2D Art & Design - The Elements of Design

Welcome to 2D Art & Design! I’m so glad you’re here and ready to learn and apply the Elements of Design; line, shape, space, value, form, texture, scale, and color. 

Each week we will focus on an Element of Design, and how it is used by artists and designers to create meaningful and purposeful art and design. The students will make their own art each week as it relates to the topics we cover in the lessons.

We’ll also cover important topics such as audience, visual communication, personal expression, analysis, art critique, the purpose of art in our world and more! We’ll also learn about a variety of artists and their artwork. 

This is a SELF-PACED course which means it is pre-recorded and does not contain live classes. So students can attend at a time that works best for them. Each video lesson is about 50 minutes. They include me going over different artist’s and designer’s work and art movements and techniques from around the world. 

During the class I will also give demonstrations, pop quizzes, and a few short sketchbook assignments where the student will pause and take notes, answer questions, or do a quick sketch in their sketchbooks. Then at the end of each video lesson, I go over an Art Assignment for the lesson.

A manageable pace for this course could be 1 lesson per week for 10 weeks. However, self-paced courses are meant to give students flexibility, so they will have up to one year to complete the course. So students can work at a pace that works best for them. According to Outschool, I'm only required to give feedback for 10 weeks for the 10 lessons, but I am happy to give feedback throughout the year if you take longer to complete the course. 

WEEKLY ART ASSIGNMENTS include:

Sketchbook
Any work they do during the video lessons will be in the sketchbook. It’s a great place to take notes, write, do sketches, drawings, plans, or brainstorming inspired by the lessons. The student will take photos of their sketchbook pages and submit them on Friday or on the weekend.

Artwork
Students will be given two options for their Art Assignment. Students can choose the Art Assignment that interests them the most. The second option is meant to be a little more challenging. 

Then the student will be asked to create one work of art or design. This could be done on a separate sheet of bristol board or watercolor paper or it could be created as digital art. The student will take photos or submit the digital jpg files to me in our Outschool class. 

Writing
Students should write 5-8 sentences about their artwork at the end of each lesson. They simply need to describe their work, and their process. What is their work about? What worked? What didn’t? What would they do differently next time?


What is a digital portfolio?
The purpose of this course is also to create an artist’s portfolio, which they will create and save on their computers in a folder as a digital portfolio.

The reason for creating a digital portfolio is that it allows for students to later apply for art competitions, art schools and programs. It makes it easy to upload their work to a website, to print their work for personal use or to sell their work. Having a digital portfolio of their work keeps young artists and designers organized and ready to pursue a career in visual art and design.

MEDIA
I tell the students what materials I recommend for each assignment, mostly drawing pencils, colored pencils, watercolors, or collage, but students are welcome to use whatever materials they’d like to create their artwork. Students can also create their artwork digitally with art software like ProCreate, Photoshop, or Paint if they’d like. 

It is very important that students do not use AI to create their artwork or copy and paste other artist’s work including copyrighted photography. The student’s work must be their own. 

SUPPLIES
I give a suggested supply list for this course for handmade artwork. Hopefully you already have a few supplies at home. You’ll find a link to an Amazon List for suggested supplies on our Outschool class. Feel free to order there or purchase supplies at your local art supply store.