Project 5

When given the task of "self portrait" for our final project, I didn't want to do a literal self portrait. I'm not very photogenic and I wasn't sure what I'd do with pictures of me anyways. The best way I thought to portray myself was the places I've been/experiences I've had. In the gif, I've included places where I've lived like DC and Italy, places that I love like the National Gallery of Art, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the Sacre-Coeur. Some of my favorite experiences like seeing Ed Sheeran at the 9:30 Club and the day I spent looking at the Windmills in Holland were also included.

Homework 9

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Homework 8

What is your plan for success while you are at George Mason? Does anything that Kleon mentions here resemble what you currently do?
Keeping a routine works pretty well for me. My day job is pretty much how Kleon describes, as in it pays decently, doesn't make me want to vomit, and leaves me with enough energy to do other things. This helps me succeed at GMU because it pressures me into a time constraint to accomplish things.

How do you see those same plans translating to your professional and/or creative life once you are done at GMU? What potential suggestions that Kleon puts forth can you see yourself adopting for your own success planning?
Probably the hardest for me to follow is anything concerned with money. I'm pretty good about saving it, but I'm always tempted to enjoy my time in ways I can pay for it. I'm a sucker for going out to dinner and drinks with my friends and love to try out the newest and most entertaining business' that pop up in NoVa. So yes, keeping out of debt will be a struggle but something I should adopt from Kleon. Ideally, I'd like to have a job that doesn't make me vomit, which I don't think will be too hard to find but ya never know.

What's really important to you in your work, creative, or otherwise?
What's important to me in my work and creatively is being clear and concise enough so that others can understand what I'm communicating. Overall, I think it's maintaining an attitude and behavior that will benefit me.

What do you choose to "leave out" in your work?
For me, I try to leave out ideas I hate when processing what I want to do and focus on what speaks to me personally, really, what I want to steal from other artists.

What are your limitations?
An obvious limitation is time for me. Word limits, bedtimes, money to spend. It keeps me realistic and in check.

I actually talked about making a logbook before I read this book. A lot of times I forget when I had a thought or an idea popped into my mind or when I promised to start working out. It seems sensible and doable and will probably help me organize my mind and life a lot. I would also very much like to take a nap!

Project 4

This zine originally came to me when brainstorming for the table of contents. I thought the refrigerator was a pretty obvious symbol of Thoughts at 3 AM, but it reminded me of another thing. Once when I had friends over, someone went into the kitchen and came back and asked me if I had a happy family. When I asked why he would ask me something like that, he remarked on how our refrigerator had no magnets on it. This basically expands on my struggle to not let others influence my thoughts, while also trying to prove myself based off what others think. The magnet and the fridge were photoshop as well as the background. The magnets were made in illustrator, and the pictures were scanned in from a family photo album. 

This zine exemplified the blurring of dreams and thoughts. I have what's actually on my mind, my to do list, which was scanned in, and my passport to London, which was created in photoshop. I found this flower pressed in a book recently and I thought that added to the dreaminess quality of the zine, so I scanned that in as well. I cloned the clouds in the background via photoshop, and made the stars in Illustrator. I always like looking at the night sky, but I have to close my blinds for complete darkness otherwise I can't sleep. 

This is a gif that I could not for the life of me figure out how to put in my final zine. RIP to what could have been.

Homework 7

1. What is your plan to do “good work” (in any field you are interersted in) after you graduate?

“Good work” for me comes from time commitment and dedication. After I graduate, I think the best way for me to achieve that is throw myself into whatever job I begin at.

2. What do you wonder at?

Wonder is a big idea that encaspulates a lot of my thoughts. I often think about pieces that fit together to make civilizationt tick and the type of organizationt that requires. There must be a factory that manufactures the nails that screw into a chair, of which the leather came from some cow, was cured, and sold to a leather outlet, and the screws and leather came together to become a chair in a coffee shop. The mechanics to everything fascinate me, and the people who are behind all the labor to make something so simple. But wondering can also come from “what ifs” and “should haves”, but that’s the most troubling type of wondering I get up to.

3. Share at least one thing that you have come across recently that you think would be interesting for others in the class to see.

Any murals I come across I always like to share. I think murals are a cool form of self-expression and interesting to observe. I’m currently in Richmond, VA, which arguably has the most murals in the close vicinity of Fairfax. I also saw something recently about a recreation of Kim Kardashian’s nude selfie in Australia that takes up 3 stories of a building.

4. Are you in your ideal geographic location for what you want to do? What is your plan for making the most out of your current place?

I think it is dificult in the Washington D.C. area to really dive into media production at a large scale. Most jobs are mostly government oriented, and having interned for the government, I can safely say I’m not that interested in doing media on their behalf. My other internship is at an extremely small private school, and that experience for me has really shed light on what it would be like working for a small business (which I’m not interested in). I believe Los Angeles would be ideal for producing but that’s only based off of my limited knowledge.

5. Who are the people who follow you online (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram)? [Name at least 3]. How do those people contribute to your success?

My mom, sisters, and best friend all follow me on my online presences. I think knowing they see everything I do censors me from posting and sharing bizarre news that’s not like me. Simply knowing they see what I post contributes to my success because I’m much more aware of what I post.

Homework 6

Why do you think "writing about what you know" leads to terrible stories?
Writing about what you know only leads to stories that fall flat. If you're only working with existing content, then you won't be able to expand creatively because you're constrained by someone else's.

Within your chosen major or career path, how can you make better stories? Or, what are some of your ideas to progress stories that you think are not finished?
Within communications, I think better stories stem from expectations not met. My ideas flow most when I come across something and it falls short of what I expect from high caliber productions. Mostly, it comes back to what I as a person, not a communications major, would want to come from something versus immersing myself completely as a communications major.

Within a creative practice, is working in a physical and/or non-digital way important to you? Describe how you do creative work (any writing, drawing, photography, playing sports -anything) independently from a computer. How does a computer enhance or take away from your creative process?
I feel similarly to Kleon in that I get more joy from physically experiencing something than observing it from behind a screen. I think the more I'm independent from my computer, iPhone and TV, the more creatively inclined I become. Being outside and without digital access is important to me because it forces me to revert to other means, which isn't exactly always obvious. In other words, it forces me to take the initiative to do.

What are the things you use to procrastinate? How do they then feed into the other areas of what you do or what you study?
I use TV to procrastinate a lot. I also find sleeping and socializing a good way to procrastinate. I relate a lot of my studies to things I've witnessed on different shows I watch and find that is my most relative way of thinking. Sleeping doesn't help much but I do compare studies and theories in Communications to how my everyday life works.

Project 3

So I fooled around with Illustrator for a long time before I settled on A Rush of Blood to the Head album cover by Coldpay. I've come across different art and tattoos that are composed strictly of geometric shapes that are different sizes and thought I'd give it a go.