Back to school blog post

My first assignment back was to blog about what Graphic Design relates to me, and why I cherish it.
When I was in... I want to say Freshman year, I went to a seminar with my best friend, and they defined Graphic Design as "the art or skill of combining elements"
They kept it open in order for it to define really anything anyone wanted to throw at it. You're making a logo? Combine colors in a way that works and makes sense. You're making a website or a brochure or a magazine cover or etc and you are just getting your elements and placing them down in a pleasing-to-the-eye manner.

WIth almost 4 years of E-Communication under my belt, and looking at Colleges, I'm starting to find less interest in Graphic Design. I love traditional art, and also love digital art... More than anything, I love mixed media. Trying to find out new ways to blend the regular painting or charcoal sketch and put it into a computer to really make it pop. I suppose this also makes sense since I enjoy Photoshop, which is barely used by seasoned pros in the field.
All that being said, I'm thinking of pursuing a job in Illustration. I get to delve into myself and try to develop my own style, while also getting taught more in depth on color theory and just general drawing.

Hopefully, I will get to learn more realistic/gritty stuff and also cartoony/innocent stuff on a variety of media.

Anyway, that's what graphic design is to me.

(Mixed Media Portrait by Danny O'Conner)

Paint

Kerning makes me feel dead inside

This game is honestly kinda interesting, because there is no real reason you'd need it unless if you wanted your kerning to be the very best it ever will be I guess?
I understand the potential value that could be given, to be the very best there ever was at looking at something and feeling something else is off..

OH, BEFORE I FORGET (I am really enjoying caps lately)
1) http://type.method.ac/#
2) PICTURE

Although, to be fair, this was my third attempt (maybe fourth?) and each time I learned something newww, like I didn't know more than one letter could be moved, while this time in particular it was 3 letters that had to be moved, I'm still kinda proud I got it.

I really wish I got the word Bloody, I feel like I'd get a perfect 1000/100 on that one.

PIXEL PERFECTIONN

eMagine bored me to deathh

Okay, not really bored, but it's hard to stay consistent and fresh all the time.

eMagine is an event held by E-Comm annually to celebrate students who are really good at what they do. It's structure is similar to an awards ceremony, but I also dislike how only E-Comm students are required to go, while if anyone from their schools doesn't want to, they don't have to. I had a fun time, but I think it would be much better if only people who really cared wanted to go, or maybe offer extra credit.

I know of many people who just decided not to go.

ANYWAY
I had a fun time going, and it was rather fun knowing half the people who got called up, but I also felt sorry for the few people who really poured their heart into it and they didn't get nearly as far.

Google's Doodles are killin' it

Although most people notice, I suppose some don't quite realize it.
Google doesn't have the most flexible of logo, but they try to make it work, well, for everything. They call it a Doodle, whenever there is a holiday or some big celebration, (someone important would be 155!, etc) then they make a specialized, sometimes even localized logo. That is, the US gets an Independence Day logo, while the UK or Canada doesn't have anything. There are many examples on http://www.google.com/doodles/finder/2014/All%20doodles

They even have contests regularly for certain events they hold, like I myself put in a piece, although it didn't get that far (if it got anywhere, I was really bad with digital art when I made it).
The rewards are awesome, so why not enter?
Well, besides that it is locked in to student entries, I suppose.

Edited to add pictureesss
Because I didn't realize how many people would add them in ;_;
I NEED TO CONFORMM

Bloody Dictatorship Away!!

We were instructed to make a minimalistic poster of an old movie, and I, loving all things open and understanding, decided to do The Great Dictator (1940).

It is a satirical political comedy-drama made by Charlie Chaplin about Hitler. (above is my poster, with the "Nazi" logo replacing eyes, with a Hitler mustache)

Our requirements were not many colors and 2-3 'things'

Bloody things everywhere!

My ten things:
Computer
Steam (game platform)
Sushi
Friends
Internet Connection
Emma (My girlfriend and bestfriend)
Photoshop
Crunchyroll
Portal (Video Game made by Valve)
Science

I made my computer myself, and am even going to update it later today. It's how I connect with the world, and it's also my canvas, having built it from the ground up.
I also really enjoy playing computer games, and prefer to think of myself as part of the "PC Master Race"

I really enjoy Science, although not every part of it equally, I find the quest of knowledge to be a noble one and am really interested in new findings. For example, a pure silicon disk capable of holding hundreds of terabytes by keeping data in 4 dimensions.

And, my poster, made by Emma Eastman, over at http://emmasportfoliowork.blogspot.com/

Bloody Great Time!

This field trip to the museum was very interesting, with really different types of art.

This is probably one of my favorite works, just because of the variety of shapes, from lines and perfect circles to free form curves. I also love the color, although random, they seem to balance themselves out. Pieces like this help remind me that a piece doesn't have to be perfect through and through to have a perfect look at the end.

These butterfly wings are attached to tiny motors which slowly beat the wings. From just looking at the shadow, they actually look like butterflies, until you get close up. I find this to be a very interesting way to show color, while at the same time shadows help create the effect.

This was located in the museum's cafe. I really loved this piece just because it is carved wood, but from far away they look like stone. I really love wood and stone, so having one imitate the other was just fantastic.

We didn't spend all of our time here, we also visited KCAI where we got to tour the place and look at the various things they did there. Although I didn't get any spectacular pictures of the rooms, I did get one of the stair case, just because it looked like they really tried to make it look like wood.

You can also see a graphic on a wall below. They have random graphics all over the place, and makes it feel like there is one person there who is really sticker happy and wants to post things all over the place. Reminds me of my laptop...

Although I don't have any pictures of the studios (I was busy listening to them!) we also visited some small studios, having 4 people in them at most. 

The first one I went into was for a claymation team for KCAI who got a grant to pay for the studio. They needed the studio to control the lighting in the room and whenever they took shots. 

The next one we went into was a printing studio that manually prints using silk screens. He talked about the positives of it versus printer printing and he showcased his work. We also talked about how to make one (it's a rather simple process, surprisingly.)

The last one we visited was a clothing designer. To be honest, I didn't quite understand what she did, she had many bolts of fabric and tiny samples of many designs next to each other. It was really unique, and I liked it. She talked a lot about the programs she used, and I wasn't interested enough to pay attention. Whoops.