Collaboration is Key

Last spring I was approached by Mrs. Chase, our amazing theater teacher, to discuss a collaborative project between Ms. Moran’s Art students, Mrs. Massoni’s Art students, and my Digital Media 2 & 3 students. The premise was that once the characters were cast for the fall play “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”, the 6 main characters would be professionally photographed and then drawn as caricatures by the Art students. After the Art students did their caricature sketch, they were sent over to my Digital Media students to be scanned. From there, the drawings came to life with color using Adobe Illustrator and were incorporated into the poster and t-shirt design.

This project was a huge undertaking for both Digital Media 2 & 3 students to take on so early in the school year. Digital 2 students worked on poster designs using InDesign and Illustrator– both programs were not something they learned in the first year Digital Media class.  Likewise, Digital 3 students used Illustrator to work on the t-shirt designs. Students did a lot of crash-course learning and were able to get the job done on time. I’m very proud of the great designs submitted for consideration; however, Mrs. Chase could only choose one design to be used to advertise the play. In the end, both the t-shirt and poster designs were a team effort. The team was comprised of Hope Halvey (DM2), Carlos Sanchez (DM3), and Shannon Oakley (DM2). We received the printed posters today and they look amazing in print! Congratulations to everyone involved including our talented art students. Indeed…it does take a village! See the results of this collaborative project.