Micro-aggression

             I think I've experienced micro-aggression a few times. Often on the streets, people would say "ni hao" which means how are you in Chinese. I would just respond with a "Hi" since I get annoyed at how they try to speak in an accent at times. Other times, when I'm buying food, they would say "ni hao" and I would ignore them. But they would say "aren't you Chinese?" and when I say no I'm American. They would say "no no, you're Chinese, from China right?" I find this quite hilarious but offensive at the same time so I would just say how understanding Chinese doesn't mean I want to converse with him in that language. I think that some people just try to say one word in any language (ni hao, annyeong, kon'nichiwa) thinking that they would have a connection but I feel offended unless they're actually trying to learn. Sometimes that person would say all three in order to guess what language or ethnicity I am.

Favorite Logos

This logo is well designed because it's really simple and different from other brands. This app is a picture app and people usually have multiple pictures taken inside the ghost. You also use a lot of emojis and that goes well with this logo because it's very cartoony. Moreover, every picture you take lasts for a few seconds and then you can't see it anymore and that represents the ghost. First it's there then its not.

I like this logo because it looks like a bird but when you look closely, you can see the 6 within the bird.

 I like this logo because it took use of the word "code" and made the mug look like a scanner thing.

This logo is unique in a way that when you flip the word, it still says turn. It makes people want to keep on looking at the logo.

This logo is similar to the six little birds because it uses this technique to put the image with the word. This picture looks like a bee and when you look at the way it's shaped, it says bee also.

I like this logo because it's cute and it fits well with the words "KittyPic". It clearly shows a kitty with a camera.

Illustrator Blog Reflection

This poster demonstrates a stance against harming the environment. We always throw toxic waste into our ecosystem and this effects everyone. In the poster, you can see a fire behind the tree, demonstrating forest fires. Most of these fires are caused by us and only we can prevent that. Additionally, we throw waste that causes harm to the plants and animals surrounding the area. I tried to pick a font that seems urgent. I placed the tree in the middle, and you can see how the tree is not happy with what we're doing. This poster is for kids so they can understand at an early age to take care of the planet. 

My poster and my thumbnail sketches look nothing alike. They're completely different from each other. In the beginning I also had a different concept. I don't think I was successful in recreating the poster. I believe my sketch was too hard to do on illustrator, which is why I changed it. I don't really like my visual outcome because it seems too basic. I also didn't really finish the poster, I could've changed it and made it better. 

I had two drafts in the beginning. But I changed it again to something completely different which is why I didn't have enough time to perfect the final. I made these changes because I came up with a different idea and the thumbnail was too hard to illustrate.

I think my skill and technique is the strongest category of my project. However, I still did not really incorporate many tools. My weakest category is the other two, the Concept and the Design. I don't think my poster is urgent enough and it doesn't really capture everyone's attention. Theres like little focus besides the tree but it doesn't represent much.

The most challenging aspect of this project conceptually is probably coming up with an idea that not many people came up with. It's also hard to do a sketch of one that seems original because stuff like the environment is very common. So I didn't really have any creative ideas for this project.

The most challenging aspect of this project technically is getting started. It's hard to place an image somewhere on the poster. Additionally, it's hard to change the points and make them curved or sharp. I wasn't really sure how to draw things and where the tools were. It's hard to adjust to the program and sometimes you would have to use photoshop which makes things even more complicated so I just stuck with illustrator.

What's Your Stance!

Planned Parenthood 
This is a non-profit organization that allows you to get insurance/care without anyone else knowing. On the website, there are information about STDs, birth control pills and abortion. Anyone can go online and find information on things they need. Additionally, you can make an appointment and planned parenthood would help you with what you need. Therefore, if you're underage, your parents won't find out if you're getting an abortion or asking about birth control. You can also self-educate yourself on the site. However, some people don't support this organization because they believe it encourages kids to have sex. Yet, they do the opposite, by helping people who had unprotected sex and telling them what to do. They have provided 10 million services a year to help people with tests and treatments. 

Links: 
https://www.plannedparenthood.org/ 
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2015/09/the_gop_s_argument_for_defunding_planned_parenthood_makes_no_sense.html


Sexual Assault
There are lots of sexual assaults happening worldwide. It bothers me because most of the time, the victim gets blamed rather than the perpetrator. Victim-blaming is very common, sometimes with comments such as "you asked for it". The definition of rape is sexual assault without the other person's consent. But to some people, asking the rapist to put on a condom was no longer rape. If you weren't screaming or fighting back physically then you weren't trying to stop them, so it also doesn't count as rape. If the victim stopped saying "no" then people will be reluctant to call it rape. I disagree with these because just because you stopped fighting back, it still counts as sexual assault. 

Links:
http://the-tusk.com/2014/10/01/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-rape/

Animated GIF

Concept

While brainstorming ideas for this project, this concept wasn't my first choice. I chose this because I felt like it was the easiest to express, but it was hard to animate. The concept of my GIF is being with one person or alone. Sometimes being surrounded by many can overwhelm you. You have no time to think about yourself or settle down with one person that you really care about. When the girl was alone, she was happy. When people started coming toward her she was sad. Then it started raining which kept the others away. She was happy again with a single person, not a whole group. The background in my GIF also enhances the feelings of the girl.

FINAL

Evolution (from original idea) 
The GIF is more detailed than the original thumbnail. There wasn't much change besides the GIF being an animation where you can repeatedly see the change of emotions. The movement of the GIF emphasizes how changing your environment can effect your mood. There are also different colors. I added some ground and changed the color of the sky. The concept stayed the same, by being alone, you have freedom over what you think and in some way, peace. 

GIF :) 

Rain

1. My concept behind my portrait is the idea of showing the real world versus the spiritual world. I love the rain and the sound of it. When you hear it, it makes you want to contemplate about life because it has this "lonely" feeling. So I took two pictures of my mom in different poses by a tree. Because usually, nature is where you can actually think in since it's empty and not noisy. I merged the picture together to show someone in deep thought. However you can interpret the picture in any way; it can have different meanings. 

2. I am happy with my results, however I wish I had more time to work on it and perfect it. This is because I messed up a lot and I wasn't really sure how to use Photoshop still. I really like some of the effects I made with the layer masks, I think I did a pretty decent job on it. 

3. First, I placed the two images into Photoshop and changed the resolution. Then I used the magnetic lasso tool to crop out the image of her looking at the tree and brought her to the other image. Then I used a layer mask to clean away the edges so the background is the same. I used the transformation tool to adjust her to the same size as the other her in the image. Then, I changed the opacity so she can look more like a ghost. Next, I searched rain png so the picture is transparent. I put a layer mask over it and then I changed the opacity of the eraser so it fits with the background. I changed the Brightness/Contrast and the Hue of the picture to make the leaves a bit lighter than the other parts of the picture. Finally, I searched up a cloudy png image in order to make her look more ghostly. I made it empty in the middle to make it focus around the two of her. Surrounding her I made the cloudiness darker around the edges and lighter towards the middle in order to make it more realistic. 

Original photographs

Finished Portrait