Blog 6: Advisory House Prep

Label:  Blogs

Due Date:  Thursday, September 24th by 8AM

1. What has worked well for you concerning senior project this year?  What has made it a positive experience for you?  

Well, a few things have worked tremendously well for me. For example, there is an abundance of information found on the Internet. This includes art magazines who often write articles upon articles about graphic design, the history of it, the psychology of it, you name it! Another thing that worked well for me was the amount of graphic designers that are willing to help me out with my project. Ive contacted at least 5 people through email, and knowing how much they are on the computer they had answered within the 1-3 day range! They are actually one of the best and well communicated people Ive ever known.

2. What are you finding difficult concerning senior project?  How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you?  How might the senior team help? 

The only thing that is becoming a difficult problem is that my mentor isn't becoming such a reliable source anymore. He has become less responsive and less helpful at this point. I have no idea why, but considering there are many other people who are willing to talk to me, I think I should be fine. 

Blog 5: Interview 1 Reflection

Label: Interview
Due Date:  Friday, September 18th by 8AM

1. What is the most important thing I learned from the interview?  Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?

I learned that graphic designers can be very approachable and not to themselves. I figured out that when you become a graphic designer, you need to know how to communicate well and know how to process what a client wants. It can be a very difficult process from what my first interviewee had told me. If there was anything I would do different? I'm not to sure about that, so maybe giving them certain scenarios about what might happen and ask them how would then fix or achieve that goal. 

2. Did I get additional resources and contacts?  What is the most useful?  Why?

My interviewee gave me an abundance of advice and resources to help me out on this project. He told me to always update your resources when you want inspiration for a piece you are working one; because art is always changing and growing. He recommended me to some other graphic designers that would love to get interviewed and would be another perfect fit for me to hang around with. "They are young and trendy" he said to me as I was interviewing him. 

3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me? 

This interviewee is qualified to help me because he is actually a mentor for my hometown high school. He teaches computer arts and graphic design to kids that enjoy that area of work. So during the interview he was happy and very clear with his answers; like a teacher! He is also a full time graphic designer that has worked for big companies like Abercrombie, B&W, GUCCI, LACMA, and more! 

Interview one: Robert Chavez

Here is a picture of my interviewee! His name is Robert Chavez, and he is a professional photographer and graphic designer.

Here is the link to the interview: Click here

I also recommend you listen as you read over my questions and answers I have created Here

Enjoy!

Blog 4 - House Advisory Prep 1

Label:  House Advisory

Due Date:  Thursday, September 10th by 8AM

"Write a short explanation of what you are hoping to accomplish through your senior project topic.  You will be sharing out on what you've written here with your house advisory and classmates on Friday, 9/11.  Don't forget to start off with an interesting visual!"

I hope to accomplish a lot in this senior project of mine, and one of those many things would to gain as much experience as I can. Ive always liked art, and anything to do with art. Whether it would be story writing or painting; i've always loved it. Ever since I found out about digital art, its been the new hype for me. I feel like using my art ability can actually get me somewhere now, because there is so much marketing for it, such as creating animations, designing logos, and more. By the end of this year, I want to build up my portfolio so I can show my future professors and clients. I want to show them how much I have grown, and hopefully they would chose me to design something for them. I really think that I can get somewhere with this newfound media, and hopefully somewhere big! 

Title: Blog 3 - First Interview Preparation

Label:  Interview

Due Date:  Thursday, September 3rd by 8AM

1.  Who do you plan to interview?  Why?

I plan to interview an old professor or my mentor for my interview. The reason why I have two choices in mind is because I fear that my mentor might not be able to get interviewed so soon. I also want to consider the traveling distance between him and I, so I would like ask someone else who is closer at the moment. I had taken a college class on graphic design this summer, and I felt like my professor really taught his class well. So I had asked him if he was willing to get interviewed by me for my senior project, and he gladly said yes! His back round and knowledge would be very helpful for me, because not only is he a professor, but he also worked in the field himself for many years.  

2.  Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask.  What additional questions do you plan to ask?  Ask open-ended questions.  

My additional questions would be ...

1. How did your knowledge about your work grow as you continued to complete different projects?

2. Did you go through any obstacles while completing any project?

3. Why do you continue to work in this field? What is your set motivation?

Title : Blog 2 - Summer Mentorship

Label: Mentorship Due Date: Tuesday, August 24th by 8AM

Here is a couple of pictures of the program I used for my project! (Check mentorship hours for more details )

1. List the contact name, phone number, and organization of the person with whom you volunteered.

Name : Enrique Pita 
Phone number : 626 437 2558
Email : creative28studio@aim.com
Disney art department

2. What qualified this person as an expert in your topic choice?

This person qualified as an expert in my topic choice because he worked for Disney for a very long time, more than 10 years! He has also been putting up more art galleries on his own, and now works at home sending Disney his work. He seems and is very skillful and creative in what he does. So I took that as the greatest quality he had.

3. List three questions for further exploration now that you’ve completed your summer hours.

- What does it take to become to become an artist ?
- How long does it take to create your solid / best idea?
- Can art be used for something other than visual and marketing use?

4. What is the most important thing you gained from this experience? Why?
The most important thing I had gained from my mentor ship experience was that it takes a lot of work and thinking to come up with a solid idea. In my eyes, I think artist have to plan and plan to make sure their art is…
One : visually appealing 
Two : represents the main idea 
Three : attract people of your focused audience. 
Those are only a few things that artists probably have to take account of, which is harsh planning!

5. What is your senior project topic going to be? 
How did mentorship help you make your decision? Please explain.

My senior project will be on art/advertisement or how art in general works in media. I want to talk about how art can be influential or have a deeper meaning. This would include talking about animations to posters and more.

My mentorship helped me with my idea because I found out a lot of good and helpful qualities I know I could use for my senior project idea. Pita is a perfect mentor because he works for Disney, an amusement park and community that is known all over the world. His art has to be both visually appealing and have some sort of meaning to it. He then has to present this idea so his arts fits within the category that Disney wants. As you know, Disney focuses on the younger audience, but to this day adults love to go and enjoy themselves as well. This can be incredibly difficult for Pita sometimes, or incredibly hard! So in the end of it all, I really think he’s a perfect fit for my mentorship, and I know he has helped me find a set idea.

Here is my mentorship hours!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1qcCWdRGRh7KHxJGshTtXrDLmf7peOOiZSNGgh98e7VU/edit?usp=sharing

Title: Blog 1 – Senior Final Lesson/Interview Reflection

Label:  Research
Due Date: Wednesday, June 3, 2015 at 8AM

1.  What three lessons were most helpful for you to see, and why?

The three lessons that were most helpful for me to see was Imelda Gomez’s presentation on Art/Fashion, Daisy Torres’s presentation on Teaching Elementary, and finally Nick Herrera’s presentation on Wildlife Management. I thoroughly enjoyed all of their presentations because I felt they each held their own strengths, making them unique! I loved how Imelda had a really fun and hands on activity. When I looked around, everyone was enjoying it and showing their own creative side. I liked Daisy’s presentation because she spoke with confidence, so I could really tell she knew her topic. It looks like she had practiced many times! Lastly I enjoyed Nicks presentation because of how he incorporated many personal stories about his mentorship and researching. This kept the audience engaged and attentive.

2. List one thing that you learned about the senior project in interviews that will help you get off to a good start?

One piece of advice that I got from the one on one interviews with the seniors was that it is recommended to NOT procrastinate on anything at all! I know this may seem like an overused piece of advise, but the seniors had emphasized it so many times that I felt like it was important. They told me to get a good mentor in time to make preparation for my independent components, to never be late with my note books? (Im not sure what that means yet) 

3. What topic(s) are you considering, and why?

Im considering on doing my senior project on Graphic design or general Visual Arts! Im leaning towards Graphic design because although I love to draw with s simple pen and paper, I thought it would be pretty neat to use a tablet and make digital art. I know many freelance artists that create beautiful digital art, and I wish to become as good as them one day. However my motivation sprouted from when my brother and I simply took a liking to the digital arts. 

4. What EQ do you think might be interesting to consider in guiding a project like this? (Please don't worry about any sort of formula...we want this question to come from your genuine interest).

“How can digital art change the ways of media and history?” 

“How can digital art be utilized to make an impact in media and history?”

5. What are some ideas you have about finding summer mentorship?
I recently just found a mentor a week ago at an art show In Simi valley. My mentor was a former digital designer of Disney and Pixar. He helped designed the posters and even toys that would be advertised in the Disney parks!