Victory!

This will be my final blog entry. I have completed Digital Graphics and Animation, and am impressed with how far I have come since the beginning of the course. When I started this class, I had only a very basic understanding of Photoshop, but now feel fairly comfortable with my skills. This course has taught me how to effectively use many different tools and techniques, as well as how to employ some techniques of my own. I am very pleased with my decision to take this class, and can't imagine a better way that this course could have been set up or presented to students. For my final assignment, I created a website to display my work, which can be reached by clicking [HERE]. I would like to thank my facilitator Mrs. Villalobos for all of her help, and for making this class one of my more enjoyable high school experiences.

Vector Art

This unit was designed to teach students how to create vector art, a style of work where images are composed of solid colored shapes. This unit really appealed to me for a few reasons. Due to the abstract nature of the work, no two pieces, even if modeled after the same image, could ever conceivably be the same, and would more than likely end up looking VERY different. One of the great things about dealing with this style of work is that it's pretty much impossible to mess a piece up. There are so many shapes being created, that the form of each one is insignificant. As long as you have some idea of how to put them all together, you will be just fine. I was very happy with the way that my piece turned out. Though if I had a chance to do this unit again, I would push myself even harder, and take on a more challenging, time consuming task.

Pop Art

In this unit, students were meant to the learn the skills and techniques necessary in order to create pop art, a form of art developed and popularized in the 50's. This unit was very enjoyable as there are many possible ways to go about making such art, and anything and everything goes. It was nice to finally work on a unit where straight lines are in no way required and where coloring outside of the lines is totally acceptable. It took me a bit to realize the artistic element of this type of work, but once i did it made it a lot easier to have fun with it. If I had to do this unit again, I would take more time on it, and think of ways to incorporate more various techniques into the tradition pop art style.

Greeting Card

In this particular unit, students were meant to learn the techniques necessary in order to make greeting card style art. This particular style involved solid colors without outlines. I enjoyed this lesson very much, finding it quite challenging, yet noticing that it also leaves a lot of room for one's own creativity to play a huge part in the final product. If there was ever a lesson that forced you to abuse the pen tool, it's this one right here. I must of had at least a hundred layers by the time I finished my piece. If I had to do this lesson again, I would keep everything simple, using a minimalist approach. It would have made my job easier, and I feel that my final product would have been more cohesive and aesthetically appealing had I not overdone some parts of it.

Square Fruit

In this unit we were meant to learn the techniques necessary in to transform an object into a geometric shape through liquification. I was surprised to find how difficult it was to create a 3D frame for reference, and even more surprised to find how much more difficult it was was to then shape the object to the frame. It was a very time consuming process, and much of the object's detail was lost in the liquefying, but it came as a great relief when i realized i could use the patch tool and the original image of the object to return detail to the transformed object. I was very happy with how my final image turned out. As a concept, i love it. As far as realism is concerned however, i may have been able to improve. But it isn't exactly a simple task to make a pitbull with a square head look real.

Chocolate Milk Frog

In this unit we were meant to learn the techniques required in order to coat and object with a liquid of our choice. We learned how to make realistic drip affects as well as how and when to use the smudge tool to obscure detail. i was surprised at how easy it was to make drips, and yet how hard it was to make them look realistic. I really enjoyed this project and was very pleased with the way that both pieces turned out. If i was to do this project again i would probably take more care to label my layers, as i would find myself on the wrong layers often. I think the most useful thing that i learned from this unit was the utility of the brush palette, as it has limitless uses.

Dark Faces

In this lesson we were taught how to incorporate textures and shapes taken from other images into images of our own. I attempted to re-create the project image with very little instruction, and as a result, was not completely satisfied with my end result. However, i was still able to learn plenty of DOs and DON'Ts of object and texture incorporation. In this project, i realized the importance of merging layers when it is no longer necessary to keep them separate. This can save you a lot of grief, But be careful not to merge layers too soon.

Reaching Out of Bounds

In this unit, we were meant to learn spacial relations and how to add dimensions to a piece. This unit has made me come to have negative feelings about the pen tool. It's not that I don't love the utility of it, but rather get annoyed with how perfect I feel the need to make my lines while cropping. Although achieving my self imposed pen standard is time consuming, this is not necessarily a bad thing, as it pays off in the long run. If I was to do this unit again, i would attempt to make a more unique piece, with a flashier final product. I think that this unit does a very good job of teaching how to add dimensions to a picture, and I cant really think of any way to improve upon it.

MorphingCreatures

In this unit, I was given the techniques necessary in order to help me match color and brightness levels, as well as texture, and there were many steps involved in transforming the images. As I was following along with the instructional video, I would notice that certain things didn't look right in my image, and would change them, only to find that these would have been steps addressed later on in the video. It was a good feeling to know that I could find and fix inconsistencies in the photo before I was even instructed to do so. I didn't expect some of the tools available in Photoshop to be so effective. Some were able to do amazing things which are still beyond my understanding. I think that this particular lesson is an excellent one, with lots of excellent information, and an amazing, yet not too difficult to attain final product.