ATEC 2331 Topics in Animation \ Character Design

Instructor: Bruce Barnes Term: Fall Semester Meeting Time: Tuesday, 8:30 to 11:15 Location: ATEC 2331.001

Contact Information:
Phone: (972) 883-2860 Office: ATEC 1.906 Email: bruce.barnes@utdallas.edu Office Hours: Monday 12:30-2:00 Course Description: Students will develop, design and create characters intended for film and/or games. We will explore a variety of genres and styles. This is a drawing intensive class with additional required research. Learning Outcomes: Students will learn design techniques, classic art principles and visual story telling methods Over the semester the students will pull from these principles to construct their own characters. Course Requirements: Attend all classes and specified lectures on time. Complete all assignments on time and in a professional manner. Participation in class discussions and critiques. Course Methodology: Class sessions will consist of lectures, chalk talks, DVD/video/web viewings, and critiques that will focus on student work.

All work is due and must be ready for review at the start of class time. Late work will not be accepted.

Required Texts
The Art of Animal Character Design by David Colman Figure Drawing, Design and Intention by Michael Hampton Force: Character Design from Life Drawing by Michael D. Mattesi

These books can be found at the Off Campus Bookstore.

Materials:
If you choose to work with traditional tools Two spiral sketchbooks. Artist grade pencils Watercolors and/or color pencils If you go digital. Students are encouraged to complete all work at the ATEC computer labs in order to benefit from collaborative learning with your peers. Students choosing off-site hard and soft ware must have their current work files on the system and available for review at the beginning of each and every class. Problems with of-site systems and /or incompatibility will not be an acceptable excuse and the work will be considered as missing assignments. The school has a scanner in the break room and another in the PC lab. Use these or the scanner of your choice to convert any traditional medium materials into digital formats. Keep it simple. Nothing arcane or memory intensive please, unless there is a valid and necessary reason for you to format it that way.

All work must be saved into the class folder.

To access the class folder: Check on the lower left purple Windows icon and open the search prompt. Type: run Type:\\atec01 (zero,one) Go to the faculty folder: Bruce Barnes Open Prepro Wed Inside is a series of folders numbered One to Fourteen. There is also an additional folder titled Final Inside each of these folders create a personal folder to save each weeks work into. Self title each of the folders, using only your name as it appears on the class roster.

This is the ONLY place I will look for your projects. If it isnt here when
I am evaluating the projects I will consider it a missing project=zero=F

No late work will be accepted.

Grading Policies: Students must satisfactorily demonstrate achievement of course objectives through fulfillment of course assignments and by contributing to class discussions and critiques. Course assignments will require students to use software and equipment available at the ATEC computer labs. Course evaluations will be based on the following: Points required for Grade: A 100-90% B 89-80% C 79-70% D 69-60% F 59 or below. Weekly work counts for 60% of your course grade. The quizzes are 10 %. Your final pitch bible is 30% of your grade for the course.

We will also have readings from assigned text books and scans in the class resources folder. You are also responsible for AVIs/ youtube clips and lectures information. Three quizzes will be based on the information from any or all of these sources. The quizzes are multiple choice.

All work is due and ready for review at the start of class time. Late work will not be accepted.
Attendance also is a critical factor in your grade. Everyone is permitted one unexcused absence. A second unexcused absence will result in a one-letter drop in your final grade (the end of the semester grade of A goes to B, B to C) Three unexcused absences will result in failing the class. Each week a weekly assignment doc will be dropped into the class folder and a semester assigned readings doc will be in the Character Design Class Resources folder Each and every week your work will be saved into three personal files. One is Research. The second is Development. The third is Finals. Research and Development each count as 25 percent of your weekly grade. The Final Look is 50 %.

Week 1

Cute Characters for Kids The Push. The push will be an additional element of weekly assignments. You will never have advanced knowledge of that weeks push until class time.
Week 2 War/ Ancient

Week 3
War/ Current

Week 4
War/Future

Week 5

War in Never Never

Week 6
Zombie Week

Week 7 Creature Feature Week 8

Hearts and Roses.

Week 9
Martial Arts and Critters

Week 10
Fun and Silly

Week 11
The Heroes Quest

Week 12
Research and create a World

Week 13
Rough looks due

Week 14
Workingresearching..getting it ready.

Week15
Finals Show us your world, characters and stuff. The Show Bible