Celeste is a city overflowing with crime. When given no choice people will do anything to survive, leading to bounties upon bounties appearing over people’s heads. So where is the best place to hide hundreds of rebels? Well obviously in a city amongst the wanted where no one would dare rat each other out to the corrupt government unless you want to be ousted as a secret snake.
Beware: Armed and Dangerous!
Have you seen this girl? The government is offering an award of 25k for whoever brings her in. Security footage caught her breaking into a well fortified administration building stealing over 5 years worth of top secret government files . . . and snacks from the coffee room. She took down 5 officers alone along her path before disappearing without a trace. Last seen escaping through the main lobby’s skylight and traveling from rooftop. Suspect is described as a 5’2 young black girl wearing an oversized hoodie. Authorities warn that she is highly dangerous and presumed to be affiliated with the rebellion called the Claws.
For character week this idea was inspired by Miranda Skinner’s post in the assignment bank called Missing Person where she said to create a missing person poster, but I was inspired by this idea to instead create a wanted poster for my character Runa Starr. Since Celeste City is based on a cyberpunk theme I tried to express that in the poster with lots of city and neon futuristic designs using Canva. I assumed Runa’s first wanted poster would’ve been created when she was still a teen so I used Pinterest to find a picture that matched her character’s description. The city in the background of the picture helped with telling the story of how security camera’s caught her, and the snack in her hand gave me the funny idea of including that she casually stole snacks during the break in to emphasize that she’s bold and fully confident in her skills not to get caught. Lastly, due to her age she would definitely taunt her pursuers by messing with them, so I added graffiti to her wanted poster with a silly face, heart, and an arrow pointing at the word “wanted.” I also made sure to make it look like she used graffiti to cross out any information about her on the wanted poster.
These were my photoblitz prompts. I took multiple photos but edited it down to one picture per prompt. I also included pictures of the time I started the assignment, and the time it ended.
The first photo, 6:03 pm.
Next, I had to find a manufactured item. This could technically be a lot of things, but I decided to use my flashlight. I was a little confused by the elements portion of the prompt, so I turned the flashlight on and also showed the keychain portion just in case.
Next, I knew exactly what to do for three items, because I have three empty spice jars waiting around. There used to be four, but that one has a peppery seasoning in it now.
The shadow was a little difficult to make, but I make a sort of rectangle shape by holding my coat above my head. I think the shadow would be hard to identify since it seems so boxy.
There aren’t many edges in my room, but I did land on the edge of my table, and I think I managed to make it a bit artistic.
Now for this one, why do you want to see my toes?
This image could’ve also qualified for the three items prompt, but I decided to use it for the plastic object instead.
This is a painting a previous roommate and I made. We followed a Bob Ross tutorial, and I like how it turned out. She used these trees to teach me how to paint them, what brush to use, and how colors can work together.
In the end, it was 6:23 and my photoblitz was over.
For this Daily Create I was supposed to compare technology I used as a kid to now as an adult. I’ve been a gamer since I was a kid so I instantly chose to show the game console that started it all, my ds lite, and the game console I currently use now which is my Nintendo switch. There’s definitely a big change in the technology because back in the early 2000s ds games had blocky graphics and played on that tiny screen. Now in current day Nintendo switch games are played on a bigger screen and in 1080p. So even though I love the nostalgia of playing my old games, I am still very appreciative for the newer high definition ones.
The New “Daily Create”
For this Daily Create the prompt was to create a new header image for the Daily Create. I chose to use Canva to make mine and was inspired by the idea of a canvas with paint on it. So for my design I made the background paint splashes with teared paper on the front like a label. On it I put the title of the Daily Create in a font that looked like it was painted on in purple. Since the theme of the Daily Create is all about creating, I think having an artsy design is fitting.
A Taste of Home
For this Daily Create we were supposed to evaluate the wokeness of our favorite sandwich. For mine I chose a turkey hero because I grew up in New York and eating it brings back childhood nostalgia. For the wokeness rating I gave my sandwich a 1/10 because there isn’t any social awareness used in the ingredients like cage-free turkeys for the meat or anything like that.
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.
I found this week to be much more easy going than the last which was a very nice break. The assigned tasks were really fun and engaging! The Photoblitz was definetly my favorite. I put it off until the last minute because I wasn’t sure what I was doing, but it was really easy and I got a good walk in. My least favorite assignment of the week was the Dream House assignment that I chose from the assignment bank. I acknowledge that this was my responsibility and I probaly should have just quit and chose something else, but I’m stubborn so I stuck with it. The thing that I didn’t like about this assignment was having to justify my why this was my character’s house. I don’t know if I had writers block or made a bad choice with the house, but that blog was really hard for me to write. I did push through, however, and the blog is up if you’re curious about Krissy’s house. Still this was a god week, and if all the weeks end up like this one, I think I’m in good shape.
Daily Creates
The Daily Creates were hard for me this week. I really enjoyed them last week but this time around, I just felt uninspired and I think you can see that in my work. I did Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday’s prompt. I looked at Monday’s prompt and thought it was really cool and I wanted to try it but the day slipped away from me before I got the chance.
Tuesday’s daily create was to make a header for the new create page. I used Canva to make the banner. I added some neon tech, which I know from watching the movie poster video that shows themes of action and cyberpunk. Then I added some text with fun fonts to convey what the page was about.
Wednesday’s Daily Create was the anti cloud. I thought the concept for this was really cool. I can’t even imagine how long it took for them to find every word that wasn’t in those books. There were quite a few books to choose from, so I’m thinking at least a year to compile what they had. For my DC I used the first six words to make art. It was hard because the words are so random but I did my best. Once again, I used canva to compile the images and the text.
The last one was rate how woke a sandwich is. This one was easy because all I had to do was google my favorite sandwich and then rate it’s wokeness. It did make me start craving this sandwich though which was really unfortunate for me since I had no means to get one.
Assignments
The assignments were easy this time around. I appreciate how much freedom there is in being able to choose the assignment. I really liked how my video game screen turned out. The image is good on its own but I think the video glitch effect I added really completed it, and made it look like a real videoo game screen.
****flashing lights****
I liked making my logo, it was one of the easier assignments, and I was excited to make it about me instead of my course character. Making content for Krissy is fun but the only hard part is you have to really think about what she likes and doesn’t like plus the decisions she would and wouldn’t make. I didn’t realize how relaxing it is to just know what I like.
My last assignment was finding a house for my character. This assignment wasn’t all bad, I had a hard time writing the blog but looking for a house was fun. I really like this house, I think it’s beautiful. There are pops of color while still maintaining a classic look. For those who read my Pinterest assignment, you know that I love old fashioned homes and colors, so I think it’s fitting that Krissy would have some of the same interests as me.
Finally, for Photoblitz, this project was really cool. I saw that Photoblitz originally came from a Daily Shoot, which is like a Daily Create but with photography. When I was doing the Photoblitz, I had some ideas for pictures but they weren’t possible given the time constraint so I wonder how these prompts would have turned out if I had the whole day.
Comments
I tried to leave one comment every day on a different blog. I think it’s funny to look back on my comments, because as my work load for the week got heavier, my comments became shorter. On Monday I left a really long comment on The Digital Canvas, to paraphrase, I explained how I agreed with their reflection on Graphic Design and I think it’s cool how a font can reflect the air of a show. Tuesday, I commented on Tigerflora’s game screen and I said “I love your “Game Over” metaphor. It’s a wonderful reminder that the game isn’t over until you quit. As long as you keep trying and failing, you’ll eventually complete your level and, one day, maybe even finish the game!” I thought the message was nice and could be applied to more than their character. Wednesday, I commented on Oh Noir You Didn’t’s Shakesperean cat. I said “Mango is adorable! I love to see a fellow Canva user. It has been so helpful for this class, and it has saved my butt for the Daily Creates. The prompts that don’t involve taking pictures or screenshots have me running to Canva. I whip something together with the mass amount of resources it has, and my Daily Create comes out looking so good! I can also completely relate to having hundreds of pictures of my cat on my phone. I liked the quote you used and how well it matched the picture. Do you know which play this line is from? I’m not the biggest Shakespeare fan, but he does have a couple of plays that I like.” I appreciated the thought that went into matching a Shakespeare quote to a picture of their cat. The picture focused on Mango’s eyes so they picked a quote that also focused on eyes. Thursday, I looked at Rebecca’s Radient Realm and I commented on their Tattoo art. I said “These tattoos are crazy good. I’m obsessed! I think each color option is really cool, too. It’s so fun to see how the colors add a different vibe to the same tattoo! I like the acknowledgment that Evelyn is a classy gal. Do you think she has multiple tattoos, or is this her only one?” I was really impressed with the artwork for Evelyn’s tattoo, the sketch was gorgeous and the each color pallete was a nice compliment. Finally, on Friday I commented on Sam’s Club’s GIF: “LOL, this made me giggle! I like the contrast of his quiet character with his loud actions. His eyes and mouth remind me of Sussie from The Amazing World of Gumball. Great job!” The gif was really funny, and as I mentioned the difference between the sullen character and their extravagent face movements was very silly.
Closing Thoughts
I had been looking forward to this week because I was overwhelmed from the Digital Bootcamp, and I’m glad I stuck it out because this was a nice workload. I wasn’t overwhelmed with the amount and I enjoyed the assignments. I hope week four is even better!
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!
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!
This week was a bit better than the last. I missed the daily creates this week, but I got pretty much everything else. Time and balance have been the issues for me. Figuring out how to get everything done for this class while also staying on top of my psych and English classes and vice vice versa. I felt the amount of assignments for this week was more manageable than last week for sure.
This week, a running theme for me was color. My design thoughts and Corpse Bride color analysis especially focused on how color is used and the impact it can have; the Corpse Bride analysis was my favorite assignment I’ve done so far. I also introduced my course character, Lenore Glaphyra by creating a business card and showcasing her favorite song lyric; I felt decent about these creations. Similar to last week, if I had more time in my schedule, they would’ve been much more intricate.
My photoblitz was the last thing I completed, mainly because I was hoping my flareup would ease by the end of the week, but it didn’t. Nevertheless, I powered through. It took me longer than 20 minutes as a result, but I felt happy with the results.
I was a bit concerned about the Photoblitz challenge at first because while I thought the creative aspect sounded intriguing, the time limit was my worry due to the fact that to find everything I needed for my prompts, I had to walk around campus and move quite a bit. I have some physical disabilities that have been flaring up this week, so I did end up taking longer than 20 minutes because I had to take breaks to regulate my heartrate and stabilize my joints. However, I was very pleased with my prompts and think the final product turned out well.
Something RustedUnique Texture and PatternStone, Water, and CloudsForced PerspectiveConstruction1:1 RatioContrast (Life and Death)
I felt like all of these prompts were a perfect opportunity to highlight some of my favorite natural spots on campus like the amphitheatre and the bridge to Seacobeck. I loved getting to walk around, hang out, and really analyze what was around me. It did take me longer than 20 minutes, but I needed to make sure I was accommodating myself and not stressing my POTS flareup too much. I think this is definitely something I would do again, though!
After reading the article and watching the videos linked it was interesting to see the change in perspective and development that I was able to have. It took me while to understand what was wrong with the photo of the lady, I thought that it was normal for a mirror to show different angles. I think that highlighted just how much previous experiences impact the way we view life today. In addition to this learning about how movie posters are constructed was interesting. Unlike a book, movie posters are meant to be judged. Being able to learn how colors are chosen was interesting because everything is calculated even if you think something as color is quite fickle. In addition to this, learning about the color trends like white backgrounds being used for marketing strategy because the photo can be recreated easily, or action movies having a man running in them made me want to pay more attention to the posters I see.
Beware: Armed and Dangerous!
