(click here for the poster without text)

(the first one is what my logo suppose to look like. the second one is my logo as gif file… not sure why the background is black though)

This is the logo i came up with for my project 3~ It’s based on my previous post which was my thinking process~ Be sure to check that post if u haven’t read it Click HERE or just scroll down to the post below~

For this project, i’m asked to create a poster using only colour, line, shape and text to communicate an issue that i feel strongly about….. (“hmm.. so it’s probably environmental issues…” ) The goal is to inspire the audience to take positive action for change… (“ok.. definitely environmental issues.. but.. so many topics @_@ …. it could be about… animals, nature, pollution, plastic, water.. etc.” )

It’s too bad we are not allowed to use photo images cuz I think it would’ve been more effective. As a heavily visually oriented person, I prefer images over text.. I dislike posters with lots of words.. but if i wanna address issues such as.. bottled water, for example, I find it hard to communicate with the viewers with just a few simple words.. especially if explanation is strongly needed in order for people to understand why.

Perhaps what i should do is simplify my idea/message.. There are lots to talk about if i wanna address the problems with “bottled water”.. I think I’ll shift my direction a bit and just focused on WATER.

I can still remember how ridiculous I thought it was when I saw people selling bottled water… because WATER SHOULD BE FREE MAN!! That was only 5-7 years ago. I bet people from 20+ years ago would probably think that was the craziest/silliest idea ever. (Aside from that.. water shouldn’t be owned by anyone anyway.) It all comes down to this: FREE = NO VALUE!! We might not think this way (cuz it’s not true).. but many of us seem to act this way. “Oh well, it’s free anyway, doesn’t matter~” Sound familiar? People treasure their stuff according to its value and the value is based on $$$ most of the time. When something is cheap at cost, people value it less. Not only that, they tend to waste it as well. Imagine when something is free… ???

Nowadays, people buy bottled water because we no longer have pure/non-polluted water… The water that used to be free and plenty… We should be grateful that we don’t have to pay for the tap water… YET!

PLEASE…… TURN OFF THE TAP when you’re not using the water.
PLEASE…… TURN OFF THE TAP when brushing your teeth.
PLEASE…… TURN OFF THE TAP when you’re shaving.
PLEASE…… TURN OFF THE TAP while you lather.
PLEASE…… TURN OFF THE TAP if you see someone forgot to turn it off
PLEASE…… TURN OFF THE TAP if you see it’s not completely off

and PLEASE….. Don’t let the water run just cuz it’s free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or it won’t be free no more!! and we will be charged for every drop of tap water we use… Don’t waste it just because it’s free. Water is a VERY VALUABLE resource. It’s definitely more than the value that money could measure. Don’t make our government put a price on it so that we would stop wasting it.

Ok, my last one:

Same beach,

Next, my another fav animal, Cheetah!!

And then,

Voila~

I think I’m getting the hand of it now~ I’ve learned so much from this project!! SO HAPPY! I’m more used to the short keys, too. I’m no longer scared of computer.. and no longer hate Mac as much.. (but still find PC much easier to work with) I’ll definitely practice more often once when this class is over!!

Ok~ Since my theme is animals sliding, I’ll pick another animal from my fav. animals….. Hmmm…. my second one would be a panda sliding the water~

Same beach for my background

Then I found an image of panda facing back

Instead of using Lasso Tool, I used Quick Selection Tool ~ LOVED IT! I did pretty much the same as how i did my first photo. Moved the panda to the beach and cleaned up the area around the panda. Then I tried Clone Stamp Tool this time to get rid of the human reflection on the water~

YAY!!! hmm.. the panda looks a bit too bright .. so i used Image -> Adjustments -> Curves

*Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~*

Last week, i did a proof print from this version

However, I’ve changed my mind over the weekend.. and decided to go for my first option

I’ve darken the lighting on wolf and resize the wolf to a bit smaller than the original size~

I’ve also played around with the perspective (wolf’s) and brighten up the beach but keep the same sky light.

OK! This would be the one that I’d print out at the D.O.C

Man.. I’ve got so many ideas that I wished and wanted to do with Photoshop.. but since this was my first time working with Photoshop, I thought i should just keep it simple. Therefore, over the weekend, I’ve decided to use different animals skimboarding as my theme.

Because of my serious hand/wrist problem, i finally started my work this Tuesday and realized.. I didn’t know how to do anything. I opened up my notebook (not laptop).. USELESS!!! I’m not surprise.. cuz I can’t take notes during class… WHY? cuz when i write, i can’t listen; when i listen, i can’t write. Another problem I have is… I don’t have Photoshop at home (no space left on my computer), so if i watch the online tutorial at home, i can’t practice until i go to school. If I try to do it at school, I can’t listen to the tutorial.. AHHHH!!!

Anyway, since one proof print is due tomorrow, I had to start my work today. Basically I just had to do it the hard way.. and definitely the wrong way…

First, this is the setting… of someone skimboarding at Spanish Bank.

Then, I’ve found an image of a grey wolf…

And then… I had to cut off the wolf… BUT! I forgot which tool our instructor used (the very very useful one).. so.. I used “LASSO TOOL“.. and traced around the wolf.. I was lucky that the tool went all the way around just once~ (or because i have a very steady hand..) Even though the result wasn’t perfect but.. good enough.

I then used “CUT“..

and “PASTE” on to a new page… (obviously I’m a newbie)

Then.. i resized my wolf to a smaller one and dragged the wolf to my setting (the beach).. I was debating if i should remove that person..

It was kinda funny at first.. but the longer I looked at the picture.. the more “uneasy” feel I got.. So I changed my mind. I went back and resized my wolf to its original size and PASTE it back to my setting..

Now the person was 98% covered by wolf’s body…

Next, I used paint brush to cover up that guy’s body and also fix the area around the wolf..

Now it looks … a bit better..

TA DA!!!!!!!!! ……….. now this is an example of someone.. who doesn’t know how to use Photoshop..

I’m sorry. It’s not because I didn’t pay attention during the class, because i did! 100%! It’s just too many new things i have to learn at the same time. What makes it worse? I don’t know how to use Mac. It seems to me that (with Mac) everything is hidden somewhere and if you don’t know how to use short keys, u won’t be able to use Mac.

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Sigh.. earlier, someone walked in and saw me tracing the wolf with that “LASSO TOOL” and said, “oh my god, lady, are u crazy!?” … and then she showed me the “PEN TOOL” … Oh ya, that’s the tool I was looking for! So after she left, I went around the wolf’s body with that “PEN TOOL” .. sooooooo many clicking!! After awhile.. when i finally done clicking.. I didn’t know wut the next step was. Hmmm.. not “CROP TOOL“… not “MOVE TOOL“.. did i try “CUT“?? Don’t remember.. But it seemed that I’ve tried so many “bottons”.. none of them worked.. so I gave up.. and decided to go with my “tracing with lasso tool” verson.

A lot of stuff need to be learned… but I promise, I’m gonna get better!

These past 4 years of schooling really got me thinking..

I didn’t really learn anything though because all the classes were pretty useless. I think my current class (Digital Imaging Essentials) is the ONLY class that will be useful to me and i find that VERY IRONIC. You’ll know wut i mean if you actually read everything i say later on.

Even though I didn’t learn much, but my brain did a lot of thinking. Some random things (different topics) my academic classes have talked about triggered my brain to question about… EVERYTHING. To simplify alllllll my complicated thoughts, let me just put them into one short sentence: If everything we see/hear/learn is fake, why bother to care.

This might make you think I’m a pessimist, but people who know me know I’m NOT. “Then why would you think that way?”, you might ask. Well, long story short, the first time I got that idea was when I found out that the information within textbooks weren’t really true. You know how upsetting that was if you’ve spent almost 24/7 studying something such as HISTORY for many years and then few years later, you realized almost everything you’ve read was incorrect..  AHhhhhhhhh! Even now I still can’t believe it. I know it’s kinda silly to think that everything from textbooks should be CORRECT… but if teachers teach us based on textbooks, exams’ answers are based on what is written in the textbooks, I EXPECT THE TEXTBOOKS ARE RIGHT… or… I want my money back! -J/k-  But I was really upset cuz … cuz… HOW COULD YOU LIE TO ME MAN!!!!!!!!! I worked so hard and now I felt like I’ve wasted so much time and energy… All these years… I could’ve used my time on something else.. like.. sleep.

And now, it’s not the question about correct or incorrect but rather.. it’s who you want to believe. It’s no longer as simple as someone made up a story and then told you that was your history… It’s more like.. whose lie is more convincing. If you want to make it more interesting, I guess you could see it as a.. “game”.  See if you could tell which part of information is real and which part of the information is not.

There are so many information (texts and images) around us that are being manipulated. LIES LIES LIES!! The scary part is: most of them we are not even aware of it! Unfortunately, technology is making it worse. PHOTOSHOP, for example, is making our lives harder. We are visually oriented people.. so our brains work faster with images.. and people tend to believe what they see. Nowadays, if people don’t have time to read, most of them will at least read the newspaper or watch the news. The problem is, the news itself is being manipulated, too! LIARS ALERT! There are still many people out there who believe everything news says (I used to be one of them…) The popular issue that appeared on the news recently was about these two images:

And then people started to make fun of how Iran needs photoshop lessons

(from BoingBoing)

(from Michele’s blog)

(from whatthecrap)

Ok, i did laugh for a bit after seeing those 3 images… BUT! Let’s not forget, this is a reminder that we should not believe everything we hear, read or see… NO MATTER WHERE THE SOURCE IS FROM!! If we think we have much better photoshop skills(BETTER LYING SKILL) here , shouldn’t we be more cautious about the information we receive from here? (since we got so many good liars here… i mean.. since we got so many people here who are so good at making unreal images look like real images.. ) ………… So yea.. I hope people will realize that.

hmm…. i was so mad at those people who lied to me (people who manipulate information).. but now I’m training myself to be one of them (cuz im learning PHOTOSHOP)..  *chuckles* …

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Sometimes I wonder..

If news aren’t real, why bother watch it?
If politicians are good at using words to trick people, why bother go to their speeches?
If textbooks are full of incorrect information, why bother use them?
If schools are brainwashing us (because of different believe systems), why bother go?

Today, my instructor showed the class how to use PHOTOSHOP. When the class was finished, I felt like I just had one of those All You Can Eat meals…. except i didn’t really know wut i was eating.. Way too much food for my stomach to digest.. it’s gonna take some time..  Gotta do it like a cow… lots of regurgitating, rechewing and reswallowing.