rising

Let's talk about my first Adobe Photoshop piece. Ever.

2005/2006. Adobe Photoshop CS2. The only tools I knew how to use were brush, eraser, and smudge. I didn't know about layers, or opacity. The Orbis statue was created in one file, and the mage in another file. I then copied and pasted it into the Orbis statue file, and noticed the layers. At this point, I still had no clue how to use them, or how to create new ones. So the sky was a separate file, and then the clouds another (at which I discovered the effects. Twirl!!!)

That being the case, this turned out extremely well for my first piece. After, when I discovered how to (sort of) use layers, I changed the Maple Lama Staff to my own creation: the Cosmos Staff, which I submitted to the anniversary contest in honour of the best Maple Story guild ever!

While doing this piece, I was extremely frustrated, and I knew there had to be an easier way. But as stubborn as I was (and still am) I wanted the satisfaction of finishing it without the help of anything or anyone.

One thing that OCAD has taught me in my four years there, was to immediately Google search anything I want to achieve but don't necessarily know how to. Not that it's a terrible thing at all. It means access to knowledge and methods that I would not have known otherwise. On the other hand, I now lack that same eagerness and determination to complete a difficult (and perhaps impossible) task. Learning by trial and error became near non-existant.
This was one of the many points brought up in my thesis; a matter of disconnect, wired, and unwired. Not to say that it is "good" or "bad"... there is no such thing. Just a change in pace and lifestyle that may or may not be to my benefit.
And I would apply this to the general industrialized human population, but I'm sure I don't need to get into that for anyone who actually reads this shit.