Reflection noitcelfeR:I think the most important skill I’ve learned in this class isn’t how to use a specific Photoshop tool, but how to manage my time accordingly. Sure, frequent use of the pen tool and learning key strokes to hasten the creating process has come in handy, but I’ve learned that time management is the most important aspect when tackling any project, especially one as intricate and arduous as the book assignment.
While making my book, I hit a lot of speed bumps. All the decisions I made, whether thought out or last-minute, were crucial to the creative process. For instance, I never intended to make a coloring book. At first I planned on making a graphic illustration book with a ton of nauseating 80s colors, but once I saw my images printed out with their crisp lines, I thought they loaned themselves beautifully to this new idea. I’d like to say I was clever enough to come up with this idea as a major time-saver, because let’s face it-not having to color the pictures would save loads of time, but that wasn’t the case. The only major problem I ran into involved the colors on the cover, inside cover, and back cover of the book. Coloring the images in Photoshop using RGB colors made them look vivid and hard to look at, like I wanted, but I was later informed no printer could create those colors exactly as they appeared on the screen. I tried working in CMYK to get a more accurate preview of what the final prints would look like, but seeing the colors so horribly skewed made me upset almost to the point of crying. When I spoke with Professor Inada on the subject, however, he said “Just go for it!” By this he meant I should just keep creating RGB images. He reassured me that the printer will get close enough to the colors I wanted and I think he was right-the final images look great!
In the near future, I plan to make dozens of copies of my coloring book to distribute to the kids my boyfriend works with. He helps teach and watch the kids at recess at a nearby elementary school, and in the past he and I have created assignments for them to color. Our drawings are always a hit and something that never changes from generation to generation is simply that kids love to color! They will even color at recess! I can’t wait to show them my book-I’m sure I’ll be able to chalk it up to another successful child-friendly activity!
