Tried something out with the title for this one haha.

It’s the end of a *really* grueling semester. So much has happened in my life over the last 15+ weeks. 

 

Overall, registering my own domain was pretty easy. It didn’t take me too long to find a name. “Once you choose a domain name, you can’t change it” was stuck to my brain while I was in the process of choosing it. But it didn’t take very long to make that choice.

I chose Twenty Twenty One as my theme and chose a solid purple background. In the future I’ll go with something different. In the mean time, I’ll keep it simple.

I went with the thebrianf as the name, which is the same as my Instagram handle (@thebrianf) and its something easy for people to remember. There are several people I know that call me by my Instagram handle whenever they see me.

 

https://thebrianf.com

Now that I’ve chosen & registered my domain name, I started to add a few of my favorite blog posts that I have posted to here to CT101  and correlate best to who I am as an individual.

So far, the website has been easy to navigate.

Overall, I was stressed out about the process. But after getting it done. I felt like I accomplished a lot in a short amount of time.

Going forward, I will be using my website to share my experiences with traveling and going to wrestling events. I would also love to provide step by step cooking tutorials/recipes as well as TV/movie reviews.

As I mentioned in Assignment 4, I’m very passionate about graphic design. It started out as something I did for fun, but once it began intertwining with wrestling, there was no turning back.

For my first creation, I was actually commissioned to create a booking graphic in the form of a magazine cover for a friend of mine in wrestling. I used Bazaart to put this together by incorporating the photo, text and logos to create a cover design!

Pretty simple.

For my second creation, I used Procreate to make a collage. It’s pretty straightforward to navigate. Normally, I use it to draw digital art, but this was the first time I incorporated photos. Like Adobe Photoshop, there is a background layer and you can add multiple layers containing photos and what not (lock & duplicate accordingly).

There are many things I’m passionate about- dancing, writing & art to name a few.

However the two things I’m most passionate about most actually intertwine with each other- pro wrestling and graphic design. (My apologies for the rambling I’m about to do)

 

I fell in love with pro wrestling at a very young age, so much so that I grew up wanting a career in the business. My talents outside of the wrestling community as an emcee, a budding photographer, an aspiring journalist, a graphic designer and even a dancer,  have provided me multiple career options to consider in the wrestling business without necessarily being a wrestler.

The pandemic (while terrible overall) was seemingly a blessing in disguise for me in terms of where I am as a graphic designer. While I lost all motivation to keep dancing and singing (and showcasing it all on TikTok), I began working on art. Art was something that I never really had the time to work on prior to the pandemic as I would be out and about every weekend. I’d start on something and it would take me a while to finish a piece.

If its one thing that pro wrestlers love, it’s fan art. During this time I made several drawings and portraits of wrestlers, tagged them on social media and they would repost them and compliment me on my work. Fast forward to 2021, I wanted to create a project highlighting few of the black wrestlers for Black History Month, but it wasn’t working out the way that I wanted to as it took me long to complete just one portrait.

When June came around, I had a different approach. I was inspired to create a digital collage celebrating the inclusivity in wrestling this included projects for Pride & Juneteenth.

I was not expecting these to blow up the way it did. So many wrestlers I included in these projects began following me and were very appreciative  towards what I created. I knew something was there.

That summer, I began creating several posters for indie wrestling promotions which led me to working with Limitless Wrestling up in Maine in making their posters and match graphics for their shows.

Fast forward to now, I’ve worked with several indie wrestling promotions across the country in terms of creating graphics for their events. I’ve also lost count with how many wrestlers I’ve either designed booking graphics, resumes, merch and logos for.

 

 

Art is what you make it. The question has often been raised on whether or not memes are art.

Memes have become a integral part of everyday life. There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t share memes with family & friends or vice-versa.

With just a quick scroll through the internet, you’ll  instantly find a meme that resonates with you.  Memes, with or without context, bring people together through shared comedy. In some cases they’re also informational. It wouldn’t shock me if they start popping up in future textbooks.

Cassandra Luca of  The Harvard Crimson states “Which is why, I would postulate, they’re art. It’s still difficult for many to think of such Internet-based phenomena as “art,” but, I ask — why not? They require quick thinking, wit, and creativity. They capture our anxieties, desires, sense of humor, and cultural moment.”

While memes do not measure up towards other art forms, at the end of the day, they still require thinking and creativity.

 

Furthermore, Vittorio Compagno of the Carl Kruse Arts Blog mentions “Memes have become so important to our common culture that an online “library” archives thousands of them, avoiding the inevitable loss that the speed at which they are made causes. When a form of communication becomes popular, you suddenly start seeing ads popping in using that same medium. That is the case with popular art in recent decades.”

The bottom line is— Art is constantly evolving & memes are here to stay!

Here are 2 memes I created that are related to CT101:

GIFs have become a part of my daily life. When I first started using Twitter (still gonna call it that), I went crazy with using GIFs either when tweeting or replying to mutuals. The way I see it is: When words fail, GIFs speak! 

I had my doubts while skimming through the syllabus for CT101 but that all went away on the first day. But I was kinda sad when I found out that the class meets only once a week.

Blogging (more so vlogging)  is something I’ve always wanted to explore more, but I just never followed through with it.  Hopefully blogging will serve me well and it’ll be a place where all of my interests can mix together. My life is like an onion- filled with many layers. Shrek said it best! 

I feel that this class allows me to really be myself. It pushes me to think outside the box and inspires so much creativity. I never thought I’d be taking a class that centers around the use of GIFs, memes & hyperlinks— but here we are!

It’s fascinating to not only use these internet tools but to also learn about their history and how to create my own.