Visual Feedback: quick markup strategies in Photoshop

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NOTE: this is Pre-Jing

This webex workshop goes through fast and simple steps in Photoshop for marking up student work. I will use examples from:

1. Drawing
2. Perspective
3. Color theory
4. Design fundamentals
5. Design and technology
6. Senior Project
7. Portfolio

we will address

1. Horizon lines
2. Vanishing points
3. Suggest composition ideas
4. Correct color
5. Format issues, incorrect posting size, bad photos and color cast
6. Stacking images onto one canvas to reduce thread clutter
7. Professional labeling of work.

Notes

My students are required to post RGB jpgs or gifs. I don't allow PDF or .doc.

Students are given tutorials and step by step instructions on how to format, adjust, resize work for the web and the threads in week 1. After week 1 an incorrectly formatted post recieves 0 points. Link to my formatting tutorials

Warning: When a gif is resized it gets jagged edges, so always convert gifs to RGB.

the key words here are FAST (often less than 3 minutes) and EFFICIENT. You want simple markups that are easy to decipher and that support your crtiques and analysis of student work. I know, we all think our markups are legible, but the ones I have been seeing are hard to understand - and it makes me wonder whether mine are! So keep lines, text, clutter to a minimum.

As we go through these examples, keep in mind that the number of markups depends upon the course. In Drawing I markup the majority of work posted. Less in current Color Theory since it is exercise based. A fair amount in Design. And the type of markup changes from course to course. In Foundation markups seem often to be corrections. In Graphic Design it can be more about brainstorming, especially in the higher level courses.

To give you an idea of my own method, here is a contact sheet (below) of the first two weeks of markups (25 total) for one drawing course. The quantity can be more, or less, depending on the students. And the markups can range from repeated admonitions concerning ellipses and formatting, to more advanced brainstorming about composition.

Click to enlarge

Each markup is accompanied by an explanation of the markup - some short, some extensive.

For example:

Hi Alison (:

You'll need to repost at the correct size - this is too big - while you are at it - check the following:

it appears as if the top of the TV marks the horizon line since it is perfectly flat -

make sure the lines of the base it is on all diminish to THAT horizon line

same with the rug - it is parallel to the wall - so those lines should meet up on the horizon line as well

also after I started marking this up it appears as if we shouldn't even see the side of the base -

what do you think?

See attached/suggestions (:

Why am I such a fan of markups?

• They provide visual feedback instead of long and confusing written posts attempting to describe something happening in a design or drawing.
• They are a sign to the student that you care about their work and are involved in the class.
• Have you had a PPAR yet? Have you seen the snapshot information, the things they are looking for? Markups are insurance.

TIPS: (For the text part of the crit, and general feedback)

• use Text Expander for common phrases
• Use a 'cheat sheet' of the same common phrases specific to assignment
• Post the written comments in a weekly master grade sheet.
• Use tabs
• Keep a library of images and links to post along with your feedback - see my image libs

 

Note: I keep all written stuff in a google doc so I have it available anywhere I go.

See examples during workshop.

Finally - make students post descriptions of process and other information along with the work - it helps everyone critique. And examples of my students' work can be found on my site - I think you can see that by encouraging brainstorming and discipline in presentation the work benefits.

Let's do some markups!

Drawing

1

Still Life

original 1500 x 1500 375 dpi

summary

1. resizing
2. adjusting color
3. suggesting composition ideas
4. label

steps

1. image size
2. change dpi to 72
3. change size to 650 wide
4. extend canvas for comparison image
5. desaturate
6. levels
7. dodge tool
8. line tool for perspective check
9. merge line layers, make them less opaque
10. add more lines for comp ideas
11. dupe and transform lines
12. sign in righthand corner 10 px geneva or...

notes: the most time consuming part of this markup was the dodge tool. Students are advised on how to shoot work with a digital camera using even lighting. After week 2 this would receive a loss of points for presentation.

This is a good drawing - it just had format issues, and I wanted to suggest ways of subdividing the negative space for a more complex composition using simple lines.

 

2

Portrait

Summary:

A few adjustments fixes nose and eyes, adds bg, adjusts levels

steps

1. resize
2. add canvas
3. adjust levels
4. add shoulders
5. align eyes with mouth
6. erase nose lines
7. add bg
8. crop hair
9. darken pupils and upper lip

3

brainstorming

Suggest bg/comp ideas

Color Theory

encouraging design in exercises

original image

most of the current color assignments are exercises and not 'compositions'

the hue/sat tool, cropping, adjusting opacity, using the magic wand are what I use over and over.

My most common suggestion is to make the designs that do get created more complex through copying, duplicating, flipping, repeating...

sample post to student that accompanies the re-post:

I like those stacked cubes as well - in fact I might have edited out the stars and done more with the cubes -
mono looks good - lights and darks, comps as well, watch the analogous - they should be related - like next to one another and yours are going from cools to warms - they should be all cools, or all warms
and split comps - yours are one color too far - you need to find a complement, and then go just ONE color over on either side -
you can redo this -
and see attached for design ideas with cubes only -
Finally - save for web as a gif 256 colors or as a high quality jpg (:
J

original image

steps

1. increase canvas size to one side for comparison
2. select an image
3. copy, duplicate, flip (vertical and horizontal), merge layers, dupe, adjust color and opacity
4. repeat

Notes: I won't do this for every assignment, but a few a week can encourage students to explore complexity and more sophisticated use of simple digital tools

Design and technology, Senior Project, Portfolio

original images 1 2 3 4

stacking and labeling multiple works, scans, and images onto one canvas.

Many assignments involve roughs, thumbs, sketches and then finished pieces to be posted to one assignment thread. If every student posts 3 or 4 images per assignment we end up with a huge thread and many clicks to view the work in segments.

I require students to post only one jpg or gif regardless of the number of works stipulated by the assignment. I don't allow PDFs or .docs since they take too long to download. I post stacking instructions and have a video tutorial as well for this.

In this case we have a design and technology CD project with sleeve, CD, tray card and 6 page booklet. We will place them on one canvas using guidelines and label the post in the bottom right. NOTE: Keep in mind that screen shots (apple shift 3, 'print screen' and paste onto a canvas) are excellent for posting work done in illustrator, indesign, photoshop with layers window showing, and website layouts.

Steps:

1. Open the various images you want to stack regardless of resolution
2. Create a master canvas no wider that 800 pixels and as tall as you like. If there are a number of images to stack consider reducing the width to 600 wide. Average is 650 wide x 3000 high
3. Add guides for margins
4. Drag images to the canvas, resize holding the shift key (control T, apple T) and adjust levels (control L, apple L) and hue/sat (control U, apple U)
5. Title in small font at bottom right
6. Save for web