Performance art with digital twist

I love the idea of using my entire class of students to create an art piece. Every single person has an important role to play, and it takes careful planning and implementation from the team. Performance art is overlooked as an art form in many classrooms, and yet there are so many outlets for it. Look at the example below of skateboarders in San Francisco outfitted with a light up tetris game piece. Discuss with your students what went into the planning, the roles required to make this happen (including those of the film crew), and cooperation of everyone. Brainstorm ideas - what could we do as a class? How can we utilize everyone's skill set? How do we bring a digital aspect into a performance piece?

Free, Handwritten Fonts - Great for Logos!

Here is a website with some great, free, handwritten fonts. Students should have fun using these for logos, posters, websites, etc. This would be a good opportunity to go over the usage agreements for free fonts as well.

More Color Scheme Websites

I can't wait to use color scheme generators with my students. Picking a color pallete for a design seems like a real struggle for beginners, even with a solid foundation of color theory. This website has the top ten color tools.

I would love to hear feedback from teachers who use any of these in their classrooms. Which one is the best? What do students think of them?

Playful stop motion

This animation has a different aesthetic, with a quirky story. Notice how incredibly smooth the animation is. This is a good example to show students in comparison to other stop motions seen on the blog, because it has such a different feel. It stimulates a great discussion on what makes it different.

Women artists had it tough

Okay, so it's a little off topic of digital arts, per se. But this letter was too great not to share. It's a letter written in 1938 from Walt Disney company to a female artist seeking a creative animation position. Women have really come a long way in getting rights...(you may need to click on the letter to actually read it).

Light Graffiti

Students would love to experiment with light graffiti. These artists are truly inspiring in their creativity and exploration of the medium. Share these examples with students.

The trick for the teacher is providing a dark enough space, and having a tripod to hold the camera nice and steady.