1. My four-year degree plan is to first change from Graphic Design to Fine Arts. This will help me prepare for my future, as I plan to be a concept artist/story-boarder and thus I need to take classes in arts of basic human forms and knowledge of how to draw all kinds of objects in the logicality of physics. My back-up plan if this doesn’t work is to be a freelance artist of sorts, go into painting in the movie business, and work in a studio. If the major doesn’t work out, my back-up plan is nonexistent, because this in fact IS my back-up plan and I don’t know it just feels right.
2. My minor is in business administration, and I am unsure if I want to add a second major, which would be either Creative Writing (which I’m leaning more towards) or something with digital art, if such a thing exists as a major. My minor, Business Administration, is so I can manage and learn how to self-advertise, including managing all my assets and such, which is necessary if I don’t want to be an idiot in the art business. I chose it for, besides the obvious reasons, because my mom is a Costume Designer, and did not know anything about managing a business and thus had to rely on boyfriends who did or the bare minimum that few of her friends might have known. I do not want that; mainly because I’m stubborn, self-reliant, and spiteful and do not like to be told what to do. Along with this, it’s probably one of the only ways I will be able to find out more (through schooling) how to take care of myself in “the real world” and manage financial savings, etc.

Time and the effects of it are a great curiosity among many civilizations. Within the 1999 German film “Run Lola Run”, the aspects and sequences of time is highly emphasized, as main character Lola tries three times to get 100,000 dollars in 20 minutes before her criminal boyfriend Manni does something desperate. Each time either Lola or Manni ends up dying, the clock resets, and a new timeline is formed with only minor changes.

Before the time can change, however, we see a prolonged scene of Lola and Manni in bed discussing their love through life and death. As the scene takes on a red hue, the audience is supposed to see it as different, or other, akin to that of a “safe zone” or that of being in limbo. Both Lola and Manni are in bed, and their movements are slow, as even in one shot Lola is seen blinking slowly. Time is implied, then, to be at a stand-still. This is emphasized to an even greater degree, as the majority of the film follows Lola while she is in constant motion; running. The past, however, takes a gray tone, and the motions are sped up between all characters. “. . . [F]ilm is methodically set into action, and each seems as if it were accidental, but our knowledge that the actions are a planned expression by the artists opens up many metaphorical implications about life itself, our desire and inability to control life events, and the wonders and horrors of ‘destiny’” (Barrett, 18). This is the main aspect the film takes, as Lola and Manni get thrown back into the “game” of life whenever one or the other dies. “Run Lola Run” questions destiny in the thought of whether destiny is something preordained or merely circumstance, as anyone Lola comes into contact with has their lives changed in accordance with how and at what time she interacts with them, either intentionally or not.

The speeds of time are greatly dramatized depending on what feeling they wish to convey. “. . . [F]ilmmakers condense and expand time” “sometimes . . . dramatically speed[ing] up motion or slow[ing] it down”, as a way to emphasize the feelings and affects of the moment (Barrett, 10). This occurs many times, though most frequently when Manni is about to decide whether or not to rob the store and Lola is nearly there, when Lola is racing to meet with her dad, and when Lola makes prolonged eye contact to specifically important people. “Like gravity, time itself is intangible. While it is easy to overlook a force that we cannot see, the effects of time are critically important in all areas of art and design” (Stewart, 3). When Lola encounters key people the movie focuses on, shots are slapped onto the footage, similar to that of polaroids, summarizing the “what happens after” to the characters. The majority of the time, whenever she runs into that character the next time, their polaroids dramatically change. And what makes the changes so interesting is that they seem like events that should have nothing to do with the other, such as in regards to the first character Lola runs into. This woman is simply taking her child on a walk in a stroller, and Lola accidentally bumps into her when she is racing to meet her father. The images immediately laid on the screen show the woman getting forcibly removed from her child at some point later in her life, and in her despair, she is seen stealing another baby from another family. However, when Lola is instead tripped in her second time trying to meet her father, and is thus a few minutes early (as falling down the stairs is faster than running down them), the woman instead is shown to later win the lottery.

SKILLS INVENTORY

Drawing I

1. My greatest strengths include: Years of art classes and knowledge (not extensive in the slightest) of how to use micron pens and graphite pencils.
2. For greater success in this course, I need to: Practice outside of class more, thus enhancing my abilities in using charcoal pencils and other tools within my kit.

Visual Studies I

1. My greatest strengths include: Understanding typography, having an interest in photography, having a base-line skill with computers and printers, and a love of paper.
2. For greater success in this course, I need to: Get a handle on Photoshop and keyboard short-cuts.

Rhetoric & Composition I

1. My greatest strengths include: A love of writing, knowledge of sentence structure, and knowing a multitude of types of essays.
2. For greater success in this course, I need to: Become better at thinking and writing outside the box, which comes mainly with practice.

Truth, Justice, Graphic Way

1. My greatest strengths include: Art, coloring, story-making, and writing.
2. For greater success in this course, I need to: Read the harder essays more times than I do, complete assignments in a timely manner (planning out what I have to do more often), and focusing more on the formats and demands of the assignments.

Basic Mathematics

1. My greatest strengths include: A love and knowledge of algebra and basic math.
2. For greater success in this course, I need to: Practice word problems, percentages, and questions containing anything with Precalculus.

1st Yr Seminar- Visual Studies

1. My greatest strengths include: A knowledge of art and love of presentations (i.e. being taught new things) and of which getting more knowledge from the different professors and what they have to inform me.
2. For greater success in this course, I need to: Taking more notes and dedicating a greater attention span to the class, along with which managing my assignments from the class with a greater concern.

Computer Skills

1. My computer skills include: Autodesk Sketchbook, Microsoft Word, Pages, PowerPoint, Printer(s), Microsoft Excel, basic keyboard commands
2. I still need to learn: Enhanced keyboard commands, Photoshop, Illustrator.

Research & Writing Skills:

1. My greatest strengths as a researcher/writer include: Sources and how to tell if the sources are reliable, understanding the basic formats of different essays and articles.
2. I need to work on these aspects of research and writing: Having a broader source of research and developing a more enhanced method of writing.
3. I learn best and accomplish most when: If I am given an example with which to format and research, and am given an understandable amount of time to complete an assignment in determination to that of the demands of the essay or whatever it is I need to complete.

ACTION PLAN (Truth, Justice, Graphic Way)

1. Study my assignments for longer periods
2. Ask the professor specifically what he/she is demanding
3. If I am confused, talk to the professor instead of just relying on a classmate
4. Don’t leave my assignments last-minute — start working on it two days early
5. Provide more class interaction (i.e. speak more)
6. Slow down and take time reading assignments
7. Get a good night sleep so I can avoid falling asleep in class
8. Come to professor hours
9. Stay focused on the topics
10. Take more specific notes during class

The use of photoshop was a lot easier to manipulate, and I actually formed an image in my head of what I wanted, which I was very happy about. Initially I wanted to do a face, and shade it out of tea, but as I started to go through my photos for the photoshop, I realized that the colors I had would work better for an eye. When I started to shade my eye, however, I realized that the matte paper was the WRONG material to use for wet substances. It would’ve worked had I used acrylic paints, but not the watery substances I chose. As that plan failed, and me being without any kind of acrylic paints in my immediate vicinity, I thought of something else. I went to the community recycling bin, and found some excess papers that had been thrown away. The colors were right for what I wanted, and I grabbed as much as possible. Scanning my images and converting all files to jpegs and tiffs and keeping the sizing and dimensions correct was phenomenally easier than I had expected once I knew what to look out for.

Part 1:

Initially I wanted to go into Graphic Design because I was drawn to the typography and creative aspect of the major. When I discovered the more structured parts, I only became more intrigued. However, when the Graphic Design student presented, I realized that I’d mistaken Graphic Illustration as being a part of Graphic Design, while I only wanted to do the former. The Graphic Design student’s work was very in depth and required fierce determination for their intended major — a drive I didn’t hold for photoshop and “ad” structure. In contrast, was Michelle D’s work as a Fine Arts Major. She had a drive and love for the same things I loved, and I started to question the path I had started. Her varying and evolving art style sparked my interest, and the abilities she acquired the harder she worked and the more dedicated she grew. Though I wasn’t as focused on the two other presenters — the photography and game studies majors — they too were focused on a specific aspect within their majors. The Photography Major spoke highly of staying close to home and documenting the cultural differences within her life and homeland, while the Games Studies Major was focused on the programming and building rather than artistic perspective. As a side note, I offhandedly wanted all four students to work together on a project. Take one student from each Major and have them work on a project to learn not only teamwork with people of different skill sets, but also to imitate real-world collaboration between different sections within visual jobs. Each would play a vital role in the final creation.

Part 2:

http://walidfeghali.com/

https://burdge.deviantart.com/

https://viria13.deviantart.com/

http://marauders-fanfilm.tumblr.com/

I chose these four links because they each belong to the main people who have influenced me the most in my artistic growth. Walid Feghali I’ve followed the most, and with each of his differentiating skills, he showed me that I could follow and improve a multitude of my skills and apply them to any future job. With Burdge-bug’s art style, she helped teach me the basics of making my own style from basic body shapes and that I don’t have to choose between realism or cartoon-ish. Viria was another form of Burdge, and I learned color style and how to match complimentary colors with what worked to which character. And finally, with the Marauders Fan Film, it taught me how to do something with smart effort and dedication to a project with hard-earned confidence.

Through the use of Photoshop, I was able to have a wider variety of manipulations done to my images, and thus it was easier to portray the feelings I wanted from my images. The spacing between the divisions of my stripes were even, and the ways I manipulated the pictures was easier than if I had been using, say, Word. As I’d never used Photoshop before, I didn’t know as many tricks as I would’ve liked to use, so I was unable to incorporate a few aspects from my ideas as I would’ve liked. I don’t feel as accomplished with my pieces, mainly because I didn’t have any starting aspect or burst of creativity aimed toward this project. I truly had no ideas, and the majority of these pieces feel like exercises; only a few am I actually impressed with. When I do this again, I’d view more examples first to kick my creativity and imagination back into gear, and then sketch out ideas rather than go straight into Photoshop and hope for the best.

PART 1

1. The goal of Image One was to take pictures using the psychology surrounding Gestalt, while Image Two was to successfully design a superhero with whom was tangible and incorporated what we had learned during the class (in terms of what we already knew a superhero to be and what we made of it through our own knowledge). The question for Image One was “what aspects of Gestalt are being used?”
2. In terms of Image One, I believe I provided aspects of “anomally”, “repetition”, and “asymmetricality” within the picture clearly enough to be recognized. In order to accomplish it, I had to go out to South Congress and take pictures of things that could represent Gestalt principles. With Image Two, I reasoned that the basis of many superheroes comes from ancient myths (hence, Wonder Woman and the Greek Mythology of the Amazons). So, I took my favorite Greek goddess Athena, and combined branches and specifics of her powers with that of Medusa’s own (since her story in terms of how the women of Greece learned and taught it really resonated with me). From there, I decided I wanted Serpentine (my superhero) to be culturally diverse and of another race because there weren’t enough diverse members in the well-known factions of superheroes (in my opinion). Along with this, her coloring and mannerisms would make more sense as she was descended from people of like characteristics, and to do otherwise would be “white-washing”.

PART 2

1. The strongest aspect of my superhero work is the origin of Serpentine’s story, along with the effort put in to make a strong baseline of powers and original idea.
2. The weakest aspect of Serpentine is the sketch design of her clothing and what she looks like in her outfits. I didn’t incorporate an original body outline with what she looked like in her superhero outfit, and I don’t know if her outfit clearly defined enough of what she is or what her powers are or what she stands for. Her colorings weren’t the shades I was intending because I was rushing, and her in superhero form versus her in everyday attire makes her age difference dramatic, while I’d only intended it to be the same age in both circumstances.
3. Conceptually, I could also incorporate a more solid back-story and go more in-depth with the dance and powers that her ancestors and how she acquired them when her sisters and parents could not. I would also like for her personality to be more complex and thorough, as currently it feels too general or idealistic.
4. Technically, the project could be strengthened by having her costume fully formed where it stands more for her ideals while also obviously having a baseline for her powers as shown for the reader’s benefit.
5. I would like for a more powerful portrayal of her in costume and as a person. I would like Serpentine to be less of a typical, expected superhero and give her a more unique personality and countenance. Serpentine I would prefer to not be “broken” and suddenly get powerful with the sudden enhancement of magical/skillful abilities, but rather have her acquire her inner strength through herself and her own accomplishments to help be a better role model for other people and to serve as someone that is more relatable.