End of the Murderous First Quarter!

Well, this quarter has been pretty chaotic, and, this being the last time I get to blog about it, I'll just highlight some stuff that I've been doing outside of class.

I was approached by a classmate asking if I could help them design a brochure for Cross Country. She was just the student aide of the photography teacher, and didn't seem to really know what she was doing. After she was let off the project, I managed to stay on to finish it.
Well... I completely redid it...
She started it in Photoshop, the only Adobe program you'd use for photography.
I redid it with InDesign.

A small preview

It was made for it to be folded, so the girl's are on the back, and the raven is on the front.

My second large project was an absolute nightmare, but mostly because poor planning... It's all a learning experience, I suppose.

My AP Art Studio teacher, also the teacher for National Art Honor's Society, usually uses Word to design a Calendar every year to get money for NAHS. We then use that money to do a variety of stuff like go on field trips. This year, she sought me out to do it, seeing that I probably could do it better than her.

It took me an hour to get everything plotted out on InDesign, and then I just waited for her to get me pictures. During that time, my graphic design teacher took the liberty to remind me every other day that I should start on it and have everything plotted out already, and every time I would remind her that I have it all done with already and I just needed pictures.

Man was I wrong..
I took an entire day just of Calendar stuff.. She had specific holidays she wanted to be showcased, with artist's birthdays. After I wrote those in, double checking some I was unsure on if they would change (Presidents day is always a Monday, while last year the date would make it a Tuesday) I then had to completely reformat it so that it would print right, because folded, one month shows the other's picture...
I then had to go around matching the months, getting artist names, double checking the spelling, and putting in the medium used...
How to fix this?
Request straight up what picture she wanted for each month, and the artist's full name and medium.
And then what dates she wanted to showcase, and just spend half an hour googling dates and writing them down.

Anyway, a sample of the cover.

Sure, the names aren't exactly centered correctly, but it was hard to get everything done as fast as she wanted it to be x_x

Oh, and, to make matters better, a friend of mine looked over the format after I went home, and I was told he reformatted it again because some stuff didn't match up.

So I'm waiting to see how they turned out, and if he messed things up...

(He doesn't have any knowledge with graphic design or InDesign...)'

I was told that I was supposed to have three pictures, but really, I like keeping just one sample picture per project... Weeee..

Bye bye people!

Bloody Typography!

This time around, I was tasked with labeling a font with just the usual stuff
Legs, arms, shoulders. counters, bowls, etc.

The idea was that the typography would have a piece of my personality, and so I did a quiz.

I told them I was emotional, and then I got a dot matrix font... Which really isn't emotional, but instead logical.

I don't know -shrug-

I feel like I'm missing a few, like the M might have a stroke instead of a stem, and I can't use any of the fancy G terminology because I don't have any Gs in my name.

Fun.

Cubes Everywhere!

Following the tutorial on
http://www.lynda.com/Illustrator-tutorials/242-Creating-cube-differently-colored-cubes/76067/143225-4.html
I was tasked with both following his steps, changing it around, and then making it my own.

First, following his steps. Pretty simple and self explanatory.

This time around, I used his to create something new. The only thing that really changed was the increase of cubes (enough to fill the image) and the red. I chose the other colors, which make the yellow feel a tiny bit off. The dark doesn't seem dark enough...

And then here, trying to make something my own. Many people seemed to have been going in really odd directions, many people making abstract images by squashing shapes. Instead, I decided to take it one step further. If a squashed cube is still a cube, a rectangle (which a cube is) should work as well, right? I learned how to use the Extrude and tried to use it to create a block giraffe in the style of my drawing 1 class project.

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