a Dieline
p3a is due at the start: the illustration roughed on the flat dieline. Print it at 100 percent, fold it, and see where the folds cut the art. Getting artwork to behave across panels, and the shelf-distance test. Work session.
Due
- Illustration on the flat dielineProject 3. Packaging Illustration (3 weeks)
Set
- First mockupback Oct 29
Pattern and Repeat
The repeat: tiling a motif for a side panel, the back, or the inside. Work session toward the first printed mockup Thursday.
Mockups
p3b is due at the start: the carton printed, folded and photographed. Photographing a mockup honestly. Fix what the fold showed you. Work session.
Due
- First mockupProject 3. Packaging Illustration (3 weeks)
Print Production
Bleed, trapping, and spot versus process color. Preparing files for a printer. Work session.
Project 3 Critique
Full critique. Present the package on the form. The final project is assigned.
Set
Illustration in Motion
How illustration is used in motion. Loops, easing, and the AI motion tools we will use.
Reading
- The illusion of lifeoptional, a few minutes
Set
- Motion studyback Nov 17
Preparing Artwork to Move
Layer structure and anchor points. Setting up a file before animating. Work session.
Timing and Easing
Easing, holds, and the difference between a loop that reads and one that stutters. Studies played at the desk. A study that exports cleanly here is proof the file will hold for the whole piece.
Due
- Motion studyFinal Project. Animated Illustration (4 weeks)
Set
- Rough loopback Nov 24
Loops and Export
Building a seamless loop. File formats, sizes, and what to deliver. Work session.
Rough Loop Review
The whole piece moving, played as a group. Timing is the subject and unfinished artwork is expected. Leave knowing what to fix over the break.
Due
- Rough loopFinal Project. Animated Illustration (4 weeks)
ThuNov 26
No class: Thanksgiving
Final Work Session
Work session. Desk critiques on the piece as it stands.
Final Work Session and Export Check
The last class is a work day. Export checks: format, size, and whether the loop still holds on the second pass. The final critique is in the exam slot.
The exam window
Final critique
The final loops screened and defended, in the exam slot the registrar assigns. The final project is due at the start. You talk about what the image is for, what you tried, and what you would do next.