This semester I finally got to go from film and old school editing/photography to digital and modern editing, otherwise known as Photoshop. Let me tell you…I am not a fast learner by any means, so learning a new program was just not going very well for me.
Let me take you back to my 11 a.m. Digital Media 1 class, on Wednesday the 24th, we are going over our first lesson (in person since the first was technically a YouTube video) in Photoshop. My professor went through every tool and function on the program, while I sat at my computer taking notes in my sketch pad. Fast forward about probably 30 minutes, he gave us a break. My face must have been a “stonewall expression” when I swirled my chair to face my professor’s desk because he looked at me and said, “It gets better.” Given, we had just got our first assignment and the tools were lost on me, so I guess I probably looked a bit overwhelmed. Although I was still not very stressed at all, just frustrated with myself and learning ability. Let’s just say the rest of the time I was in the class, it was a struggle. I asked for help like every 10 minutes because of a problem with the program or a brain malfunction.
The in-class assignment wasn’t going well, but I am thankfully for a very great professor! Without guidance and showing me why my way wasn’t working, I might have been in there for hours! Anyways, my in-class assignment was to take a photo of my tattoo drawing (previous homework), email it to myself and drag it to the computer’s desktop so I could drag it to the Photoshop workspace.
Original Pencil Drawing
Then, I took out the white space and made the lines clear, which left an outline of my original pencil drawing. Yes, this was actually difficult, and I have no idea why it was so hard for me to follow such simple steps, but it was. After about five Photoshop workspace problems, my professor saved the day and showed me what I was doing wrong! Ok..so he almost did the assignment for me, but I got it to the clear lines almost on my own, I was just forgetting a step so he pushed it for me. Poof, I was on my way! Alas, he had to help me one more time when I screwed up with the layering and re-sizing my tattoo drawing. It was a long road! But, I got to do the finishing touches on my own and I loved the result!
Flower Tattoo – My own design!
I am very proud of how it turned out and so glad I made it through without any tears! Anyways, this was whole new territory for me because this was my first time using Photoshop, so I think I did okay overall.
The taken away from this experience is that my frustrations aren’t the end of the world. Everything can work out in the end and if it doesn’t then it wasn’t meant to be after all. So, remember to breathe and believe in yourself and your learning abilities. It is a hard road, but it is worth it! Keep striving to the finish line!