Going Online

            Alright, so...... my class is going online. To put it simply, right now we're having to deal with the Corona Virus scare, and thanks to that, I'm out of school for two weeks. This was a decision by the school's administration, and we will still keep lessons up. In the ned though, I will have to adapt. Something I went into good detail about, last week, I have to do. All of my work will now need to be done at home.  I can now sleep more, but at the cost of that, I don't have the best resources. I also have a more strict online schedule, but it should help me keep up on work better.

         During this time though, I promise to still post blogs, and I promise to still keep up my work. I'm too insane right now to give up so that won't happen. To show you I will still work, I'll post some graphics I make next week.  Other than that though, thank you for reading, stay tuned, and stay healthy.

Design In Wrestling

     Ah, professional wresting, a... complicated situation. So, remember everything I said about design? Deadlines, drafts, finding the right audience? Toss it right out the window! Nothing can stay the same, and anything can change! That isn't an exaggeration either, as a fan of wrestling, I notice things become different around two or three weeks. Of course, that does come with some complications.

       You see, this is a form of entertainment you see live. It's also one with several shows, and many actors. Now, say it's fake all you want, there are real stunts they perform that can get them injured. While a ladder jump maybe scripted, they are still jumping off a ladder. Now, let's say they were injured in that jump for a month, and that person was supposed to be the next title holder. Now you have to change plans, any potential merchandise, matches, it just throws things off. It's not just injuries either. Real life events, the audience reaction, or backstage shenanigans can just have everything go bonkers.

            So..... you can't make plans to ahead of time. You also can't give up either, because the plans could really pay off. In the end, all you can do is adapt. Just adapt, maybe change someone's personality, but make sure things are controlled. Things will change, but you'll be surprised by results. What could have been a good toy would be a better toy. Maybe a video game will be better f they delay it. Either way, the design side of this business requires you to adapt.

                 Well those are my words on the subject. Thank you once again for reading, comment below, and stay tuned!

Art Vs Design

                One thing people need to know is that art and design aren't the same. Design is to art what squares are to rectangles. All squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares. It's as simple as that. In this case, all design is art, not all art is design. I say this as I want my audience to understand they can see a floating bag as art. They can see nature as art, however, the purpose behind it was never there in the first place.
               
                       
                  The purpose of this image above is that I wanted to demonstrate the seven chakras. There is a purpose behind it.  So, every element is designed as such, and helps illustrate the point I want to make.                                                                                                      The purpose of this image was to be a fifth-grade children's book cover.  Again, there is a purpose for it, and all the elements help show that. In this case, it's to draw a fifth-graders attention.

 This image, holds no purpose. There was no intention to making other than create something. It is art, but it is not design. I pretty much just turned my brain off when making it for this blog.

                              So, I hope you see my point. When designing something, always have a purpose behind it. Always have something to bring elements together. The same can go for art as well, if you want. However, sometimes you can just go in, and create. Thank you for reading, and stay tuned.

Are Fads Important?

                    So, I was taking a walk one day, when the idea of fads suddenly struck my mind. Essentially, I remembered what someone said about the 3d craze for video games.  How he believed that while it ruined what could have been great games, it showed what works, and what doesn't. Now, I am not saying 3D games are a fad, but the idea that every game has to be 3D is. Eventually that idea died down, people learned from it, and moved on. So what I am asking is, do fads teach us what works and what doesn't?
   
                  To give you an idea of what I mean, remember silly bandz? Those weird toys kids would bring to school, wear, trade, etc?                                   If you don't, hopefully this image they own, and from their Amazon listing will remind you. They were pretty popular for awhile, but most teachers found they were distracting kids. Eventually, it got to points they would take them from kids, or ban them, and then one day.... They weren't popular anymore. The generation that liked them grew up, and someone showed the kids something else, all in the span of a year.
   
                   So what happened to them? Well, when people age, or certain events like banning occurred, nobody would be interested anymore. Either that, or a sort of semi-controversy formed.  Advertisers will see this, and move on to something else, or they go bankrupt. So fads are important, as they show what will work, and what won't Anything that works will stay, and you build around it. Stuff that doesn't, well they disappear.

                 End of the day, just pay attention to them. I'm not saying you have to buy them, or cash in on them, but see what can be learned from their success or failure. You might just be surprised. With that, thank you for reading, and stay tuned!

Maturity in Media

                        During my last class, maturity as a blog topic came to mind when presenting touch points. Without going into to many details, one touch point reminded me of the ad campaign, Joe Camel. For those uninformed, Joe was the mascot for Camel Cigarettes from 1987 to 1997, an anthropomorphic camel, and kind of controversial. You know how today there are so many ads telling young kids and teens to avoid smoking? Joe here was kind of the catalyst, being a Looney Tunes-esque design that was depicted as smooth, and cool. He was also in several print advertisements, and was reportedly recognizable to hundreds of children.

                    So, with that in mind, what went wrong here? For example, the video-game Conker's Bad Fur Day came out when this ad was around. Said game is much, much more mature, with sexual references, alcohol and smoking, swearing, you name it. You also have adult cartoons like South Park and Family Guy that are still around, and doing well. Well, for one thing, they're not marketed to children. I know, there are probably children that wind up watching or playing them, but they are blatantly put in the mature markets. On top of that, a responsibility is put to the viewers to not re-enact the actions, or to watch it at all.

                    Well, can't the same happen for Joe? Parents telling their kids to not smoke? Yes.... and no..... you see, when that child gets older, they may like what they saw in these ads, and try smoking camel.  Also remember, these ads with Joe were everywhere, and felt both mature, and light-hearted. Combine that with the negative stigma smoking has gained,  and Joe has fell through for a reason. He wasn't just a mature cartoon character, he was, as the people saw him, manipulative. He wasn't just something they could tell a child not to see also.

                  So, in conclusion, you can have cartoon characters be mature. However, you need to market it to the right crowd if you do, no kids, so no public billboards near Mcdonald's. If not, make sure said character isn't advertising anything, so no beer. With that said, thank you again for reading. I hope my point came across, ask you to comment, and stay tuned.

Improving in Illustrator

                       Hey everyone, if you read the title, then you can assume that I'm getting better in Adobe Illustrator! Not only have I become much more skilled in creating on the software, but i am liking it too! It really is a fun, and easy program to learn, and I just want to show off what I created here! So, without further ado, let us begin!
 
        Now, this was just me trying to recreate SoundWave from Transformers. A bit basic, and not accurate, but I was starting out. I eventually took some liberties and made it my own thing. So, not only did it start me out on the program, it made me better at drawing Mechas. So, that's two things I've improved at to capture an audience.

 Up next, we have some logos I've designed. Now, the first one was one of my the designs I preferred. My idea was that since the name was 'Destination: Illustration', a compass would be a logical choice. However, after some talking and advice, I went with the other two. I feel it gets my illustration idea across, and it works is both frayscale and color well. I might have to make it my logo, who knows?



Finally, we have The Rock! This was an early drawing of mine that I traced over. That way, I could practice with the pen tool. After all the work, I can gladly say it paid off. So, boom, here he is, now at long last with out pencil marks!

               So, that should be it for today. Thank you all for reading. Hope you enjoy my work, comment below on your thoughts. As always though, stay tuned!

The Power Of Music

                   

So, as we all know, music is a powerful tool! It has the ability to make an angry man seem sad, and make a happy, man seem deranged. To put things simply, music and sounds are an important part to h                     ow we design. Sometimes we work with it playing, sometimes we work around it. Other times, you'll find that a song has expressed with one simple image. There is so much that melodious tones can do to the brain, it's outstanding!

                       Keep in mind, I'm also talking about sounds in general. Imagine the sound of a crying baby, and think 'what do I feel?' Could it be perhaps annoyance? Panic? Your own despair? So many feelings about that sound. Each having a person, place, and time to accompany them. In short, any form of sound could set something off in the brain, making it react as such.

So, in order to properly illustrate what I think is music and sound done right, I will leave three links to YouTube videos. After that, I will explain why I think they work so well, and hope you agree with my points. These will be small blurbs, but you should get the idea. I own none of the videos, all content belongs to their respective owners. With that out of the way, let's dive right in!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHMDrhBREXU

                  Starting off, I find this trailer very exciting. Pulling us in with classic, nostalgic sounds of an American past. Only to then have the chilling, alien-like score play while synced up to the character's actions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBa2_Q-ciI0

   

                  With this scene, I feel it jus captures the ominous tone well. The music slowly building up as it continues, something intense just ready to happen. On top of that, each action done has a satisfying noise to go along with it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAJcJsmH14A

                   Finally, I just want to talk about how good this is. You have a song of motivation, even though it could be the last battle. Brutal sounds that give the fight more intensity. Also, the music knowing when to quiet down for the dialogue. I just absolutely love this!

                     So, that will be all for today! Thank you for reading, I hope you gained something from this. I am sorry if YouTube ads played for you, I promise, I wasn't talking about those. Anyways, make sure to stay tuned!

                            

Unreleased Cuts

                 As with every Graphic Designer, there will be some ideas that don't make it to the pubic. This is either out of them not being good, the client needing a new direction, or just being too complicated. Right now, I want to show off three of my unreleased projects that, while I feel live up to my standard as a Designer right now, didn't get released for certain reasons.

    

           Now, starting off, I'll be talking about these two projects. These were done for my Photo Shop course, and they were canned for the same reason. That reason is, they weren't professional enough. The one on the left was a travel poster, and the idea was to approach meme culture to make them visit Canada. Problem is, not many people care about meme-culture in mainstream media, so it didn't work. The one on the left was done to imitate a magazine cover. The idea here is that it is to imitate the eye-baiting, false journalistic integrity, and just plain silliness of the National Enquirer. It was then I realized maybe a parody isn't the way to go.

         In all seriousness, before I published either of these, I asked my teacher how I was as a student. His main criticism that I took from it was that I needed to get serious, and buckle my creativity down. So, with that in mind, both of these projects were replaced for ones I felt got the job done better, and I am glad I took that advice. While I share these here today, please note that it is only to help show off what I can do as a designer, not an impression of who I am as a designer.

           Now, as for this third project, well it's very simple why it was canned.... I don't know. When working in this business, I've learned things can go horribly wrong at a moment's notice, in this case, I didn't upload it's file to the folder I was using. I uploaded something ese, and had to do something new on the spot! Now, I won't be taking credit for the entire design, the parts that are the bulletin board, test, and pictures were put together thanks to the combined talents of my classmates Shellian, Dave, Ashley, and Coulton, so round of applause for them. The only thing I did was put in the pictures of my previous projects which might look familiar to you.... except the one on the bottom left. That was just a neat effect I wanted to pull off.






              Anyways, thank you for your time, make sure to comment below, and check me out as un_dustedh8 on InstaGram. Until then stay tuned!

Photography Dump

      Hey everybody, Zach here again with just your average photo-collection. Took some pictures of food and some guitars, and since people tend to like those, I thought I'd share them. So, without further ado, let's get this started!            

First up is the classic smoked turkey. Framed nicely on the cutting board, and taking up most of the center space, I say this looks both appetizing, an marketable,

      Up next is a serving of cranberry sauce that was arranged in a way that I just had to get a shot of it. I know some people don't prefer the canned variety, but you have to admit, the shapes you get from it are intriguing.

Now onto the green bean casserole, we have an up close and enjoyable shot of the French onions on top. The gooey layer underneath acts as a good off balance to the white and onions as well, plus I feel the distinct out-of-center focus adds to the effect. So, another good photo taken.

 

Next we move on to my preferred casserole, sweet potato. With the  golden marshmallows on top, and the warm lighting, I can't help but think of a classic fireplace at the center of the house when I see this. Here's hoping it does that for you too.

       Finally, we have a collection of round, tasty, and colorful M&M's. Let your inner candy store kid run wild as they look at this collection of the candy's dark variety. a detail which you can see if you look at the picture long enough.

       Well, that'll do it for this post. Make sure to check me out as un_dustedh8 on InstaGram, comment below, and stay tuned!

Happy Thanksgiving!

                  Hey everyone, Zach here wishing you all a happy Thanksgiving! Now, I won't waste too much time here since I know most people would want to spend time with your friends and family, however I want to say this. You are worth it. Even if you're scared to fail, and you don't knw if you're being good enough, you're worth it. Believe me, I know what it's like to be scared and depressed. I am still learning about Graphic Design, but even then I don't know if I'm doing all of this right. However, I need to keep for myself, so I keep learning, and tell myself I am worth it.

          You are worth it too! don't let what anyone says put you down, you are creative, you can succeed. All it takes is a bit of brilliance, a pinch of healthy criticism, and the right amount of passion for you to go forward. I know that I'm not really an expert on this stuff, and that I might be wrong with the way I want to deliver this message. That is something I will admit, but I still know that you can strive. I know that you are special, that you have it! Whether it's Graphic Design, journalism, physical fitness, you have it! So keep your head up, remember people care, and always remember to improve yourself in any way possible,
         
            So other than that, comment below, check me out as un_dustedh8 on Instagram, and stay tuned.

           Week 4 of digital photo-editing, here at last. Needless to say, I thought this class was pretty fun, learned things, spent time in a group, yeah I think this was good. Of course, as of right now things are being printed out, and that is pretty frustrating, but I feel it will al be worth it soon. Now, while I am here, I need to be honest about something. As you know, last blog all I did was share n image, like a blog before. Now, showing the images is off is part of why I do it, there is another reason. M main reason is to lift them off the internet so I can get ahold of them. Not the easiest way, I know, but it does help clear things up. Anyways, since I have the chance, I'll show things off on a normal blog, without the trouble of lifting it.

 This poster is what I did for project 3, that being music posters, and I'm very proud of it. My reasoning for this is that I got to do something at a nice, calm pace, and I got different comments on it.  By that i mean, I got a divide in what people like, which helps find an audience, so that's good. On the poster itself, it is based song the song 'The Woods and the Goddess' from the game Deadly Premonition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlgjtKPtpT8

My main goal was to capture the song's relaxed, but slightly haunting tone. Now, I may have gone a bit overboard, but i still enjoy it, and definitely feel it matches the tone of the game, which I suggest you look up and see a playthrough of. It has a great story, and is an amazingly bizarre experience, but I know not everyone can get behind the controls, or want to play games themselves. Still highly recommend it, a sequel is coming out soon for the Nintendo Switch, check that out, and just enjoy.

Other than that, comment below, check me on InstaGram as un_dustedh8, and i will see you next time!