Interactive METAAAAAAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! slider

Not much to say about this really. I followed the web lesson exactly and got this out of it. I didn't run into any problems and accomplished the assignment's goal. This was an easy project to do, but it's a pretty cool feeling to be able to make an interactive flash video.

METAAAAAAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, the title is supposed to be read as a scream, because I have the song by Tenacious D stuck in my head. In fact, Metal inspired me to do the word (I was listening to Blind Guardian at the time - one might know them from Robot Unicorn Attack: the one that isn't all rainbows and dolphins) Otherwise I was at a loss for what I should do. Though, originally, I was going to make the words out of electric guitars and other commonly associated images, but I liked some of the textures I found of actual metal.
I used my skills in Photoshop to bring out each of the textures in the letters, using a kind of blobby brush for all but the "E," for which I used a plain old sharp brush in combination with a brush meant for hair if you can believe it.
I liked how it turned out overall, and I especially liked the E and the T. Not surprisingly, I spent more time on those because I really thought the textures had potential. Now that I'm looking back, I'm thinking I would have liked the outcome of the project better if I had used just those two textures, but I wanted more than one type of metal incorporated in the word.

Just a Gallery

My objectives here were similar to those of the other assignment; get the template and customize it from there. I changed the color of some things, using my aforementioned skills learned in the Webdesign class and the helpful video online. I'm okay with how it turned out, and I like the setup better than I did back when I had to use these photos in a slideshow in the photography class I took.

Website of Purple Swirly Awesome!

Yup. It's super awesome. I wanted to give this page a kind of fairy/pixie look, using pictures that I've made for previous assignments in the program. I used my knowledge gained in the web design class to change the colors of things and easily change the images. The swirls were just a brush I found on the interwebs and applied around the border instead of the jaggy edges so it was more personalized. I liked how it turned out in the end, and thought I accomplished my goal well enough.

Headache in a Box

I was trying to make something with radio waves. That's all. Just a common screen name I use and 2011. Nothing fancy. Of course, I fought with this program for three hours (not counting render time) to make something as simple as this was. The prepping of the words wasn't too difficult, and creating the solids was easy, but then, when I used the settings that were on the assignment description? Things broke. Words disappeared, radio waves refused to form, rendering failed miserably, and frustration ensued. I ended up starting over. Of course, when I started over things magically worked and I had no idea what I was doing differently. By that time, however, I was running out of time to render anything fancy. I threw this together, slapped some royalty free classical music on it in Premier Pro, and was finally done. I have decided that After Effects is annoying. Especially since I don't have it at home to play with and get familiar with.

RAAAAWR!!!

I wanted to do something all fantasy-like because that's just what I do. So I found this model in the lightwave content. They said this was an orc or a troll or something ridiculous like that. It reminded me more of a lizard man in an old rpg video game I used to play. Using the 3-d coat program, I painted it with a lizard-like skin and gave it a sort of warpaint and splattered a blood-looking brush on his teeth. I liked this assignment, and only wish I had a more awesome-looking and intricate model. Like a dragon. I haven't done a dragon yet in this class. There must be something wrong with me this quarter. I feel like I need to fix this now. I digress. The only thing I don't like too much about this model is the eye. It doesn't look realistic enough. While I know how to fix this in lightwave, I hadn't a clue how to do so in 3-D coat. So sucky it stayed.

Sticker!

When I started the projects, I admittedly had no clue what I was going to do. Eventually, I decided on turning my screen nic-name into a sticker and put... erm... Blood on it? With spider webs? I guess. It was all done in Illustrator with simple tools; the blob brush, shape, and text tools. I'm not all that good at thinking up of simple designs that would make easy to use stickers or logos... So I'm just okay with what I did, considering how little I knew what was going to happen in the beginning.

In this assignment we were supposed to create simple, easy to read and understand flash cards that would aid in communication. I used Photoshop for the images which I traced using my tablet. The rest was done in InDesign. I think I accomplished the objective for at least all but the "Thank You" card. Thank you is a difficult phrase to simply put into a singe image and understand it. The thank you I used could also be mistaken for hello or goodbye or nice to meet you. I thought about doing a person bowing, or a single hand waving, or a 'thumbs up' hand signal, but none of those struck me as thank you like someone shaking hands. Some may feel differently about the topic, but oh well. At least the rest of the cards were pretty easy to figure out

Ghost fish and... erm... the other one

For these two works, I was merely trying to accomplish the objective; get the four brushes done and use them somehow. Honestly, these were sort of a last minute thing. The weird border on the picture of my dog were supposed to be... clouds? Uh... and the floaty things in the center? Dandelion seeds I guess... I had a better direction and took a lot more time with the fish picture. I made what was obviously a set of bubbles and sea grass. The fish was traced from a picture with my tablet on the interwebs. I like the ghost look I gave it. Everything else was also made using my tablet as well. Overall, I hate the picture of my dog and I'm okay with the picture of the fish, and that's about it. Not my best work.

A Red Bird of Yellow-Eyed Demise

Here, I was trying to accomplish a new look for the Slam magazine that was eye-popping, but also pertained to both the school and the magazine itself. The long-necked bird was inspired by the Raider's mascot, but I tried to make it look a little more scholarly. Like he was reading a book or something and gasping at it's incredible literary power. That's sorta self-gratifying, since those words in the background are from a novel I'm writing but can never put it in the magazine because of how huge it is. I used photoshop for this and drew the bird with my tablet at home. Then it was a simple task of using layers well and copy-pasting words. Overall, it was about a two to three hour endeavor. I'm happier than I thought I would be with this design, though it looks like crap in the blog. I liked it well enough that I didn't want to change much but wanted to experiment with color; the one with the light background is my favorite.

MY Popup Book... thing

In this popup book... movie... thing... I was trying to sort of give a feel of exploring a forest and meeting various critters there... with some surprising twists. Maybe surprising. Along with the skills taught in the lesson, I used my knowledge of photoshop and cut out shapes instead of everything being square. I had fun with this thing, even though this assignment required having a program that I didn't have at home... I've forgotten how annoying it is to not be able to do my homework at home, as the name 'homework' would imply. Anyway, I liked how it turned out even if I didn't have the time I wanted. Also, the file was huge and I had issues uploading it to youtube... which is why it was posted at 10:29...

Lower Case Etcetera

AAAAND here's the next set! I used the same skills and had the same goal as I did with the capital letters, but didn't use my tablet as much. Once I got into the pattern of getting each character done, I actually enjoyed working on it, and did a few more symbols than I had to... not that its very easy to see in smaller fonts still... so unless you make the words really big you're not going to be able to see it very well.

MY AWESOME FONT

I wanted to make a sort of spidery text, so a loaded a brush into illustrator literally called scribble. It was a scribble. I made it work into this creepy looking set of capital letters. I used the skills taught in the online lesson and my tablet for ease of drawing. Despite the fact that it's really difficult to see in smaller text... like, anything lower than 36... I really liked how it turned out.

My Tablet Drawing

This is my Manticore, based off the Hoard's Wind Riders in World of Warcraft. It is an epic Manticore because I wanted it to be. Don't know what a manticore is? Look it up. I used my tablet at home. The lion's body I traced, but the mane, tail, and wings are all freehand. All the color and shading are also done by me. Overall, I'm happy with my work. I left everything sorta sketchy because I kind of liked it that way. If I had a lot more time and patience I would have cleaned it up and worked harder on the fur. Maybe I will, one day.

The Flying Ricky Video

And here is the video! My dog, being a springer spaniel, likes to fetch and will bound after anything. I've gotten countless pictures of him looking like he was about to fly. So I couldn't resist making him appear to fly in truth in this assignment. I used the skills taught in the class this was assigned in, along with some photography skills such as masking and getting the levels right. I liked how the whole thing turned out except maybe the smoke coming out of Ricky's butt. I think I could have spent a little more time making that look better.

First Post

      The life I've lived so far has been fairly boring. I was born and raised in Tacoma, living in the same house all my life. The school I attended was the same one from kindergarten all the way to my senior year. I graduated in '09 and the next fall I ended up here. That makes this my second year here. I'm going for the degree in Digital design.
    To put things bluntly, I'm a nerd. Right now, I'm in four different Dungeon and Dragons campaigns and one Rifts campaign (it's like d&d, except futuristic). I read a lot of science fiction/fantasy, and I love playing video games (mostly role playing games, first person shooters like Modern Warfare bore me). If you're not convinced of my status as a nerd, I also go to renaissance fairs multiple times a year in full costume and have begun to make my own clothing for just this purpose. I think my current count of outfits is five.
   This is getting long, I know. The picture to the left is of my dog, playing fetch. I may have decorated it a little too much. The clouds, sun, and smoke trail are all separate brushes. In the animation there is a fighter jet that I couldn't resist putting in. Technically, the jet is not my picture. Sorry...