Projects
This semester, I created a plethora of projects that were extremely fun to produce. Some examples are my panorama and collage I created on Photoshop and my fall graphics and raccoon I created on Illustrator. My panorama was a collage of my splendid trip to Japan I took over the summer. The goal of this project was to blend pictures personally taken by the creator to make a seamless pan that looks like one whole picture, not multiple stitched together. This took me around 1 1/2 weeks to create because I kept being indecisive over what pictures I wanted to add to the panorama and how to make the transitions seem less abrupt. At this point, I was much better at managing photoshop; the magic wand tool and inverse keys were practically my best friends. Some other challenges I faced was how much of a picture I wanted to keep and what colors I wanted to be the focal point of this project. Along the way I learned the importance of masking and how much time it could save up. I also learned how to trick the eye into thinking multiple images are actually one. Towards the end, the only intense changes I made was the seamlessness of the images next to each. Overall, I'm very pleased at how much my skills in the graphic design department have grown!
I had a strong love hate (mostly hate) relationship when I started working on Illustrator. The first every graphic I created on this software was my raccoon. It took me around 1 1/2 weeks as well to create him. There were MANY challenges I faced. The first one was how I didn't know what tools to use or how to use them, even though I was following along with a pictorial. I kept rereading the steps, but felt like I was still going nowhere. Another challenge was how I unwary I was with how many layers I kept using and how I could've grouped them to save soooo much time. Along the way though, I started to understand the keys and what a tool was meant to be used for. Some feedback I received was to lessen the amount of layers I used and to smoothen my edges more to make him less pointy and cuter. My initial idea was to create a simple raccoon, maybe even make it Halloween themed. But because I was so fed up with Illustrator, after I completed the actual graded portion of this project I just added a "Congrats Yabi" celebration hat and some balloons to commemorate the end of my hardships.
Another one of my projects was the autumn graphics project. In this project, I had to follow along with a pictorial to create 9 autumn nut/leaf/berry graphics. Some challenges I faced was how to create a decent looking maple leaf and how to make everything look clean and accurate to its original. Along the way, I learned how to use copying to my advantage and how to create clean curves with the anchor tool. Some feedback I was given was how aesthetically pleasing every graphic was placed and how overall I did a good job. I didn't make any changes to my original idea since I was following along with specific instructions and didn't have as much freedom as I did with my other projects. All in all, I was and still am very happy with the outcome of this project.
How I Used My Class Time
In class, I used my time to work on projects I was assigned in this class and tried to help people if they needed an opinion or didn't know how to do something on a software; I also received help every time I asked for it. Any time I finished early (which was pretty rare, since I spent as much time as possible trying to perfect a project) I would start on the next project and/or scroll through Behance to see what the world has been up to lately. Outside of class, I ask what my friends in different hours are working on and ask for any tips and tricks they have for me that day. I also try to create ideas for future projects. Currently, I'm working on multiple logos for my dad's businesses.
Strengths
Some of my strengths as a graphic design student is how I can problem solve and get around challenges without asking for too much help. I also think I'm quite creative and come up with col concepts instead of doing the bare minimum. I believe I need to improve on my time management skills since I take a long time on each project I work on. I also need to work on my technical skills because I tend to make a lot of my pieces unintentionally pointy or use tools I shouldn't for a certain challenges.
Summary
I loved how much we got to be working and how there was always something to work on. I also enjoyed the videos we watched at the beginning of the semester because I learned a lot since I could work at my own pace and could rewind whenever I pleased. I also loved how we got to create Behance profiles and show the world our progression in this field. I genuinely wouldn't change a thing about this semester, since I moved every bit of it! Over this past semester, I learned how to use Photoshop and Illustrator and the similarities and differences between these two softwares. I'm so thankful for how much I learned this year, especially compared to last year!
Links
https://www.behance.net/happiyabief83
