The Project: Students will be using their Fireworks Skills to create a piece of artwork based upon the inspirations gained from one of two similar pictures, the “Blue Guitar” and the “Red Guitar.” This project is designed after and inspired by the original "Monkey Wrench Project, " a collaborative internet graphic art project from the year 2005.

For this project, the student will be using either or both the “Blue Guitar” and the “Red Guitar” pictures in their artwork. Students are to think of the two guitars not as guitars, but as rather tools from which to create artwork. Students will need to copy, cut up, overlay, blend, paint, etc., to create their final artwork.

Required files for this Project:

• POPSICLE.PNG (For use with Mr. B.'s Video Tutorials)
• The Electric Guitar (already MASKED for your artistic pleasure.)
• The Original Picture (includes a BLUE guitar, if you would like to work with that one as well.)

How to Proceed with the Project (a few ideas): How do you start? Good question. Create a 1000 x 1000 pixel canvas, choose a canvas color that you think might fit the subjects. Now, does the shape, color, or symbolism of the guitars bring anything to mind for you? Do you SEE anything artistic in the two shapes? Try copying the guitars a couple of times and overlaying them. Try cutting out a few pieces of the guitars and putting them together to create a different form. Try painting the shapes and using the shapes as building blocks for something else. Use the original “Monkey Wrench Project” for inspiration, if it helps you. Remember, you can only use your original canvas and canvas color, plus the addition of guitars to create your artwork.

There are no right or wrong solutions here, as long as the student experiments with the shapes, colors and patterns available. I fully expect you to create a number of different pieces of artwork and reject them before you settle on one that you like. Completing a piece of “artwork” in 2 minutes and then saying “I am done!” will almost certainly guarantee you a failing grade. Put in the time and effort to create a true piece of artwork with these guitar “tools.”

Video Tutorials of some of the Artistic Tools in Fireworks: I have put together a number of Video Tutorials of some of the Artistic Tools that are available in Fireworks. I STRONGLY recommend that you review and experiment with each tool and then incorporate the ones that work for you into your final artwork.

• Using Hue and Saturation with the MARQUEE tool, plus BLENDING MODES.
• Using the Eye Candy Effects Tools: Bevel Boss, Marble, Motion Trail and Edge.
• Using Symbol Tweening in Fireworks.

Mr. B.'s Sample Artwork from the Blue Guitar:

Labelling Your Work: When you have completed your final work, please use the TEXT TOOL to put your last name and “2014” in small letters in the bottom RIGHT corner of your work.

Project Grading: This project will primarily be graded upon the following:

1. Your work ethic and your effort to complete a strong piece of artwork (20 Points),
2. Your experimentation and creativity in the use of your Guitar base image. (30 Points)
3. The quality of your final project (30 Points),
4. Proper placement of your name and the year in the bottom right corner of your work (10 points)
5. The proper saving and naming of your final file, as outlined below (10 points).

Project Submission: When you have completed your artwork, save the final canvas into your FIREWORKS/GUITAR folder as a .JPEG and call it “lastname_guitar_artwork.”