Digital Re-skilling for Design & Production

Grant:

Instructional Development Fund (IDF)

Academic Year:

2016 - 2017 (June 1, 2016 through May 31, 2017)

Funding Requested:

$500.00

Project Dates:

Thu, 09/08/2016 - Mon, 12/12/2016

Applicant(s):

msmyers

Overview of the Project:

As I have continued to work as a professional costume designer, I have observed how quickly digital design practices have become the norm in all areas of theatre design. Costume renderings are now easily developed, shared, refined, and completed digitally. I propose to purchase an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil and during this current school year “take” my own Design Rendering course concurrently with this next cohort. The difference is that I will tackle each assignment digitally, outside of the classroom, and learn what is possible and how future iterations of the syllabus will need to change as more technology is integrated. The tools and technologies available now offer a high degree of detail, are artistically gratifying to use, and are more affordable. I am impressed with the flexible and comprehensive tool selection, as well as the ability to export in a variety of file formats. My first task would be to start sketching, as I did more than 35 years ago when I began people watching and drawing from life. Just as I teach, I will start in black and white, working linearly before advancing to shading, then full color. I plan to maintain a blog, tracking my progress as I discover what is possible in this medium.

Final Report Fields

Project Objectives:

Reskill my visual communication skills using an iPad Pro, ipencil and Procreate. Use my own Design Rendering syllabus as a template for testing techniques. Rediscover the joy of drawing and painting using a new tool.

Project Achievements:

I thought I was only going to be able to work on introductory sketching projects, but I'm very pleased that I was able to jump in and render an entire show. As an educator, it was a privilege to be transparent with students about my own learning curve. I finally feel like I'm catching up with contemporary practices and will become comfortable teaching ithem in the future to our Design and Production students.

Continuation:

Very much so. I am in a period of transition. I'm in the middle of one professional show that I began with paper and penciI last summer. I suspect this will be my last project off the ipad. Moving forward, I will continue to develop all new designs on the iPad. Looking ahead I'm confident we will be teaching these methods in a formal classroom setting in the years to come.

Dissemination:

Some of my work to date using these new tools can be found at this quick portfolio website:
https://sites.google.com/a/umich.edu/old-dog-new-tricks/
Throughout this term I have shared my process with my Design Rendering class as they complete similar projects. I've met casually with other costume design students, and I've energized other design faculty to explore digital drawing practices.

PRINTER VERSION

SEND BY EMAIL