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 

Photoshop

Letter Project Reflection

• When I was assigned my letter, "P" I jot down words that could be drawn with the letter. It really helps to just think of ideas while having your table helping you out. Then I drew the thumbnail sketches with the brainstorming words and it allowed me to keep track of what I've drawn. I also felt that the peer feedback was really helpful because I couldn't decide which to draw and having someone tell me what they think gives me a different perspective. Although I still wasn't sure what to do, it definitely helped me narrow things down.  

Thumbnail Sketch

Thumbnail Sketch

    

• I drew the four seasons, the Sun which represents summer, Icicles represents winter, the pumpkin for the fall, and lastly the flowers for spring. Next I drew something to do with evilness within people but it turned into death. I also drew a lamp with windows as a P and vines hanging down from the walls. I think any of them would have worked but I chose the one with the four seasons because it was an idea that I randomly came up with when I was drawing the drafts. Even though there were a lot of things incorporated in the picture, it seemed the best to draw during the time. 

Snake and Bone/Skull

Four Seasons

Lam'P' with Vines hanging down

Final

• The most challenging aspect of this project was probably getting the color and the shading correct. I like it when it's light because it makes it easier to correct or fix things. However, making it darker outlines the tiny details, which makes it stand out. I am kind of satisfied with my final project because I kind of messed up on some parts of the drawing, such as the sun. It looks awkward in that position and might have looked better elsewhere or smaller. If I can change this design, I would most likely detail everything out more and look at more reference pictures (those really help). I would also have taken more pictures of it before I colored it in so darkly.