dygraphicdesign

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On October 17th, 2024, I had the privilege to attend the 'A Different World HBCU Tour' at Bowie State University. I went to the Hillman Homecoming celebration and the live panel.  At the Hillman Homecoming, we celebrated being at a Historically Black College, enjoyed the band, and won prizes. The live panel was held in the Dionne Warwick Theater. During the panel, the cast told us funny stories that happened on set, gave us advice on legally protecting our work, and motivated us to go out and try different jobs within the acting industry. After the show I got to take a picture with Cree Summers and Glynn Turman.

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Adobe Illustrator Tutorials #7 Drawing with the Pen Tool

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Adobe Illustrator Tutorials #5 Transforming Artwork

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Adobe Illustrator Tutorials #4 Editing & Combining Shapes & Paths

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Adobe Illustrator Tutorial #3 Make a Logo with Shapes

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Adobe Illustrator Tutorial #2 Techniques for Selecting Artwork

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On September 14, 2024 I went to The Phillips Collection to see Multiplicity : Blackness in Contemporary American Collage. This special exhibit ran from July 7th to September 22nd, 2024. Here I saw multiple works from Black Americans across the diaspora, the works expressed life, culture, sexuality, ancestry and feelings of Black identity. It was amazing to see such a large exhibition of collage art through the lens of Blackness in America. Personally, I love collage art utilizing found objects and I don't get to experience it at this scale. The work pictured next to me is M. Florine Demosthene , The Healing: Untitled 1, 2022. Collage on paper. This particular piece really spoke to me, it makes me think of stepping out of yourself, like when you're finished with the day and you shed your public mask. You feel a sense of relief to be yourself and shed your suffocating public persona. I purchased this print on a postcard to add to my collection.

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This is my final for intro to computer graphics.

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I RSVP'd for the Bulldog Pitch Competition but I didn't get a chance to attend

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Here is a Collage representing Me and what I like. Can you guess you favorite colors?

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Ride The Cyclone - BSU Musical Production

For spring 2024, Bowie state university's theater production team put on Ride The Cyclone. We are the first HBCU to show this production. It's a Canadian musical about 5 children losing their lives on a roller coaster called The Cyclone. They are thrust into this purgatory like game hosted by a fortune telling automaton called Karnack the Amazing played by Rodney Loper. The five children Ocean O'Connell Rosenberg, Constance Blackwood, Noel Gruber, Mischa Bachinski, and, Ricky Potts played by Lauren Christin, Whitney Watson, Camari Ragins, Jacobie Thorton and Aiden Nash are literally singing tor their lives. They are joined by mystery contestant, Jane doe, played by Queen Harris. A girl who lost her head and her memories. Each character gets a turn singing about their lives and why they want to be brought back to life. The person brought back by Karnack will have to get an unanimous vote from the others. Karnack himself will by dying tonight as he prophesied.

I worked on the production as a Costume Assistant, this was the first production I ever worked on. I honesty think it was the perfect first production to step into the world of costuming for me. It was a creepy fun musical about life and death, It was basically made for me. Though the nights were long and I lived off a dinner of monster energy, I truly loved the time I spent with the cast and crew. Everyone was so nice and I got to make props for the show. I made Jane Doe's bloody necklace and the matching uniform for her doll. (I didn't get photos of the full outfit and I'm kicking myself, if i manage to get a picture I'll insert them later)

Under the Director, Elena Velasco, her vision and execution for Ride The Cyclone was really amazing. I like how she used pictures of the cast when they were younger in their introduction scenes. Rodney brought a hilarious deadpan humor to Karnack. My favorite songs were

What The World Needs - Ocean O'Connell - An upbeat song where Ocean sneak disses all her friends and basically says shes better than them. She says her best friend's only accomplishment is to be an organ donor.

Noels Lament- Noel Gruber - A cabaret song about living fast, scamming, stealing and stabbing at least one person then dying young in 1920's France. I added godet's to Noels uniforms pants to assist in the quick change.

Space Age Bachelor Man - Ricky Potts - A horny teens maladaptive daydream about saving and maybe sleeping with cat space people. I had to work on his tearaway bellbottoms and they were more stressful than an ex.

The Ballad Of Jane Doe - Jane Doe - A deeply sad song about loss of identity and not remembering her life, almost wishing for death to tell her. Queen has an amazing operatic voice that she sings in while bent over! This might be my favorite scene overall. It gave me chills everytime.

This Song Is Awesome - Mischa Bachiniski - A fun upbeat and catchy song. Jacobie really brought ENERGY with every performance.

Sugar Cloud - Constance Blackwood - This song reminds me of singing at home at full volume like nobody is around. Its youthful and fun, appreciates the life Constance had and she wasn't pressed about being brought back because she led a happy life.

Of course this production wouldn't have go on without the the hardworking crew! But this post is already too long. Linked is the Directors website with photos from the production.

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On February 10th 2024, I went to the Debut Solo Exhibition for the artist IssaHoneyDip. It was titled The Walking Zone. It was a surreal experience, the artist utilizes bright colors, found objects, sculpture and other mixed media to tell their story of self actualization, mental health, and political issues. I absolutely love this artist, I cannot wait to see what they put out next. You should check them out, I have their website linked below. Including their Link-tree.

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Chapter 5 introduces quick fixes for red eye, perspective, camera glitches and various ways to merge photos.

• Quick Fixes (Pages 122 - 153) Lesson 5

Review Questions

What is red eye, and how do you correct it in Photoshop? Red eye occurs when the retina of a subject’s eye is reflected by the camera flash. It commonly occurs in flash photographs taken in a dark room, because the subject’s irises are wide open. You can fix this with the red eye tool.

Why might some parts of the Photoshop workspace become inaccessible or hidden, such as the Color and Layers panels? And how do you return to the normal workspace? Some workspaces only provide options for specific tasks and many menu commands and panels aren’t available in a dedicated workspace. Once you okay your changes, you’ll exit the dedicated workspace.

How can you create a panorama from multiple images? To blend multiple images, choose file>automate>Photomerge, select your files and click ok.

Which common camera lens flaws can the Lens Correction filter fix? The lens correction filter can correct barrel and pincushion distortion.

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Layer Basics

Lesson 4 covered the layer basics, gradients and text edits.

Review Questions

• Layer Basics (Pages 88 - 121) Lesson 4

What is the advantage of using layers? Working in layers allows you to work on different parts of an image without disturbing the whole image. You can isolate specific parts of to work on.

When you create a new layer, where does it appear in the Layers panel stack? It appears at the top of the selected layer or at the top of the layers list.

How can you make artwork on one layer appear in front of artwork on another layer? You can drag layers up and down in the layers panel to make one layer appear before another.

How can you apply a layer style? You can apply a layer style by selecting it on the layers panel or going to the top of the screen and navigating layer>layer stye> (style)

To edit a Gradient Fill layer by dragging on-canvas controls, what two things should you make sure to do? You should make sure the gradient tool and gradient fill layer are selected.

Where can you see detailed options for editing a Gradient Fill layer? Detailed options for gradient fill layer are in the properties panel under gradient controls. They will only appear when gradient fill layer is selected.

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Working With Selections

Lesson 3 focuses on working with the selection tools to do likes like cut, rotate, scale, position, duplicate and how to add and subtract from selections.

• Working With Selections (Pages 64 - 87) Lesson 3

Review Questions

Once you’ve made a selection, what area of the image can be edited? The area that can be selected or edited in within the selection box.

How do you add to and subtract from a selection when using a tool such as the Quick Selection or Lasso tool? To add or subtract from a selection click add or subtract from the options bar then click on the selected area.

How can you move a selection while you’re creating it? You can move the selection while using it by holding down the spacebar and in some instances the alt key on windows.

What is the difference between the Quick Selection tool and the Object Selection tool? The quick selection tool will attempt to detect edges while the object selection tool will attempt to recognize subjects like people.

How does the Magic Wand tool determine which areas of an image to select? What is tolerance, and how does it affect a selection? The magic wand selects nearby pixels in similar colors. Tolerance value determines how many colors the magic wand tool will select. The higher the tolerance, the more tones are selected.

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Basic Photo Corrections

In lesson 2, the main objectives were to utilize adobe bridge, crop/ straighten images, fix blemishes, adjust tonal range, replace areas using generative fill, and how to sharpen images.

• Basic Photo Corrections (Pages 42 - 63) Lesson 2

Review Questions

What does resolution mean? Resolution has different meanings based on the medium. For video and electronic displays, resolution means pixel dimensions which is the width and height of an image in pixels. For print, resolution means pixel density or PPI.

What are some ways to use the Crop tool to improve an image? You can use the crop tool to straighten, resize and change the resolution of an image.

How can you adjust the tone and color of an image in Photoshop? You can adjust the one and color of an image in photoshop by using the curves and levels adjustment layers,

How can you instantly create a precise selection of an irregularly shaped object? You can instantly create a precise selection of an irregularly shaped object with the object selection tool.

What tools can you use to remove blemishes in an image? You can use the remove tool, generative fill, and the heeling tools.

What are some ways Generative Fill can help retouch an image?Generative fill can help retouch an image by replacing objects, fill in large areas, and matching the background. It gives you multiple options to choose from.

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Getting to Know the Work Area

The first chapter of Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a book 2024 introduces tools, panels, how to open an image in Photoshop, various ways to use the zoom tool and how to undo previous moves/selections.

Review Questions: Lesson 1

Getting to Know the Work Area (Pages 8 - 62) Lesson 1

Describe at least two types of images you can open or add to a document. You can Digital photos from cameras or phones, and you can use scanned images from prints, print negatives, etc.

How do you select tools in Photoshop? To select a tool in photoshop you go to the tools panel on the left-hand side of the workspace, or you can press the tool’s shortcut. There are hidden tools in the panel, and you can toggle your tool preferences there.

Describe two ways to zoom in to or out of an image. You can zoom by clicking the document after you select the zoom tool, you can zoom out by holding the alt key (Windows) and clicking. You can also zoom in and out by scrolling with your mouse.

How would you reverse the most recent change you made? You would choose edit > undo at the top of the workspace or edit > toggle last state.

What are some ways to make panels use less space on your screen? You can group panels, and use the (>> )arrow keys to collapse the side panels on your workspace.