Month: February 2023

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So for my trip I ended up going to that Taco Bell Wedding well after it was had. Wanted to see if it was still there since you can still enter it. There wasn’t too much to seeing the wedding was over, but I figured I can still check out the sites. Meandered around quite a bit around the roads, saw an elephant. Nothing crazy outside of that.

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I found a Domino’s Pizza which I legit was curious on if you can order anything from it. There were clerks just standing around and not helping, not much different from a real domino’s. So the realistic experience was good there, ha. Then I found thee Taco Bell the wedding was had. Definitely not your run of the mill TB. It looked like a setup for an awards show.

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Found a room that had a dancefloor and a DJ spinning music. The DJ had a giant bell for a head. Reminded me of the Moon Man mascot from McDonalds from back in the day. Also ran into my fellow student Jeff while I was there, we danced a bit with the Taco Bell skinjobs for a bit, then went into this “selfie” room made for the wedding.

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This place is something else. Overall I don’t care for this type of tech. I am sure it has a place in society but its just not for me. I guess it works for people who are naturally introverted to congregate outside the realm their usual sectors like video game chats and whatnot. Or an easy way to hang out virtually if you don’t live close to each other. But I can’t see how its practical for a lot of everyday uses. Like paying a bill, or looking up information versus going to a conventional site or platform that has less steps to make a task to complete such errands.

Also, and without getting too in the weeds. If I have exist in a capitalist state where everything I want to do is going to cost money to exist, I rather do it here in reality rather than endure yet another place to have that experience as well. I think thats prob another reason the Metaverse doesn’t appeal to me, is that its marketed toward more consuming, another place to come and consume. Rather than a place to create something outside of that. Anyways, I digress.

Deliver Quality Work

I feel like I suffered from this on the early onset of my career. I was saying yes to everything that came my way, damn any timeline or budget I said “yes” to it. And the work reflected it. Now I am realize over time that I can say no to things, or negotiate budget or timeline perimeters and more times than not the client will meet you halfway (at least the ones I have haha). Learned by doing that I have more time (thats agreed upon) and budget (thats agreed upon) to produce quality work, when they need it. Hence retaining the client(s).

Hard Skills I Have

• Sales
  I feel I always had to sell what I have been doing in design harder than some of my colleagues since time immorial. The illustration style I do, the music I released when i was running a record label was never popular in a way where it just caught on right away. Always had to run uphill on most jobs. So I have to develop my pitch on why a client should choose me early on.
• Marketing
  I feel like I have a discerning trait when it comes to what clients need rather than what they want. Not on all things (thats why I am here ha) but I can see the writing on the wall more times than not when it comes to what it will take to market a product or campaign.
• Finance / Accounting
  I am not sure if this skill is pertaining to my own finances. But I have always been pretty smart with what little money I have. I got my first business license and an accountant when I was 18 and running my first business. I know how to stay on budget and work within a budget. especially cause most of the clients I work with as of now have shoestring ones.

Soft Skills I have

• Willingness to learn
  Its why I am here, when you rest, you rust.
• Persuasion
  I have a pretty good knack for this. Not the best, but when with a client, or in a team, I can lawyer my way through a decision making process to get either my idea, or a idea for us to go with that I feel strongly about.
• Creativity
  I have always been creative. I love creating things on my own, or with people. I love just making new things that has a genuine impact on people or a situation. genuinely satisfies my soul to bring new things into the world.

Hard Skills I want

• UX Design
  I don’t know much about this subject and its always fascinated me that no one can really explain it. I hope to understand it on a base level by the end of the first year, and hopefully be somewhat versed in the subject by the time I am out of here.
• Business Analysis
  I think from what the articles have said about this subject I think it would be another useful tool in my arsenal when gunning for jobs with any business of any size.

Soft Skills I Want

• Collaboration
  I would like to learn how to work better with others. I have been freelancing for a while, and its like you’re on a island most times. And the few times I have worked on a team it reminded me of how much you can learn new processes, new ideas, hell… make new connections with good people. I miss that, and I miss working like that.
• Empathy
  I won’t lie, I have grown pretty cynical. Have it be about late stage capitalism, this country, this world. I am here to unlearn some of that. Cause I feel it has genuinely hampered my creativity and overall lust for life. I want to get some of that feeling of optimism back, that ability to take in peoples stories and feel something.

Here is a little bit about myself and what I do. I mainly do traditional illustrative work. Have it be for gig posters, packaging, to merchandise. I also work in mixed media if you are looking for something a little different than that. I started working with bands at a young age, doing art and printing merch for bands and record labels. Then from there built a reputation of a reliable and creative plug for people in need of such services. I have a extensive background in the screen printing world. All merchandising related collateral I make will be print prepped (prepped art files, mock ups, and a tech pack) and ready to delivered to your print shop of choice. If you are in need of printing services I am partnered with a reputable print shop in Chicago that provides free shipping to any one location in the US. We can print flatsock, direct to garment/film and traditional screen print, as well as embroidery. Whatever you need to get your product client facing, I can sort you out.

LINK TO VIDEO PITCH

So me and Ed were a group and we decided to do our panel project on well known local book stores. I chose Elliott Bay Books. Its my favorite book store here as well as my partners. We spend a great deal of time and money there over the years so it only seemed fitting.

So we built our general template in Adobe Illustrator. From there we added the content needed for each of our individual stores we were covering. I found trying to find a ideal size for the panels a bit difficult, otherwise it was pretty straight forward to put this project together. One other thing I found odd was setting the perspective correctly for the viewer line of sight. As you can see in the image above its set to be right in the line of sight. Yet after you upload and publish it. The panels should be sitting way above your head line. So I had to put them almost as if they were sitting on the ground in order for them to show up in the viewer’s line of sight.