2D design 

Semester 1 Reflection

In this 2D design class I learned a lot about composition and materials used to crete design rather than drawing. I think that I started out with some pieces that were very much drawings, but as the year went on I was able to capture more of what the design element of art was, but also how to use it in a new creative way. I think one of the biggest elements of design that I struggled with was not making things realistic by shading. I tend to try to make things blend together as a way to bring the arts toegther as a whole, but this semester I had to find new ways to unify the art without literally blending the colors. I also struggled with not making the projects too realistic. I think in some assignments in foundations as well as art that I make at home, I tend to make things very realistic through shading and blending. In design one must accept that the art will no necessarily be realistic and will be more of an advertisement looking artwork. 

In 2D design I also learned the tools in photoshop and how to work the complexities of digital art. I really enjoyed that part of the curriculum and hope to continue with it. It challenged my brain in a new way that I felt like I hadn't done before, not only did I have to take one picture for certain projects and make it into a drawing using digital tools. But I also enjoyed how much the digital art looked like a design. I had struggled with that previously, but it's almost harder to blend  colors and shapes in digital art, so I think that that was a helpful starting point in just getting myself to almost realize what a real design should look like. 

During my sustained investigation, I think that I had some cool ideas to begin with, but towards the end I sort of fell out of interest with my topic so it was hard for me to create works that were really meaningful because I was starting to lose motivation in not only the inquiry question I had chosen but the project itself. Using materials that related to my inquiry was extremely difficult, and not only coming up with ideas for materials but also executing the idea with the materials one was using in the way that was wanted. 

Moving onward, I want to find my style, I feel like when I go through my artwork I don't see a super strong style or specific topic that occurs often in my work. I want to continue to explore that, and so that later on I can dig deeper into that subject and hopefully have more success with longer term sustained investigations. I also want to not only keep exploring with new materials but also new techniques such as how to draw realistically versus how to create more abstract pieces.