Fundamentals of Computer Graphics

Principles of Color, Typography, Layout, Graphic Parameters, and File Formats

What you'll learn

• Use best practice principles to create and edit computer graphics, including synthetic images, drawn artwork, and photographs.
• Expand your capabilities and improve your existing skills as a graphic artist and user of graphics software.
• Apply knowledge of graphics fundamentals while using software to create and edit graphics.
• Communicate effectively with others regarding technical requirements and options in graphics software.
• Leverage your investment in graphics software by being able to do more with it.

Requirements

None, though owning or having access to graphics software is highly recommended.

Description

The course is divided into 8 sections:

1. Course Information
2. Introduction to Computer Graphics
3. Color
4. Typography
5. Layout
6. Graphic Characteristics
7. File Formats
8. Graphics Production Workflow

The course subject matter covers the fundamental aspects of all digital images. That includes drawn line art, photographs, and synthetic graphics - in other words, any visual that can be displayed on a computer or printed. Individual graphics as well as layouts consisting of multiple graphics are covered.

This is not a course in the mechanics of how to use any specific software programs. Instead, this course is meant to prepare you to learn and use graphics software features knowledgeably and efficiently, through understanding the underlying principles involved in working with these features.

Shortly after I started teaching Adobe Illustrator, I decided that my students really needed a basis for understanding the options presented within the Illustrator interface. That is why I developed this course and made it a prerequisite for my Illustrator class. I decided that my students couldn’t be effective in learning to use Illustrator without understanding things like file formats and color models. These are concepts that Illustrator and other graphics software presumes you know already. During the process of using the software to create and edit graphics you are presented with a lot of choices. If you are not sure what these choices really mean and make the wrong ones, you could be creating something that may look good but is not compatible with its intended digital environment. That could be a web page, a printed document, or a software application.

This course is comprehensive in that it covers not only information that is specific to computer graphics, but general background information that sets the stage for learning about computer graphics. This background information has been around since way before the advent of computers. For instance, the properties and dimensions of color. I am including some of this information in the course, but only to the degree that you need to know it in order to create graphics on a computer.

You may know some of the things presented in the course already, and you can always skip over this information by fast forwarding the video. However, I recommend that you not do this. Your knowledge may be more fragmentary than you think. You may not know what you don’t know. I designed this course to help you put all of your fragments of knowledge into a comprehensive framework.

Who this course is for:

• Novices who are completely new to using computer software to create graphics and/or edit photos
• Casual or occasional graphics creators who have some experience
• Experienced professionals who want to fill gaps in their knowledge
• Project managers, clients, and stakeholders in graphics-related industries