Reflection Over e9

This blog post is dedicated to reflecting over what has happened over the past first year of my time in e-Comm. It will be long but it's good to reflect over what has happened, especially when you learn as much as I have in only a year of high school.

What have I learned?

Over the past year I learned many things about how to create digital media, such as videos, websites, animations, and graphics.In regards to animation, I learned first, how to use Photoshop and how to set it up for animation, and then I learned different techniques of animation. In video, I learned how to take different shots properly, and then edit those shots to make a video that looks nice and makes sense. We did web throughout all four quarters, and in web I learned how to use Dreamweaver to make html and CSS codes to make a website that has a good color scheme and doesn't look like a mess of poor coding. In graphic design, I learned more about color theory and how different elements of design work together to make something that looks nice.

How did I learn this?

I learned by listening to my teachers when they were giving demos and writing notes. I used my notes to help me along when I eventually got to make my own project. When I forgot how to do something, I could just look at my notes to help me figure out how to do something.

Why is it important?

This is important because these skills will help me through my next three years of high school and eventually help my in a computer career if I should choose one. These skills are also nice to have if you just feel like creating something, like I really like to use Photoshop to make different things like phone backgrounds and gifs.

What are my strengths and weaknesses?

I feel like my strengths lie in using Photoshop, whether it be for animation or graphic design. Photoshop was just made really easy to use, unlike Illustrator , which I feel like it was almost made to work against you, I'm so bad at it. I feel like I do an alright job in web design stuff, and video was never really my favorite thing.

What am I doing with what I have learned?

Most of what I do with these skills involves making edits and gifs in photoshop. I like to do this for things like different video games and T.V. shows and post them on websites like Tumblr and Twitter, or Facebook if I feel like showing my stuff to my family. (I'm not on Facebook, like at all.)

What would I change?

I would kind of like to change how we're taught. Sometimes teachers will sit there and demo for the entire hour and have us take notes, and it's just about as boring as watching paint dry. I appreciate being able to take notes, but maybe we could work WHILE the teacher demos, and take notes as we go, so maybe we have something more interesting to do? It's hard to figure things out because not everyone learns the same, but these are just my opinions.

In conclusion,  I really enjoyed my first year in e-Comm. My favorite part of e-Comm has to be working with Photoshop, since it's so easy to use and you can do so much with it. I feel like I've learned a lot, and that these skills will be useful in the years to come.

Introducing my personal logo

Finally!

I know; it's been three quarters of the year and I finally have a personal logo. Not my decision. This logo will later be made into a favicon for my blog as well, rather than some random image I found on Google.

Any meaning behind this?

Tons! The main thought I had for this was the idea behind the Japanese lucky cat, and how they're meant to welcome someone into a home or business. The shape the cat is holding is the coin in the traditional Japanese lucky cat, but min is larger, and has my initials on it.

Color choice?

The colors are meant to be calm and welcoming. The choice of pastels, I felt, was a good one because pastels are commonly used in things such as a child's room to make the room give off calm vibes. The pink represents love, youth, and passion, while the yellow represents sunshine. The white means purity, and is another calm color.

Why a circle?

Circles tend to represent coming together, or unity. I really liked that idea along with the soft, rounded edges to go along with the already calming colors! The spiral, which was also rounded with soft edges, is also the cat's tail, which comes around the entire circle.

Is it finished?

Most likely. I had several different ideas, both in my sketch book and on my illustrator art board. I'm pretty happy with it right now, but logos tend to change, and mine is likely no different. 

My Website

For our final in e9 for first semester, we created a website as a sort of portfolio for our projects! We worked in Dreamweaver with HTML and CSS to create our website. While the website isn't live, it was still fun to make and really interesting to see.

We put our elevator pitch and bio on the first page. The page needed to be readable, so I had to change some colors around to do so.

On the second page we put one of our favorite projects from each strand to show what we do. Then we had to write a little bit about our post. I haven't been in Graphic Design yet, but I'll put something in there eventually!

Animal Personality Test

Today in class we did a personality test where we had four rows with ten different characteristics each. In those four rows, we had to rank each characteristic from a one to a four, four being most like you, and one being the least like you.

My results

 I got a 34 in the third row. I'm very sensitive, and calm. I like routine, and dislike change. I try to avoid confrontation whenever possible. I'm not a very social person, and like to keep a routine of the things I do.

What does this mean?

This means that I am a golden retriever! I'm good at making friends, and very loyal. I don't like big changes, and look for security. I can be very sensitive, and caring. I have deep relationships, but only a few close friends. I want to be loved by everyone, and I look for appreciation. I work well in a limited situation with a steady work pattern.

My strengths:

I'm accommodating, calm, and affirming.

My weaknesses:

I'm indecisive, indifferent, unable to express emotion, and too soft on others.

My limitations:

I see the need to be more assertive, and I hold others accountable.

MBTI Personality Test

In class we were told to take the Myer Briggs personality test. The result I got was INTJ.

How I feel about the results

I feel like this represents me pretty well. I'm pretty introverted, but not to the point where I can't go outside. I tend to think about the true reason for something happening. I really like to think about things, rather than depend on feelings, and I tend to judge situations pretty well. This helps me understand a little better why I act the way I do, since I was a little confused before.

How does this affect me?

This helps show how I act in large groups of people. I tend to dislike being a leader, but I really do think about what's going on. I might give suggestions to the leader, but I won't do the leading myself. People have thought I don't do much because I'm so quiet, but really I'm thinking, and judging situations all the time.

What have I learned?

There are many different types of one personality. There isn't just a black and white introvert or extrovert. An extrovert can still be quiet, but enjoy being around people. An introvert can be loud, but like less crowded settings. Personality is a rainbow.

Animation of My Ten Words

You may have seen the ten words on the right side of my blog. They may seem rather strange, but they were meant to be words that describe me.We recently finished another animation, where we were supposed to animate these ten words and our name. Though this time instead of a frame animation, it was a video animation! Video animations are much different from frame animations. You don't need a frame for every single movement in the animation, but instead you only need a frame for each thing you want to move. You need to create key frames, and between each key frame in the animation, the object will do what you have set it up to do. I think video animations are a bit more confusing than frame animations, but they're both not very difficult to create.

Hello!

My name is Helen, and I am part of Mr. Olson's e9 Animation class. We were told to create a blog so we could post our work over the next four years, and I am excited to share it with the class, and whoever else might come across my blog.

E-Comm Website:
www.eravens.net