Hello, and welcome to Photoshop, Part II. In this six week course I'll be your guide and mentor. The interaction between us can be the same as if you were sitting in one of my college classrooms. Don't be afraid to speak up when you know the answer or when you need some help.
My Nickname is Doodelbug. When you see my "artwork" you'll know how I got it. I draw because I live, and I don't really care who likes it. My hope is that you'll feel the same way -- free to sketch and experiment, without fear of being judged. Don't come here to worry about your drawing ability. We're here to learn Illustrator. So if I say to draw a birdie or a bat, you can decide what kind - feathered or badminton, baseball or vampire. Spread those wings, my little chicky.
Earlier Versions. The bad news is, this course is not written for people using earlier versions of the program. The good news is, the program hasn't changed a whole lot since version 4. Versions 5 and 6 are pretty similar, though version 6 looks a little different sometimes. I don't have these earlier versions easily available, so while I will try to help if you have trouble, I can't totally promise.
Each of the newer versions has additional features. A user of an older version won't find all the features described in the lessons, because they simply weren't in the older versions of the program. But the features that ARE there work about the same. If you have an older version, or if you are using a limited edition, you'll just have to ignore references to what's missing. I recommend joining a good mailing list, where you can get support from users who have the version you own.
Prerequisites: Before signing up for a graphics course, you should understand your computer (PC or MAC) and your operating system (Windows or other) well enough to get around. You should be able to Open, Save, Close, Reopen, Copy, Upload and Download files without help from your instructor. We have enough to do to learn Illustrator, and we won't be teaching Intro to Computers in this classroom.
There are differences in the way files are named, but the names tend to be very similar, and shouldn't give you much trouble if you are already familiar with your operating system. If you're not that sure, you would be well advised to get a book from the library, such as Introducing Mac, or Opening Windows. (I'm just making up those titles. Any book on basics would do very well.)
If you find specific things that need to be written into the lessons, corrections, more explanation, etc., to make the course easier for either platform, please let me know. Dare I admit I'm a human and not a computer, sitting here writing this course? I may misplace a comma, or even (shudder to think of it) type the wrong shortcut key.
There is more help available at
http://activeartz.com/PC%20to%20MAC.htm.
File conversion tips are given at
http://activeartz.com/TechNote6.htm.
Any book that describes the basics of the program would be appropriate to this course. I don't assign you projects from books. Again, try your local library!
Assignments are due by 6:00 PM, EST, the following Friday, if you wish to have them reviewed by an instructor. If you have posted your work before the deadline, and it has not been acknowledged, please inform your instructor, especially if you are working for a certificate.
Late work can be shared with the class, but may not be reviewed by an instructor.
Questions on past lessons are always anwered. There is no time limit on questions.
The school is on Eastern Standard Time (New York, New York.) Please make adjustments, if necessary, in your own time zone calculations. There is a World Clock available at http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/personal.html. I strongly recommend paying a visit to that site and setting up your personal clock. Chats are sometimes scheduled, and you don't want to know how many students have arrived a few hours early, waited around, and then left just before the chat actually started.
Study Time Required
Lessons take an average of two hours, but acquiring true familiarity
with the program's features will require much more practice than that.
Your assignments consist of working with each of the exercises, as presented
in the lessons, and displaying the results of your work on your web
site.
I recommend you schedule a segment of time when you will work with your lessons. Write it on your calendar, and treat it as something important. If you must miss a session, be sure to reschedule it. Believe me, unless you take your studies seriously, you won't get everything out of them that you could.
Certificates
If you are working for a certificate, your assignments must be complete
and presented in a timely fashion. Review of lessons posted after the due
date may be done as a courtesy, depending on the instructors' time and
availability.
For information on course certificates, go to http://www.lvsonline.com/certs.html.
To Post or Not to Post?
Whether you choose to post some, all, or none of your work is entirely
up to you. If you are not working for a certificate, you may yet
wish to display your work in order to share it with other students, to
receive feedback (and a bit of praise), to receive answers to certain questions,
and simply to be sure you are working on-track.
If you decide to post your work, put a message on the discussion board, including the url to your web page. (See below: Posting your Assignments and Getting Help.)
The End of the Course
The board will remain active for at least 10 days following the posting
of the final lesson. Lessons will remain online for at least 10 days, and
are often available until the start of the next semester. If you can't
complete your lessons in the allotted time, you should save them to your
computer and work on them when you have more time.
Posting and Getting Help
If you decide to show work to the instructor and to share it with the
class, you will need a web page where you can post your lessons. Free space
is available at www.tripod.com, www.geocities.com,
and many other places. I have placed a tutorial for uploading images to
your website HERE.
There is also a basic HTML tutorial at http://www.lvsonline.com/htmltut/index.html for those of you who wish to create a more elaborate web page.
Students who are working for a certificate are required to show their work by posting it to a web site in a timely fashion. Once you have posted homework, you should place a message on the discussion board with a direct URL to your work (not to a homepage or index) so I can give you credit.
Your First Teacher Told You This Already
Please place your name, (and your LVS user name)
on each assignment page. Yes, the things you
learned in Kindergarten still apply. (For those of you who never went to
kindergarten, please refer to your notes from first grade.) Students who
use several different names are likely to become confused in your instructor's
cranial spaces, so try to use only one, or to put all your names on your
assignments, and on your email or discussion board messages. (I'm sitting
here, reliving the Saga of the Three Maries. Don't ask.)
Link from Your Message to Each Lesson Page
Please put the URL for each individual project
or page you want reviewed into your message. When
you post to the discussion board that your work is done, list
each specific url in your message.
Don't give your index or homepage url, where your links are found. If I
have to follow several links to get to your work, I may never get
there, simply because I am looking at so many student pages at the same
time.
Discussion Board or Private Email?
Because I often review student work and messages from distant computers,
it is best to post to the discussion board, especially if you want feedback
or have questions. Don't email me directly or put questions on the page
with your work.
Questions and Help
If you need help with something in the
lesson, please ask. This is the place to ask those questions you think
are too dumb to ask someplace else. I encourage you to use the board, rather
than private email. You may get an answer from another student before I
get to the board. Your questions and observations are sure to benefit other
students.
Don’t be afraid to help each other! We’re all in this boat together, and there is always more to be learned. If there are people who know and remember every feature in one of today's sophisticated programs, they are probably on medication.
Chats
If you want a chat, just say so! I like to have at least one scheduled
chat toward the middle, and another toward the end of my courses. These
tend to take place Friday, Saturday or Sunday evenings. You will be notified
when chats for this course are scheduled, but you can influence that scheduling
by putting messages on the discussion board to let me know you want one!
If you don't speak up, and I don't see need or interest, I don't schedule the chat. I've spent too many evenings waiting in chat rooms all by myself. One semester I had a message after the course had ended that one student had wanted a chat. If she had told me sooner, we both would have had better luck.
Chats are held on IRC.
The IRC server is irc.webmaster.comThe chats are not required. They are offered as an additional opportunity for you to get feedback and to ask questions about the program.The channel I often use is #lvs, but I'll notify you about that.
You can download pIRCh at http://www.pirch.com/ or mIRC at http://www.mirc.org/core.htm. Either of these programs will work.
Study Hall: There are mailing lists (called Study Halls), maintained by students, for students. You are welcome to join. LVS_[course-name]_Study_Hall-subscribe@egroups.com. You can post messages on the mailing lists as you like. Nobody monitors these but you.
General Chat: There is also a general mailing list for all students at lvsdetention-subscribe@egroups.com that you are welcome to join. This is a General Chat list, so you can talk about your courses, your boy friends or housebreaking your new pet. It's none of my business. Instructors sometimes take part, but you aren't even required to wear shoes in the detention hall.
See you in class.
Christine C. Frey