I have made significant progress in furthering my education, professional skills, and general considerations for the future
Last semester, I had a huge problem when it came to file sharing as well as organization. Everything was contained in a single folder with names that could only be described as being created with the mindset of fuck it we ball. I have organized all work into one Semester Folder with subsections of group work, personal work, and portfolio submission. Each of these has sub sub sections based on for example- Branding in the group project, iterations / ideations, and even portfolio versions. This has genuinely immensely helped my organization in general, and made it easier to quickly send files to team members. I have created a file naming structure finally that makes sense to me and is close to being fully implemented into my own filing structure : TitleOfProject-SpecificTask-FileName so for example, my research document for our game would be Bonds-ResearchDoc-Loneliness.pdf since I specifically was researching loneliness and can then distinguish it from my other research documents. I have also begun converting any .csp files that need to be edited and shared with groupmates to .psd files and actually naming my layers. I do not use adobe products for drawing, so any image I create with layers cannot be accessed unless I convert. I have attached an example of a .psd file as well as examples of my naming structure can be found in the git link provided.
PSD Download
Link to download the character turnaround PSD. Shows off folder / layering structure.
Turnaround
On the 20th of March, I went to the art department in Strijp-S! It was an overall genuinely fun event I will be going to next year, however I did also gain a lot of insight and connections through this event. Feefal’s panel about how she became an online content creator and illustrator was genuinely really helpful in breaking down my preconceived notions about being a more well known artist online. Seeing her process of work was very helpful in my understanding of how I am going to structure my content, as well as what content I want to make in the future. I have been working on growing a platform online ever since I deleted my X (Formerly Twitter, which is a better name) and moved to Bluesky. I also talked to a few different people at the event itself, and met a producer on an indie animation group who is currently looking for a social media manager. I was able to discuss with them what that would entail, what they do for work, as well as had a look at their current demo reel. They are willing to discuss a social media intern position with me and I am still going to be in talks with them in the future. Social media and branding is something I am genuinely passionate about, I love reaching out to people and finding out what really connects with others while getting boosted in website specific algorithms. While it is not what I specifically want to focus on in the future, I think it would be genuinely good for me to learn and know to be able to boost my career as a freelance illustrator. I did sadly get very overwhelmed at the event since I was not expecting it to be as big as it was and didn’t readily prepare myself. I had to leave a bit earlier then I would have liked, however I for sure will be going next year with better preparation in mind.
I have already begun looking into Minors for future semesters, by attending three minor orientations. I took a look at all the available orientations and found the most interest from these three. While I understand it’s a bit early to already begin looking into this, I want to make an informed decision in the future and not leave anything to chance. Unfortunately, I had a poor experience with all three orientations and am no longer interested in any of them. Acceleration academy is far too expensive for me to consider, with there being a premium track to unlock access to more countries to be able to pay to travel to. Digital Experience was somewhat interesting at least, however I am not fully hooked into the idea of the work I would be doing. I may reconsider in the future, but it is not at the top of my list. Finally, Be Creative was also not very interesting to me, as while I feel like it would be interesting to put more of a focus on actual product creation, I currently feel as though the track would not fully support me having participated in it when it comes to future job prospects. I would like a minor that is different then my current workload, while still being helpful for future work to know. I also scheduled a meeting on 4 / 4 with Pieter Wels to discuss open learning. I have talked with Guido extensively about my future minor choices, as well as what I may want the future of my education to look like and he has heavily recommended Open Learning to me. With the way Fontys is planning on changing the ICT study, I feel as though I need to be informed about how I am going to shape my education going forward. I love Media Design dearly, however another semester of Media Production does not benefit me personally I feel. Open Learning is an incredibly interesting path for me to think about as I would be able to shape what I want to learn from the start. I create my own learning outcomes and frankly that is a very appealing thought, that way I don’t lock myself into one direct path like the other currently offered tracks do.
Im learning Dutch YAY! Not only because I love learning language, but also for internship and future job opportunities. My ultimate goal is to live in the Netherlands and work here forever. Seeing the news in America getting worse every day has only solidified my decision. So, I signed up for Dutch lessons for free for Fontys ICT students! So far I have a 100% attendance rate and have completed all Homework, though the last few were late as I had some personal issues arise. However, it has all now been completed. This will hopefully help me when it comes time for my internship, as having a better understanding of the Dutch language - EVEN IF it isn’t perfect - will help me have a better chance at securing an internship. This is a step I am taking to improve my future prospects, hopefully being able to fully and fluently speak Dutch when I go to look for a job in a few years.
As a part of the first part of a two part workshop with Maikel, I created an interactive staircase. I wanted to learn how to better animate with CSS and use Javascript to accentuate whatever I created so I used the workshops as a way to create a document I can reference whenever I try to create something similar. It is more of a reference sheet at this point, which will be useful as I want to try and create more animations with css and Javascript. Using what I learned in the workshop, I’d like to make sliding images in my portfolio. I have attached both the link for my whole interactive staircase structure, but as well as a section of code that best shows my notes.
I had a lot of trouble figuring out how to go about choosing the profile for the next semester, as I was not sure the direction I wanted to go down. I got stuck choosing between Open Learning and Front End Development. To help better inform my choice I scheduled meetings with a teacher from each program- Pieter Wels and Pim Willems. I prepared questions for each beforehand and made sure to compare both choices after I spoke to them. I then participated in career day where I visited both stands for the program to ask some final clarifying questions then made my decision. While I believe I would get a lot out of Open Learning, I am still in a point of my study where I need a more structured program. Open is still very structured if I were to make it that way for myself, however I don’t believe I can be accountable enough to myself to get the most out of the path of study. This is combined with the fact I want to learn more about developing apps and websites in a much more intense way than I have since the start of my study. I truly believe throwing myself in the deep end of development is going to do me a lot of good, and especially after Pim had told me of the program of the semester as well as gave me multiple resources to better prepare for Front End, I believe that it will be the best choice for me overall.
I wrote an explanatory document on my opinion on generative AI due to both personal and ethical concerns about the publicly available use of it. I am not okay with any work I do being fed into generative AI training programs nor am I okay with using it, and I wanted to explain why that is.