Hello everyone,

For this assignment, I will attempt a “Visual Assignment” from the DS 106 website. The project I chose to do is called “Places of Peace.”

Places of Peace

I used Spark. Adobe to edit the images in a collage. This is how it looks…

This collage contains four aspects of my life that bring peace when I am stressed. The first thing I would like to do is to go out somewhere around nature (beach or parks) sit there and listen to music. Makeup is another therapy for me if I cannot go or want to go out. Even around midnight, when I can’t sleep or overthink stuff, I start doing makeup because it helps me to divert my mind. However, one of the easiest ways to be peaceful is having a cup of coffee while talking to my friends.

 

 

My first thought on what would be a good domain name of course is my name Janettedwards.com, because the website is about me and things I may like or dislike a place I can post anything I want all about me. So this is my first choice. Other ideas are mommabear.com I’m a mother of 4 from Jamaica West Indies, I may have parenting tips and ideas I can share. I thought about jandimom.com, this has some island flair I am proud to be a Caribbean mother, we are a bit special with our views.

Then the professor did a search of how much people have paid for domain names, and of course this then got me thinking maybe there is something I can use to help make money at some point.

 

The thought of making some money all for creating a domain name made me excited. So I asked my children for help to think of something that they think someone would want to buy and they came up with 2020.com. I thought what a great idea, cause oh boy will 2020 be looked up in years to come. So 2020.com  I think I’d like to chose if it’s available only cause it’s a possible money maker.

 

Google defines art as, “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power.” With that being said how can memes not be viewed as art?

I believe that art changes through the generations.  Everything isn’t supposed to be victorian or look like a renaissance painting because that was then and this is now.

Memes are our generational art and they are multifaceted.  We use them to have conversations, and they’re expressive enough to help us fill in the gaps that the texts or posts might not convey.  We even have turned art from the renaissance age into memes.

We’ve turned the Grumpy Cat into our Generation’s Mona Lisa.  Kermit the Frog has contributed so much to our meme culture and they can be made and understood across cultures.

Not only that, I’ve noticed that means have given people an outlet to the things that are around us. it may seem insensitive at times, but memes have given people a way to laugh about the things they can’t change and make the best out of a bad situation.  We have used memes to laugh through “end of the world” predictions, asteroids, and floods.  We connect through memes and we share in laughter,even in hard times.

 

 

The assignment I chose is a visual one. I wanted to put myself in a Michael Jackson concert. The skills needed for this task are essential in today’s world of the internet, being able to crop and add images in layers is a skill I feel can be used in many aspects.

Concert You Want to Be At

 

DS 106 assignment, this assignment was very difficult for me the assignment I choose is concert I would like to be. as soon as I saw that option i knew that that is the one for me. I love Michaelhttp://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/concert-you-want-to-be-at/ Jackson and well would have loved to see him in concert. So picking my assignment was the easy part. I then began my search in google to find a picture that I think would be great to put myself in.  This wasn’t hard, I found the perfect picture and that is where trouble my nightmare began.

 

 

The skills needed for this assignment is to know how to get that image from google to save to my laptop and making sure i had a photo application on my laptop to get this picture added and be able to crop and layer my picture on. I installed photoshop on my computer a free trail for 2 weeks, I also installed a pixeler that was used in the tutorial i watched in the ds 106 compository . none of these worded for me. I felt like crying i worked so hard on trying to make this all work. So after weeks of being unsuccessful and feeling like like i was never going to get this right, i reached out to Professor Seslow via email and he responded quickly sent me a dfferent photo editing site and agreed to help me before class.

I tried the photopea site on my own and still the picture i choose was not working so I finally decided that this picture had to be the problem and i went back to google this time on my cell phone, I found another picture this was great right until I went to my laptop and tried to find the same picture and was not successful I got frustrated again and talked myself into calming down. Then i decided to email myself from my cell phone and retrieve it that email on my laptop. And Thank GOD that worked what a sigh of relief. I  got a picture onto the photopea cite the professor sent me. The next day he helped me resize and fix my picture

 

Now the project I didn’t choose but would like to attempt and complete is the from the ds 106 site. http://assignments.ds106.us/assignments/80s-product-radio-commercial/. I think  there will be skills I can learn doing this assignment that will be fun.

Browsing through DS106 Repository there is a vast collection of different projects that you can choose from. However, what I noticed is that even though some of the project are in theory “simple”. They can be time consuming if you don’t have experience working with in different creative platforms. It’s kind of like learning a new language.

How I felt when I started working with photopea.

Photopea felt really similar to when I was learning how to use indesign and honestly I still don’t understand how to properly navigate either of them.

I feel like I’m stumbling through the dark the entire time. Now, don’t get me wrong I can at least do the bare minimum and the tutorial that professor Seslow presented was helpful but it was still difficult.

This was the project “An Album Cover” I decided to pick to complete.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought this was really corky and cool. I’ve always had a fascination with album cover art and this was the end result.

It ain’t anything Picasso level but hey, I’m proud of it.

The second  project I found that I wish I was able to complete is under the  the category of audio and it’s titled “Dialogue Mashup”

I have million different way I would go about doing this project but I don’t know how to cut and mash up audio from different sources. The biggest road block I find for myself is not my imagination and creativity but not having the understanding of how navigate the tool at my disposal to make these idea become a reality.

But this all comes together through trial & error and of course patience’s. I think that doing one or two of these project would be good because it not only gets your creative juices flowing , it challenges you to do something new.

These are important skill that we can all benefit from because there may come a moment that these skill will work to advantage and give you an edge over the competition . Especially, in today’s work force it is getting harder to stand out.

It can give you some added confidence walking into an interview with these skills in your back pocket.

While searching for my first project I was pleased to see the diversity provided throughout the DS106 catalog of assignments. I scouted the page for anything that caught my eye and I came across a “Create a commercial” assignment.

 

Although it seemed daunting and time consuming I decided to dedicate my  time into making something unique that I consider important.  My commercial is a retro take on a revolutionary piece of technology being developed by Elon Musk. This technology is called Neural link and it is involved in brain mapping and implantable brain–machine interfaces. This technology truly has the ability to change our world which drew me to making a satirical video for it.

 

The process of rendering a video was very frustrating because I ran into many crashes in my program and had to do a lot of trouble shooting for it to finally create the final product.

 

My second project I chose from the daily create was the “What’s in your toast” image creation.

I decided to choose this project because I had a spark of inspiration to make a “stress” toast. I think it’s very symbolic of where we are in life right now. It’s a form of coping that you can insert any issues you’re dealing with into. Here’s my toast…

 

This collage contains several aspects of my life that bring me relaxation . On vacation my favorite thing to do is sit on the beach . I could sit on the beach and take in the beautiful scenery for hours . I enjoy swimming and doing water sports like jet skis . This reminds me of the future that awaits me , soon I’ll be able to vacation whenever I feel. I love to go on adventures with my boyfriend and have deep talks . I used a picture of two individuals in the car to represent the intimacy involved in communication . Us simple speaking about day , what we want for ourselves, making jokes and giving eye contact keeps us in touch . The picture of the yoga mats represent my love for personal time . I love to sprawl on my mat and stretch in my backyard. It brings me peace and allows me to contemplate on my next move . It also reminds me of why I started my spiritual journey and gives me the push to keep going . I placed the picture of birria tacos because it’s the newest thing I’ve tried . I’m a foodie and love to try new cuisines . This brings me relaxation knowing I’m able to experience the world around me . I love getting involved with the diversity the world has to offer . Last but not least , organic food shopping makes me happy . Eating healthy has an effect on your mood , brain functions , gut health and your outlook . I love to eat properly to take care of my vessel and learn new ways to stay immune from illness .Food is truly medicine , and it’s exciting to learn new uses for it