Graphic art for Dummies (Me)

What you are doing (actual duties)

Nothing at the moment. But I had an interview with Kohl's for their leadership program and I met with Professor Francois for information about two internships I can participate in.

Whom are you working with and/or learning from

I would be working with Professor Francois, or Margret from the Kohl's in Woodbridge.

New things you have learned or developed (in terms of skills, knowledge)

I think i'm getting better at interviews and job applications.

projects (from class); readings, research websites as it relates to your career, portfolio, and networking

On September 11th 2025, I had the pleasure of seeing the Met Dandyism exhibit. I was on a school trip for my first fashion week, our first stop of the day was The Met to see Superfine : Tailoring Black Style. It's about suiting in the Black diaspora with a special focus on African Americans. There were suits from slaves, Fredrick Douglass, Alexander Dumas, Black Ivy wear, and much more. I loved the exhibit, so much I bought the art book. I wanted to share this exhibit with my friends and family, also to have a record of this magnificent display of Black history. While there I also got to see one of my favorite permanent exhibits, Its full of rococo furniture and is decorated like a palace. Attached below I have a collection of photos I took that day in the museum and on my walk to Soho.

For spring 2024, Bowie state university's theater production team put on Ride The Cyclone. We are the first HBCU to show this production. It's a Canadian musical about 5 children losing their lives on a roller coaster called The Cyclone. They are thrust into this purgatory like game hosted by a fortune telling automaton called Karnack the Amazing played by Rodney Loper. The five children Ocean O'Connell Rosenberg, Constance Blackwood, Noel Gruber, Mischa Bachinski, and, Ricky Potts played by Lauren Christin, Whitney Watson, Camari Ragins, Jacobie Thorton and Aiden Nash are literally singing tor their lives. They are joined by mystery contestant, Jane doe, played by Queen Harris. A girl who lost her head and her memories. Each character gets a turn singing about their lives and why they want to be brought back to life. The person brought back by Karnack will have to get an unanimous vote from the others. Karnack himself will by dying tonight as he prophesied.

I worked on the production as a Costume Assistant, this was the first production I ever worked on. I honesty think it was the perfect first production to step into the world of costuming for me. It was a creepy fun musical about life and death, It was basically made for me. Though the nights were long and I lived off a dinner of monster energy, I truly loved the time I spent with the cast and crew. Everyone was so nice and I got to make props for the show. I made Jane Doe's bloody necklace and the matching uniform for her doll. (I didn't get photos of the full outfit and I'm kicking myself, if i manage to get a picture I'll insert them later)

Under the Director, Elena Velasco, her vision and execution for Ride The Cyclone was really amazing. I like how she used pictures of the cast when they were younger in their introduction scenes. Rodney brought a hilarious deadpan humor to Karnack. My favorite songs were

What The World Needs - Ocean O'Connell - An upbeat song where Ocean sneak disses all her friends and basically says shes better than them. She says her best friend's only accomplishment is to be an organ donor.

Noels Lament- Noel Gruber - A cabaret song about living fast, scamming, stealing and stabbing at least one person then dying young in 1920's France. I added godet's to Noels uniforms pants to assist in the quick change.

Space Age Bachelor Man - Ricky Potts - A horny teens maladaptive daydream about saving and maybe sleeping with cat space people. I had to work on his tearaway bellbottoms and they were more stressful than an ex.

The Ballad Of Jane Doe - Jane Doe - A deeply sad song about loss of identity and not remembering her life, almost wishing for death to tell her. Queen has an amazing operatic voice that she sings in while bent over! This might be my favorite scene overall. It gave me chills everytime.

This Song Is Awesome - Mischa Bachiniski - A fun upbeat and catchy song. Jacobie really brought ENERGY with every performance.

Sugar Cloud - Constance Blackwood - This song reminds me of singing at home at full volume like nobody is around. Its youthful and fun, appreciates the life Constance had and she wasn't pressed about being brought back because she led a happy life.

Of course this production wouldn't have go on without the the hardworking crew! But this post is already too long. Linked is the Directors website with photos from the production.

On February 10th 2024, I went to the Debut Solo Exhibition for the artist IssaHoneyDip. It was titled The Walking Zone. It was a surreal experience, the artist utilizes bright colors, found objects, sculpture and other mixed media to tell their story of self actualization, mental health, and political issues. I absolutely love this artist, I cannot wait to see what they put out next. You should check them out, I have their website linked below. Including their Link-tree.

Chapter 5 introduces quick fixes for red eye, perspective, camera glitches and various ways to merge photos.

• Quick Fixes (Pages 122 - 153) Lesson 5

Review Questions

What is red eye, and how do you correct it in Photoshop? Red eye occurs when the retina of a subject’s eye is reflected by the camera flash. It commonly occurs in flash photographs taken in a dark room, because the subject’s irises are wide open. You can fix this with the red eye tool.

Why might some parts of the Photoshop workspace become inaccessible or hidden, such as the Color and Layers panels? And how do you return to the normal workspace? Some workspaces only provide options for specific tasks and many menu commands and panels aren’t available in a dedicated workspace. Once you okay your changes, you’ll exit the dedicated workspace.

How can you create a panorama from multiple images? To blend multiple images, choose file>automate>Photomerge, select your files and click ok.

Lesson 4 covered the layer basics, gradients and text edits.

Review Questions

• Layer Basics (Pages 88 - 121) Lesson 4

What is the advantage of using layers? Working in layers allows you to work on different parts of an image without disturbing the whole image. You can isolate specific parts of to work on.

When you create a new layer, where does it appear in the Layers panel stack? It appears at the top of the selected layer or at the top of the layers list.

How can you make artwork on one layer appear in front of artwork on another layer? You can drag layers up and down in the layers panel to make one layer appear before another.

How can you apply a layer style? You can apply a layer style by selecting it on the layers panel or going to the top of the screen and navigating layer>layer stye> (style)

To edit a Gradient Fill layer by dragging on-canvas controls, what two things should you make sure to do? You should make sure the gradient tool and gradient fill layer are selected.

Working With Selections

Lesson 3 focuses on working with the selection tools to do likes like cut, rotate, scale, position, duplicate and how to add and subtract from selections.

• Working With Selections (Pages 64 - 87) Lesson 3

Review Questions

Once you’ve made a selection, what area of the image can be edited? The area that can be selected or edited in within the selection box.

How do you add to and subtract from a selection when using a tool such as the Quick Selection or Lasso tool? To add or subtract from a selection click add or subtract from the options bar then click on the selected area.

How can you move a selection while you’re creating it? You can move the selection while using it by holding down the spacebar and in some instances the alt key on windows.

What is the difference between the Quick Selection tool and the Object Selection tool? The quick selection tool will attempt to detect edges while the object selection tool will attempt to recognize subjects like people.