Visual Journal Assignment No. 12

Due:  11/30/15

 

A coat of arms is a unique symbol on a shield that is meant to represent and identify a family.

For this visual journal assignment, you will be creating a “Coat of Arms” for yourself. You may base your design on your first name or your last name. The shield should include the following:

*Your name (first or last) written large and in an interesting font;

* Elements that represent yourself;

*A “motto” to describe yourself.

A motto is a phrase meant to summarize the general intention of a person or organization. Maybe if you love art, your motto could be, “Art Above All Else”.

You can take the traditional approach like the coat of arms below, or you can make a shield of your own design.

 If your family already has a coat of arms, please do not copy it. I’d like to see you come up with something original and new.

For your paragraph, please explain why you designed the coat of arms they way you did. What does it symbolize? How does it represent you or your family?

Visual Journal Assignment No. 11

Due: 11/23/15

Symbolism is the practice of representing things by symbols. A symbol is an object, action or idea that represents something other than itself.

Artists often use symbols in their artwork.  These symbols have deeper meanings than just their outward appearance. For instance, a heart is often a symbol used for love. The color purple can represent things that appear royal or regal.

For this visual journal assignment, you will be creating symbols to represent each member of your immediate family, yourself included.

Think about each member of your family. What images come to mind? Each symbol should be well thought out and executed. Please do not draw pictures of the members of your family; you should be creating symbols that represent them.

Perhaps your Dad loves to cook. A symbol for him could be a chef’s hat and a whisk. Maybe your sister is really into technology and you could symbolize her with pictures of electronics and gadgets.

For your paragraph, you will explain how you came up with each symbol for your family. Don’t forget to include yourself!

Visual Journal Assignment No. 10

Visual Journal Assignment #10

Due:  11/16/15

You have been hired by a playing card company to redesign the face cards of their playing deck.

You will be redesigning the Jack, Queen and King cards in your own personal style. Will they be zombie inspired cards? Will the face cards be replaced by your three favorite singers or three favorite animals?

For your drawings, you will show each card (the Jack, the Queen and the King) drawn individually. Please drawing them in the standard card shape (a rectangle) and be sure to label them as J, Q or K. Check out the photos of the cards below to help you. Also your cards should have a common theme and look as if they belong together.

For your paragraph, you will describe how you came up with your new card concept. Where did you get your inspiration? Do you think your new design would be something that people would want to buy, why?

Visual Journal Assignment No. 9

Due:  11/9/15

One regular old Monday morning, you drag your sleepy self into Remington Middle School for another day filled with learning. You drowsily walk up to your locker and begin to put in your combination. The lock clicks and you pull your locker door open to find that the normal inside of your locker is gone. In its place is a doorway to another dimension.

For this visual journal assignment you will illustrate what this “new world” you found inside your locker looks like. Is it a world from another planet with aliens and space ships? Is it a world where animals rule the planet and humans are kept as pets? Have fun and be creative!

You will be using a specific format for this visual journal assignment. Your piece of paper should be folded in half vertically, so you’re creating a skinny rectangle. On the outside of the paper you’ll draw the door of your locker. On the inside of the paper, you’ll draw this other “dimension” using the whole sheet of paper.

For your paragraph, describe this other world. What is it like there? What do you see? Would you want to live in this other dimension? 

Visual Journal Assignment No. 8

Due: 11/2/15

A book illustrator is an artist that creates images for a book that goes along with the text on the pages. For this visual journal assignment, you will create an illustration based on the following text from the book Coraline by Neil Gaiman.

Coraline discovered the door a little while after they moved into the house.

It was a very old house – it had an attic under the roof and a cellar under the ground and an overgrown garden with huge old trees in it.

Coraline's family didn't own all of the house, it was too big for that. Instead they owned part of it.

There were other people who lived in the old house.

In the flat above Coraline’s, under the roof, was a crazy old man with a big moustache. He told Coraline that he was training a mouse circus. He wouldn't let anyone see it.

"One day, little Caroline, when they are all ready, everyone in the whole world will see the wonders of my mouse circus. You ask me why you cannot see it now. Is that what you asked me?"

"No," said Coraline quietly, "I asked you not to call me Caroline. It's Coraline."

"The reason you cannot see the Mouse Circus," said the man upstairs, "is that the mice are not yet ready and rehearsed. Also, they refuse to play the songs I have written for them. All the songs I have written for the mice to play go oompah oompah. But the white mice will only play toodle oodle, like that. I am thinking of trying them on different types of cheese."

Coraline didn't think there really was a mouse circus. She thought the old man was probably making it up.

The day after they moved in, Coraline went exploring.

For your assignment, choose part of this excerpt to illustrate, being sure to give lots of details to let the viewer see what’s happening in the text in pictures.  Imagine it as a scene from a movie, showing the characters and what else would be in the scene.

For your paragraph, explain why you chose to illustrate what portion of the excerpt that you did, and if it was easy or difficult to “create” the scene on paper based on what you read.

Visual Journal Assignment No. 7

Due:  10/26/15

A big publishing company has asked you to create a new magazine to put out on newsstands all around the U.S. that’s geared towards other middle school students. What are topics or issues you think are important to other kids your age?

For this assignment you will be designing the cover of this magazine. You cover should include:

·        The name of your magazine

·        An illustration that goes along with the content of the magazine

·        Articles that could be found inside the magazine issue

Along with your illustration of your cover, you will write a paragraph explaining why you chose the topic you did for your magazine and how you feel it’s important to other middle school students.

Remember, this magazine is aimed towards the middle school are group. Be sure to keep your magazine topics appropriate.

Visual Journal Assignment No. 6

Due:  10/19/15

Have you ever wanted to design your own t-shirt? Websites like threadless.com allow you to do just that!

For this visual journal assignment, you will be creating an original design that you think would look great on a t-shirt. You can design anything you want for the image on your t-shirt (must be school appropriate). It could be images, words, or a combination of both.

The design MUST be original though, meaning you cannot use your favorite band or sports team logo. Get creative!

For your paragraph, explain to me how you came up with your t-shirt design, what inspired you and why you think it would be a good design to put on a shirt.