These are the pages I have createdon photoshop.  Now thatI finally have a new awesome computer I am going to, hopefully finish up my web page.  Sadly it is not going to look like these, but I am going to get them as close as possible, or better.

 

        For this project, I would like to create different pages to show my works.  I want to do this because I prefer more simplistic elegant design.  I think I will have options across the top of the page for navigation and a picture for the background of the main page.  Once another option is 'clicked' on, a new

background photo will show up based on the button picked.  After said background pops up, I think I would have my works fade onto the page, either all at once, or an arrow option.  My problem is that I do not know how to actually make the website, so I am going to have a bunch of different images showing what it would look like when navigating through.  I am only going to choose a few select works based on this problem.  I am at work now, so I can not post my sketches just yet, but plan to do so soon.

       Personally I have been through this, I have created so many projects for free with the promise of continued and future paid work.  I can go online and find things I have done throughout the past, whether it be digital or other.  You go in thinking, finally, this could be my break, but nope, you are just used for the free work.  So many people have done this to me.  What I need to do is make an agreement for the use of my things, and no longer do ANYTHING for free, whether it gets me out there or not.  Because my talents are still not known.
        Usage tights, much needed.  This allows us to get credit for the work that we have done, with possible additional compensation.  That work is ours, and can only be used according to the agreement.
       Logo mill... Contests from companies get designers to create logos for free.  To enhance ones chanced of winning, some 'designers' put out a bunch of 'crap' logos and also a lot of plagiarizing happens with these contests.  People do not put their hearts into their work as they should if they truly want to be a graphic designer. 
These 'contests' are not cool.

 

       I like more interactive yet simple, yet 'showy' websites.  Being a graphic designer, everything should be eye-catching and easy to understand.  I like the use of darker colors over white, I find it more attractive.
       Since I work at the Corning Museum of Glass, I have looked up some of the artists that I had met, and their artist portfolio websites.  One I particularly enjoyed was American artist, Karen LaMonte.  On the main page the background goes through close-ups of a variety of her works.  Then there is easy navigation over on the left hand side of the page.  This site is simple yet elegant, which is what I am going for.  Once navigating to different pages the background changes as such.  Bio, her biography fills the center of the page, with the navigation staying in the same place, and photos relating to the biography along the right hand side.  The simplicity, ease of use, and colors of this website scream professional to me.

Torn
I have created several layers, blending into each other.  I have used my background that I made in my first work, and a picture I took of myself.  I created this mainly painting erasing, masks, and the way I chose to blend the layers.  I would like to figure out a way to have the green and red face color have more of a blend than a straight line.  There has to be an easy way to do it, I can't figure it out.
Aiden
 I have also created an avatar of my daughter since I have been working on these for days, she really wanted to be made into one.  With hers, I created the background using different brushes and blend modes.  I have a photo of her, and a photo of the sunflower.  All other elements were created in layers of paintbrush techniques.

        Everywhere we look, we see Photoshop.  I like to take notice of a lot of goofy mistakes that are made.  These, to me, being unnecessary alterations.  There is a good point made in the article about the human body, and the parts of the body that we have.  Images have been altered making these parts disappear, weird.  I have seen so many images where they delete in between a model's legs to make them look thinner (which is completely bonkers) and it looks ridiculous.  So there are certain things I agree with 'fixing' and that I don't agree with.  I have acne scars on my face so I usually go in and get rid of them.  I understand people having their wrinkles slightly reduced, or softened, or cellulite touched up.  Then again, I don't think it's fair when these things are done to the max.  I know all of these pictures I look at have been altered, but it doesn't matter.  I still wonder why I don't look like that.  That being said, if one is making a fictional work, I understand altering whatever you want (such as our avatars).  For real people, keep them real!  Some slight retouching, but that's it.

        I found the Photoshop Creative Effects very helpful for fine tuning my projects.  Creative Fundamentals using the Filter Gallery.  There are so many different filters in Photoshop.  Using the filter gallery allows us to go through all possible looks that we may want to add to our work.  I always duplicate the layer I want the effect on, then I will try out a few different effects.  Adjusting them to get what I want.  One of my works, 'O'Pen,' I used a water ripple effect on my reflections in the water.  It took some adjusting to get it so they blended in with the rest of the water.  I want to play around with Find Edges, to create a painterly effect (Slightly Wild Effects).  It is very meat how quick and easy it seems to get such a beautiful effect.  Not sure if it will be as easy for me, haha.  I really like the blend that is achieved.  Ethereal glow seems really fun as well, pretty sure I'm going to use this one (basic filter effects).  The dreamy glow will really add to the fantasy look I want to achieve.  It is super easy as well, just changing the opacity on the blurred copy of the image, very cool.