Author Archives: jsancheu
Animated GIFs
FullBright
Type Specimen Book
Type Sample
End of Semester Self Eval
Grade for myself: A for effort.
SELF EVAL:
Hours Accumulated at start of semester: 202Hrs
Goal Rate: 16hrs/week – 8320hrs/10yrs
Target hours for semester: 256hrs
Current Hours: Approx. 243Hrs
Current Total: 458Hrs
Starting from 202 hours at the beginning of the semester, presently I have accumulated approximately 458 expert hours. As with my last self evaluations, I’m not too far off of my goal and with limited time in the labs to work, I think I’m still doing pretty well with expert hour management.
As this semester closes, I think I’ve pushed towards a high point of my potential. If I had the equipment to work more on projects off campus, or had more time available on campus, I could definitely see myself spending much more of my time working. Still, with the Fulbright program, I feel that I’ve dedicated a lot of effort to making it presentable.
The first category to consider is Social/ Emotional Development. I consider myself “Mature” in this category because I am capable of interacting and working with others in a respectful manner. Towards the end of this Fulbright project, I’ve given feedback to others, something I usually refrain from doing. People asked for my help and that’s a new change. Another aspect of Social Development would be my respect for deadlines/ working on timelines with others.
Sophistication of My Work follows in the listed review criteria. I think this still falls into the medium levels. Although I pushed myself further with this project, I feel that I struggle with an aesthetic/ style when starting projects. Aesthetics are usually second to functionality to my mind. Because I think this way, I develop content in a one at a time manner when I should be doing both function and style together. I always feel as though I could push it though. I just never have the equipment to. For now, I think my sophistication is respectable, but with more time in each project, they could undoubtedly be pushed further.
Next to be discussed is my Use of Feedback. As mentioned above, I always consider any meaningful feedback I’m given whether I agree or not. If I truly don’t agree, I can always scrap the advice in the end so there’s no reason to not think it over. Using feedback is an extremely important aspect of art. People may notice awkwardness or social references I unknowingly made in my work so it’s good to let many people see work as it develops so I may “weed out” such imperfections. In this semester, I think I’ve carefully considered every piece of feedback I was given, and thought of much of the given feedback before it even came up. I feel I’ve been getting better at finding things that could be refined.
The fourth item to consider is Level of Challenge to Myself. This has been high during this Fulbright project. This semester has had more projects that take more time and I appreciate this. It gives a meaningful focus to work and dedication comes easily when I know I’ll be on this project for a good while. I’ve focused on making functional adjustments that my program needs to be the best it can in the time available. It doesn’t even feel like a challenge as much as opportunities to refine.
Fifth on the list is Contribution to Climate. This is probably still about the same as it’s always been and is my weakest feature. However, I’ve spoken a bit more to others about their projects so I think this is a little higher than usual.
The final item on the list is Use of Practice Time which I think I rank highly in but not perfectly. I love having time to focus on work in class because this is my only time on campus. I would love to live on campus and have far more time available in the labs but unfortunately I can’t so I make do with what I have. The work I do at home takes a good amount of time but uses less formidable software. I now have a capable desktop but no internet providers service my home so I can’t use the Adobe Creative Cloud unfortunately.
To conclude, the changes within myself have been more devotion to project development. I am motivated to refine projects like the Fulbright program but I need time in the lab for it. For this semester end, I think I am doing the best I can so my potential is being pushed.
FULBRIGHT EVAL:
Button Packages
For this project, I designed buttons and packaging that reflected an aspect of visiting a location and experiencing it in a specific way.
The first location was the Blanton Museum of Art and the experience was wonder. To emphasize thought/ wonder over art, my directions brings viewers from the smaller art to the larger ones. This is where the title “Bigger Than You” plays in. Ideally, the viewer will end the directions in front of a very large art piece, thinking about it in some wondrous way. In terms of the aesthetic of the packaging, I tried to reflect the simple and smooth elegance that the museum has. My design isn’t highly sophisticated but with the references to the penny piece and the blue wall, there is more than just meets the eye.
My second location is the Barton Creek Wilderness Park and the experience is delight. My instructions focus on a lighthearted hike with a friend and observing what you can in the nature around you. To emphasize that there is more to see in nature, my button design is a photograph. I placed the button on top of the matching image so it blends in somewhat and makes you look closer.
Final Weather Report
Throughout this project, the smoothness of transition seemed to take emphasis. Through much micro-managing, I tried to make movement linear, either horizontal or vertical, and tried to reduce any overlap items. I struggled with color scheme a little. Because of varying value contrast, or lack of contrast rather, I couldn’t find good colors. Not a lot of colors contrast green because it’s such a neutral color. I feel the brown map is my worst color choice but for the rest of the piece, I tried to unify green and blue. Also unifying the piece, I emphasized the use of rectangles to background the data. The only time it isn’t emphasized is during the map “pop up.” I chose type that I thought would reflect the culture surrounding each location without being distracted. For icons, I made simple illustrations of landmarks in each place. I feel this is weak because three icons are broad and horizontal while Big Ben is too thin and tall to match the set. As for sound choice, it was somewhat limited but I used what I could get. The ending also seems like a cheap fix but I’m okay with it since I focused more on the LATCH. And overall, maybe my data was presented too small until the end.
Taking away from others, I could utilize a three dimensional transition approach, or use photos to make my style more engaging.
Cutter/ Plotter
For this project, I had to transform the aesthetic of a character by changing fill, stroke, and edge. This was done in order to learn the basics of Adobe Illustrator.
My designs aren’t completely exciting in any way but doing this project helped solidify my confidence in using the program. I chose to spell my name for no real reason other than I could. There is no concept behind this project to explain unfortunately.
After Effects
For this project, I designed a short animation with sound that portrayed the constellation “Vulpecula,” a fox. This was done to learn the basics of Adobe AfterEffects.
I started this project by researching the constellation. Vulpecula was said to have been created by an astronomer and given no real story or context. Sometimes the fox is portrayed as carrying a goose in his mouth but some tell the story that the goose was eaten or flew off as time passed. Starting the creative process, I began finding “The Cosmos,” taking high quality scans of interesting textures to create “cosmic” backgrounds. After that, I began using AE, trying to create depth with a moving background and fading stars. To pursue the concept behind the lore, I drew frames that the animation would move through. I pushed the lore further by imagining that over time, the fox without a story became tormented, becoming a disturbed deathly creature, inspired by work I saw on deviantArt. To finalize this dark transformation, I used sounds that portrayed a happy beginning turned nightmarish.
Thanks to Karla G. for being my partner and finding good sounds for us to use.