Amazing Alumni

So, I have been teaching here at Hunterdon County Polytech for 14 years. I have some pretty amazing alumni that work as professional artists and designers throughout the country. I was fortunate to have many contribute to our art exhibit this past Wednesday night. Keeping in touch with my past students is extremely rewarding. It makes me happy to see them follow their dreams and make art for  a living. They have gone on to schools such as School of Visual Arts, Columbus College of Art and Design, Savannah College of Art and Design, Pratt, Parsons, Maryland Institute College of Art, and University of the Arts. They are graphic designers, cartoonists, animators, 3D digital sculptors, interactive designers, visual development artists, illustrators, and fine artists. Above is Bryan Wiszniewski with his most recent painting of Beyonce. Check out our Facebook photo album of the event.
facebook.com/Polytech.Art.Department

CTE Advisory Committee

As a Career and Technical Education school, Hunterdon County Polytech strives to stay current in our fields of study. Each class maintains an advisory committee made up of professional members, students, parents, post secondary educators, counselors, and alumni. The art department advisory committee is essential to keeping us current with software, industry trends, and connections to the field. Our committee boasts 3D animators, illustrators, business owners, video game designers, graphic designers, photographers, and marketing professionals. It's through this committee that curriculum changes, field trips, guest speakers, and equipment purchases are discussed. For more information on becoming a member or to view our current list of members, click here.

National Art Honor Society

Polytech art students who complete a semester of either Commercial Arts/Advertising Design or 3D Computer Animation may be nominated to join our chapter of the National Art Honor Society. This organization focuses on art scholar, character, and service. Students complete community service projects, attend field trips, participate in art projects, and are eligible for scholarships. Anna-Lisa Eriksson, received a $4,000 scholarship from Columbus College of Art & Design for her membership in NAHS.

College Tuesdays: Full Sail University, MECA, Ai and more

For the entire 1st semester Polytech art students have "College Tuesdays". They research college options, search for scholarships, apply for financial aid, write a college essay, prepare their portfolio, attend National Portfolio Day, and welcome college representatives to make presentations. The following are links to some schools that have visited so far this year:
Full Sail University
Maine College of Art
Art Institute of Philadelphia

College Portfolio Preparation

Polytech students work towards creating a successful portfolio for both college and employment. Because the vast majority of students here go on to major in art in college they must develop strong life observational skills. Here a student works on a self portrait from life including personal objects to express her interests. She is working in colored pencils. Click here for more information on colleges that Polytech art students have attended and alumni updates.

Hunterdon County Library Outdoor Art Show

Hunterdon County Polytech Commercial Arts/Advertising Design and 3D Computer Animation students exhibited their artwork at the 2nd annual Outdoor Art Show sponsored by the Hunterdon County Library. 5 students won awards including Krystina Galvez, who received 1st Place for her acrylic still life completed from life observation.

Polytech Alumna Creates Animated Short!

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After taking an Intro to Animation class at Polytech, Kristine Marsh went on to study Cartooning at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She began her career as freelance artist and became the owner of her own business, Knightingale Studio. She currently heads the company that creates characters, illustrations, 2D animation and graphics for children’s media including books, apps, and advertising.

While at Polytech, Kristine learned the basics of Adobe Illustrator and created a chinchilla character that she named “Fuji”. Through the years, she further developed this character transforming it into the main character in her new project, Samurai Chinchilla! “You never know where that doodle in your high school sketchbook will lead”, says Kristine.

Kristine recently held a promotional event sponsored by Women in Animation in New York City on May 6^th. Videos, concept artwork, notes by the creator, and more can be found at the following link.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/knightingaleart/samurai-chinchilla-the-animated-short

Kristine has been a wonderful supporter of the art programs here at Polytech. She sits on the Advisory Committee, holds workshops for current students on portfolio preparation and serves as a speaker for community presentations.

“I took every art class my high school had to offer, all the way up to G & T Honors programs, but nothing prepared me quite like Polytech. Getting an early jump on using design software and learning about the process of animation before college really gave me an edge going forward.”

We wish her much luck and success with her future endeavors.

SkillsUSA winners

Hunterdon County Polytech students Krystina Galvez (left) and Rebecca Smith (right) won 3rd place in the 2013 NJ State SkillsUSA competition for 3D Visualization & Computer Animation. They had 4 hours to create an animation sequence in Maya including modeling, lighting, texturing, rigging, animating, and rendering. Congratulations to our team!

Stop Motion Animation

Students in 3D Computer Animation study the history of animation long before getting on the computers to use Autodesk Maya. They study early inventions and innovations that led up to the amazing software that 3D animators use today. The above clip is a stop motion project by student Rachel McInerney.

Character Design

Designing a character begins with a good back story. I encourage my students to think about the personality of a character before beginning the visual part. Students research images and information learning about their subject matter and get ideas from live video and other artists in order to create original artwork themselves. The above character is a female vulture by 3D Computer Animation student Krystina Galvez. It is a digital painting completed in Adobe Photoshop.

Published Book Illustrations

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Students in the Polytech Commercial Arts program can now include commissioned and published cartoon illustrations in their college portfolios thanks to the just released book, “Memoirs of an Impurfect Salesman” by author and Flemington resident D. S. “Chip” Carroll Jr. The students were hired by Mr. Carroll  last year to provide illustrations for each chapter of his autobiography that takes readers through his extensive career in the sales industry.  The cover of the book, designed by Steven Jaskula, includes a humorous collection of advice and guidance with cartoon illustrations submitted by the three students.   Says Carroll, “Finally, a sales book with cartoons and pictures to hold your interest!” Bethany Wright and Allison Petronio are seniors at Polytech and plan to continue as art/design majors in college this fall.   Steven attends the Kubert School in Dover and is studying cartooning. Pictured here are Bethany and Allison with their published cartoon illustrations.