Week #2 — 7521QCA Visual Communication
Week 2 in visual communication saw a slightly more practical class this time. We went through some of the basics of illustrator. It’s basic tools, layout, etc.
Though, as it turns out, the majority of the class is actually quite experienced with some of the software. I myself have experience with Illustrator and Photoshop.
This has given rise to the possibility of more difficult assessment for experienced students. I’m honestly not sure how I feel about that.
On the one hand, more difficult assessments will provide a better opportunity for learning. On the other hand, the easier tasks allow for more freedom for me to make them more difficult for myself.
I guess I’ll just have to ask Rae for an example of a “more difficult assessment.”
Anyways, I’ve made a start on Assessment #1. Over the course of the week I’ve completed three of the four illustrator tasks: The self portrait, the stroke weight/colour graphic, and the pen tool graphic.
Self Portrait Vector
This is the result of the self portrait vector. I’ve also included the images I’ve used for inspiration, process images, and an initial failure of the task.
Stroke Weight/Graphic Vector
Pen Tool Vector
I’ve also gone through some of the stage one content. This includes the zine video, the photography videos, the illustrator tutorials, and some of the photoshop tutorials.
Zine Video
The zine video included some thought provoking questions. However, I wasn’t able to conclusively answer some of these at this point in the semester. I hope to do so when I’ve made more progress towards conceptualising my zine.
Eduardo Pavez Goye uses very little text in his zines and instead uses an organised progression of images to convey information about a location. Whether my zine will be image or text heavy will depend on the to be determined topic and purpose of my zine. I have little experience in photo production but I’m hoping to change that over the course of the trimester.
According to Goye, the difference between organisation and randomness is that organised structure and narrative creates a greater aesthetically pleasing cohesion. Goye’s process for zines seems to be aimed at producing image-heavy zines. More steps would likely have to be included for a zine that uses a larger text component. He recommends a print test at home for the sake of colour correction. However, since this will be my first zine, I think I’ll do two or three print tests in order to individually test colour, format and the final print.
Photography Videos
My main takeaway from “100 Creative Photography Ideas at Home” was less about the one hundred ideas and more about the themes they were categorised into. Many of these themes were very relatable since they had an aspect of home about them. Kika’s photos show the various creative ways in which they can represent each theme. I’m a fan of arts and crafts and some of the photo ideas involved quite a bit of it.
“Mobile Phone Photography” wasn’t as informative as I’d expected it would be. It was fairly short and it was basically a showcase of some of the ways to make improvised tripods.
“8 Tips to Start Killing it in Mobile Photography” was quite informative. Some of the tips were a little derivative like the low, close and high tips being derivative of the odd-perspectives tip. However, the photo editing tutorial was definitely interesting. As a result, I have downloaded Snapseed (the photo editor used in the video) and intend to test it out sometime next week.
While watching these videos, I found another interesting video that might interest my classmates.
Admittedly, I find it a little difficult to understand photography. I get a similar feeling when looking at abstract art but not as intense. These videos have helped but hopefully with some practice, I’ll develop a better understanding of what constitutes a “good” photo.
Tutorials
I knew most of the basics from Adobe Illustrator but I was delighted to learn one or two things that I didn’t know before. These included:
- Stroke Profile: Varying stroke thickness along a path.
- Stroke Arrowheads: Symbols/shapes at the ends of a path.
- Recolouring: Changing the entire colour palette while maintaining their relative positions on the colour wheel.
I was really amazed by the “What is Adobe Illustrator?” video. I didn’t realise that Illustrator was capable of a few of the projects featured in it. Photorealism and 3D graphics. It was actually quite inspiring. It means that there’s so much more to learn and do.
I am part way through the Photoshop tutorial videos. I already knew the basics of the layout and structure of the application but I haven’t made effective use of the tools. My experience in photoshop mostly comes down to making original images as opposed to photo editing so i’m excited to learn more in the next tutorials and experiment for myself. So far the newest thing I’ve learnt is the history panel. I’ve made do with simple undoing but this will definitely help with stepping back further.
I enjoy learning new tools or new ways of doing things in software. I’m also enjoying thinking of the various ideas for each of the smaller tasks in assessment one. However, it can get quite stressful when I dedicate too much time to simpler tasks. It can be quite frustrating that the time could have been used for more pressing tasks. But time management is just something I’ll have to work on.
It’s hard to manage time when you get ahead of yourself. I try but sometimes I can’t help it. Between my perfectionist habits and trying to get the most out of the course, it can be difficult. It’s honestly a balancing act. While it is good to aim high for the sake of your own development, it is unwise to do so if you suffer for it. If I want to be employed as a graphic designer, learning balance is crucial.
Who knows, maybe I’ll master it by next week.
