Bootstrap!!

Its amazing! I still don't know a ton about it but I do intent now on using it to make my website. No idea either if it can be used in conjunction with Wordpress but I guess we'll see at some point. Finally got the commissions and they're awesome too, so now I can really start building parts of my website. Still iffy about the color scheme of it all but I figured I'd build it first with a basic color scheme and then change the css and images later on.

Some Artwork

After surfing through DeviantArt I found a really nice line art of a wolf, made for you to color. This was perfect for a few of my characters because they're shape-shifters, animals specifically, and their wolf form is their most common and is also very tall. I have an idea to put markings on them as well signifying a few things but those will come later. Either way I needed something to show off their wolf forms and found it through this line art. A friend of mine did her magic to them in MS Paint I believe and colored them for me. Here they are, just two of them for now:

 

My friend that did the coloring was Fluffomaru from DeviantArt.

The person who did the line art was Lenval from DeviantArt.

Basic Mock-up

Now that my capstone is actually in my face I decided to start working on it now and through the summer instead of waiting until the fall semester to do so. The first thing I decided to do was make a mock-up of my website's homepage in Photoshop. It only took me an hour or so to make a VERY basic mock-up, to just line out where everything would be and to see exactly what I need, be it from myself or other people since I can't draw jack.

 

Like I said, a very basic mock-up, but you have to start somewhere. Especially since I don't normally do these. My next step is to start filling in the blanks, commissioning people to either color pieces of art I already have or doing whole new ones. That and figuring out and making the logos for the organizations that exist within my story.

Capstone Update

Its been awhile since I've posted anything up so I figured I'd put an update. This semester I've been dallying around with possible other ideas for my capstone other than my story, which is what I originally started out with. The biggest one that actually had my heart for a bit was to do a website that helped parents help their kids when it came to making some cool contraptions when it came to the Lego Mindstorm NXT's. I was going to have picture instructions on how to build them, step by step tutorials on how to program them, and then a video showing how it should run.

Unfortunately this became to impossibly big. Some of the ideas required extra components that didn't come with the box set, and the set itself was amazingly expensive. The school now owns two that I could use but someone else already wished to use them and to have to build, take pictures and video, as well as test run everything at school in the room they were kept in while someone else wished to do the same was too much. Also just to program them with anything but the block language it came with was something new and too difficult to do, especially since my main focus wanted to be on building my website and showing those skills, not focusing on the Lego Mindstorms.

So instead I've cemented my capstone to my story and am now making mock-ups in Photoshop of the pages as well as trying to commission people to draw the things I need when it comes to characters and the like.

My capstone mentor will be Jennifer Stewart.

Capstone Reflection

I learned a few things from the couple of the capstones that I looked at. I learned a lot from Even Roberts, who did the concept of the iFridge. I thought the idea was so cool, but it wasn't just that. It was also how he presented it, especially the new knowledge that Apple had come out with an app that helped you make an ebook. I thought it was so cool what you could do in it, not just words but also pictures and animations as well. It's $5.00 if I found the right thing at the App Store so maybe I can play around with that a bit for my own capstone, though I'm not totally sure for what or why. He also taught me some things the iPad can do, I had just recently gotten one and was still pretty new to its features and uses.

I also learned from Samantha Tarkington, the presenter that did a comic. She was the only one that asked me what exactly I was doing for my own capstone when I asked her the last question about advice. Like I'm planning to do she worked on a story that was old, and dear to her heart. Because of that it made things harder, especially getting things up to the expectations that you have for something so dear to you. I might not have as much of a problem that she had since I'm using words to describe things, which is open to interpretation, while her drawings are not, they simply are what they are.

I also went to see Zachary Paquette’s, he was in my capstone group and had an idea somewhat similar to my own. Seeing how he presented his gave me an idea how I could present mine without having to worry constantly about someone coming up and taking my stuff, because I would need to at least include my or a computer for display as well as my iPad, since I have every intention on making my website interactive so it switches well between at least computer and tablet.

Capstone Interviews

Interview Questions

1.      Why did you choose this for your capstone project?

2.      What are some of the changes that you had to make between your original  idea and what you are presenting today?

3.      What is your opinion of the timeline for your capstone? Was it helpful or a waste of time? Why?

4.      If you could change anything about your capstone, what would that be?

5.      What advice would you give me in planning for my capstone?

Even Roberts (iFridge concept book)

1.       Health is a big thing in his life, and he believed that the kitchen centered around the fridge, so making a fridge that would've made it easier for someone to eat healthy was the way to go.

2.       The original idea was centered around the new ability to make ebooks for the iPad, messing with the new technology to see how it could be used in real life and his job.

3.       He thought the timelines were a good idea, they can keep you on track or show how far behind you are.

4.       He would've actually liked to have built a prototype of the iFridge instead of just a concept book.

5.       Find something you like and enjoy doing, so it doesn't feel like work and you don't get tired of it.

Samantha Tarkington (comic The Gem Caller)

1.       At first she wanted to do an animation but she didn't feel confident in her abilities to make it great so instead decided to go with a comic.

2.       She had to cut down the size of her comic down to one chapter, as well as just doing a comic instead of doing the comic with a short animation at the end.

3.       A timeline is a good idea, if you follow it. She had a timeline but had a bad habit of not following it.

4.       She would've liked to go back over a few of her comic panels and work on making them better quality than she believed them to be.

5.       Be careful with working on stories near and close to your heart, it's really hard to make your work meet the expectations of it that you have in your head.

Saviss Mahmoudi (A Tutorial on an Optical Finer - Cylinder Machine)

1.       He worked for LensCraft and believed that something was missing when it came to learning how lenses were made.

2.       He wanted to originally do a lab with a lot of models.

3.       Believed that the timeline was a good thing even though he didn’t follow it 100%, but they were mostly just a couple missed deadlines and stuck mostly to it.

4.       He believed that the lighting in the animation was too light or too dark at certain points and would like to go back and fix those parts.

5.       Start as early as possible, don’t wait to start until after you’ve taken classes, stick to the timeline.

Capstone Changes 3

Because of circumstances that are neither the fault of myself or Charles we are no longer working together unfortunately. Which means my idea of an independent study doing a card game is out the window as well. It sucks but fortunately my capstone did not rely heavily on that card game. And it gives me more of a chance to work on writing the actual story that the website I'm working on is hosting. I'd still like to do a kind of character cards as a sort of "give away" at the capstone presentation but we'll see what happens.

Also because I'm no longer doing the card game, and need the illustrations next semester, I know have time to commission someone I know to do some work. I was reluctant to do so before because I was afraid of how long it would take for her to finish them, and if they would get finished on time. It'll be expensive (about $30 per stand alone person) but its good quality and I can use them for the give away bio cards and possible a cut out (which will cost me more I'm sure).