Mr. Boulanger, Computer Teacher

Based on Still-life with Peaches painting (2004) by Russian artist Gribennikov, the 8th grade students created their own nature morte with Photoshop.The most still lives are from Annelies, Yasmine, Puneet and Tyler

Nature Morte by Gribennikov (2004) – the original

Natures Mortes by Annelies, Yasmine, Puneet and Tyler (2009)

[lesson plan = 2 classes]

Nature morte or still-life: Type of work in which an arrangement of diverse inanimate objects, including items of food (especially fruit and game), plants and artefacts is depicted. This arrangement is often apparently random and is usually within a domestic setting. The form is normally associated with oil painting, but other media have been used, including mosaics, watercolour, collage and photography. Despite the existence of still-life subjects in pre-Classical, Classical and Renaissance art, the form was recognized as a distinct genre only in the 17th century, when it reached the height of its popularity in western Europe, especially the Netherlands (where many of the conventions of Renaissance and Baroque still-life painting originated), France, Spain and Italy. (from the art encyclopedia at answers.com)

After a good discussion with another student regarding the role of media in education and the distortion of  reality through stereotypes (1), Johanna comes at the right moment with this fantastic video. You will see in this video how a newscaster for Diet.com who spends her life training towards the perfect body still requires some Photoshop touch-up to be magazine-worthy. Never forget that when you are looking at a magazine “99.99% of all celebrity photos are photoshopped.” An artificial reality is not what you want to based your real-life standards upon. Instead of focusing too much on an ephemeral (2) physical appearance, it is much more important to build a warm, positive, open-minded character, attractive to many more people than a clear skin!

This is a second spot Johanna added to the list which will remind you that fast-food is not happy food.

(1) Stereotype: A general mental image of a group or class of people that is usually oversimplified. An advertiser may feature a stereotypical user of his product in order to encourage the audience to identify with the user. For example, housewives are often used in advertisements for cleaning products.

(2) Ephemeral: Lasting for a markedly brief time. Living or lasting only for a day, as certain plants or insects do.

Many of you spend time outside of class “working” with their computers. Don’t forget that if the work is worth displaying, I will be giving away exatr-credit for these.

Here is an exhibit of the most recent extra-curricular works from my students:

3 images from Pauline with the online photo-editing tool lunapic

From Paola, Megan and Ankhit with Photoshop

iPods by Robbert with Google SketchUp 7

Dimitri pursues his talent with Photoshop

These phantasmagorical fractal designs have been created from scratch by the apt students of my high school computer elective. Starting from a circular pattern, they amplified the original on a gradient background. A beautiful rendering one of the rare occasions when I display the work of every single student in the class:

[project length = 4 periods]

A car won’t make you cooler, but being able to design a logo in Photoshop is a great skill to have. 8th graders test their mouse pad with this logo reproduced with multiple layers and layer styles. Sandhya and Stephanie’s work are showcased here:

[Project length = 2 class periods]

More extra credit work by Dimitry in Photoshop

Some extra-credit works which were submitted to me recently:

hatem                          dimitri                            haiel

A short assignment similar to the Easter eggs assignment. Students discover layers, brushes and colors in Photoshop by coloring a black & white model.

This is a collage of all the works which were submitted:

[Project length: 1 class period]

These are the environmental magazine covers that Grade 10 produced.

A collage of all the covers made:

4 individual covers:

With this graded assignment, the students were able to apprehend the advertising world and the balance between form and content. Criteria emphasized the creation of eye-catching title and headlines (content) and the design of the cover (form).

[Project length: 3 class periods]

This is a collage of the Easter eggs which 8th graders completed as an introduction to Adobe Photoshop.

This is a non-graded assignment in which 8th grade students discovered how to use brushes, colors and gradients in Photoshop.
[Project length: one class period]