Teaching Philosophy
An integrated understanding of design programs and professional techniques with creative insight is needed to make digital art. However, the production industry uses a very dense technical jargon, and an interface is needed to hone these complex ideas down to their fundamentals and reassemble them into a useable learning path for students. With a Bachelor’s degree in animation and a Master’s degree in New Media, and professional experience as Art Director for two years and as an Instructor for two year, my enthusiasm for animation and my passion for academic research has driven me to share my digital art knowledge with those who would like to pursue it as a career, either commercially or experimentally.
Digital Art is not made by a single program, but by multiple applications with integrated knowledge. In the first level, students are required to learn all of the techniques, gain the ability to utilize the programs, and also understand the entire vocabulary of digital art. In this fundamental level the programs themselves are not important, but what they do is. This drives students to the second level, in which students are engaged in research methods to advance their skills in digital art and to help them to develop an understanding of the critical evaluation and assessment of digitalart works. It is essential to expose the student to and let the student explore experimental uses of digital art in the visual arts with an emphasis on integrating digital media with current studio practices in two-, three-, and four-dimensional art.
If considering the whole course as a chapter of music, the assignments or projects are the beats and the topics or directions are the Rhythms. It is very important for the instructor to get the entire gamut well organized and to keep a course vitality. The students will be encouraged to find their own interests and bring them into the class projects, to critique their fellow students' work and be aware of work both as an individual and as a team. The students have the full freedom to express their opinions during the class, and the course plan will be revised based on the students' background and feedback. Student work evaluation is based upon their creative insights (concept), the effectiveness of their projects (technique), their participation in projects and critiques (motivation/contribution), and on the quality of their projects (form).
Digital Art is not made by a single program, but by multiple applications with integrated knowledge. In the first level, students are required to learn all of the techniques, gain the ability to utilize the programs, and also understand the entire vocabulary of digital art. In this fundamental level the programs themselves are not important, but what they do is. This drives students to the second level, in which students are engaged in research methods to advance their skills in digital art and to help them to develop an understanding of the critical evaluation and assessment of digitalart works. It is essential to expose the student to and let the student explore experimental uses of digital art in the visual arts with an emphasis on integrating digital media with current studio practices in two-, three-, and four-dimensional art.
If considering the whole course as a chapter of music, the assignments or projects are the beats and the topics or directions are the Rhythms. It is very important for the instructor to get the entire gamut well organized and to keep a course vitality. The students will be encouraged to find their own interests and bring them into the class projects, to critique their fellow students' work and be aware of work both as an individual and as a team. The students have the full freedom to express their opinions during the class, and the course plan will be revised based on the students' background and feedback. Student work evaluation is based upon their creative insights (concept), the effectiveness of their projects (technique), their participation in projects and critiques (motivation/contribution), and on the quality of their projects (form).
