Enter the Media Arts Competiton

The Multimedia & Entertainment Initiative is pleased to announce the 2009 Media Arts Award Competition, now in its 10th year. Last year more than $35,000 in software and special prizes were awarded to 50 community college and high school students.

This is a very important state-wide competition, and GCOM always tries to enter some or our students work. Last year, our own Vitaliy Zavorotny won for Graphic Design Promotional Materials. In fact, the competiton poster you see here was designed by him as well!

The winners are showcased at an award ceremony and featured on a DVD. A prize in the contest would look excellent on your resume. 

If you are interested, you can get all the info at www.cccmei.net/mediaarts/

In order to enter, you must also contact a GCOM instructor to submit the forms for you. So, we're waiting for you to come to us!

Info Graphics Master to Speak...

Don't miss a great opportunity to see this special GCOM guest speaker presentation:

Nathaniel Levine

Sacramento Bee

visual journalist, graphic artists and digital illustrator

Friday, December 5

1pm in T-100

Nathaniel is an award-winning visual journalist who uses Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, and 3D applications to create 2D and 3D art, maps, charts, and interactive animations for both the printed newspaper and the Sac Bee web site.

This presentation will be very informative for all students interested in graphics, 3D, publication and journalism. There will also be plenty of time for question and answers.

See some of Nathiel's work here:

Interactive version of the map above
Interactive nail gun graphic

Folsom Auto Mall Logo Design Contest: Win $750!

The Folsom Auto Mall is hosting a logo design contest for design students. The designer of the winning logo will win $750. The logo must be created in as a vector-based file (Illustrator) and the deadline is December 1. For more details, visit folsomautomall.com. For feedback on your design prior to sending it in, feel free to contact your GCOM instructors. (PS design a logo that better looking than this flier!)

Outreach Cover Winners!

Congratulations to the GCOM students whose work was chose to grace the covers our our three Spring 09 Outreach Center Schedules.

Downtown Outreach Center: Karen Adams

Davis Outreach Center: Debi Flory

West Sacramento Outreach Center: John Conley

Good job designers!

Friday 11/21 Field Trip to Eagle Press

All GCOM Students are welcome!

What: A Field Trip to Eagle Press
(hosted by Eagle Press Sales Rep, Dave Feldpausch)

Eagle Press is a medium-size sheetfed, web, and digital commercial printer, and part of the nationwide Consolidated Graphics network of companies.

When: Friday, Nov. 21 • 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Where: Eagle Press • 8111 37th Avenue • Sacramento, California 95824
(we will meet at printer - plenty of parking - see map / directions below)

Why: Real World Knowledge of Commercial Printing Operations!

Please RSVP to Tom Cappelletti at cstudio@gmail.com

Driving Directions:
From HWY 50:
Take Power Inn Road South past
Fruitridge
Left on 37th, Eagle is on the left.
From HWY 99 South of Sacramento
Take Fruitridge East
Right on Power Inn Road
Left on 37th, Eagle is on the left.


View Larger Map

Head Modeling Contest

Animation Magazine is sponsoring a 3D head modeling competition!  The Face-2-Face Contest features nearly $10,000 worth of prizes to help you in your creative craft.  Each main category - Film and Game - will offer a First, Second and Third prize sponsored by Dell and Image Metrics.  In addition, all entrants will enjoy great exposure to the entertainment industry in general, and more specifically, to some of the best creative's in the business, our judges.  

Act fast.  The context ends December 5, 2008.

Here's the link for more info: Animation Magazine Face-2-Face Contest

The Magical CNN Hologram

Those of us who watched the election coverage on CNN were dazzled by their awesome visual effects and animations.  From real-time interactive 3D maps to a computer animated charts, CNN brought their "A-Game" for their election night coverage.  Here's a link to how they accomplished the awesome Hologram Effect for their correspondents:  Link

AISFA San Fran welcomes Richard Williams

The San Franciso Chapter of AISFA is welcoming master animator Richard Williams on Sunday,  November 2 at the Balboa Theater in San Franciso.   Richard has been in the animation business for over 50 years.  He created the Oscar-winning A Christmas Carol, directed the animation in Who Framed Roger Rabit?, created the memorable opening titles for feature films like The Return of the Pink Panther, Casino Royale and has directed numerous other award winning commercials, films and animations.  

Richard Williams is the author of "The Animator's Survival Kit", which is the required textbook for GCOM 400 and 401.  He will be presenting a 2-hour lecture on the principles of animations and illustrating them with excerpts from his new DVD set, The Animators Survival Kit Animated.  

For more information on the event, please visit the AISFA San Francisco Chapter website at: www.asifa-sf.org

GC Club Greeting Card Fundraiser

The Graphic Communications Club is printing holiday greeting cards to raise money for GC Club activities including our annual Spring Show, and we're calling on all GCOM students to help us generate design ideas. This will be an excellent chance for GCOM students to have their design ideas become a finished product which can be added to their portfolio. Designs must be submitted in PDF format to gcclubscc@gmail.com no later than November 10, 2008. Students will be able to submit as many designs as they wish. Five designs will be selected to be printed.
The card dimensions will be 4 ¼" x 5 ½" single-fold.
Templates are available.

Design a Schedule Cover... NOW!!

This is an URGENT Call for Entries for all GCOM students:

Sacramento City College’s Davis, West Sac and Downtown Outreach Centers need your design and artistic skills. Using Photoshop and/or Illustrator, create a cover concept or illustration for one of the locations and submit it for consideration by Monday, NOVEMBER 3.

Each cover needs to follow a specific theme. All the important details are on THIS FLYER (click to download), which is also posted in the Mac Lab and T-100 classroom.

Any questions about this can be directed to Don at buttond@scc.losrios.edu or Tom at cappelt@scc.losrios.edu

Inspired by Kit Hinrichs exhibit at Sac State

GCOM students, go see the Kit Hinrichs exhibit in Sac State's library!

The GC Club and a few other GCOM students checked out the exhibit on Friday. Gwen Amos of Sac State's graphic design program shared Kit stories on the exhibits and his process. Kit, a partner of Pentagram (see two videos on the design agency at hillmancurtis.com or click here 1 / 2) is known for "rethinking the annual report."

The exhibit is on display until November in the Library Gallery at Sac State.

Check out Design For Obama

First of all... this blog and this posting are NOT to promote Barack Obama. The GCOM Blog is a non-partisan site. 

This IS a posting to promote the web site DesignForObama.org —not for political reasons, but because it is a great example of how you, as a designer or design student, can use your skills and talent to promote ideas and causes, instead of just products. 

And no matter which candidate you support, as a designer or student, this site can provide you with a lot of inspiration and visual ideas. And if you have your own, you can post it. So, it's also a great example of how a community of designers and artists can come together and use the internet as a way to share their ideas, free of concerns about money or copyright. 

To be fair, I Googled around for John McCain related design sites and found none. But you can find pro-McCain shirts and products at CafePress.com.

And here's the last pitch: Be sure to VOTE on Nov. 4!

CONTEST: Design a Flag for the World

Adbusters is sponsoring THE ONE FLAG competition.

Join designers from all over the world and submit your entry for flag "that embodies the idea of global citizenship."

For all the info, go to the ADBUSTERS SITE

You will also see flyers in the lab and GCOM classrooms.

Here is a snipet of the idea behind the competition:

"These are real targets, worthy of our problem-solving skills, ripe for our intervention. Yet those who have the vision to rise above national and political boundaries still have no symbol to rally under. We invite you to create a flag – free from language and well-worn clichés – that embodies the idea of global citizenship. A symbol that triggers pride and cohesion, whether worn on a backpack, displayed on a door, or flown on a flagpole. A symbol for anyone to declare membership in a growing and vital human cooperative. We invite you to prove that design has a real role to play in the fate of our world."

If you create a design to submit, please also e-mail it to me and I will feature it on the GCOM blog.

ADOBE CS4 is coming...

We don't know the exact date, but it will be released soon, and GCOM will be teaching all of our major classes in the Spring using CS4. (Although it won't be installed in the classes or lab until the holiday break)

There are a ton of fantastic new features and tools in Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash, and Fireworks. Even Acrobat and Bridge will have some major improvements.

But you don't have to wait until January to see the new features. Detailed info about many of the best new upgrades can be found on a variety of web sites. To take a look at some the best new stuff, check out the three sites below. They offer articles and short videos on new features in all the Creative Suite applications:

Adobe TV

Peach Pit Press

National Assoc. of Photoshop Professionals 

GCOM 's new baby!

Adjunct Instructor Heather Hogan has announced the birth of her daughter Novella Skye Van der Mei at  2:46 am on 10/7, weighing in at 6 lbs 12 oz, 19 3/4 inches long. Heather, her husband, and Novella are all doing great.

You can send your congrats to her at chiefcrazyhair@hotmail.com.

Technology Forum

This Thursday at noon in the Student Center the school will be hosting a Technology Forum to get feedback from students, faculty and staff about technology on campus. If you have anything you'd like to share come join us. If you can't make it in person, post you comments online here.

Tower of Youth - Oct 3rd

The 12th Annual Tower of Youth film festival is kicking off Friday, Oct. 3rd.  Over 650 entries were accepted this year, and 25 were selected to been shown at this year's festival.  All entries were written, directed and produced by students from across the nation.  Representatives from art schools and private film/TV companies will be on hand to discuss their work and what they can do for you! Come check out some award winning student films and meet the awesome talent that created these films! For more info check out :  Tower of Youth.org

10/17 – The Kit Hinrichs (of Pentagram) exhibit tour

Tour the Storyteller's Art—a retrospective of the work of Pentagram designer Kit Hinrichs—with Sac State's Graphic Design program director Gwen Amos. This is an opportunity for GCOM students to see this exhibit and ask Gwen questions about the design program at Sac State and what it takes to get in.

We will be carpooling from the SCC campus. Please RSVP to gcClubSCC@gmail.com by October 10th and to get more info.

Internships and Jobs are ALWAYS available.

The Cooperative Work Experience Education and Internship Program at Sacramento City College is a unique, experiential, academic program which allows students to apply what they have learned in the classroom to a work environment while earning college credit, and in many cases, earning a wage. In this occupation, internships are THE gateway to a successful career as a graphic designer, we always have something going on!

Check out what's available by clicking on the image above or here: SCC Internships Select the campus: "Sacramento City College" and the category: "Graphic Communication" and "Submit Request." You also can call Karen DeLira at 558-2069 or Wendy Slobodnik @ 558-2383

Photoshop Creativity Tour in Sac

Photoshop guru Bert Monroy is coming to the Sacramento Convention Center on October 7 for a day-long seminar. The promos say it's the perfect seminar for Photoshop users, photographers and illustrators alike! Different from any seminar offered before, Bert will show you features that are underused and even overlooked by most people, yet powerful enough to make any imagined effect a reality.

For more info and registration, go to: http://www.photoshopseminars.com/creativitytour.html

TODAY!: Sactown's art director to speak to GCOM students

Jason Malmberg of Sactown magazine is slated to speak to the GC Club, Thursday, September 25 at 3pm in T100, and all GCOM students are invited to attend. Come hear this nationally award-winning designer and art director talk about his process and design. 

For more info and to RSVP, please email gcClubSCC@gmail.com.

Photojournalist Guest Speaker - Sept. 18

The SCC Photography department invites all interested GCOM students to join them for a multimedia presentation and Q&A session with Pulitzer Prize winning photographer Renee C. Byer of the Sacramento Bee.

Renee's photo feature "A Mother's Journey" won the 2007 Pulitzer for feature photography.

Sept. 18, 2008

SCC Main Auditorium

6:30pm, doors open at 6.

FREE event

MEET THE GCOM TEACHING FACULTY...

This Fall the number of Graphic Communication Department faculty professors has doubled in size from last year, so I thought it might be a good idea to introduce you to all of us.

First off, Tom Cappelletti, a former adjunct and long-term temporary instructor is now a full-time professor. He teaches Dreamweaver (361) and Illustrator (340) and always keeps the class entertained with his frenetic energy and fast-paced lessons. Tom is a former GCOM student, successful freelance designer, and he is also our multi-modality master, teaching in class, online and interactive TV classes. 

Next, it was a long time coming, but we finally have a full-time Animation instructor—Patrick Crandley. Pat has been a professional animator on a number of exciting TV and advertising projects and is new to teaching profession. He also has a ton of energy and will keep you on your toes in three of our core animation courses (400, 401, and 402).

Last, but not least, is our 1-year long term temporary instructor, Andrea Diaz-Vaughn. She goes by "Dre" and has been an adjunct here for a couple years. She has a background as a very successful designer and creative director at places like SN&R, Sol Design Group, and California Restaurant Association. Dre will be sharing her expertise in InDesign (314), Adv. Illustrator (341), Photoshop (330), and GCOM Studio + Club (490). 

And, if you didn't know, I'm Don Button. Third year full-time prof, five-year adjunct prior to that, and long time SN&R Creative Director and freelance designer. I teach QuarkXPress (316), Newspaper Design (319), Photoshop (330), Adv. Photoshop (331) and Fireworks (360). I'm also department chair, and usually try to cram 2 hours of teaching into every 1.6 hour class.

Here's to a good semester for all!

TWO GREAT CLASSES YOU SHOULD TAKE NOW!

Hey there GCOM students... Welcome Back to SCC!! We're planning for a great semester and we can't wait to see all you students in class and get some creativity going. 

There is still room in two of the MOST IMPORTANT CLASSES GCOM HAS TO OFFER—our 490 Graphic Communication Studio class and our 319 Newspaper Design class. What makes these so important you may ask. Well, they offer something our other great class don't—REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE WITH REAL DESIGN WORK. Both classes are more like internships. 

In 490, you work on real projects for real clients that really get printed and used. You work on team projects and go through a the actual design process of a working design studio.

In 319, you work with journalism and photography  students to create, design and produce the student newspaper, The Express, every two weeks. Even if you aren't into newspapers, the experience and specialized training you get is invaluable and unmatched. 

Both of these classes offer you the best opportunity to create excellent portfolio pieces and they look great on your resume when you start looking for a job. 

Both classes also have scheduled lab sections and meet twice a week. For more information, check out this FLYER with class days and times, and instructor contact info. If you want to join, just come to the next class and you can get added! 

Fall Classes Are Filling Up – Sign Up Now!!

Fall 08 registration is in full swing so if you haven't signed up for your GCOM classes yet, you better get on it soon. The most popular classes Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, and InDesign, but there are some other great classes you may not know much about:

GCOM316, Intro to Page Layout using QuarkXPress 7

Quark is an excellent graphics layout program for both print design and web sites and has been an industry standard for nearly 20 years. It's not as well known as InDesign these days, but it is still used by many design professionals and SCC is the only school teaching it in Northern California.

GCOM319, Newspaper Design

This class works directly with journalism and photography students to learn about news media design for both printed newspapers and web sites. But it is also one of our most important  "real-world" experience classes because the students design and produce the campus newspaper The Express and the E-press web site every 2 weeks. It's a great chance to put your page layout skills to the test, work in a team atmosphere, and produce some excellent portfolio work—not to mention the boost a class like this gives your resume. (Note: this class includes both lecture and lab and is scheduled for Mon/ Wed, 1:30-4pm, but there is some flexibility and the time required can vary depending on the production schedule)

GCOM363, Advanced Creative Web Page Design using Adobe Flash

GCOM383, Interactive and Motion Design using Adobe Flash

If you've learned Dreamweaver and have an interest in more advanced Web sites and motion, Flash is the way to go. And if you've already taken 363, this Fall will be the first chance to take 383 in over 2 years. We don't offer this advanced course every year, so you don't want to miss it! Plus, both classes are taught by Flash Guru, Phuong Nguyen, considered by many local design firms to be the top Flash designer in all of Sacramento. (Note: regardless of the what the SCC catalog says, we are teaching Adobe Flash CS3, not Macromedia Flash)

GCOM420: Intro to Video Game Design

Our long awaited Game Design courses finally begin this Fall with the first class of the program. This will be an exciting and dynamic theory and concepting class that will lead to an intermediate and advanced class to be offer in later semesters. And it's already filling up, so get in quick.

GCOM490: Graphic Communication Studio

This is another one of our very unique and exciting "real-world" experience classes. This class doubles as the GC Club and operates like a working design studio where students work in teams on actual design projects for actual paying clients. This is one of the best opportunities in our curriculum for you to put your skill to the test and develop actual work for your portfolio. It will also look great on your resume! This class includes lecture and lab and meets 2 days a week—Tues/Thurs, 3-5pm.

If you have any questions about these, or any other GCOM classes, feel free to contact Don Button at buttond@scc.losrios.edu.

Summer's Here And The Time Is Right...

For Dancing in the ...  no, wait... the time is right for DESIGNING in the streets! 

Welcome to GCOM@SCC — The Summer Sessions. It's a great place to cool off at the end of a long, hot summer day in Sac. We've got beginning classes in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and InDesign. We've got the best Mac Lab in NorCal. And we've got the best instructors in Sac to teach you what's up: Heather Hogan, Jodi Adkins, Angela Jackson, and your's truly, Don Button.

Welcome to where it's at for the next 8 weeks!

Report From The Animators Ball...

We had a Big Orange Ball last night!

They were shiny, bouncy, funny and creepy... the animations, not the balls. We nearly filled the Student Center to capacity with college and high school students, friends and family, and creative professionals.

We ate some great food and watched some truly entertaining student animation reels. 

And we saw and heard an excellent keynote speech from Pixar animator Austin Madison—that's him in the photo hugging his own big orange ball and holding court with a bunch of very excited animation groupies.

We'd like to express our deep gratitude to all the students who participated, as well as ADAC, and Elara Systems and Wirestone, who donated the bucks for the free grub!

Tom has created a quicky photo gallery of shots he took at the event. CLICK HERE TO SEE.

Until next year....

COME TO THE (big orange) BALL!

The Animators Ball 2008 is this Tuesday, May 13th!

TOP 6 REASONS TO ATTEND:

6. It's free!

5. It's right here on campus at the Student Center!

4. It features the 2D and 3D work of SCC, ARC and area high school students!

3. There will be professional members from ADAC there that you can shmooze with!

2. The keynote speaker is Pixar animator Austin Madison!

1. FREE FOOD, FREE FOOD, FREE FOOD! (and beverages!)

6:30 - 9:00... don't miss it, bring your friends, don't be late!

Meet Our New Prof!

GGOM and the SCC are proud to announce that Tom Cappelletti has been hired as our new full-time, tenure-track Graphic Design and Web Design Assistant Professor. 

Tom has been teaching as an adjunct here for several years and spent the 07-08 school year as a temporary full-time instructor, and has made a great impact on the students and program.

So, beginning in the Fall, we'll be looking forward to seeing a lot more of his smiling face around here. Congrats Tommy-Boy!

GCOM Student Design Award Winners Announced

Last night's Graphic-Con event was a truly fun and inspiring event. The talent on display, both in print and on over 20 Mac screens was amazing. The GC Club team deserves a big round of applause for their tireless effort to promote the GCOM department and all of it's talented and creative students.

The winners of the 2008 GCOM Student Design Awards were also announced. I don't have the names of the many silver award winners in the Print and Multimedia categories, but here are the names of the Gold winners and Best of Show winners:

Best of Show Award for Print: Taras Garcia
Best of Show Award for Multimedia: Daniel Moore
Best of Show People's Choice: Vitaliy Zavorotny

Gold Award Winners: Pricilla Garcia, Taras Garcia, Seth McComber, Daniel Moore, Vitaliy Zavorotny

Also, there was a very entertaining live design competition among faculty and students. Four designers were given a random set of images and two words, then pitted against each other in a 30 minute design death match. In the faculty bout, Robyn Waxman, Missy Anapolsky, Tom Cappelletti, and Don Button competed. Yours truly (Don) was voted the victor by the audience. Quite a comeback from my totally awful attempt last semester, if I do say so. In the student competition, Pricilla Garcia was voted the winner for her inspired take on political posters and "inflated" politicians.

Congrats to all the winners and participants, and thank you to all the sponsors and volunteers!

Graphic-Con is this Tuesday!!

GRAPHIC-CON: The Graphic Communicatikon Student Show 2008
TUESDAY, MAY 6
4:00pm - 7:00pm
SCC Student Center

This promises to be the best ever year-end event. Presented by the GC Club, Graphic-Con will celebrate graphic artforms from accross the design spectrum.

Check out the best of this year's student work and be there when the 2008 GCOM Student Design Awards are presented.

Watch four student designers and four instructors go head-to-head in a live design competition, create your own SuperHero short, get an original design from nationally renowned comic illustrator David Wong, and test drive Apple's latest products.

GCOM Student Design Awards Update, Judges Announced

• Enter up to 3 designs
• Updated! Work can be from Spring 2007, Fall 2007 and/or Spring 2008
• New! Mount your work that night: The GC Club will be selling material to mount your entries on and will also be offering their services for a donation
• Submissions will be accepted Tuesday, April 29, from 4.30 to 7.30 in T100
• Questions? Contact Dre at diazvaughn@gmail.com or 916.213.0450 or Don at buttond@scc.losrios.edu or 916.396.1134
• Download an entry form here or get one from the MacCad Lab

Three judges are confirmed for the GCOM Student Design Awards: Kelly Cooper, Design Director of Sol Design Group (www.soldesigngroup.com), Drew Newbold of Dante Creative Group (www.dantecg.com) and Jeff Toll, creative director of BKWLD (www.bkwld.com). These award-winning creatives will be joined by one faculty member from the Sac State's Department of Design and the creative director from an interactive agency. Here's your chance to be recognized!

Passport 2 Design @ American River College

As if we didn't have enough going on in May here at GCOM@SCC, the Art New Media department at ARC is also hosting their own event.

It's also co-sponsored with ADAC and will feature several speakers, education and career advising, portfolio reviews and other resource info.

It happens Friday, May 2 on the ARC campus from 9am - 4:30pm

For all the event info, go to: www.adac.org/p2d/

Tabloid Headline

If your 'design greatness' cannot be contained by mere letter sized output, free yourself from the tyranny of tiny paper. Meet the new HP LaserJet 5200 tabloid (a.k.a. 11x17) printer. Your designs can now be 100% BIGGER!* 

Our new tabloid laser printer is ready for student use. Capable of black and white, level 3 Postscript output, the HP LaserJet 5200 is accessible from Macintosh 37 and can be printed to for $1 per page.

*bigger does not always mean better

California State Fair Fine Art Competition!

The Golden State's oldest and most prestigious fine arts show happens every year at the California State Fair, and includes a category for digital art (Division 415 - New Media Works). The deadline for entries is May 30th, and costs $20 per entry. Static or animated works created in Illustrator, Photoshop, Flash, Lightwave, Maya, can be included.

Click here for more information. Scroll down to "Fine Arts" and you will find entry information including how to enter online, and you can also download PDFs of the entry form, and the Fine Arts Competition handbook, and a lot more information!

GCOM Student Wins Design Award

SCC GCOM student Vitaliy Zavorotny won first place in the "Self Promotion" category in the 2008 Media Arts Award Competition sponsored by the California Community College Multimedia and Entertainment Initiative.

Vitaliy won for his 2008 calendar he designed in Tom Cappelletti's Advanced Illustrator class last year (cover shown above).

This is a highly regarded state wide student competition and the win will look great on Vitaliy's resume. We know there is plenty of other award-level work being created here, so don't forget to enter this contest (and others) next year!

For more info on the CCCMEI awards and the results, go to:

http://cccmei.net/mediaarts/

GC Students Visit CCA in SF

This past Wednesday, April 16, five GCOM students and I (instructor Don Button) took a trip to the City by the Bay for a tour of the California College of the Arts campus. The trip was sponsored by the GC Club.

We visited with GCOM instructor Robyn Waxman who is there working on her Masters Degree for two years. We were also joined by former SCC GCOM students Janet and Jason. They answered questions and shared their experiences transitioning from community college to big-time art school. One of the Design Department's chairs also met with us and answered questions. 

Then Robyn gave us the full tour of the main building, where the many programs (graphic design, fine arts, photography, industrial design, fashion design, illustration, architecture and several others) all share space and intermingle. 

It's an amazingly creative and exciting atmosphere. GC Club president Adrienne Miller-Moore took some photos and we've posted a slide show for you to se at  http://wserver.scc.losrios.edu/~tech/gc/cca/

Deadline coming up on Friday, April 18

Your chance to design the cover of one of the SCC Outreach Center's Summer/Fall schedules is almost over!

Don't miss this great opportunity to get your design printed and published.

Using Photoshop and/or Illustrator, create a cover concept or illustration and submit it for consideration by APRIL 18. If chosen, you will receive a design credit and mini-bio in the schedule, and have a professional-level, published portfolio piece.

Click here to DOWNLOAD THE INFO FLYER.

To see some past student cover designs, go to: scc.losrios.edu/gc/outreach

GCOM Design Contest expands entry options

You can now enter up to THREE designs in the 2008 GCOM Student Design Awards

Now you have the opportunity to be judged on three different designs in the GCOM Student Design Awards. That's right, you can enter the calendar from your 341 class, the web project you did in 361 and your project from the GC Studio + Club class (or whatever three projects you've created during this semester and last). Projects have to be created as an class or instructor assignment in either the Fall 2007 or Spring 2008 semester. The categories are: print design of the year and interactive/animated design of the year.

Click here to download the UPDATED FLYER & ENTRY FORM

Contact Andrea Diaz-Vaughn at 916.213.0450 or diazvaughn@gmail.com or Don Button at 916.396.1134 or buttond@scc.losrios.edu.

Did you design this year's best?

See a printing press in action!

Join ADAC for a special tour of American Lithographers.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008, from 5:30pm to 8:30pm
2629 5th Street, Sacramento
Event Cost: Free

As a designer, a strong relationship with your printer is essential to delivering a successful project. Understanding just what a printer can do for you is equally important. Join ADAC for a unique comprehensive tour of American Lithographers, one of the premier printers in Sacramento. See their presses in action and learn some of the tricks of the trade. Beyond the pressesfrom prepress to paper and inkschange is constant, so its imperative to stay ahead of the curve and learn about the latest products and applications.
Refreshments will be provided.

RSVP by April 16 to tours@adac.org. A confirmation email will be sent a day before. Any questions, please contact Beverly Dark at American Lithographers, 916 233.3921.

For more info about ADAC, go to their Web site: www.adac.org

2008 GCOM Student Design Awards...

Presented by GCOM & the GC Club 

The 2008 Graphic Communication Student Design Awards will recognize the best student work of the 2007-2008 school year and are open to students enrolled in one or more graphic communication classes.

The competition has two categories: print design of the year and interactive design of the year. Entries will be judged on concept, design, execution, overall creativity and originality. 

The panel of judges will consist of designers, art directors and creative directors in the local industry. 

Submissions will be accepted on Tuesday, April 29, and the results will be announced at this year's GC Student Show: GraphicCon, Tuesday, May 6, at SCC's Student Center.

Entries will be accepted on Tuesday, April 29, between 4.30 and 8.00 pm in T100.

Questions? Contact Andrea Diaz-Vaughn at 916.213.0450 or diazvaughn@gmail.com or Don Button at 916.396.1134 or buttond@scc.losrios.edu.

CSU, Sacramento Transfer Workshop

Sacramento State University will be holding a General Transfer Workshop on Thursday, April 10, 2008 from 12-1pm in RN 264 at SCC. This will be a great opportunity for students to inquire about requirements for transferring to Sacramento State as well as meet with Admissions Counselor, Charles Cole. 

For more information, contact Ruth Rutherford, Transfer Center Clerk, at rutherr@scc.losrios.edu

GC Club trip to California College of the Arts

All GCOM students are invited to join a field trip to California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco on Wednesday, April 16th. The van(s) will leave the SCC campus at 9am and return in the afternoon. SCC faculty member Robyn Waxman, currently working on her masters degree at CCA will be our host and is arranging a group meeting with one of the top CCA instructors .


Space is limited, so if you are interested in going, contact GC Club president Adrienne Miller-Moore at 897-1251 or e-mail at adrienne@miller-moore.com.

Graphic Novel Event at CSU, Sacramento

Graphic Content: Exposing the Process Behind Comic Art Storytelling

April 29th, 6:30pm in Sequoia Hall 301

A Lecture by Kazu Kibuishi on the process of creating graphic novels. Kazu is a full-time comic book artist, and lives in Alhambra, California with his wife, and fellow comic book artist, Amy Kim Ganter. Kazu is the editor/contributor of the highly acclaimed Flight comic anthologies. He also is the author/illustrator of two original graphic novels, including Daisy Kutter: The Last Train (Viper Comics), and more recently, Amulet, Book 1: The Stonekeeper (Simon & Schuster).

An Exhibition of The Peck, an original graphic novel concept by Mario Estioko will also be presented. Estioko is an Associate Professor of Graphic Design in the Department of Design. Posing as a design educator by day, Mario's clandestine comic work has appeared in magazines and college newspapers nationally. This is his first foray into the graphic novel genre. The comic exhibition runs from April 28th-May 9th in the 4th Floor Design Gallery, Mariposa Hall.

Welcome Back to the Second 8 Weeks!

BAD NEWS: Spring break is over. Shake off your hangover and get back to the creative party that is your GCOM class project list.

GOOD NEWS: There are only 8 weeks to go until Summer! (not counting finals) This is the best part of the year—a lot of fun stuff is coming up in April and May. Check the GCOM Blog daily for updates. 

And don't forget: 2nd 8 Week courses start this week, including GCOM 349: Portofolio on Tues @ 10am in CM 108.

Design the back page!

Win a $300 shopping spree!

Enter the Layers Magazine Back Page Design Contest.

For all the info, go to www.layersmagazine.com/designcontest.html

Have your portfolio reviewed by top designers

The AIGA Portfolio Day 08 is your opportunity to show your portfolio to the Bay Area design leaders and get career advice.  It's on May 31, 2008 at California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

For all the info, go to www.aigasf.org.

AIGA design student scholarships

The Worldstudio AIGA Scholarships benefit minority and economically disadvantages students who are studying art and design disciplines in colleges and universities in the U.S. 

Application deadline is April 11, 2008.

For all the info, go to www.aiga.org/content.cfm/worldstudio-scholarship

GC Club field trip

All GCOM students are invited to join a field trip to California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco on April 16th or 17th (yet to be determined).

If you are interested in going, contact GC Club president Adrienne Miller-Moore at 897-1251 or e-mail at adrienne@miller-moore.com.

Animator's Ball announced!

GCOM@SCC will be presenting and hosting the first ever Animator's Ball on May 13.

This first-time event will promote and showcase students' work in 2D and 3D animation and dynamic motion graphics. The event is open to Sacramento area Community College and High School students.

The keynote speaker is Pixar animator Austin Madison, a graduate of Sheldon High School in Elk Grove. He will inspire you, dymystify the bouncing ball, and share his true Hollywood story!

This event is also being promoted by ADAC (Sacramento Art Directors & Artists Club) and will be attended by many area creative professionals.

For more information visit the Web site at: www.AnimatorsBall.com

Design Project Opportunity

Design student needed for great community service project. Design the cover and inside format of a new Single Parent's Resource Guide, and prepare it for printing. It will be a 2-color booklet, 20-28 pages. You can do it just for the experience and portfolio piece, or you can get a unit of credit through the Service Learning Department. 

Estimated time required will be 10-20 hours between March 24 and April 21. If you are interested in taking on this unique opportunity, or want more info, contact me via e-mail (buttond@scc.losrios.edu) or phone (396-1134).

GC Club plans end of semester show

The Graphic Communication Club will be presenting an End of the Year Show called "Graphi-Con" on Tuesday, May 6th, from 4-8pm in the Student Center.

More details to be announced soon.