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Intro to Digital Drawing & Painting
Course Outline & Prerequisites

After School Classes Holiday School Classes

Adobe
Photoshop

Wacom
Tablet

Why Digital?
Over the last few decades digital art has become the world standard for visualising the media of tomorrow. Its ability
to dramatically speed up any creative pipeline, as well as provide failsafes and undos which are not possible with
analog media, has cemented the digital domains superiority in the global commercial arts community.
Without a doubt the ability to work speedily and eectively to produce industry-dening artwork in a digital arena
is paramount to any artist wanting to excel in a career in the ever-expanding elds of television, lm, animation,
gaming, and online media.
Yet, digital drawing is still sometimes perceived a daunting, even alienating, discipline for young and seasoned
analog artists alike. Artists often nd it dicult to nd a solid starting point in digital art and rightly become
discouraged when this happens.
The aim of the Digital Drawing & Painting course is to promote digital drawing for the new generation by
demystifying its tools and techniques. Tried and tested traditional drawing techniques will be taught for the digital
medium, utilising software packages such as Adobe Photoshop which allows for a vibrancy and precision in colour
and composition which analog media cannot provide.
Students will be taught how to bring canvasses of pixels to life through the use of Wacom Intuous drawing tablets,
under the constant guidance of industry professionals. And when the days work is done, simply save your work.
No paper, no turpentine, and no mess.
By starting right, and at a comfortable learning pace, the transition form analog to digital drawing and painting will
open up a new world of visual artistry and set a solid foundation for your future career.
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Course Outline
& Prerequisites

Course Schedule

The digital drawing course will take place at The Animation School in Rosebank, Johannesburg in our Apple iMac equipped
classrooms. First term classes commence on Monday, 16 February 2015 at 14:00 and will be ongoing until Friday 20 March
2015 for a total of 10 weeks. Students will be required to bring their own lunch. Filtered water will be provided.

After School Classes

Twice a week - Monday to thursday:
Students may select to either attend classes on Mondays and Wednesdays or Tuesdays and Thursdays .
Class Times:
MON & WED - 14:00 to 17:30 (contact based class)
TUE & THU - 14:00 to 17:30 (contact based class)
FRI - 14:00 to 17:30 (workshop allowing students to revise & practice)
SAT - 09:00 to 13:00 (workshop allowing students to revise & practice)
Starting Dates for Afternoon School Classes
The Digital Drawing & Painting intro course will be commencing on the following Dates:
16 February 2015 to 25 March 2015
13 April 2015 to 15 June 2015
20 July 2015 to 02 0ctorber 2015
12 October 2015 to 09 December 2015

Holiday School Classes

Monday to Friday:
First holiday classes commence on Thursday 26 March 2015 at 08:30 and will be ongoing until 10 April 2015 for a total of two
weeks. Students will be required to bring their own lunch. Filtered water will be provided free of charge.
Class Times:
MON To FRI - 08:30 to 16:00 (contact based classes, workshops practise and revision)
Starting Dates for Holiday School Classes
The Digital Drawing & Painting intro course will be commencing on the following Dates:
26 March 2015 to 10 April 2015
29 June 2015 to 17 July 2015
05 October 2015 to 09 October 2015 (specialized course)

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Costing

Costs

Cost and Learning Material :

Digital Drawing and Painting Introductory Course (60 hours)
Cost: R7,200/ Course
Special Opening Price R5000/ Course

Pricing:

After School Classes

What is included in the R 7,200
Tuition for After School Classes 10 weeks
(3 hours per day)
Access to the Apple iMac computer lab

Holiday School Classes

What is included in the R 7,200
Tuition for Holiday School classes 2 weeks
(6.5 hours per day)
Access to the Apple iMac computer lab

Prerequisites to join the Digital Course:

Applicants are required to have minimal experience in traditional drawing skills
An interest in learning the digital drawing and painting
Computer literate in either Apple Mac or Windows PC
Equipment Required to join the Digital Course:
Access to a home computer (PC or Mac) with a version of Adobe Photoshop (Preferably Cs4/Cs5/Cs6 or CC)
Wacom Intuos CTH480 R 1,650-00 (May be purchased from The Animation School)
to watch the review visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRPYN4dS0xU
The Digital Drawing and Painting ourse will be taking place at:
The Animation School
Rosebank Oce Park
181 Jan Smuts Avenue
Block E
Rosebank (Parktown North)
Johannesburg
Should you wish to apply please contact:
Tumelo Selamolela
Tel: 086 182 2244
Email: tumi@dcacademy.co.za
www.digitalcanvasacademy.co.za
visit: facebook/digitalcanvasacademy
Upon completion students will be issued with a certicate of attendance.
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Course Outline

Digital Sketching Module: 02

Digital Tools Module: 01

Intro to Adobe Photoshop CC

Creating, Opening, Saving les

Interface Overview
Zooming panning and navigator panel
Understanding resizing and re-sampling
Cropping and image
Layers panel overview
Enhancing an image with layer styles
Using the move tool and some of the
shortcuts
Transforming with the move tool
Undos and the history panel
Making selections with the marquee and
lasso tools
Using quick selections with marquee and
lasso tools
Using quick selection and the magic wand
tool
Making selections with quick mask mode
Adjustment and ll layers
Using the brightness and contrast adjustment
Using the levels adjustment
Using the curves adjustment
Using the hue/saturation adjustment
Document color modes and color setting

Understanding background/foreground colors

and the color picker
Using the color and swatches panel
Using the eyedropper tool and color sampling
workows
Understanding Photoshop brush basics
Customizing brush dynamics in the brush
panel
Dening a custom brush preset
Filling selections with the paint bucket tool
Using and customizing gradients
Painting with natural bristle brushes
Repairing an image with the spot healing
brush
Duplicating pixels with the clone stamp tool
Dening and using too presets
Hiding information in an image using layer
masks
Rening a mask to increase precision
Drawing paths with the pen tool and
freeform pen tool
Adding text to an layer
Blurring an image
Sharpening an image
Using the liquify tool

Beginners Guide to Concept Sketching

Speed painting sketches

Storyboard sketches
Fleshing out a concept sketch
Habits of successful sketchers

Introduction and lessons overview

Sketching and its role
Sketching by project type
Thumbnail sketches
Gesture sketches
Silhouette sketches

Fundamentals of Digital Drawing

Introduction and lessons overview

Basic types of lines
Drawings contours lines: rening shapes
Drawing contour lines: completing contour lines
Understanding blind contour lines
Introduction to value and hatching work
Contour hatching techniques
Cross hatching techniques
Using cross hatching to add texture

Fundamentals of Perspective Drawing

Introduction and lessons overview
Basic concepts of perspective
Foreshortening explained
Linear perspective explained
Working in a 1-point perspective
Finding the center of the foreshortened
shape

Using cross hatching to add texture

Breaking down objects into basic shapes
Character concept: beginning with basic
shapes
Character concept: rough line work
Character concept:beginning rened line
Character concept: beginning to add value
Character concept: nishing value

Working in a 2-point perspective

Working in a 3-point perspective
Drawing ellipses and cylinders in
perspective
Rene the line work
Adding thick outline and value

Color Theory and Digital Painting Module: 03

Tones in Digital Painting Module: 04

Fundamentals of Color Theory

Methods of Painting Realistic Skin Tones

o Introduction and lessons overview

o Breaking down the basic components of the
color wheel
o Creating tints, shapes and tones of color
o Color temperature
o Finding color harmony using basic color
schemes
Continuing to nd color harmony using basic
color
Color psychology
Using the color picker in Photoshop
Using the Kuler extension in Photoshop
Simplifying the process of color selection in a
project
Applying a color scheme on a project

Beginners Guide to Digital Painting

Introduction and lessons overview

Creating and navigating documents
The basics tools for painting
Choosing and mixing colors
Understanding Photoshop layers for painting
o Undos and the history panel for painting
o Making selections for painting
o Understanding masking techniques
o Brush dynamics and custom brush presets
o Sample workow for digital painting

Painting the eyes

Painting the ears
Painting the nose
Painting the lips
Rening overall details, color and values

Introduction and lessons overview

Mixing the base tone
Mixing the mid-tones
Blocking in shadows and blending
Adding warm tones and highlights

Painting Female Hairstyles in Photoshop

Blocking in some highlights

Adding in some additional colors
Rening and detailing
Layering additional hairstyles
Adding in nal details

Introduction and lessons overview

Examining hairstyles
Sketching out the hairstyles
Mixing and painting a base tone
Blocking the mid-tones
Blending our mid-tones with our base tones

Coloring a Beauty Sketch

Introduction and lessons overview

Sourcing references and creating unique
references
Preparing the scanned image and color
correcting
Masking and using layer modes to color

o Using the airbrush and layering colors to

create depth
Adding nal eye detail, lashes and brows
Coloring in the iris
Coloring in the hair and giving texture
o Working with shadows and adding in nal
detail

Using Texture to enhance Digital Painting

Introduction and lessons overview
Using brushes to create texture
Conguring brush dynamics
Creating and saving custom patterns
Using custom patterns

Using photos and textures scans as

reference
Creating textures with lters
Manipulating 2d textures to appear 3d
Using displacement to blend a 2d texture
into a 3d digital painting