Photoshop Projects

In my first project in Photoshop, I kind of learned how to use the basic tools of layering and opacity, and I figured out where everything was that was different than Illustrator. Some stuff was the same, though, and that made it easier to figure out what to do. The first big difference from Illustrator was that Photoshop is bitmap based, which I learned when zooming in to erase the white in the ONW compass.


The second project was easier at first, but eventually got harder. Figuring how to select the parts required a bit of asking around, but I figured it out and made it even more precise by using the tolerance. Then, I changed the colors, which was easy after I figured out the shortcut. The hardest part was getting the flapping effect because I didn't know where to center the clone stamp, but I found the source panel and figured out how to make it exactly where I wanted.

Project three was similar to the first project, but I learned some more tools. The Text Mask was the first new thing I learned, which was a bit confusing to figure out. After getting that, I created a gradient around the text. Figuring out how to make a custom gradient with Raven Blue was the hardest thing because the panel was sort of hidden because it was set to a default of pure black.


The last project was the most complex, and I learned what most people consider "Photoshopping", or removing stuff from pictures and adding things from other pictures. Editing out the car was especially cool. The magnetic lasso was probably the hardest thing in the class so far, because drawing around the raven's head was like one of those games where if you touch the edges of a maze, you get shocked. Eventually, I got it sort of good, so I continued on and finished the project.

My new Logo

Using what I've learned from color and shape symbolism, typography, and other Illustrator tools to make a cool logo that represents me. Everything that's in the logo represents something, from the colors to the shape mean something. The colors, blue and green, are supposed to give a calming feel, because I'm calm and quiet. The letters are made out of triangles (with the arrows pointing up) to show progress, and at the same time gives the logo a 3-D feeling. The pointed bottom suggests unbalance, but I can be, sometimes. The final product looks like a sketch I made earlier, though I changed the shape to a triangle, from my original circle design. I changed it because the triangles made my logo look like a pyramid. If I made any more edits to the logo, I would change the line shape to make it look more connected, but at the time, I'm not sure how to do that.

Font Personality and Anatomy

Recently, I took a Font Personality Test and I got Perpetua Titling Light from being Rational, Understated, Traditional, and Disciplined. I like the font because it has some cool effects with different parts of the letters being different thicknesses. I used the font in an Illustrator diagram showing the different parts in the anatomy. I learned about all the parts of letters and wrote my name in my font. Here's a sample of my font and a diagram of my name.

Color Wheel

The idea for my Color Wheel started with the rotation tutorial and then I adjusted many different aspects of the tutorial image to make it personal. While looking at all of the different tools in Illustrator, I learned what a lot of them do, including some of the different fills and a lot of outline manipulation tools. Mrs. Lofquist also taught me how to use layers, which came in handy after I made all of the shapes and began to edit them. If I were to make another color wheel, I would make it different than the tutorial in many ways, such as the general form of the shapes and the amount of rotation. I also added outlines to the shapes, giving the whole wheel a more complete feel to me. In conclusion, I'm fairly satisfied with the end result and I went from thinking Illustrator was just advanced MS paint to thinking of it as a professional graphic design tool.

What is Graphic Design

             Simply put, graphic design is the art of using graphics and text for ads and media, but it is obviously way more. Thinking back to when I was a little kid, the ads and logos I saw had an effect on me, making me always remember them, which is a goal of all designers. Another goal of graphic design is emotion. Art is characterized as something that evokes feelings, and graphic design is art. Whenever I see a movie poster or billboard, I feel something, whether it is happiness, fear, anger, or anything else, which is good for the item's designer. Another goal of design is exclusive to the designer: the feeling of accomplishment. I've had some experience in design, mostly just Microsoft Publisher in middle school computer class, but seeing a finished project has always looked awesome to me, even if other people were like, "so, what?" Graphic design, being art, is different to everyone, but my take on the concept is more goal based and it's what it means to me. Here's another blog post I used to figure out what I actually thought about design: What does a Graphic Designer Do?