Sophomore Graphic Design Reflection

Semester 2 Project Spotlights

Personal Logo Designs

As the most recent project, the personal logos were one of the more difficult projects to sketch out and execute. I find this because I don't often create something centered around myself. That being said, drawing and writing out these ideas quickly ran my imagination dry, trying to figure out what else to add and how. However, I had eventually came up with 30+ designs, and stuck with the ones that either really it home, or spoke out in volumes in intricacy. When re-creating my originals in Illustrator, I realized how bland or maybe basic some of them had become in a digital format. This could have been from poor color palette or simply from a design choice in itself. However, I did manage to create three overall that meant something to me either in what it represents, or artistic in overall work.

Event Advertising (Poster, Postcard, and Ticket)

One of the more memorable projects of this year, I had been challenged to use all prior knowledge to create something I had never really thought of doing in my spare time. When given the option between art and music, I had decided to use an entire movement as a topic: I focused on Surrealism. To make the poster, I had simply created a vector of a piece of art on the internet, as well as the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art to create s surreal scene over surrealism; at the top of the poster a very large ball could be interpreted as a sun, and looking closely at it one may notice the word "orange" repeated within the boundaries. After that, I had used Photoshop to make the ticket, and a combination of both software programs to make the final layout of the postcards.

Vector Illustrated Portrait

This project is by far the most memorable and challenging one that I have done over the course of the year. It had taken roughly 2 1/2-3 weeks to complete and smooth out, in a combination of both time at home and in the classroom setting. I had to take a picture of myself, and edit the parameters a little, then import it to Illustrator and make an outline over a grid, locking the vertex points in specific areas over the image. I used the pen tool to make triangles over various hues and tones on the image, each triangle only covers the same color hue, and a new one take it from there on another color. I found the process quite soothing, or pleasing, until I had reached the hair. Because I had wanted to be quite defined in my work, the triangle began to get very small, covering minimal amounts, and changing to make another one at almost the slightest hint in color difference. When it was all set and done, I had learned a very large amount of patience and adaptation, as some triangles did not connect properly, or colors wouldn't come through, etc. 

Outside of Projects and Work

Extra Classtime

If I had ever finished a project before the due date (by a significant amount), then I would usually check on Behance, start new assignments, or fix maybe a few errors with the past turn-ins. During class, I had never really worked on improving my technical skills as a whole, but instead looked back on my work, and tried to think or see new ways that it could have been done. When I am at home I work on more personal tasks, such as improving my skills with the various tools Adobe has to offer, and trying to find my style in art, as well as improve it all. 

My Strengths in e-Comm

Before I had come to e-Comm, I had always been interested in drawing and animating, but was opened up to all of the new opportunities that it had to offer. Although I am by no means the greatest at what I am interested in, I think that I am strongest in keeping up a time schedule, and work well under pressure. One of the most important pieces i would like to think of would be how I am always looking for ways to improve upon my artistic skills, both physically and digitally, and taking criticism into deep consideration. 

Weaknesses and What I Need to Improve

When it comes right down to it, I can think that i have more weaknesses than strengths, even though that may not be the case. the main ones that I think of are how i don't seem to talk to many people, in a free/open setting that is. The other one that I am thinking of would be the lack of style or overall creative/artistic talent that sometimes just is nor there. Of course, I will continue to work on these matters and others, moving forward. 

At a Glance

Being able to specialize a bit more in Graphic Design this year in comparison to e9 has really been a treat. Being able to . have the isolated class period the entire year compared to a quarter has made me appreciate the topic as a whole a lot more. My desires have been on the fence between animation and graphic design, but the concept behind them both made me lean over here. Being able to learn all of the softwares that we did as a class helped me with several projects outside of school for family or friends. Especially at the beginning of second semester, when more complicated projects were assigned, and a friend transferred into the class helping me out throughout each day.My interest in Illustrator has been constantly rising, and i try to rise with it, exploring all of the options that it holds, sometimes making my recent art into digitalized copies. One of my goals that I would like to really meet over the summer is just being able to make myself into a better artist in both realms, hopefully making myself several times better than what I am now. I could not have asked for a better class, nor teacher (thank you so much Mrs. Beaudoin), to both truly start my journey and finish off Sophomore Graphic Design.