After three years of hard work, I will show off my work at the Graphic and Web Design Vernissage! It is stressful thinking of what to showcase. This online portfolio helped me narrow it down, but I would show everything if it were just me.
To start, I will probably show my illustration, like my self-portrait or poster of Les Miserables. I worked hard on those; they are some of my best digital drawings. And I could even play the speedup video of my drawing of Bruno from Encanto. I have always loved watching others do this, and I hope it will catch people’s eyes.
Encanto – Procreate
I want to showcase the books I published. It’s not something I’ve talked about in class or to my peers, yet it is one of my proudest accomplishments. The Unofficial Magicians DND and its companion Monster Book are the results of years of labour.
The Magicians DND and The Monster Book Covers
The unofficial The Magicians DND and its companion Monster Book.
The fear of people not knowing the fandom of The Magicians led me not to talk about it. Reopening them for the portfolio creation made me realize how proud I was of the product and how big of an accomplishment they are. And what is a vernissage if now showing what you are most proud of?
Of course, I will show my catalogue with the Elsa, and the Harry Potter spread from my Cosplay Catalogue, two of my favourite work in school. I rarely get such a stroke of inspiration. So I followed it, and the design rapidly created itself.
My Frozen Cosplay Page showing Elsa
The Elsa Page of my Cosplay catalogue
What else do you think I should showcase?
So here is a quick reminder if you didn’t read the whole blog post:
The famous where do you see yourself in five year question
It is hard to answer the question ‘’where do you see yourself in five years’’.
Photo by Ben Jones, Unsplash
Because five years ago, I would never have told you I would be writing a blog for a graphic and web design portfolio in my last semester of CEGEP.
Something the pandemic of Covid-19 taught us, taught me, is that even if you have your life planned ahead of you, it can change in an instant. I was working at the airport five years ago. Now here I am. Yet, I am happier now than before.
I have always envied people who wanted to do something that gave them a clear path for school and career.
For example, my friend who wanted to be a doctor did all the necessary school education and is now the family doctor she wanted. I never had this kind of plan ahead of me. Life is too exciting and interesting, and I want to try many things, learn and grow.
I think this is another thing the pandemic taught me I had; possibilities.
I am blessed that in a time of change, I adapted to pursue something I always wanted to do. In contrast, I have exhausted teacher friends who do not want to be teachers, but that is the only path they ever had in their minds. I don’t doubt their ability to find their way, but bouncing back is valuable nowadays.
Besides, it is hard to say, or even know, where I will be in five years. I hope I still do graphic and web design in the cinema and tv. I also want to teach it because I have always gravitated toward it. But further than that, it’s hard to say.
One sure thing, I will always be learning new things.
That’s the beauty of wanting to work in an ever-evolving media. You always have something to learn, new techniques, and new programs to unveil.
So where will I be in five years? That’s not a question I can honestly answer. And I find that truly remarkable.
Taking a summer job as junior graphic designer assistant for a freelancer graphic designer in 2022 was supposed to be temporary and gave me experience in the industry. So here we are, in a small cafe in NDG, and she explains that her job is to do props for movies and tv that are in production and she needed my help to do all the projects.
My brain exploded.
Cinema AND Graphic Design?!
The thing the woman didn’t know before going back to CEGEP in graphic and web design, I earned a BFA in Cinema from Concordia. And in one coffee meeting, I now had a job that made me able to combine two my favourite things to do: cinema and graphic design.
Obviously, the idea that we needed graphic designs for tv and cinema seemed foreign as it was never discussed or talked about in class or any of my readings. Yet it is so obvious that it needs it.
The best example I was given by my now new boss, was the tv series Stranger Things. Take the case of one of scene happen in a grocery store. Indeed, in the 80’s. Everything on the tablets had to be design by someone to make it look like the right time period.
Stranger Things – Season 3
Once you open your eyes to graphic design in tv and cinema, you see it EVERYWHERE.
Then and now, I knew this was a thing I would want to pursue after school. And the more I worked on it during summer, the more I had this feeling that I finally found what I wanted to do.
By the end of the summer, my boss handed me to do a project without her, and having to interact with the prop master directly. Unquestionably, I was proud to know she was trusting me enough for this. But to my surprise, it wasn’t a small project: it was for STAT, Radio-Canada’s next big daily drama show.
STAT
STAT is a brand new serie so everything needed to be done. From the poster in the hallway, to the badge of the hospital staff, to the prescription bottles that will be given. It was a crash course into prop design for a specific genre of tv.
Beside, when they started shooting, the graphic design demand changed and become more in relation to the script. It was amazing to see how one project made me do different things everyday which is somehting I am seeking in my day to day job!
In september 2022, STAT aired its first episode and I saw this simple insert shot of a tube of medecine.
Stat (2022)
To be honest, I was surprised that this fluor tube was not only used, but it was the center of a single shot where it was the main focus. And I made that fluore tube graphic!
The rush of joy, excitement and pride I felt seeing that picture changed everything: I want to do this kind of job for a long time. This was my dream job after school. Graphic design in tv and cinema
Previously,I had given up on being able to be in the cinema industry, and now not only could I be in it. Do something that felt useful and that had an impact on the actors. Because even if they didn’t show in large plan my work, if it helped the actor to feel immersed in the world they were in.
Later on, the prop master learned that I was also able to code and create after effect videos. It led me to create fake working website page and the different monitor lines next to the patient’s bed.
Stat (2022)
All of this started because someone was looking for a junior graphic designer for the summer. Now I know where I want to work after school, and I couldn’t be happier.Th
If you want to see the part of my portfolio that is about my work in graphic design for tv and cinema, follow the button!
