What did you learn?

I learned so much in this project such as how to create a 3d modell and how to use Maya. In that, I learned the basics of how to sculpt an item, in addition to playing around with more textures and how they interact differently with different light sources.

What was easy?

Not much honestly. I had lots of trouble with this project at first because the program was new to me and kind of confusing at times. I guess the only easy thing for me was coming up with an actual idea for my pawn: making it look like a lady in a dress, yet still a chess piece. Not sure how well I got that idea across though.

What was challenging?

Like I had said before, just about everything other than the brainstorming process. The program and concept behind the project (3d modeling) were all new to me.

How could your submission be improved?

With more practice and skill, I could make the pawn look more like what I was going for. I could make the shapes smoother and more intentional. Additionally, I could fix around the lighting for the rendered shot a bit more.

How could the professor improve the assignment for the next class?

Again, this assignment was pretty straight forward as it could be with most class participants in remote learning. The instructions were good in my opinion and easy to follow.

How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenariors?

If I ever need to make a 3d model for anything I’ll know where to start. I could be a good asset to wherever I work because of this because I feel as though not many people know where to start.

How did a specific reading or video inspire you?

Not much inspired me for this project other than the idea of a fighting pawn protecting the kingdom (the king) while wearing a pretty dress and a sick hat.

What did you learn?

I learned a lot about not only monograms, but also about how to make a simple business card. Additionally, I learned about a few new programs such as Figma and Adobe Illustrator. In these programs I learned how to manipulate text to do more than just be a wall of text.

What was easy?

For me, what was easy was making the actual card look put together. I quite enjoyed moving and placing things around the card to make them look appealing to the eye but also simple enough to not get lost in the business-card information.

What was challenging?

What I found most challenging was the actual monogram. I found that deciding on an actual symbol/monogram to settle on for my card was difficult. I was worried it would be too complex at first, and then found myself worried that it was too simple.

How could your submission be improved?

I would like to have added a few more elements to my card. Maybe some detailing on the corners just to pull everything together a little more. There is a lot of open space that I find myself wanting to fill.

How could the professor improve the assignment for the next class?

I think the assignment was pretty straight forward and easy to follow. I think I would like to have there be more possible elements we could have added, such as elements in the corner. For this, I would have liked for the professor to maybe show some examples of more ways we could be creative with this project.

How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenariors?

In the future, the basic knowledge I have of Figma could be used to make more business cards in the future, or just monograms in general since the program makes it so easy to manipulate text. If I ever needed something that had text free flowing, I would definitely go back to this program as I feel super comfortable with it after this assignment.

How did a specific reading or video inspire you?

When looking for inspiration for my monogram I came across a lot of good ideas on Pinterest, where monograms were put on wedding favors or things like his and hers washcloths. They looked really elegant, in addition to being simple yet still pretty. Although that wasn’t the direction I went in for my card, It still was a source of my inspiration.

What was easy? I thought mapping out the foreground images was easy once I got the hang of it. I found myself having quite a lot of fun cutting out the images with the different tools and finding what I like most.

What was challenging? The word mapping was hard to make perfect. Text kept going upside down or in the totally wrong direction than where I wanted it to go.

How could your submission be improved? I probably could have gotten a better piece of paper. I did not realize how thin my paper was until now. Will have to look into that more for future projects.

How could the professor improve the assignment for the next class? Maybe make the instructions for the beginning parts of the assignment more clear? I felt sometimes that things were going too fast, and the uploaded lectures helped a lot when I was stuck because I could go back and review things.

How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios? I now know the basics of photoshop so I feel like any of these skills I learned could be useful. Specifically, if I wanted to create a card for someone in the future I could! It feels really cool to have these skills accessible to me now.

How did a specific reading or video inspire or help you? All of the videos and lectures done by the professor helped me a lot in my inspiration and figuring out where to go next. Additionally, scrolling through the pictures on Unsplash and seeing what popped up was helpful too.