Digital Art

Techniques taught

• Timed gesture studies built from a line of action
• Construction from primitive volumes (box, cylinder, sphere) into figure and creature forms
• Silhouette tests: fill a drawing to solid black and check whether the pose still reads
• One-, two-, and three-point perspective grids, with horizon and eye level placed on purpose
• Placing figures on a ground plane at consistent scale inside a perspective grid
• Thumbnailing a staged scene small before committing to it at full size
• Tightening a rough into clean, closed line art, working at 300 to 1100 percent and checking back at page size
• Line weight control: heavier contour, lighter interior detail, capped line ends

Key assignments

1. 1.Gesture and construction set. A set of timed gesture pages plus constructed figure and creature studies, submitted digitally with the construction still visible underneath.
2. 2.Perspective environment. An interior or exterior drawn on a two- or three-point grid, with at least one figure correctly scaled on the ground plane.
3. 3.Clean line-art piece. One staged scene taken from thumbnail through rough construction to finished, closed line art on its own layer.

Assessment

Studies are checked for completeness and for evidence of construction underneath the finish; roughs are submitted with every finished piece. The perspective environment and the clean line-art piece are scored against a posted rubric covering construction accuracy, silhouette readability, perspective correctness, and line quality. Both pieces are reviewed in studio critique before final submission.

Techniques taught

• Building a greyscale value study before any hue is chosen
• Committing to a key light, then identifying the fill, rim, and ambient contribution
• Rendering the full shadow family: form shadow, core shadow, cast shadow, and occlusion
• Controlling falloff and terminator softness according to surface type
• Material response studies across matte, metal, skin, fur, fabric, and glass
• Mixing a palette deliberately along value, saturation, and hue rather than sampling at random
• Checking a piece at thumbnail size and in greyscale to confirm the value structure still reads
• Shifting a full palette from local color to a single committed light condition

Key assignments

1. 1.Value study set. One subject rendered three times under three different lighting setups, in greyscale only.
2. 2.Material study sheet. A row of simple forms in distinct materials under one committed key light.
3. 3.Full-color render. A single figure or object lit and rendered in color, submitted together with the greyscale value study that preceded it.

Assessment

Each piece is scored on a posted rubric for value structure (does it read at thumbnail size and in greyscale), light-source consistency, shadow-family accuracy, material differentiation, and palette intent. Students submit the greyscale stage alongside the color finish, so that the process is assessed and not only the result.

Techniques taught

• Page setup. Start a correctly sized document, import a scan at the right scale, binarize the line art to pure black on white, and add the PAPER layer underneath.
• Panels, borders, and gutters. Rectangle-select and fill each panel a distinct flat color on PANELS, draw the BORDERS, and fill the GUTTERS, so that nothing leaks between panels later.
• Lettering separation. Lasso-select balloons and captions on the inks and verify the whole selection with Quick Mask; cut, paste, and merge onto LETTERS; use Auto Select, Fill, and Expand Selection (10 px) to lift a sound effect with its outline intact; fill balloons and caption boxes on BALLOONS.
• Line-art repair. At 300 to 1100 percent, close breaks with Lasso fill at 100 percent opacity and anti-aliasing off; cap open line ends with a thicker G-pen; redraw ruled lines with the Straight line tool; solo the locked original scan to see how a line really closed; redraw art that was hidden under a balloon; clear the dust that binarizing left behind.
• Separation layer. Duplicate PANELS into SEPARATION and merge; lasso-fill each overlapping depth plane a distinct value; set Auto Select to refer to the editing layer only, and use Quick Mask, so that a fill can never spill onto an already separated shape.
• Flatting. Start FLATS as a copy of SEPARATION; Auto Select with connected pixels off and tolerance 0 to grab a whole character in one click; keep the selection live and lasso-fill fast, loose shapes that clip to the silhouette; bucket-fill small enclosed shapes; work biggest area first, then skin, eyes, gloves, clothing, and shoes; sample exact character colors from a reference page open in a second tab.
• Layer discipline. Masks, adjustment layers, layer modes, brush economy, and consistent naming across the full production stack: LETTERING (LETTERS, BALLOONS), BORDERS & GUTTERS, GRAIN, SPECULAR, HOLDS, INKS, HIGHLIGHTS, SHADOWS, FLATS, SEPARATION, PANELS, PAPER.
• Print-safe setup. Resolution, bleed, trim, and color mode settled before the work begins, not after.

Key assignments

1. 1.Page build. Take a supplied scan from raw file to a fully set-up page: correctly sized document, binarized inks, PAPER, PANELS in distinct colors, BORDERS, and GUTTERS. Each layer is soloed to prove it is clean and gap-free.
2. 2.Prep pass. On the same page, separate the lettering onto LETTERS and BALLOONS and complete the line-art repair pass, submitted with before-and-after details captured at working zoom.
3. 3.Separation and flats. Build the SEPARATION layer, then deliver finished FLATS for every character and plane on the page, with colors matched to a supplied reference.

Assessment

This unit is assessed on the working file, not on a flattened image. Students submit the layered source file. The instructor checks the layer structure and naming against the production stack, solos each layer to find gaps and leftover dust, and checks the flats for leaks, unflatted pixels, and color match to the reference. The standard is a file that a professional could open and continue.

Techniques taught

• Color scripting a sequence. Assign every beat its palette before any panel is rendered.
• Keying the hour. Re-key a scene from daytime local color to night by cooling the whole palette, on the principle that red is not red by moonlight.
• Directing the eye. Subordinate detail that competes with the story: tone down stars that a reader mistakes for snow, and lengthen a shooting star’s tail when the story hangs on it.
• Temperature as tense. Color a cold blue present against warm sepia memory, so that the reader knows past from present without a caption.
• One committed light source per scene. Light the faces and the objects that matter from a single source, and let the rest fall into darkness.
• Reserved accent. Hold one bright flash for the story’s key object, and set a golden memory against smoky ruins.
• Continuity across panels. Keep character and environment color consistent while the light changes from panel to panel.
• Recoloring as interpretation. Treat new color over existing line art as new color art with its own intent, not as a correction of the original colorist’s work.

Key assignments

1. 1.Color script. A set of small color keys for a short sequence, one per beat, each with a written note stating what the key is doing for the story.
2. 2.Re-key study. Take a page or panel set already flatted in local color and re-key it to a different hour or emotional register. Submitted as a before-and-after pair with a short written rationale.
3. 3.Sequence render. Three to five consecutive panels rendered to finish, holding continuity of light, palette, and character color across the whole sequence.

Assessment

Scored on a posted rubric for narrative legibility (can a reader who has not read the script tell what changed and why), light-source consistency across panels, palette intent, and continuity. The written rationale is graded with the image: students are expected to be able to say what each color choice does for the story.

Techniques taught

• Color holds. Recolor the line art itself where the story asks for it, instead of leaving every line black.
• The rendering pass, in order. SHADOWS, then HIGHLIGHTS, then SPECULAR, with selections taken from FLATS so that edges stay clean.
• Texture and grain. Apply the GRAIN layer last and at a controlled strength.
• Lettering restored on top. Place the LETTERING folder back above BORDERS & GUTTERS once the art is finished.
• Page proofing. Check the page at page size and again at print resolution for leaks, halos, and unflatted pixels.
• Print preparation. Bleed, trim and safe margins, resolution, and color mode; export to a stated delivery specification.
• Revision as versions. Take a revision pass in response to critique, saved as a new version rather than written over the last one.
• Portfolio assembly. Select, sequence, and present a body of finished work together with process documentation, for college and art-school review.

Key assignments

1. 1.Finished page. One page carried through the full progression (inks, flats, holds, shadows, highlights, specular, grain, and lettering) to a print-ready file.
2. 2.Capstone page. A finished page produced to publication specification and delivered to spec. Pacific Crest Institute invites every student to contribute their page to the hardcover published by Floating Island Productions; the grade is for the work delivered to specification, not for any publication decision.
3. 3.Portfolio. A curated set of finished pieces from the term, sequenced and presented with process documentation for each piece.

Assessment

The finished page and the capstone page are scored against a posted finishing rubric covering rendering quality, edge control, print-readiness, and delivery to specification, and must pass a print-prep check before final submission. The portfolio is assessed on selection and sequencing, breadth across the term’s units, the quality of the process documentation, and the student’s ability to explain and defend their selections in a final review.