Not Quite There

    "Not quite there" might as well be a personal motto of mine when it comes to design. I don't mean it in the sense that I'm a perfectionist (my dad, a manager of many people, says perfectionists tend to fall apart when things don't go as originally planned) or that I can't let go of a project until it's "perfect" (I definitely can!), I mean it in the sense that there's always more. This is what motivated me to learn to use GIMP over 6 years ago, then jump to Photoshop, and later much of the rest of the Adobe Suite. It's also what pushes me to learn new techniques and styles. Were it not for my constant drive to learn more about design and digital art, I would still be making the same 2013 era photo manipulations 4 years later.

    Skill building is huge for me. I like to scroll through Behance and look at breakdowns of other people's work, then try it for myself or find a tutorial to watch. I also like learning from people who have skills or perspectives I don't, like Alex Hemmerich, a graphics teacher who was sadly only with us for a year at OSA. When he came, I was pretty intimidated by illustrator, but he showed all of us in Digital Media that it wasn't as complicated as it seemed and gave us a great series of lessons on how to use it to make some great content. He also gave me suggestions on my work that has made me a better designer and taught me how to deal difficult or confusing clients.

   I know there's always more when it comes to design. More to try, more to learn, more people to work with, and more projects to experience. That's pretty exciting and it gives me a lot to look forward to. See my other post on college for more on that 😁.