Category Archives: Assignments

Something About Kittens and Raindrops…

I took this picture of my desk after a particularly vigorous crafting session, but managed to have many of my favorite things in the image. I’m sure that there were easier ways to do this project, but I opted for convenience of device. Instead of loading up Photoshop on my laptop, I used Procreate on my iPad. I imported the photo and copied the layer, and made the top layer black-and-white. After that, I just erased the areas on the black-and-white layer that I wanted to be shown in color.

See if you can find all of them!

  • The Emotional Support Water Bottle: I LOVE my water bottle, and I carry it with me everywhere. I mentioned this in an earlier post, but there is almost never water in it.
  • Show Buttons: I have a pin from each of the shows that I have worked on in Klein Theatre, which is all of them! I have a display on my backpack and bulletin board.
  • Owen’s Farm Mug: This was the last trip my family took together before COVID, and my parents snuck this mug into my college stuff. It broke last year when I accidentally launched it across the kitchen while trying to wash it, so while it no longer holds coffee, it does hold pens.
  • Memory Box: I have one of these for each year of college, and it holds playbills/scraps of paper/playing cards/anything else that has something of importance to me.
  • Pothos: I have a lot of plants, but this one is the first one I got from my Mom.
  • Photos of my Roommates and I: We took these pictures at Fall Formal this year, and I adore this photo reel (and my roommates!).
  • Love Postcard: I got this in a box for a bracelet from my grandmother and, while I didn’t like the jewlery, this postcard has traveled with me.
  • NYC Card: I bought a lot of art on my first trip to New York, and this one is just so cute.
  • Dad’s Jacket: At some point I stole this jacket from my Dad, and I love that it’s getting so much wear from both him and me. It just goes with everything!
  • Work in Progress Art: I bought this right before college to remind me that I am always learning to be better. Cheesy, I know.

Vibrant Parking Deck

Color Changer Assignment for Week 3

This is an edited version of a photo of me that was taken in 2023. I tried putting different filters over it in Krita and ended up on Increase Saturation HSV. Changing the color didn’t affect the picture, but changing the saturation (how vibrant or dull it was) did. When I saw this, it stood out to me how vibrant the background had become and how Zer0 looked pretty much the same whether the filter was on or not. I like the contrast between Zer0 and the environment, which used to be just as gray and dull as him. I think it makes him stand out more and ironically gives the picture more life. To me, it makes the background look more like a painting. This could be used as a metaphor for how Zer0 doesn’t belong or have a place in the world. Robots are not naturally occurring things and are ostracized in the story. Parking decks, concrete, and cars are things people are much more accustomed to and trusting of.

Trading card

M. Marshall 1.31

The assignment takes you to a website that allows you to make your own trading card! I thought this would be a good assignment for something fun and simple. I knew I needed an assignment incorporating my character so it worked out really well.

An important preface is that I never played with trading cards as a child (not even Pokémon), so I didn’t have a great idea of what I should or shouldn’t be doing. This is the trading card I made (I should probably make a new drawing that I find to be less embarrassing, and that has a nose). I decided to give her a high attack number (I’m guessing the scale is out of 100?) because in my story, the government is probably creating this pet-army because they would be strong. For softness, I gave her a 50 because she’s half cat, half robot. For flexibility, I gave her a 100 because most cats are very flexible and I felt like that should be represented. I gave her an 88 for adaptability, because I wanted to represent the robot part, maybe her robot half has a paw that can turn into different tools or something like that. I found this to be super cute and super fun!

Photoblitz!

M. Marshall 1.31

I did the 20 minute Photoblitz last night, here were my prompts:

Find a grid pattern somewhere: I struggled to find something interesting, so here are the tiles on the ground of the common area in my dorm.

Make a photograph of a smile, either literal or symbolic: I hoped to get a photo of my cat that looked like she was smiling, but it didn’t work out. Make your reflection on the screen will show you the smile I was looking for?

Make an artistic photo that involves one of your toes: I like to call it “Reflecting on one’s atoenement” It doesn’t really mean anything, but the play on words was too good for me to not use.

Giraffes are brilliant. Show us what it would be like if they lived in human society: I didn’t have a good way to demonstrate this, so I drew it, it was probably the thing that took the most time, maybe 7-8 minutes.

No ocean, surely you can find some water around you to take a photo of: This is my cat’s water filter, she stays well hydrated thanks to it so I am very grateful for it.

How do ants see the world? Change your viewpoint: Cute, right?

Doors can have a lot of character, be it in the hinges, knob, or style: This is a door in my dorm building, it’s been painted over a few times and this building is long overdue for a renovation, but I like it better than my door to my dorm.

I can’t say that this was my favorite activity, but I did really enjoy the creative exercise, I felt like I gained from it!

Capturing Moments

When looking at the prompts, I immediately noticed a theme of the outdoors, but was really excited about the abstract theme and what I could do with that. It was fun being able to walk around and take all of your surroundings in when you’re looking for something specific. It helped me to see everything and think of nature and where I’m walking in a manner different than I usually would.

Week 3 Summary

This week felt much slower compared to last, and I kept feeling like I was forgetting something. I even reread the assignment four times to make sure I didn’t miss anything…haha. I really enjoyed watching the TED Talk, the video about movie posters, and the Stranger Things video. I learned a lot of cool things about design from these videos and from this week in general, as I mentioned in my reflection.

Behind Graphic Design

Doing the Photoblitz was a cool experience, but I’m not sure if I did it correctly. I ended up completing more tasks than required and finished in about seven minutes, which left me confused. Was it really supposed to be that fast? Maybe the goal was to complete as many as possible within 20 minutes…I’m not exactly sure. Either way, it was fun! I enjoy visual assignments, especially when the prompts are provided.

Photoblitzing After Work

Here are the assignments I completed this week. Finn’s Walk Home is related to my character.

Cuteness Overload

Finn’s Walk Home

Mango Sees All

Here are the Daily Creates I did this week. Although I didn’t participate in them, I still checked them daily out of curiosity and wanted to complete them, but time got away from me!

My participation this week was low because I was really busy with other classes, but I still read through almost every post. Here are some of the posts I interacted with.

Getting creative with the Daily Create

Go Bills!

Assignment Bank: Week 2

Daily Create January 23, 2025

A World of Color

See you next week!!!

So Close Yet So Far

Shadows are very interesting because of how they can change perception of how close or far something is, or even how big an object is. In this case, I saw two poles that were around 20 feet away from each other but their shadows were so close. That really inspired me because it shows the closeness and connection people can have even if they physically aren’t close. All it takes is some light to shine down on you so you don’t forget how close you really are to someone, and to be grateful for that. Because without any light you wouldn’t be able to tell.

Bethany’s Barbie Dream House

I decided to further characterize Bethany (and indulge myself) by looking for a house for her on Zillow. Since she is based in Chicago, that’s where I opted to search. She really doesn’t need a lot of space, especially since its just her. I could see her eventually getting a pet, so a pet-friendly establishment was a plus. While Bethany is only a receptionist for a funeral home, she does have the extra cash flow from Smithy, so the price wasn’t anything I was too worried about.

I found this stunning apartment that I know Bethany would LOVE. Located in downtown Chicago, the one-bed/one-bath setup is just enough for her. The brick and hardwood fixtures are breathtaking, and the balcony would be perfect for her morning reading. There is enough space in the living area for a small office, which Bethany will use for all of her after hours work.

While the bedroom is a pretty stark white, Bethany would fill the room with life through a huge rug and lots of wall art. There is still some personality in this room, though! A wooden beam runs through the ceiling, bringing some much needed warmth to this part of the house.

I Lost My Wallet

As one of the assignments for this week, I created two ID cards for my course character, Bethany Smith.

For this card, I used an ID making website and then saved the PDF. It was a little hard to use as the website was quite laggy, but I think it turned out nice!

Bethany’s ID Card for her job at the funeral home.

For the library card, I just searched for the Chicago Public Library card and erased the example name and signature on Photoshop. After that, I added back in Bethany’s name and signature using the text and paint tools, respectivley.

Her library card, because of course she’s a reader!

Classic Blunders

I chose the movie The Princess Bride because it’s a classic movie that was a comfort movie for my sister. This in turn resulted in me being stuck watching it many times (the younger brother never wins the battle for the TV remote). There was one scene that stuck with me during the times I involuntarily watched the movie and it was the Battle of the Wits scene. I wanted to do this as a connection to my sister because it is because of her that I will watch this movie every once in a while.