Youth Empowerment Conference

The Youth Empowerment Conference was held at UFT Welfare Fund this last Saturday the 28^th. Where we received motivational talks from professionals that included the process of how they had gotten to the position they are in and also how they overcame some obstacles they had during the journey of succession. It was a pretty fun event where we were given snacks and prizes but also where we gained knowledge for our future.

 In order to discover our passion we must accomplish three important steps which are; first identify your WHY meaning identify your motivations or things you enjoy doing, second is to identify your HOW which is basically the process you are going to be taking to get there, and third is the WHAT this is the last step that helps you find out where you got and concludes your talent so it is sort of like the product of the first two steps. When it comes to inspiration I would put my maternal grandfather at the first place because even though I didn't

have the chance to meet him based on the stories I have heard, he was a hard working man that would risk anything for his family. He was an engineer and was part of the group of workers who built the largest bridge located in the city of my native country. But other than that I consider him as an example because he always stayed focused on his goals which were making his child succeed in life and have the opportunity to study, but most importantly made sure that food wasn’t missing on the table any day. This quote given during the event that called my attention was “Do today what others won’t so tomorrow you will live the way others can’t”, which in others words would be do more than what you are being asked for so you could be one step  ahead of the game and that will lead you to more open opportunities. Also there was being told to us “to hang out with the right people” because most of the professional people that went an actually gave us a word, told us that they had low grades and were looking for all of the popular life during their high school year but later on found out that they were going the wrong way trying to succeed therefore decided to make a difference and find the right track. So this send us the message of taking advantage of every single opportunity given to us and by right people is directs to people that want you to be somebody in your life and people that support you and help you accomplish your goals.

As a conclusion in order to succeed in life you should first set personal goals that include short term and long term. You should hang out with people that want to help you accomplish them and that support you. You should have a positive vibe and be strong because there are going to be obstacles for sure that will try to stop you but the best option is to learn to get through all of them and find an appropriate way to go on. But most importantly keep your head up! Don’t let anybody tell you that you are not capable of accomplishing your dreams because you and your goals are much bigger that you will ever think.

lab22 blob brush tool

The blob brush tool is used to create freehand drawings. It does not create paths but instead it lets you create images and then it allows to edit them freely. For this lab we had to come up with our image and test our skills on splitting it in half. Once we selected the blob brush tool, we changed the stroke color and fill as well. Then we started our selection. Using the eraser tool we split it in half and lastly using the selection tool, we chose one of the halves and clicked on them the changed was made this possible for letting the side edit independently.

lab20 pencil tool

While learning how to use the pencil tool we also had an introduction to the Illustrator program including the stroke color, fill color, brush preset, the graphic style within others. First you select the pencil tool, then you select your stroke color where you will find a variation of styles. After that you can start creating your image and end it by simply letting the mouse bottom go. If you are not satisfied with the results you can still modify the creation by going to the selection tool and selecting the stroke you want to edit. Then you can actually select a style on variable width profile and select an style you will notice the change.

lab21 paintbrush tool

Adding parts made of brushes can also improve the appearance of your figure. There are five main types of brushes available in Illustrator including calligraphic brushes, scatter brushes, art brushes which splits the object evenly from the path, the bristle brushes and the pattern brushes which can include up to five tiles. The brushes panel displays a variety of brushes that vary within a group of sizes or styles. To add more brushes just go to the panel menu and click on the ones you wish to add, it will automatically appear to your list. You can also specify different options for the different types of brushes chosen by double clicking on them, the bristle brush options panel will show off there you can change the length, density, opacity and thickness.

Feathering

This lab was about blend, feather and smooth. We had to select a picture which we would be sure that, that image had some rough edges or something obvious to select. I chose a classic car. First we had to make a selection using the lasso tool and I must accept my selection wasn't good enough. (I could have done better) And after that we would press select and redife edge which was like an editor and optional to use in case your selection wasn't perfect as in my case I tried to improve it. And then I created a mask and as it was done in a previous lab we had to duplicate four times the image and had to add effects on it such as hue or saturation among others. That is the part I was missing but I did learn new skills about how to improve rough edges and improving its smooth areas.

Brochure

Project 8 I would say it's been one of the most hard projects we have done so far due to the fact that we had to work in teams, and not just that but also come up with original ideas to make our work appealing and to focus on getting the readers attention. I was the researcher of my team and along my group contributed to it. This was all done using InDesign and obviously outside information and we decided to advertise a zoo because having in mind the season and time of the year we are at, we thought that it will be something that would call attention specially to children and also to provide information and encourage people to go and visit because it is an interesting place to spend a weekend at. And lastly I would say that this activity helped us all to learn to listen to each other and contribute. We are using one of the most important soft skills that is team work which consists on mainly giving credit to all of those that tried to help and include basic teachings as well.

Puppet Warp

This lab was all done to pretty much make us all practice out skills on learning how to use new tools. In this case we practiced the use of puppet warp. First I had to chose an image that was more preferable to have its sides separated from its own. I selected my image and then I started to mark pins on areas I wanted to move so I ended up with moving the individual's head, arms and legs. I think it was a fun activity because we are not just learning new skills but also it will help us on our future as a designers and to use our creativity shown on new ideas. And also I think I could have done a better job finishing my work on time which I will try to work on the next time!