And here's what we got:
You may, or may not have noticed some changes around here. That is, if anyone actually reads my blog any more. I’m still working out some of the kinks in my websites design, but all in all it’s coming along quite well. I’ve simplified some things; removing search; displaying one item on the front page; moved the resume and portfolio into the blog (the resume was its own WordPress install, and the portfolio just… didn’t exist); added a real, honest to God contact page. Things are looking up!
I’m still having a couple issues of course, that I’m trying to figure out (mystery htaccess file issues, CSS tweaks, ) but I’m sure I can get these figured out in the next little while. Anyways, on to things that are important to people other than me.
Yeah so I sort of didn’t post at all for like, 5 weeks. Amazing how time passes when you’re busy as hell during the end of days. I’ve been doing assignments and working and flying across the world and playing some games and learning Japanese and probably some other stuff. Yeah, I guess you could say that I’ve been a touch on the busy side.
Such is the life of a student.
So a while back I mentioned going back to school. In fact, I even recall writing a collection of articles all about the subject. I’m sure I’ve mentioned it in my twitter (or at the very least, bitched about it). Well unlike the real world, College gives you large, void-filled breaks between semesters. This allows people like me ample time to run out of excuses for things we should have either done, or been doing during the academic time frame.
In my case this revolves around:
Now since only a couple of those are actually proactive (I’ll leave you to decide which) I have to pick and choose what and when I do these things. What is the result? Well to give you a glimpse, it’s almost 2 AM as of the start of this post. This is after I applied to many, many bursaries through my school. Who knew that working two jobs wouldn’t be enough to actually stay out of debt? Guess I’ll have to get some more!
My financial woes are not what I plan to talk about today though. I plan to talk about what I can take away from my first semester.
Okay, technically this would be my seventh semester if you are counting the six from the last time I was in school. That is also part of this so read on!
Holy hell, a personal post! You know what that means everyone: Corey doesn’t have anything specific to write about, but is guilt-ridden enough to write something in an attempt to rid himself of the self-loathing that he’s now feeling.
Thankfully, I’ve got enough random crap to talk about, that it will actually seem like I’ve somehow planned this post. I should at least be able to get back to my regular schedule for posting stuff now that I’m in school (somebody quote me on this when I’m studying my brains out and abandon the schedule once again.)
Side note: Do you say “skedual” or “scheduel”? I found that after watching far too much Doctor Who over the years that I’ve been converted to saying “scheduel” instead of skedual.” Ruined me, I tell you.
Seriously, it’s so white that it actually seems to give off light itself. It stands out so harshly against the rest of my room because it looks so clean and minimal. It’s like a work of art sitting on top of a rubble pile in Chernobyl. It’s so clean and pristine that I feel like I’m sullying it every time I lay my grubby fingers on it.
Some of you may be wondering why I’d now be a Mac owner. Those of you who know me know that I’ve never been a fan of Macs generally speaking. I find them overly simple, their mouse scares and distrubes me, they have some extra keys, and Mac users tend to be just so damned snooty. Have I sold out?
That’s right, I’m school-bound once again. Two more years of weird sleep schedules, assignments, cliques, teachers, and too many people walking around in pajama-bottoms.
Joking aside, I’ve decided to go back to school for Graphic Design. Over the past two plus years, I’ve felt that though I’m reasonably good at programming, it’s not really what I want to do for the rest of my life. I’ve had a good run at my current place of employment, but I feel that it’s just not the direction I want to go in the long-run. You see, as I worked along side everyone I constantly felt myself obsessing over certain points; namely UI design, usability, and common sense in design.
This is the sixth part in an ongoing series of articles that depicts my process to becoming a graphic designer. I will reiterate that this is not a sure-fire guide on how to become one, but merely my process which I am sharing to the general public.
This is a continuation from the fifth portion, because had i combined them the article would never be read through fully. They’re long people, I can’t help that. Well yes I can, but I refuse to censor myself. Here I will continue to explain to the best of my ability questions that I had asked way back in the first part of this series. Let’s continue.
This is the fifth part in an ongoing series of articles that depicts my process to becoming a graphic designer. I will reiterate that this is not a sure-fire guide on how to become one, but merely my process which I am sharing to the general public.
Now for the section that makes or breaks a would-be designer. Realizing that you know nothing about design. Everyone hits this when they start, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Have you ever shown someone some of your work and when asked why you did what you did, you responded with something like “because it looks cool”? Believe it or not, this is not a valid explanation for artwork. Well okay, sometimes it is but most of the time, this is the stamp of an amateur, or someone who knows how to use a program.
Let me stress now that knowing how to use a program in no way dictates your understanding of design.
This is the fourth part in an ongoing series of articles that depicts my process to becoming a graphic designer. I will reiterate that this is not a sure-fire guide on how to become one, but merely my process which I am sharing to the general public.
In this section I’m going to be fairly resource-heavy, and hope that it helps some people out. When I say ‘Mess around’ what I mean is literally get your hands on some of the tools you know you’ll be using, and go to town. If you don’t know what tools you are going to be using, do some research. Check out those schools I talked about previously, and find out what software they’re going to be using. Dig around a little to see what others in the field tend to use. Since I’m trying to get into graphic design, I know that my primary tools will most likely consist of the Adobe family, though I will also give an honourable mention to 3Ds Max, Maya, and ArtRage 2 (if you want to have some really impressive paint effects).
This is the third part in an ongoing series of articles that depicts my process to becoming a graphic designer. I will reiterate that this is not a sure-fire guide on how to become one, but merely my process which I am sharing to the general public.
I admit this part is properly inaccurately named, since it really bleeds into other posts that I will be making in the future. Therefore I shall clarify: this article relates to actions you can take to get yourself educated while you wait for your school of choice to accept you, job-wise.