Semester One Reflection

• Technology
  One valuable takeaway I learned from this technology is how to operate it; more so, how to operate adobe illustrator. This project was a huge turning point for my relationship with illustrator because before, I barely knew how to make anything good on this program. I dabbled in creating logos and such, but they never turned out well because I didn't fully grasp how to use tools like the pen tool and shortcuts that would've made my life much easier. The only challenge I faced with technology was when illustrator would crash or be slow, which couldn't be helped.
  Collaboration

  Collaboration was really helpful and a necessity when it came to this process. I learned how to collaborate with individuals when I was younger, so being able to implement it nowadays isn't too hard. Before we even started with the project, I was put into a group with one task in hand: to make a schedule for the rest of the semester. My group was super kin and flexible, so creating a schedule and asking them questions wasn't overwhelming. Being able to collaborate was important because it helped put me check and regress my poor time management. It's also important because it helped me stimulate ideas for my patterns, font, and logo. Along the way, the only problem I faced was being able to use all the critiques my peers made (especially because some critiques contradicted others). For instance,
  Communication
  Communication also played a big role during this project. I had to ask my peers for critiques, as well as my teacher. I needed to hear honesty so I could create something much grander than my original idea. I faced no challenges that I know of in this field.
  Project Management
  Project management was something I learned more about this semester. Even though I didn't do it well, I now know that making a calendar and putting myself in check is a life skill I need to have. This was a big problem for me, because even though I had set dates I personally created for myself and dates created by my teacher, I still managed to not be on time with most of my work.
  Leadership
  To be honest, I don't know how this topic was incorporated into this project. The only moment I can think of was when we had the liberty to create a personal schedule with our group, and I ended up making most of the set dates. My and and I mostly kept to ourselves, so there wasn't anyone being the ring leader.
  Strengths
  I'd like to think that I had a at least a few strengths. For instance, I had to recreate the entirety on the inside of my box in a short amount of time and it ended up turning out not too shabby. I'm good under pressure. Also, I'm great with experimenting and trying new things. My original idea didn't happen at all, but the result surpasses what I initially wanted it to be. This all happened because I am eager to try out different colors, shapes, sizes, and ideas.
  Weaknesses
  Now, for weaknesses. For starters, even with the schedule I still managed to miss a lot of important due dates. The reasoning behind the problem is a mix between me working on multiple devices that refused to share files with each other and my chronic procrastination skills I've built up over the past few years. It's especially bad because if something is overdue, I force myself to make the project even better since I'd rather turn in something late and pretty than something ugly but on time.
  What's Next?
  Now that I've learned a lot, I'm eager to apply my new skills on the upcoming project, like for eMagine. I'm going to make a firm schedule for this class so that everyday I get at least one thing done and will finally be on track.
  Lookback
  After looking back at my work and letting it all sink in, there are a bunch of things I would change. For starters, I would definitely change the hero pattern I used for the exterior of my box. Even though it's not the worst and there was potential with it, I don't really like the colors that I chose, the style I went with, and the alignment of all the graphics; it doesn't really match the interior, even though they're over the same topic. Another thing I would have changed is the arrangement of the koi fish, lily pads, and flowers on the interior. I like it for the most part, but I feel like a little bit of shifting would have made it even better. Even tough there's all these things I would've liked to change, I am overall pleased with the outcome and so happy that this was the first project of the year. I learned a lot and grew as an artist from this experience.
  Conclusion
  Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this project and am glad that it took up most of the semester; unlike last year, where we did a lot of mini projects that typically didn't turn out good. I will be more on top of my game, and make sure my projects will be turned in on time.

Second Semester

Man oh man, has it been a year! Sophomore Graphic Design has taught me so much. I've learned the essentials of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and even a little bit of InDesign. This year has also taught me how much I love and care for graphic design in general, and how it's a possible career choice I'd like to pursue. I've done so many projects, but there were three specific ones I'd like to talk about.

Vector Illustrated Portrait

This project was super fun! The basis of it was to choose a subject be it yourself, a family member, or even a family pet and make a vector illustration out of them/yourself. You could either choose to do a regular vector illustration or a geometric vector illustration. I chose to do the regular version, since I thought it would look the best with my subject and I love the simplicity of it. This project took me a few weeks to complete, since there were a couple of snow days in the mix and I had to redo it three times since I was doing it wrong the first two. While creating this project, I learned a lot about the pen tool and the do's and don'ts are. For instance, I would try to connect a shape I made with said tool to a new shape while on the first shape's vector. This was a huge mistake, since when I tried to fill in the shapes the fill tool didn't understand that I tried to make two separate shapes, not an extended version of the first shape. I also learned how to mesh different hues of a color together fo a semi seamless vector. Some challenges I faced aside from redoing it multiple times was what exactly I wanted to outline and what feature I wanted to leave out. The subject I chose had a lot of shadows on her face, so I didn't know how much of the shadows I should incorporate. Also, I didn't know what exact shades of brown I wanted to use on her since there wasn't a fine line between the browns and pinks. My teacher said that I did a beautiful job overall and that my main concern would be to have smoother value transitions on the forehead, which was another challenge I had. I genuinely didn't make any changes aside from not adding as much shadows. Overall, I feel like this project came out pretty nicely!

Greeting Card Design

This project was also a blast to do. When this was assigned, I was hosting a student from Japan and hanging out with other visitors, so I decided to make a card for them. The outline for this project was to first hand write what you words you want for your greeting card, then transfer that onto Illustrator using the pen tool. This project was the quickest project I've done out of all three projects, since it only took me two weeks to complete. Not only did I learn how to really perfect the pen tool when it comes to tracing, but I also learned how to make angled lines curvy. Some challenges I faced with this project was what colors choices I wanted to do, since I knew that I wanted my background to be a collage of sunflowers, which is the Kansas state flower, and sakura, which is the national flower of Japan. I also knew that I wanted my lettering to be compound pathed onto the background I made so that when I printed it the lettering would be the same color as the paper I printed it on. It took a while to figure out how to do so, but after I got help from my teacher it worked out and looked nice. Some feedback I got back from her was that my design was great; my friends reassured me that they could read my lettering on top the background I made, which made me happy. Overall, I'm really delighted with how this turned to and am glad that I chose to this design rather than my initial design, which was a big 50 for my dad's birthday.

Logo Design

My third favorite project was the last project I did, which was the logo design project. The basis of this project was to first create over 30 logo ideas for yourself, then to choose a top five and actually make them on Illustrator. This project took me around two and a half weeks to complete. Some new skills I acquired during this project was how to simplify detailed things, like how I did a simple outline of a lion and put my name in its open mouth. I also learned how crucial it is to try out multiple colors, since your initial color choice might not be as cool as your other color choice. Some feedback I got from my peers was to create more contrast between the colors I chose and how to improvise when something wouldn't work, like how to fill something in when it refused to or how to sharpen shapes and such. I honestly didn't make any changes compared to my original idea, since I really like the top choices I made. Some challenges I faced with this project was how to outline my signature, which I needed for two of my designs. I decided to just use the Wacom provided to me by my teacher. I also didn't know how to make my initial logo pop out, but my peer Julia helped me by encouraging me to try out different fonts and font sizes. Overall, I'm super stoked about how all my logos turned out! I'm happy I got another chance to do a logo for myself, since my logos I did last year were absolutely atrocious. 

Second Semester

During this semester, I was able to be productive with my time and tried to turn my projects in on time. Though it didn't happen all the time, I loved how most of my projects turned out this semester since I was even more passionate about what I was doing. If I finished a project early, I would try to work on the next project if it was uploaded and if not I would try to work on personal projects, like some app ideas I have. In my free time at home, I would look up graphic design tutorials and would try to better my photoshop and illustrator skills and I would try to apply these newfound skills in my eComm projects. I would always ask myself and my peers how to improve, and there were definitely moments where I asked my teacher how I could better myself.

Strengths

Now that I've been in eComm for two years, my eye for creativity has improved vastly. I have learned  how less is more and how to work Photoshop and Illustrator. I used to despise Illustrator and loved Photoshop, but now that's reversed. I love the pen tool on Illustrator and how it refines everything you do. I still love Photoshop, especially because I know how to really use it thanks to semester one of sophomore year. I also have a better eye for color.

Improvement

Though I have improved a lot, there's still a bunch of things I need to work on! I still need to improve on trying out different variations and being less stubborn. I also need to learn how to really use the other tools in Illustrator and Photoshop, and how to overall refine all of my projects.

Conclusion

 In conclusion, I loved a lot of things in this class. I had an awesome teacher that always helped me, I learned essential programs and tools that I need if I were to actually become a Graphic designer, and I especially loved the projects that we were assigned. Be it the vector, logo, or even the raccoon, I had a blast everyday and wouldn't change it for the world. One goal I have for myself for next year is to better my photoshop skills and to pursue even more outside of class projects. 

Vector Illustration

Pre-Production
For this assignment, I instantly knew that I wanted to pay homage to my dear sister Ruth; I even knew what picture I wanted use! I chose a radiant picture of her smiling while the hot Chicago sun bouncing off of expose her rich melanin. I decided to go with the more organic approach rather than a geometric one. Because of my need for detail, I decided to posterize the image to the point where lines could be made but a variety of colors were present. In stead of going back and forth through Photoshop and Illustrator, I was advised to make two art boards: one with a lower opacity and the other with full opacity.

Production
I had to redo this project 3 times for multiple reasons. The first time around, I didn't connect a single line, which would later lead to the fill tool having a mental breakdown since there were no shapes to fill. The second time around I created some shapes, however, I connected my new shapes with old shapes aka didn't really make complete shapes. This also led to my fill tool having a mental breakdown. After going through these failures, I was determined to complete all of my shapes and color as I go instead of coloring after I finish creating my shapes. Because I was more skilled with the pen tool, this project didn't really take as much time as I thought it would. I knew exactly what shapes I wanted to create. One of my main problems aside from the shape incidents was figuring out how much the colors should contrast, what colors I should use, and exactly how much detail I wanted in the end. Some design elements I used for this are color, value, and shape.

Conclusion
At first I wasn't, but now I'm very pleased with the final product! I love the amount of flow shapes there are, how the work with each other, and how the illustration genuinely looks like the original. I learned the importance of creating a full shape, and how to balance (skin tone) colors together. If I were to do this project again with this picture, I would experiment and try to see what a more simplistic approach would look like, then I would try to see what a geometric version would look like.

Typography Project

This project was super fun to do! I loved the whole process, from picking out the quotes to figuring out what hue of color to add onto a word. Picking out the quotes was easy at first, but got harder (especially when I had to pick my final four quotes). I wanted my quotes to reflect me in some way. One example is the first quote, "Masterpiece of God". This quote is the meaning behind my name (Yabsira). Another quote that reflected me was "The eyes are useless when the mind is blind." I resonated with this because I strive to live a life full of perspective and wisdom. 

The next step was to choose what fonts to use. This was a tad difficult, because it felt like it took 472834720 different font pages to find what I was looking for. This was especially difficult with this font: "Doubt kills more dreams than failure will." During the production it was also tough figuring out how to arrange the words. Should it be heavier on the vertical or horizontal alignment? Should it be stacked or more free? Should it feel like the words are interacting with each other? I thought about all these questions, and tried to answer them throughout the project. 

Working in color was very different than working in black and white because I had to really think of which color correlated with which word. Color is important in the sense that it could change the meaning or tone of a word. Though there was a little bit of stress when working with colors, I did enjoy working in it than I did with black and white because it really helped portray what I was going for and looked less boring/bland. I'm very pleased with how my project came out! Though I think they aren't the best they could be (perhaps because of the lack of framing and graphics), I like the fonts I chose and how it turned out in general.

Graphic Design Final

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

Watercolor Transfer Prints

First, I figured out what dimensions I had to change my model to so that it could fit beautifully onto my soon to be watercolored paper. After printing out a colored and black and white version, I carefully cut them out and went straight to the painting station. At the station, I imagined what my prints would look like on different backgrounds; would it look good with cool toned colors? What print should I associate this color scheme with? After hopping over those stumbling blocks, I whipped out the paintbrushes and got to it! I had a blast painting, especially because I was conversing with my friends as I was doing so. Once my papers were done drying, I yanked out the Mod Podge and started applying it onto my prints as I was told (apply it onto the inked side of the print, then gently place it on your watercolored paper and press it in with a squeegee). Later on, I shared a cup of water with my peers and dipped my hands into it. Why? Because the next step was to scrape off the paper of your prints so all that was left on your paper was the watercolor and the prints. Last but not least, Ms. Beaudoin was kind enough to go over my print with a clear substance that enhanced the colors of my prints an secured it into the paper.

Creating the prints was super fun! Though tedious (and slightly painful) I loved incorporating one of my previous photoshop projects into my latest project. One of my favorite parts of the process was figuring out what I wanted my color scheme to be and what style of painting I wanted to pursue. I think I did well painting, and wasn't the worst when it came to scraping off the excess paper in the end. I definitely struggled with what to do with each print (i.e Which one should I hang up? Should I do this with that? etc). Overall, I really enjoyed and learned a lot from this project!

Photoshop Challenge

For this challenge, the goal was to revamp this clean image of "Nature Man" (aka Jerid) by using blending modes, layer masks, adjustment layers, and whatever else you please. You could not, however, scratch out his face; his face MUST be visible. I was very happy that this challenge was overall open and I could pretty much do anything I want with it. When I first saw the image and the name given to it, I knew that I wanted to stay far from the palm of nature. I wanted to bring something new to the table, but didn't quite know what it would be. So, as I was scrolling through unsplash.com, I thought about what I did the in the previous class. That's when I had my "eureka!" moment. I instantly typed in words like "Italy,"  "Italian Churches," and "Renaissance" until I found a beautiful photo of some artwork based from the Sistine Chapel. I immediately inserted that picture into my photoshop layer and it all was history from their!

Like I said, I tried to keep the renaissance and holy vibe alive and for it to emit into the viewers mind. To do this, I made the color balance so that Jerid was as fair as Snow White and looked more like a statue rather than a human. On different layers, I added a paint esque filter and drew some tiny cracks all throughout his face. I also exchanged his dark suit for the previously stated Sistine Chapel picture, and the background for a painting created during the appropriate period. I was initially going to make his hair gradient into Italian architecture, but decided that it would seem overly edited and wouldn't fit nicely with the final piece. Going back to the holy feel, I attempted to insert a glowing effect so that Jerid could be seen as spiritual.

Overall, I once again learned so much through this challenge and am pleased with my end result. The ending wasn't what I 100% envisioned, but I definitely am proud of my work and can't wait to see what I could do in my next challenge! ☺❤