MULTIMEDIA MASKS

Artist-Designed Face Masks at NS High School

At North Shore High School, students in Ms. Laura Green’s Multimedia class utilized the Pen, Gradient and Effect tools in Adobe Illustrator to design their own customized themed face masks. Ms. Green stated, “In the midst of a pandemic, wearing a designer face mask with a whimsical theme can elevate the mood.”

She challenged her classes to design three face masks using the theme of Halloween. “Face masks are worn to combat COVID-19 and used by consumers who want to stay safe. We use face masks every day, all day, and that’s our reality,” stated Ms. Green.  She said to her classes, “So, why not custom design your own face mask? Just pick a theme that is interesting to you and fun.”

The objectives of the multimedia lesson included the following:

• Sketch out their designs
• Work with a theme based design
• Create a design that grabs people’s attention
• Work with different of color schemes
• Understand color knowledge is needed to communicate as a designer
• Have the ability to manipulate color using basic color tools
• Use advanced tools in Adobe Illustrator

The requirements using Adobe Illustrator included the following

• Use the Pen tool to trace my face mask template
• Use the Effects menu to create a drop shadow and outer glow
• Draw original artwork on plain white paper
• Scan in or photograph your artwork to be placed into Illustrator as a template
• Use many layers including a template layer (see lesson in Google Classroom on creating a template layer).
• Go to Google Classroom to download the face mask template
• There will be a total of three masks with the same theme
• For printing, we will put all three masks on one page and print to the color printer
• We will mount our favorite mask on black paper for the HS front lobby display

Ms. Green concluded by saying, “Since face masks are required in all North Shore classes, I hope that my students will be excited about their designs as well as encourage public safety.”

Article written with assistance by Ms. Laura Green 
Photos by Shelly Newman