My Stance

Social media serves as a powerful tool that helps people communicate with one another as well as learn of current events that are happening around us. Some may be aware of the issue in Brooklyn Tech and the hashtag that was created from it. This hashtag was created to reveal the unnecessary discrimination black students are receiving from teachers, faculty members and even their own classmates. I fully support this hashtag and believe black students from Brooklyn Tech and every where else can receive the justice they deserve. It it horrifying and disgusting seeing and hearing the comments students make about black people but even more so when teachers do the same. In my opinion teachers are supposed to help students and give them hope rather than putting them down. The reason many of us attend school is to learn and prepare ourselves for the outside world and learn to take care of ourselves. It is disheartening hearing the people who are supposed to support us telling us we are failures and will not become anything in the future regardless of what we do. I firmly believe that one should not judge another person solely on their race but of their achievements and the effort they put into doing anything. Everyone is equal and are entitled to the same rights, no matter what race ethnicity, gender or sex they are and I hope the black students of Brooklyn Tech will receive the justice they deserve. 

More information about #BlackInBrooklynTech can be found in the link: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/blackinbrooklyntech-students-call-out-racism-brooklyn-tech-n494206

Another issue I feel strongly about is creating and enforcing more laws that prohibits smoking in front of children. I am aware that many people smoke and it is something very difficult to quit. However, smoking has consequences for the smoker and the people around them, There are many people who are exposed to secondhand smoking and it is not something they can avoid. However, it is unfair that because of the selfish act of one person many others must suffer as well. I have a friend who was exposed to too much secondhand smoking she developed asthma. It is ridiculous how others suffer because an individual can't control themselves. One can propose that you walk away when they encounter another person smoking, but it's not that simple. It's practically impossible to not be in an area where there is not smoking as the number of people who smoke is immense and everywhere. By creating and enforcing a ban on people smoking near children it can lower the chance of secondhand smokers inquiring health conditions. 

An article that supports my stance is: http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/11/health/secondhand-smoke-teens/index.html

Self Symbol GIF

Our most recent project in Graphic Design is making a GIF that symbolizes myself. For this project I wanted to portray the concept of music and my affiliations with it. I used the flute to portray the concept of music because it is an instrument I played for many years and something I enjoy doing. The action in the GIF shows the fingering of Mary Had a Little Lamb, the first song I learned to play on the flute.

The different colors shown on the GIF also represents the varying styles of music I like.
My GIF has evolved a lot from my original idea. Originally, I planned to make the music notes black and to show the fingering of the song by making the key on a darker shade of grey. However, with the use of Photoshop I was able to show the fingering more clearly by moving the flute keys down to show they are being pressed and add colors to make the GIF look more fun and cool.  :)

Gif Project

Hey! This is my first gif and its concept is being casual as seen above. I hope you like it! :)

Maggie's Runway

Hello!

For our second photoshop project I used three pictures, two from google and one of my friend Maggie. In this project I am trying to convey confidence through modeling. In order to do this, I used the photo below as my background

and placed a cut out picture of my friend over the original model. Her original picture can be seen below: 

The third picture I used was:

In order to use the model's body and her dress I copied and pasted the whole picture onto photoshop and then used a vector mask on the picture. Next, I used the eraser tool to erase the model's face letting the layer with Maggie's face show instead. Then, I attempted to make Maggie's skin tone match the model's by using color balance, making certain areas look more red. I also used the curves to brighten up the background.

This is how my final photoshop image looks: 

I am partially satisfied with my project because the picture turned out pretty well and I was able to fit Maggie's head perfectly on the model's body. However, there are some flaws where Maggie's skin tone and the model's skin tone do not match. Other than that I think the project turned out well. 

:) Hope you guys enjoyed it! 

First Photoshop Project!

This is my first photoshop project! The first two pictures are the original picture and the last picture is the final merged picture. :) 

Letter Project Reflection

The letter I was given for this project was "L". In order to find the concept for my letter I made 20 thumbnail sketches that started with the letter. After writing down all the words I could think of associated with the letter I drew them in a way that looked like "L". My thumbnail sketches are shown below: 

Although we had a peer feedback session in class it did not help me that much as I already had an idea of my concept. After finalizing my idea I drew out a few drafts of my favorite ideas. Below are 3 separate drafts I made from my thumbnail sketches 

Orignally, I had planned on using the theme of fall for my concept and drew a tree with falling leaves. However, many of my friends told me it was very difficult to see what letter the picture represented and I realized they were right. From that, I thought drawing a llama would be best for my final draft as the letter and concept was very clear. The most challenging part of this project was to make the llama seem as realistic as possible. The picture I based the llama off of was positioned in the opposite way and it took me a while to process how all the details should look in the other direction. However, I am most satisfied with my project because I spent a lot of effort on it and it turned out pretty successful. I would not change the concept of my project if I had the chance to edit it. However, if I was to draw another llama in the future I would not make the stomach as big because that makes the llama look a bit awkward. Overall I am satisfied with my project and hope everyone else is also. Posted below is my final draft! 

This is a close up: 

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed it! :) 

My Summer

Hi!! I'm Sally, a junior at MHS this is my graphic design blog! :)

Some facts about me are, I have a younger sister and I have a great interest in Korean culture. 

Over the summer my friend, Sydney and I attended Kcon and it was amazing!! We were able to meet many other people who shared our interest and see our favorite bands. It was a very memorable experience for us because it was our first concert and we were able to see our favorite artists up close. 

Other than attending Kcon I also got the chance to meet up with my old friends from middle school who I haven't seen in years. We met up at a bowling alley at Chelsea Piers. Although many of us got gutter balls it was nice being able to catch up with one another after a long time. 

After bowling, my friends and I walked the High Line. There, we were able to get a glimpse of the busy city from above and enjoy the nature around us. The sunset was so beautiful!! The High Line looks better in the beginning of spring, when all the flowers are just blooming. Overall, I had a very eventful and memorable summer.