Reflection on my work this term

In the very first post of this blog I have said "I am inspired by Walt Disney and his work ethics. Personally I aspire to build that confidence and be as devoted as Disney was." I believe that this term I worked extremely hard on everything I had assigned, so one day someone can say that they are inspired by my work ethics, exactly like I think about Walt Disney. I tend to call myself lazy and it is a big weakness of mine, therefore this term I really wanted to work on this particular characteristic that I do not like. I need to admit that I am extremely proud of myself and of everything I have created and showcased on this blog and I am proud of how I was able to motivate myself to work hard. It was always a great pleasure for me to read positive feedback from my tutors or hear it from my peers or my family, I think it definitely motivated me, however what I constantly reminded myself is that every single blog post I write, I write for myself, because this is how I learn and develop. 

This term I mainly focused on creating my major project which was my animation. This definitely was a challenge for me, but I like challenges. I am a competitive person, therefore any type of a challenge is great for me, not because I compare myself to others, but because I compete with myself. To complete this challenge I needed to create an animation and I did not have limitless time to do so. I not only needed to learn a lot, but also manage my time wisely, therefore I would be ready to showcase my project on the date of the deadline. 

The entire process has taught me a lot. I have researched a lot of new information that helped me with creating this project, but will also help me throughout my career. I had to learn how to use a new software and I had to experiment with it quite a lot, before I started to feel comfortable with using different options, such as layers, different shortcuts on the keyboard and more. This process taught me, not only how to use this particular software, but also that I can quickly learn how to use a new software. Knowing that will make me more comfortable exploring new options for myself in the future. There are many different steps I have taken on while creating my animation. I had to educate myself first, choose a software, create a storyline, a storyboard, a beat board, characters and then I had to start drawing my animation frame by frame. At last I had to add music and sounds to my animation to make it more interesting. I cannot decide which step was my favorite because all of them add up to one finished piece and I think that is my favorite thing about it all, the ability to look at my finished work and know what steps I have taken and how hard I have worked on them to create what I am looking at. I am very happy with what I have created, even though this animation is far from perfection. I think overall I did a good job, but it is good I can spot things I need to improve in the future. This is also a part of the process of learning. Now, looking back, I think I should improve on making the movements smoother and more precise. In the future I would also want my movements to be more exaggerated, because now, the actions are clear, but they could be better if I took an even more cartoony approach and exaggerated them. 

Another thing I worked on this term is my website. Creating a website was a much simpler task than creating an animation, therefore I would do it whenever I would be taking breaks from working on my major project. I enjoyed the process of picking our colors and designs and making sure the website is intuitive and easy to navigate. I have received a lot of feedback on my website and I have learned how to use the feedback to improve what I am working on. It all is mostly based on looking at what I have created, from a different perspective. Gaining new perspectives is extremely beneficial and stepping back and looking at a thing I have created, critically, without any kind of bias, is not an easy thing to do but it is an amazing ability to have because it is a tool, which is necessary if I want to improve. 

Every step I have taken during the Digital Arts class this term, has been recorded on my blog. I have been posting about my research, showing steps of creating my projects and developing ideas on here. I think the blog helped me to motivate myself and to be persistent with my work. It was a reminder that I cannot procrastinate and leave everything until last minute, but I need to systematically work on my projects. Being systematic with my studies is something I have always struggled with and this term I think I really worked on this weakness and became more systematic than ever. I think I did a really good job with posting on my blog and I believe that my posts were completed to a very high standard. I got plenty of feedback from my tutor,  therefore I knew what I was doing good, and what I could improve on. I tried to apply every comment from my tutor later on, so my work would only get better and better. I think I did a good job with that.

Concluding this reflection, I think I did an outstanding job this term and I have really worked hard. I am proud of what I have created as my major project and my website. I think my blog has a lot of great work on it, not only research but also my project development. I think that if I continue working this hard and applying the feedback I get to what I do, I will be very successful in my future academic career and in my career as an animator. Overall, I am very happy with myself and I think I have learned a lot and acquired a many new skills.