(Graphic Design) Semester Two Final

The Big Final Blog (woo)

Three Favorite Projects

One of my favorite projects was the vector portraits. The project took about 2-3 weeks I believe. Some of the challenges I faced included the difficult pen tool, the precision of the triangles and points, and the colorization of said triangles. I did learn a lot more about the pen tool, and vector imaging was another thing I learned. Some peers told me to pick better colors for some parts of the project and I agreed, some of it looked kind of odd before I fixed it. I went from a not very detailed image to a more detailed image, just by adding more triangles. I think this has been my best piece all year, I really like it!

Another one of my favorite projects was the typography project. It took a total of around 2-3 weeks to complete. Some of the main challenges included the difficulty of finding the right font to match the right quote, quotes are very difficult! I learned a lot about color choice and how colors can convey a better message and meaning. Peers had told me to change a few quotes that didn't make sense and they were right. The original idea was vastly different and the outcome was much better, this is like my second best work all year.

Lastly, one of my favorite projects was the logo project we just finished. It took about a week and a half to finish. Easily one of the hardest parts of it all was the actual logo idea itself! Coming up with a logo is very hard to do and the end product is always hard to be 101% happy with. I learned a lot about color choice once again, but I also learned a lot about putting yourself into your own art and it's hard to do art about oneself. Peers helped vote on which logo I should use and I was very happy with what they decided on. The original idea never really existed, it all just kind of came to me. This is a piece I am not sure if I am proud of yet. (I used the red variation of the bottom right).

Time Management 

I feel I used my time very well! I finished all the projects on time and still had time to revise and enjoy some time on my own. Researching the skills needed for some projects is one thing I did often. Figuring out exactly what I am supposed to do for a project can help me, so I can lay a base and expand it from there! I always use my time outside of school to enhance my eCommunication skills, such as video. It does require a focus outside of class to reach a further goal.

My Improvements

Being in eComm for two years has really shown me that I can do amazing things! Graphic Design will always be kind of shaky for me, but I feel like that is very normal! My strengths are mostly shown in my dedication, my love for art, the passion I have for my subjects, and my creativity. Being creative goes a long way, it takes more than just logical and physical skill; the mind os the strongest and most commanding part of it all. 

What to Improve Upon

While I may have been here for two years already, I still have two more years to get better and better. I feel like my technical skills here in graphic design could improve quite a bit. While I am going into video, graphic design will always be a skill I will need for the future and beyond. Seeing beyond just the instructions is something I do often, but maybe I should cut back on that a bit.

Conclusion

Being in graphic design has really pushed me to try new things in the program and to try and incorporate that with my other works. It's been lots of fun and I don't plan to stop anytime soon! I think there is so much to improve upon, and I know I will. Being in video next year makes it harder to build onto my graphic design knowledge, but I know it won't stop me from trying to further myself. It's been good and it's treated me well; that's all I can ask for, right?

See you in convergence!

(Entertainment) God Awful Short Films

Mr Cooper, or really anybody who's reading this, please know; I have never been so disgusted and ashamed of any of my eComm projects until this project came about. No matter how hard you try to make a solid video, and no matter how well you plan a video; everything goes downhill and it will crash and burn.

Pre-Production

Pre-production was how it usually was! Everything was going great, we had actors we had a full schedule; the plan was set! Our story was pretty complex, but nothing impossible, just a matter of getting the right locations at the right time

Production

Everything is awful, I go into panic mode! Never have I ever felt so terrible and panicked over an eComm project, but here we are TWO WEEKS from finals with nothing filmed, actors all quit, no locations in our story are available, and to top it all off: I worked every single day we had to film. I came up with a trash tier story that we filmed in about 4-5 days with wind making most of our audio worthless. 

Reflection

I have come to the conclusion that my passion of entertaining video is nothing but a dream, I truly feel like I won't be able to produce entertaining videos for eComm or anything, ever. If I could change anything, I'd change what production I worked on. I love my story I made, but the story I made never saw the light of day; it was a wasted script that I caused to fail. My team was amazing, they kept up with the painful reshoots and edits and kept it afloat, without them this short film would've been worse. I just wish that for once, ONCE in my eComm career that at least ONE of my projects would be something I am proud of; I don't think I'll ever be able to be proud of just about anything I've made, I can't do my passion.

Anyways! This has been a fun year overall, even with all of these failed projects; See you in Convergence!

Short Film: Bases Loaded

(Graphic Design) Vector Illlustration

Production of Graphic

While we created the vector images, we had to choose a photo that we wanted to replicate. I chose a picture of my dog! I wanted to do the triangle pattern design for the visual style and then the hardest part of the project began. Making the triangular grid on the picture was tedious and difficult. The pen tool is not my best friend, for sure! The colors were difficult, if I selected the wrong color, it would've made the whole piece appear wrong or out of place. Finally in the end, I had to erase the grid and change the background image and in the end we have... 

I think the image turned out great! I am quite proud of it and I think the colors are accurate and appear pleasant to the eye

(Entertainment) Movie Trailers... kinda

Pre-Production

Our movie trailer is based off of the 80's hit classic; Risky Business! We figured we should do a movie that wouldn't suck and wouldn't be too not suck. With this in mind, we started a storyboard by using the movie trailer and I made the sequencing to which we would film with. This process took us about a week, the hardest part of it all was the hiring of actors; because nobody ever EVER wants to be in a eComm video!

Post Pre-Production

So this is where everything we had planned just blew up in our faces and our we ended up with something... beautiful

Production

SO basically I took things into my own hands and filmed a lot of artsy shots at AMC Theaters, my place of work. This developed into a series of weird looks from my coworkers and an overwhelming feeling of failure. I couldn't wait to start editing.

Post-Production

Editing was so much fun, I had such a blast! I got to do some fun editing techniques as well as have a few laughs along the way! I truly think this is my 'peak' in eComm, this is the 'best' video I have ever made and I truly think it will make Mr Cooper and my group proud.

(Graphic Design) Typography

Pre-Production:

For this project I decided to pick fonts I felt best fit me, and I prefer fonts that are more relaxed rather than harsh and professional. For the quotes, I mostly looked towards rock bands and rock music for inspiration because it just fits me so well. 

Production:

During this project, I would've never guessed working in Black and White would be so hard! It really is hard to perceive emotions from a Black and White image, but overall I got a better understanding for the Pen tool and especially the font tools used in Illustrator. It felt better once we moved into color, something about color just makes the product stand out so much and adds a whole new layer of emotion to the product.

Post-Production:

I am (mostly) proud of the final product, I feel some of my quotes could've looked better but all in all I think it turned out pretty nice! I would've liked to change the "Dream On" quote's image, but time ran a little short and I couldn't think of anything else to do or use for it. I think the "Moon" one is my favorite quote and design, and the "The more I see" quote is another favorite just because I love the Red Hot Chili Peppers so much. I definitely know this isn't my best work, but I am still rather proud of what came out of it.

(Entertainment) Music Video Project

Reflection:

This project is the reason I am doing convergence next year! This project was apparently supposed to be a music video recreation, but we took it in a way different direction and made an original video. Our song was "Somebody to Love" by Queen and our video was a story about one money person finally finding 'that' person to love.

Pre-Production:

This part was fun! We had so many ideas flowing and we had what we thought was going to be this perfect project. We made our beat sheet, storyboard, and shot list. I worked on the ideas and layout for the whole video while Nick went and found inspiration and the copyright info, and Addy and River worked on Storyboarding and finding our cast. This entire part of the project went fine and turned out alright... until nobody wanted to be in the music video; that part kind of sucked.

Filming:

Filming was a complete nightmare for both the filming crew and acting crew. Most of the actors were busy all the time and the film crew was busy too; not to mention all the snow days and the freezing cold temps ruining both us and our continuity. Continuity was an issue that was very present in our video just because of adapting to weather and we had to reshoot things on the spot and at some point we just had to go with it. Nick, Addy, and River mostly took care of filming; I helped with all the scenes at my house and provided input for the whole thing. 

Post-Production:

Editing was my job and I loved it... for the first minute of our video at least. We had only a handful of clips to go off of, and when we got more they just couldn't fit in correctly. So what did I do? I made the empty spaces really goofy. I figured that if there was nothing there, I could've made it interesting at least and people seemed to enjoy it! (I hated it)

Aftermath:

So everyone in my group did their job and worked very hard with what we were given.. except one member who shall not be named; they didn't do anything to my knowledge. This project wasn't hard, we just had really really big ambitions and it didn't turn out. I didn't like this project, but after having all this time to listen to all these other songs; I know I could make an amazing music video out of a different song and story. I will definitely be entering the next project headstrong and shooting for the moon.

e9 Final Exam (4th Quarter)

4th Quarter Project:

The project we were given was to create a product and a business that we would eventually present to the other e9 students and staff. This project took all of 4th quarter and there were many challenges along the way. The main issue was creative differences. I feel we all had our own view on what we wanted to do with our production. I feel I have learned that working in a group is very difficult if you don't communicate the same message to all your teammates. Feedback included things such as the safety of our product, the commercial's main focus, and our color scheme. All of which we modified in the best way possible. We changed how our presentation would go and the overall emotions of the product. I feel overall I put a lot of effort into this project and I'm happy with the outcome.

Time Management:

I completed all of my works in class and on time. I've stayed ahead of the game and finished early most of the time with maximum effort. I stayed productive by always finding a way to improve my project, like with the final ball project in animation I was playing with textures and added many more scenes. I was always trying to improve upon what I had already done. Outside of class I am a photography machine and video maker. I'll always have Premiere running and making short clips, I am always on Photoshop making something, I am always in After Effects trying new things. I have learned that experimenting has improved my skills by a long shot! This is my dream after all, I'm not letting it slip away.

Strengths:

I feel as if I am a video focused individual. I feel for any project, if you give me a camera and some time with Premiere and After Effects, I can make something amazing. I feel I can truly express myself with video and that I show off my skills in video production. I am also very decent with Photoshop, I can make something goofy or something intriguing! I maximize my skills by practicing daily! I'm always making something and always brainstorming ideas.

Areas of Improvement:

My area of improvement is Graphic Design, but most importantly.. teamwork. I am horrible when it comes to teamwork. I need just myself and my camera. When I have teammates, they will almost always shut down my ideas and I feel working in a group constrains my creative ability. I think I should be able to express myself on my own! I tried my hardest with this project to work with others, but I had to bite my tongue sometimes. It's hard to accept other creative ideas sometimes. If I want to make a dark and horrifying but my team wants to make a light hearted feel good movie, I can't work with that!

Summary and Closing Statement:

I loved being able to go to school and do what I love. This program truly is guiding me where I want to go! I want to attend Full Sail University and I feel this is helping me get there. I can express myself here! If I had to change anything, it would be how I did my A to B video project because I hate that thing. I learned that this year, I belong here and I can be myself here! One goal is definitely go all out for these video projects and just let loose! Have fun and express myself. My final statement; I'll miss you Mr Olson, and thank you for an amazing year. Thank you to the other e-Comm teachers for setting the bar that I will shatter. I will pursue video with all my heart, that's always been my plan. Next year I am going all out

(Web) CSS and CARP Design

The Web Project II: Attack of the HTML

Here we are again with another web based project using Dreamweaver. The only difference between the two HTML pages is the blank one has no CARP design. It's bland and hard to look at, but the one we fixed has pops of color and is more organized.

Contrast

The contrast comes from the colors being used. The colors of the tan and black contrast with some colors matching the image. Darker colors are used for text in the poem and the titles. Lighter color used for less needed information.

Alignment

Alignment can be seen from the formation of the poem and the base of the title. The image is also alignment off to the right side, floating. The text at the top the page leading to the before image could be a little better, but it's still good alignment.

Repetition

Alongside the repetition or pattern of colors, the font also is repeated a few times. We see the repetition of tan on black used over and over a few times. 

Proximity

The sizing of the text to image is used quite nicely. The size of the text is properly sized so the text isn't overpowering to the title or image. The credit down at the bottom is also fixed not too big.

So in conclusion, web projects aren't my specialty. These are fun to do, and I learned how to use CARP in Dreamweaver, but I think I'll stick to the other branches of e-Comm

(Animation) Sketchup House

Sketchup House Creation

Starting off the project, we had to proceed to find a house plan. I decided on a simplistic cabin house. The plans show nothing too extravagant. Once we were in Sketchup, I had to get the dimensions of the house and its sizes. Started off with a basic rectangular prism and went from there. The windows on the house took the longest, trying to get the glass on them and angling them correctly. The details on the steps I am quite proud of. The stairs and windows are probably my most favorite thing about the house.











<--- Roof Texture








And here's the finished product...

My Personality Type (it's pretty cool)

(Animation) The Legend of the Bouncing Ball(s)

 The Start:

So we started off with the basic frame animation and making the ball bounce vertical. I added a little squish when it hits the ground. Using Photoshop to animate is weird, but I love it! Not much of a thought process with this one.

The Second: Electric Boogaloo 

Here we started to play with gravity a bit and how the balls bounce gets less and less with each hop. The only thought process with this one is the angle and arch of each bounce.

 Playing with Fire:

Here we were told to elaborate with the past two trials of animation and for some reason a more darker color schemed project came to mind. I love the colors and the fire burning the ground.

Playing with Fire (Again):

So basically I wasn't satisfied with the first time I did this and added a bunch of more action with the cloud and even labelled the animation, Life and Death. Even with simple Photoshop frame animation you can tell a story or have meaning.

(Graphic Design/Web) Creating a Website

The Creation of My Website:

First of all, knowing how to use Adobe Dreamweaver helps a TON! I'm glad I had some experience. We had a template already made for us, which saved a lot of time and effort. The color scheme I used was a blue/orange. I'm really a huge fan of these two colors. Showed off my two favorite projects on the second page. Nothing more I can really say about this, it's just a website. 

(Graphic Design) Logo Project!

The 1st Step:

For the logo project, we first had to think of our shapes and sketch out a few ideas. Most of my ideas involved a camera, because my love and passion for video and photography. My first couple that I want to try was an atom, but the nucleus was a camera, my name but with the 'a' of Blake being a camera, and then a sword and shield with my initials engraved into it.

 The 2nd Step:

Now that we had some sketches made, it was time to take to Illustrator and make some black and white rough drafts. I ended up trying all of my sketches with all of them being failures. All of my sketch ideas were either too much and looked wrong, or looked very cartoony. I wanted to make an artsy, slightly professional looking logo, but with my own personal touch and after days of getting nowhere I was very upset. On the last work day I decided to just mash some shapes together. I love the 3D shapes I make on Illustrator, so I started to make a 3D triangle shape and ended up with a three layer, almost gradient style triangle. I decided to go further with a circle border and of course I needed text. I then had a logo that looked like it was made for a bank, and I sort of loved it.

The 3rd Step:

After getting my B&W logo, I had to polish up some of the lackluster color and design. I am personally a fan of the blue and orange color scheme, so obliviously I'm going to try this design first. I also changed the full name into the initials because of the empty space left in the triangle. I ended another ring of color to give it the badge look as well. I ended up with these four designs. I used the triangle as kind of a point of focus, and the circle because I want the badge feel. I could easily see the final design on a hat or some sort of shirt.

I then ended up falling in love with this one...

(Graphic Design) CARP Redesign

Contrast:

I feel the main way I used contrast on the poster is with the text outline and color. The color scheme was variations of green and yellow, so I used the color hexadecimals to make colors close to those on the backgrounds. The title sticks out very nicely without being obnoxious. 

Alignment:

So the alignment on the poster feels natural, but I feel I could have done a bit better with the little extra bits of info, but the main idea of alignment that I tried is with the title. I tried to line up the serifs of the text in-between the gaps of the letters.

Repetition:

With the repetition on this poster, I feel the color scheme is the most oblivious. The yellow outline with green text also comes up a lot. It's a visually predictable piece and it feels right.

Proximity:

The proximity on this piece is quite nice I think. The text supports the image and what's grouped together is meant to be grouped. You can easily move from group to group without being thrown off or distracted. 

(Graphic Design) Typeface Anatomy

Overview:

The next Graphic Design project was to use typeface anatomy on our own names in a serif font. We had to use Adobe Illustrator once again and once again I love that program! It's a smooth running software and it gets the job done. Using serif fonts make finding the anatomy much easier.

What I've Learned:

So learning about the different kinds of fonts and typefaces really played the largest role with being able to identify the parts of the type. Using words of anatomy such as; Aperture and Finial, and knowing what that all means really hammers into your brain and honestly, it's all good. I know for a fact I had no clue the thin part of a font is called the, hairline.

The Results:

I think this piece turned out really well and looks pleasant. I used a color scheme that pairs nicely together and the font is correct for the setting. The arrows and description texts are not obnoxious and set a good feel for the simple piece. I am excited for what we do next, and with all this leading up to making our own logo makes me really excited! 

(Graphic Design) Logo Color Schemes

Analogous:

This music logo uses the analogous colors of red, orange, and yellow. I think the band used these colors to give of an aggressive vibe, they are a rock band after all and they need to really pop and stand out!

This tractor supply logo uses the analogous colors of green, yellow, and yellow-green. While the colors are analogous, they're also cool colors, and I think they used these colors to give off a simple and grassy vibe.

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Complementary:

 This soda logo uses the complementary colors of green and red. The reason I feel they used these colors is green represents cool like the drink, but the red signals the pop and aggressive carbonation.

This internet browser logo uses the complementary colors of blue and orange. (My favorite!) The reason they used these colors in my opinion is the orange is to represent the fire of the Firefox and the blue is to represent the typical sphere shape used in internet browser logos.

Warm:

This glorious logo uses the typical warm color of red. I feel this logo uses red, for it is considered an intense, or even angry, color that creates feelings of excitement or intensity. Which this game requires.

 This musical logo uses once again the warm color of red. The main reason they used this I think is because they are a rock band and red is usually and intense color, like I stated before and that's what feelings rock bring out.

 

Cool:

This technology logo uses the nice cool color of green. I feel like they used green because green is usually considered a tech color and kinda just makes the logo stand out with it's simplicity. 

This streaming service logo uses the cool color of purple. I feel they used this color to make the service approachable and relaxed. Purple is a smooth cool color. I feel purple is more of a new age color and is used more in newer logos.

 

Monochromatic:

 This fast food logo uses the monochromatic scheme of orange/brown. I feel they use these colors to show off their old fashioned feel and it just feels natural.

 This hotel logo uses the monochromatic shades of green. I feel they use green for the hospitality feel and cool relaxed feeling. Much like Nvidia, it's just simple and cool.

 

Triad Color:

This credit card logo uses the triad colors of red, blue, and yellow-orange. I really have not a clue why you'd use triad colors for something like MasterCard! It's a pleasant logo, just different colors could be different.

This selling service uses the triad colors of red, blue, yellow, and green. The colors here feel a bit more relaxed. It's a simple font with simple colors and it all just kind of melts together.

(Graphic Design) The Color Wheel

The Color Wheel

The first Graphic Design project was to construct a color wheel. We used Adobe Illustrator CC 2017, a nice program for those who want to ditch Microsoft Paint and step up their computer art ability. The  Color Wheel consists of the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. Using the shape tool to form perfect sized circles and triangles and other polygons.

What was Learned?:

Using Adobe Illustrator for the first time in a long time was rough, because the program has changed quite a bit since the last time I used it. While I learned a bit more about The Color Wheel, most of it I had already known. I feel what I learned about Graphic Design is the fact that even something as simple as The Color Wheel can play a much larger role down the road in other projects and art pieces.

Self-Avaluation:

I feel like I did a great job on this project. It was a good way to wake up those old Adobe Illustrator skills and get used to what I'll be using for the next while. Everything was lined up greatly, using the Shift key to keep an even shape, and other hotkeys to keep it alined on its axis. Maybe next time I would go deeper into the color pallet to find the color closer to the actual tertiary colors. I did try and find the right colors on the mixer, but I could've had cleaner colors.

(Video) E-Comm Activity #4: Chase Scene

(Video) E-Comm Activity #3: Point A to B!

The Hallway Chase

The next E-Comm video we had to film was a Point A to B chase scene. The idea we had was to make kind of an action/horror aspect to it, with it starting off in the halls late to class and then the actor running to his class and the closer it gets, the more frightened he becomes. The filter used was to give a more chilling atmosphere and a cooler feel more than a warm feel. The iPad was used to film and we used Premiere Pro to edit once again. I feel maybe next time we could focus on some more angles and or set a more simple 'plot'. The video I feel turned out great and we have better potential. I feel this was better than my first video.

(Video) E-Comm Activity #2: How to Print a Document

Video Project #1

     The first video project of E-Comm... stressful right? I feel like I have to do my best and prove my worth. It's a fun task to have, but I feel like maybe a better topic next time or allow more artistic freedom. The creative process was a nice experience. We made our very basic storyboard and made stills into a slide show, and then filmed the short clips for our little 30 second short video. Our key decisions were not too key, we all kind of figured all the stuff we knew. My job was to be the assistant director and I helped position all the setting props and actor. Technically we used iPads to film, which I personally don't like, due to the fact I am used to using an actual camera and full on equipment. We edited with Adobe Premiere Pro, version 2017.
Maybe next time I make a video project, I'll step more into the mix and throw in more of my creative perspective. I just went along with what everyone said and went wild with editing. It's hard to sometimes make a video on a subject you don't necessarily like. I did like how we filmed this video. It was a very simplistic video setup and it felt personal. The simplicity was nice and felt homemade. What I take from this is, no matter how much you dislike a subject and just make it your own. I have already been using Premiere Pro for quite some time now, but it was a nice refresher for all the stuff to come.