Tag Brush

 This is an image using my custom tag brush. I went through all the colors of the rainbow, going down the color picker. I changed sized throughout so different colors would poke through the end. The rainbow colors are to show a sense of pride in the work I put into creating this brush and the logo itself. The rainbow splatter outside of the main logo really exemplifies this meaning. 

Photoshop HW 1

Photoshop Tools for Beginners

This video covers the basics of the tools. The lasso tool is useful to select certain areas of your work to adjust them in various ways. The patch tool can be used to patch specific areas of your work to make them disappear or blend in with your background. The spot healing brush can be used in a similar way but is especially good for blemishes on skin and elements like that. 

The layer mask tool can be used to combine two images. This tool can be used to combine two works into one, making them seamless with each other. This can be used to blend them together and make one work of art. This would be useful in editing two final products together.

Learn Photoshop in 5 Minutes

Rasterizing and duplicating layers allows for editing layers, which would be useful in changing hues and saturations as well as trying out different colors for a specific layer. The filter menu option allows for different effects to be played around with to give your piece a different feel and effect. Editing the layer styles does similar things, but only applies that effect to that specific layer so that you can adjust each layer individually. 

Clone Stamp Tool

This tool allows you to take one element of a piece and clone it and stamp it to another place on the artwork. This tool is useful in making a piece of artwork symmetrical, if that is wanted. It would also be useful in moving certain elements around to try different compositions. It is also useful in making patterns. 

Poster

I started with a selfie where I thought I looked good and a selfie that I felt would be easy enough to work into a self-portrait on Illustrator. After choosing the selfie, I was able to trace it to make my self-portrait. This was the most intensive step. After this, I changed the background color to something more subtle with other variations of this color as blobs to make the background less boring. I added the text in white to make it stand out more than it would if it was black. 

The vision was to make a poster that showed me on an anti-suicide poster to show that everyone is different and unique and that people shouldn't kill themselves no matter their differences and hardships. My style is unique and I have faced hardships over this as well as many other things. I have struggled with depression and other things in my life and I have lived to tell the tale and I wanted this to be brought into my work.

Logo

Sketches

For the sketches I focused on different aspects of things that make me as a person. I chose a different aspect for each of the sketches instead of just focusing on one aspect for each of them. Each of the sketches have their own meaning in relation to me. Some of them might have some of the same meanings, but not all of the meanings of each are the same. Most of the sketches have multiple meanings behind them. 

I chose five favorites, the bat, the mushroom, the paw, the moth, and the cat head. From these I chose two that I like even more than the others, the mushroom and the paw. From these two I ultimately chose the paw as my favorite.

Black and White

After choosing to continue with the paw, I drew it up in illustrator, blocking out the different shapes with black, white, and grey to distinguish them from each other. 

I chose to make the claws darker in order to make them more visible when the logo is shrunk down. The paw pads were decided to be lighter in order to match more of the actual cat paw vibe, with their lighter paw pads. 

The bottom of the paw is shown in a way to make the logo make more sense, with it looking cut off instead of just floating. The bone is shown in order to show this more as well. 

Color Versions and Artist Statement

I made a few different color versions with different meanings depending on the colors used in them. The favorite ends up being the brown one with the purple paw pads.

Each color has a different meaning. The purple, which is used in two of the logos, shows imagination, which I pride myself on. Pink, which is also used in two of the logos shows compassion and love, both of which I have a lot of. I have a lot of compassion in people, and I also have a lot of love to spread around. The green in the bottom logo shows healing, which I am working on. It also shows the healing that I have already sone to make it to this point. The brown in the middle logo shows friendliness, which I try to have with people. I work on my friendliness and try to trust people more, which is shown with the brown color. The black and white are there for some contrast, but the black also represents my power in my own life, which I am working on taking back.