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CGAA/ACT Live Commission Speed Paint Challenge: On Your Marks, Get Set... A Reminder




On your marks, get set.... Yes, indeed, it's not long before the launch of the CGAA/ACT Live Commission Speed Paint Challenge, so this is just a quick reminder of the project brief and what we want from you over the next two working weeks.   You can find the brief in full here, but read on for a re-cap.

In response to a musical extract posted daily on the group blog, you are challenged to produce synesthetic-style digital paintings that seek to 'visualise' what you're hearing and feeling.  You are encouraged to work quickly and freely with an emphasis on abstraction.  There are no 'right' responses or preferred outcomes.  Indeed, this commission celebrates subjectivity.  We want to be able to say that these paintings represent what a diverse community of creatives 'saw' when they listened to the same piece of music - so diversity of technique, approach and visual vocabulary is good.

In order to keep things consistent between all of us, we need to adhere to the same standard set-up in Photoshop. All paintings are to be created according to the following set-up:

4800 x 2700 pixels  
300 ppi

Your paintings are to be saved as PSD files, containing all of the layers created during the challenge.  Your paintings should NOT be flattened.   
As you create your synesthetic paintings, we want you to create new layers frequently, so the 'build up' of your final digital painting is 'recorded' and can be 'unpacked' into multiple images or frames. 

Your file name should include your full name and challenge number:
Jordan_Buckner_Challenge_01.psd

Should you produce more than one painting in response to a particular daily challenge, please number your PSD files accordingly: 

Jordan_Buckner_Challenge01_01.psd
Jordan_Buckner_Challenge02_01.psd

When you've completed your digital painting(s), you need to do 2 more things:    
1) upload your unflattened PSD files to your allocated Dropbox folder, which you will have been invited to share via the email address you've provided.  
2) upload your completed digital painting(s) to your individual blog entitled 'CGAA - ACT Speed Paint Challenge' and include the number of the challenge; i.e. 'CGAA - ACT Speed Paint Challenge 1'. 

Many of you have already accepted your Dropbox invites, but some of you are yet to do so - and there maybe some confusion in regard to what you need to do once you've been invited.  See below for instructions: 

1


In your email invite click on 'view folder' to be taken to the Dropbox website.

2


You now have two choices:

A) If you don't already have a Dropbox account, you'll need to create an account. Proceed to fill in your relevant details and create an account.

B) If you already have an account, you can click where the arrow is pointing and proceed to sign in with your existing details.


3


If this is the first time you've signed into Dropbox you again have two choices:

A) Download the Desktop App. This is recommended if you're working from home as you might need this to upload larger files. You won't be able to install this on the university machines.

B) Click on the arrowed link, which will skip downloading the application. You can always re-download at a later time.





A) You can now upload work to the project folder!

In a change to the original schedule, the first CGAA/ACT Speed Paint Challenge will go live on the CGAA group blog at Midnight tonight and you will have 24 hours before the second Challenge goes live (and so on for the duration of the project).  

You're all busy with your own course-based project work, but for this project to be truly representative and properly exciting we need your consistent participation, so give us twenty minutes out of your day for ten days and together we'll achieve something remarkable!  

So, in short:
  1. Look for the Speed Paint Icon
  2. Listen to the musical extract
  3. Listen again
  4. Create Photoshop file @ 4800 x 2700 pixels / 300ppi
  5. Paint!
  6. Enjoy yourself!
  7. Use layers
  8. Save your painting as PSD file
  9. Dropbox your painting
  10. Blog your painting
  11. (& repeat!)

Be sure to add the CGAA/ACT Live Project Commission blog to your reading list, where you will be able to follow the project's progress.

"I applied streaks and blobs of colors onto the canvas with a palette knife, and I made them sing with all the intensity I could."  Kandinsky 

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