I learned about editing video in Premiere and animating using Adobe Animate. I learned how to adjust sound and color and string clips together within the program.

2. What was easy?

The easiest part was probably importing the files, cutting them, and moving them around. I also found it pretty easy to mute certain parts of clips and adjust when they would have sound.

3. What was challenging?

To be honest, pretty much everything else was challenging for me—Premier has a ton of options and I am not sure my computer was optimized for the program. I think I figured out some parts, though, like adjusting the color of clips and adding in some effects.

4. How could your submission be improved?

My submission could probably by improved with more effects, which I tried to do but had some trouble with. I like the other parts of my project though, like the clips I recorded and the track I made in GarageBand.

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

I think it could have been improved with some more detailed explanations of how to do certain things in the Google Doc, as that was the area where I had the most difficulty. I really liked the assignment as a whole though and I think it gave me a bit of knowledge in the most essential parts of the program.

6. How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios?

I think that knowing how to make videos will probably be helpful later on in my professional and student life. Hopefully the skills I learned will allow me to make better presentations in the future for other classes and projects.

7. Reflect about your emotion, how you expressed it in your video, things you liked, didn’t like, etc. Mention a tip, insight, or inspiration from one of the readings in your blog reflection.

I chose the emotion “calm” and I liked how I expressed it in my video with slow clips of nature. I personally like how my video came out and I think it did a good job of communicating relaxation and lack of hurry in nature. Something that I found inspiring was the reading on “The Creative Apocalypse That Wasn’t”—I thought it was cool to read about how art and music have continued to be able to thrive and flourish under changing circumstances, even when they aren’t expected to.

My chess piece moves forwards/backwards and left/right like a rook, but it has wings because its special power is that it can fly over pieces that are in its way.

1. What did you learn?

I learned how to use Maya to sculpt three dimensional objects and designs. I also learned how to use Arnold and the Hypershade window to create custom, realistic finishes for designs in Maya.

2. What was easy?

I thought that using the Bezier tool to begin designs was pretty easy, especially since I have used similar tools in Photoshop and Illustrator. I didn’t have much difficulty with using the Hypershade window either; even when I was adjusting all of the minor settings on the Jade preset I used (like “metalness” or “sheen” or “subsurface weight”), it was pretty intuitive even when I did not know exactly what the names of the settings meant.

3. What was challenging?

I think the most challenging part was figuring out how to control the sculpting tools. They were all easy to use, but I found that it was pretty difficult to be very precise with them. I ended up using the “freeze” tool a lot, and that made it a lot easier to be sure I was only changing the parts I wanted to and to make sure that I was making precise adjustments with the sculpting tools.

4. How could your submission be improved?

Originally I wanted to add on a beak, like on a bird, but none of my attempts to make it look the way I wanted to seemed to pan out so I just ended up leaving it off; I think that with more practice in Maya I could make it work and look the way I imagined it, which might be an improvement. In addition, I think I got the wings to be pretty symmetrical but they still weren’t as perfect as they could have been.

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

I liked having Lab 6 and Project 3 lead into one another, but I think that maybe creating a different small object in Lab 6 could make doing a chess piece in Lab 3 more fun/interesting. Overall, I still liked both assignments though.

6. How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios?

This could be helpful if I ever need to do any 3D animation in a future assignment. In addition, I am taking a sculpture class next semester so maybe I could use Maya to model projects as part of the sketching process.

1. What did you learn?

I learned what vector graphics are and how they differ from other image formats, as well as how to create vector graphics and format business cards using Adobe Illustrator. I also learned about appropriate font choices and how to create a balanced and readable business card.

2. What was easy?

The easiest part was probably choosing a color scheme and incorporating it. It took a while to figure it out, but using things like grids in Illustrator were fairly easy since I had already gotten used to it in Photoshop. The pen tool was pretty challenging, but I found it to be far easier to use and more intuitive in Illustrator than in Photoshop.

3. What was challenging?

I thought it was pretty challenging to actually come up with a logo. I like what I came up with overall, but I drew out a lot of different designs before I decided on one that I liked. I also thought that the pen tool, though a lot better than in Photoshop, was pretty difficult to master. Over the course of the project though, I definitely got a lot better.

4. How could your submission be improved?

I ultimately like the design of my business card, but I feel like it could maybe be improved if I made the logo side of the card a little smaller or the text a little bigger, as that might give it more balance. Alternatively, maybe a lighter colored background for the logo would have helped the text side of the card feel less dominated by the logo side.  

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

I liked the way that the assignment was set up; I found all of the instructions to be pretty easy to understand and I didn’t have any real issues. The only thing was that being online was probably a detriment to the assignment, but I still thought the powerpoints and videos were enough to help me figure everything out.

6. How might you apply your knowledge in future assignments or work scenarios?

I think that knowing how to design a business card will probably be helpful later on in my professional life, as I will have the skills to be able to create my own or maybe even help others make theirs. In addition, I think that understanding Illustrator could be helpful in future assignments or work scenarios as I’ll be able to create my own custom vector graphics for various assignments.

What did you learn?

I learned about creating imagery in Photoshop. I learned how to mask different parts of layers and edit the layers masks using the brush tools. I also learned how to use and export artboards to create multi-page documents in Photoshop. In addition, I learned about the role of type and the different ways in which certain fonts and typefaces can be used to communicate ideas and emotions.

What was easy?

I found it easy to add effects like outer glows and to cut out images from their backgrounds. I also thought it was pretty easy to find and install fonts from DaFont, which is something I’ll probably make use of a lot in the future.

What was challenging?

I had some trouble with figuring out how to use type on a path because I found the pen tool to be pretty confusing. Eventually, I was able to make it work and I got the type to go around the goat on the front cover.

How could your submission be improved?

I think I could have added a little more to the inside of the card. After we first did critiques in class, I added some drawings like the rainbow, the hearts, and the clover in the goat’s mouth, but I think that it could have been fun if I had added even more designs on the inside.

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

I think that the assignment was pretty straightforward already. I liked how everything that we did was demonstrated in the Zoom classes, but maybe doing a little more explanation on the pen tool could have been useful as that was what I struggled the most with figuring out.

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

I think that what I learned about fonts will be really easily applied in the future. Whenever I have to do a project for this class or make a presentation for another class, I will be able to choose fonts that are appropriate and select ones that best fit the mood and subject matter of whatever I am presenting. In addition, I think that knowing about how to bring images together in Photoshop will be a good skill to have if I ever have to make a poster or flyer for anything in the future.

How did a specific reading or video inspire you?

I really liked the article “A Brief History of Print Design,” as I thought it was really cool to see how different kinds of typefaces and design elements have been used for different purposes throughout history and as print design has changed over the years. I was inspired by the photomontage examples in the “Photomontage” page of Wikipedia to add the big goats to the background with the field on the inside of my card, creating a new composite picture. I was also inspired by the fun and lighthearted graphics I’ve seen in other greeting cards in different stores and supermarkets.