Reflections

First, thanks to Mr. Babcock for being so prompt in answering our questions and for being so thorough in your comments and videos. Not only have I learned a lot by you helping me and answering my questions personally, but the videos you made for other people helped just as much and taught me a lot of things about the programs I would have never known how to go about otherwise. Also, thaks to the rest of you who left comments and suggestions throughout the course; your insights were very helpful and much appreciated. I really think the fact that this class is in a blog setting helps tremendously because we were all able to help and critique each other at 'the speed of Internet', 24/7, versus being limited to just a few days a week for a few hours a day in a classroom, given that we'd all even show up every day.

I really learned a lot in the last six weeks. I think the style in which we did the projects (master study then original, repeat) was a great way to go. You know, I could read the instructions on how to do something a hundred times but I wouldn't gain as much as I would by learning hands-on, through trial and error, how an artist executed something. Even when I didn't figure something out the first time through, the process was helpful because I'd learn other things, sometimes by accident.

I learned about a lot new tools as well as mastering a few that I had prior knowledge of including but not limited to the blob brush, pen tool, gradient mesh, clipping masks, layer masks, the advantages and disadvantages of making selections via quick masks vs. magic wand vs. marquees vs. lassos, all the different layer modes, several different filters, making new brushes (both regular and pattern) in Illustrator, etc. I learned that the eraser tool can be detrimental and that there is almost always more than one way to do something. Also, I got a lot of much needed practice with my Wacom, which at the start of the course I was very new to, and now I don't ever want to be without it.

As for my overall comfortability, before taking this course I would honestly almost cringe when I had to do something that involved Illustrator instead of Photoshop. But since I forced myself to do a few projects solely in vector, I got a lot of much needed practice and am proud to say I'm starting to really come around. And by come around, I mean I kind of love working with vectors now. Also, I've realized in the process of this course, just how important it is to be organized. I used to waste so much time by having my layers in no particular order and when I wanted to edit something, I'd have to run down through the list until I found it. Grouping and naming works wonders, who knew? Now I just need to figure out how to organize my apartment.

In the future, my goal is to continue doing master studies as I think it legitimately helps and I don't think there's such a thing as too much practice. I want to continue improving with vectors and I'd like to keep learning new tools and shortcuts in Photoshop. I'm looking forward to mastering the tablet as well. The goal is to get what's in my mind onto the screen. :)


Thanks again to everyone for your help and kind words, and good luck to all of you in the future.