Today was the last day of Critical Thinking, in which we all gave our ten-minute presentations on ourselves as artists. Here’s what I learned today:
- Order-in pizza works as a depressant on me. Not that I would be familiar with the effect of depressants. But I can only assume. Yes, I’m a junk-food virgin for the most part. 🙂
- Many people’s life goals are materialistic.
- I apparently have a lot more work to show than most people, which can be intimidating.
- I have to go the extra mile in everything. But it’s always worth it. I want to capture people’s attention. I’m learning each time how to do it better.
The assignment specified certain things that I had to talk about. I had to give some background about how I became interested in my field, an explanation of my logo/business name, and some predictions about my future after graduation. AND show a visual aid.
I’m including an abbreviated version of my visual aid here (I cut off the 7 minutes or so that were just prolonged still frames for when I was talking).
And now, here’s more or less what I said:
“We all know that profile pictures are important. These are some of mine, that have all required editing in some way. Well, preparing this presentation reminded me of the rather narcissistic activity of making profile pictures. Unlike some of these pictures though, this short presentation of who I am won’t be airbrushed or cropped – just an honest look at who I am as an artist.”
Catchy intro, eh? Page peels back, music swells, and then…
“While you see examples of my work on the screen, I’m going to give you some of my artistic background.
When I was little, I did a lot of art, and my parents worked with me so that my art “became” something, like a card, pillow, or gift. In fact, I rarely saw my art just hanging on wall. I think that this sense of “usefulness” contributed to my becoming a graphic designer.
All of that was hand-drawn stuff, of course. But when I was six, our family got a computer, and I immediately started using it for art. I started out on the software Kidpix. My favorite thing to make was desktop wallpapers; again, it’s that idea of art in workspace, in everyday life.
My first memory of calling myself a “graphic designer” is when I was ten. My girlfriends and I wanted to make a band, so I came up with a series of band logos using Microsoft WordArt. Nothing fancy, but I remember loving that role and feeling totally inspired in it.
At the age of eleven, I started learning Corel, which is the equivalent of Photoshop & Illustrator. Still making wallpapers mostly.
Then we moved to France, and I transitioned from homeschooling to public school. On many, many occasion, I designed out book reports or redid handouts for myself. I wanted to make my work attractive, even if the assignment didn’t require it. I couldn’t help myself!
I enjoyed my various art classes, especially when I could work on 3D projects and experiment with space, light, layers, translucency… I still get fascinated by that.
When I was 15, I got to do my first video work. It wasn’t filming, but rather combining image, motion, sound. Because I’m also a musician, I love bringing the audio together with the visual, and using timing to make something powerful.
When I was 16 was the first time one of my posters was reproduced and used to announce an event. That was really exciting. Also, that year was the first time I made websites for people other than family.
The year after that, I got to design & assemble the stage backdrop for big school event. I also had one of my first paid jobs: a large poster for graduation.
And then this year, I got to work on an amazing project. I’m in an experimental band, and we made our first album at end of senior year. So I not only played, recorded, and edited the music… but I also got to design the liner notes, CD label, and publicity posters. I completely threw myself into all of it, and loved it. The album is probably the biggest audience my work has had yet.
I’m not becoming a graphic designer because I need a way to make money. (I do need a way to make money, but:) I’m becoming a graphic designer because I’ve found it to be my absolute favorite way to communicate.”
Fade to black. New music: a live recording of “Cheeseballs in Cowtown” by Béla Fleck & Flecktones. Fade in Guess What? design logo.
“Now I’m going to explain my logo. I came up with this earlier this year, but I feel like it’s been in the making longer than that. I chose it because it represents one of the biggest things I have to communicate.
I am a Christian, and one of the most important facets of my faith is the end-times, or eschatology. This is the idea that Jesus coming back as a man and ruling the world, restructuring society, remaking the natural world, and revealing the spiritual realm. I can’t imagine living without that reality construct in my mind and heart, because it all adds up to a LOT of hope. My beliefs have the potential to override anything that I could possibly get down about.
I try to always be conscious at the core of my being that something new is coming, that death, sickness, social problems, and ugliness are on their way out. And my relationship with Jesus guarantees me a part to play of what will be the most dramatic time in human history – when He comes back.What does that have to do with this logo?
Well, “Guess What?” is a phrase that, to me, expresses completely the concept of hope. If someone says that to you and looks happy about it, then you know you’re about to hear something good, something that will change your outlook on life, even briefly.
So, my goal as a designer is to express this hope in ways that pack a punch, that will wake up myself and others to this reality. I love how the visual arts let us say things in ways stronger than just words. And my reason for being here is get as many skills and learn as many ways to express as I can.
I don’t have a whole lot of details concerning my future career. But it’s been helpful to look backwards and identify the different strains of design that have already become important to me. These are: print media, web, audiovisual, and spatial (I don’t want to go so far as to say interior design, but there’s definitely something there.)
The artistic skills are the least developed in me right now are drawing, painting, and other traditional mediums. I’m very excited about learning to do things by hand, because I know that will open up more dimensions of expression to me.
As I think about an ideal career, I see myself being part of larger productions. I would love to join other creative people with a wide range of skills, and make things bigger than anyone could create on their own. And I say this partly based on the great experience I had collaborating to put out this album I mentioned.
For example, if I were working with people making a film, I could design the credits, or the advertisements, or play as a musician in the soundtrack.
High mobility is also important to me. I want to move around, go where people I know are doing things. I’d like to possibly return to Europe, and be based somewhere there.
I’m not stressing about my future at all. My path to AI has been incredible. I have no doubt that my path past AI will amazing as well.”
Any questions? No? Prof makes the comment about my talent being intimidating, but good. Awkward. Clap clap clap. And that’s how it went down! Thank you for your prayers!
