In-Person Gradshow

Printing
Guillaume and the department have given everyone a stipend of 50 linear feet for printing at the copy center (hillside and south campus). This should be enough for everyone’s prints and then some. When printing, it is highly recommended to print on matte paper because the lights at the convention center will cause a terrible glare on lustre, semi-gloss, and gloss prints. It is also highly recommended you print as early as possible! as soon as you have something ready to print, go ahead and do it even if you don’t have all of your work prepped. The end of term is incredibly busy for the copy center because they handle much of the schools printing needs, not only the gradshow stuff. So plan accordingly. The credit will only be good at the copy center so if you want to print it elsewhere you will have to cover the expenses.

Mounting & Cutting
Mounting your artwork can be a tough job so it is advised that you do not do it alone unless you are skilled at it. We recommend getting into groups and you should anticipate devoting a whole day to mounting and cutting your artwork. You could also share resources like rulers, knives, spraymount, etc. That said, the materials recommended for mounting and cutting will be spray mount (super 77 or elmers works great), sustainable mounting material (cardboard or eaglecell available in the model shop), a long metal ruler (alumicutter works great), a sharp knife (olfa or box cutter), and a surface to work on (the copy center at hillside has a cutting table right outside which is huge).

Tools & Installation
There will be various tools for use onsite at the gradshow. Among these, the most common you may be using are power tools like drills, and laser levels. Other analog tools you should know how to use are things like hammers and nails or screws and drivers. A crucial set of tools to use will be a level and a ruler or tape measure. It seems self explanatory but sometimes these simple tools can be tricky. That’s why I’ll be going over best practices to install artwork efficiently and accurately. This in person workshop will be on Thursday the 14th at 7:00 pm at the hillside campus (entertainment design common room). If you can’t make it, I will be recording the session but remember that some of this stuff is best learned in person and hands on so if you can make it, please show up.

Grad wall layout
The most important thing to consider is how to compose your grad wall to showcase your work effectively. Download the grad wall template and start laying out your show digitally but to scale. Some soft guidelines and suggestions:
1. you have a 10 x 10 foot wall; it’s important to give yourself some room to breath on the left and right (approximately 1’) and the top and bottom (don’t place artwork higher than 8’ or lower than 2’).
2. don’t be limited by a simple grid. use the space as a large canvas and incorporate elements like hierarchy, flow, negative space, contrast, etc. Treat the space like a composition and design it.
3. Dress up the space to make it your own. I’ve seen successful grasdshows that incorporate real life props like shelves, plants, photo frames, etc. This can be whatever you want it to be so you can make it part of your story, or it can be your opportunity to breath a little bit of your own life in the show. You’re entertainment designers…entertain your audience.

Online Gradshow

Online gradshow is an opportunity for current SU22 grads to showcase their work to potential employers. More to come on that front as we get closer to the event.