Photoshop Tutorials
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| The Girl in the Black |
Raccoon in Illustrator
The second project we did was a fall raccoon. For this project we had around a week to create a raccoon in illustrator. This was the first project this year that we used illustrator for. I was very rusty using illustrator so it took me awhile to get the hang of it again but once I did it went by really fast. At first i couldn't figure out how to create the tail of the raccoon but after asking my neighbor and really reading the directions I finally figured it out. Some of the feed back I got was I needed to add more of the leaves and berries. I fixed this by adding a pile of leaves under the raccoon so it looked like he was surrounded by them. Now looking back on this project I wish I would have added clouds in the sky because the sky looks very bare, but overall I feel like I did very well on this project.
Raccoon Postcard
For the third project I did I had to create a postcard and incorporate my raccoon that I had made previously in it. We had about a week to complete this project. This project was challenging because not only did we have to come up with a theme that our background was going to be but we also had to incorporate some typography. The typography was the hardest thing for me because I can't keep my hand steady and I don't have the best handwriting. To over come the challenge of topography I had to keep prating writing the words over and over again. I also watched some of the people in my class who are good at typography and tried to use some of the techniques they used while creating their piece. Overall I wish I would of had a little more time because I would have been more precise but I defiantly think this project helped me grow so much as a graphic designer.Vectored Self Portrait
This was my third project for the semester. For this project I had to take a picture of my self and vector it. I had about two weeks to complete this project. This project was very fun for me because I loved making myself almost cartoon like. I had to trace around myself with the pen tool to create the outlines that I soon "colored in". Along the way I learned that once you're done making the line with the pen tool if you hold down on the anchor point you can curve the line. Some of the feed back I got was my colors weren't really matching up with the picture and my hair looked kinda flat, so to fix the color issue I took my eyedropper tool and elected the part I wanted to change the color for example my skin and just clicked on the picture where my skin was and got a perfect match. To fix the hair I added lines that were darker and light than my hair to add more dimension. Overall I really enjoyed this project and learned so much about using the pen tool and vectoring. Infographic
The most recent project I did was an Infographic on texting and driving. This was by far the most difficult project I had to do. I was given around three weeks to complete this project. I had to incorporate a title, six topics over texting and driving, and I had to have a section for my sources. For my six topics I decided to so how texting can be a drug for our brains, texting and driving vs. drinking and driving, deaths caused by texting and driving, what ages admit to texting and driving, a timeline of texting and driving, and a map of the state's and their device laws. For the infographic we had to have very minimal text and mostly graphics to show what the text would say. We also had to have a color scheme. For my color scheme I decided to do black grey and different shades of blue. The part that I had the hardest time was figuring out how I was going to turn text into graphics. Some of the feedback I got on my infographic was that it had to much text and all of my font needed to be the same size. To fix these problems I had to delete some of the topics on my timeline and narrow it down to the most important things. I also had to go through all of my text and simplify it. I also changed the percentages into graphics. Overall I love how this project turned out and this is by far my favorite project I've done.
Summary of the Semester
I also work very hard during class to finish my project and make it the very best it can be. When I finish early I always ask the people around me to see what I can change to make it even better or I look at something I think I can make better ad go online and look up tutorials on how I could make it better of how to do something. If I know I won't finish my project on time or even need a few extra minutes I will stay after school to try and finish it. For the Infographic I decided to draw out in my sketch book what I wanted my infographic to look like and what the graphics were going to like like so I could save a bunch of time and when I showed up to class the next day I knew exactly what I wanted my project to look like.
Some of my strengths as a graphic designer are I always work very hard on every project I get. Another strength of mine is I care a lot about what I do and that really helps in graphic design because I always want my project to be the very best it can be and I will do anything to get my project turned in on time.
This semester of graphic design has taught me so much. My favorite thing that we did this year was our infographic project, although it was tough I loved having a partner and sing able to collaborate with them to make sure our projects looked the best that they could. If I could change anything it would probably be being able to redo my postcard or fall raccoon because I think I could do a much better job now. Overall I learned that you really do need to ask people for help to see if your project looks okay because to you it could look fine but once you get another option it can take your project to the next level. A goal I would like to set for myself for next semester is to become more confident with using illustrator and just overall learn more. I have had a lot of fun creating different project's this semester and can't wait to see what next semester is going to be like!
