This time was different, but kind of the same. While Herzog was all about taking photos, Carr was all about drawing photos (and maybe tracing them later on). In Carr, we learned all about drawing techniques and skills, all of which I would use later on. We learned everything from perspective, to colour, to even doing something which some people call cheating!

The first skill we learned was all about getting used to the sketches pro, the drawing app we would be using to make all of our beautiful creations. Before this, I had no clue on how to use sketches pro, and I didn’t know what any of the tools were and how to use them. After that day, I knew how to use all of the tools, and even figured out how to use all of the tools shown, and even a few sneaky ones as well (I figured out how to use layers, the blending tool, and the draw-a-shape-and-it-immediately-fills-in-tool all by myself). With these tools, we drew our name in a cool way that explains who we are.

Our next skill we learned was Doodling! Doodle: to scribble absentmindedly. Our doodling wasn’t quite like the definition I said above, and actually did something useful! This useful thing was something called sketch notes. Sketch notes are something that you sketch about a topic, usually a speech. Sketch notes are notes, but with drawings as well as speech bubbles and arrows connecting all of those things combined. It has been found that sketch notes are more effective than taking regular notes about a topic, and they are a lot more entertaining and fun to make. We had to make a sketch note to show our skills, and I made one that I think showed some very authentic sketch note techniques. It is on how to become a leader: 15th century edition!

3D. Our world. How we move, draw, take photos, is all in 3D. Now drawing 3D objects is a lot harder on a 2D surface than you might think. Our next skill, drawing 3D and shading, was meant to challenge us to see what we could do with our skills and the tools we had learned previously in skill one. As some professionals and sketch artists say, the first thing you should master while drawing is a mug. The mug, spherical, simple, is a great object to draw first when learning how to draw 3D shapes. It only has one outcropping (for the handle) and can show shading very well when done right. That was the first object we drew. We drew this by doing something which some graphic designers call cheating, and it was taking a photo of what you were going to draw, then tracing it, so you can technically call it your own work, your own representation of the photo. Then, we moved on to drawing other types of 3D shapes, like triangular prisms and cubes. For homework, we couldn’t use tracing, but we drew one of our favourite objects around the house that is 3D. I decided to draw a cycling water bottle, a bottle that my friend gave me from a professional team in France.

In our world, we always have a horizon line, a vanishing point, and we see it all through perspective. From a great book that explains everything written in the renaissance, we learned how to use perspective in our drawings, which is something that is really hard to do without these tricks and tips that are in this book (we didn’t physically read the book, but we learned what the contents of the book were). Our drawings use the horizon line with everything almost pointing towards it. To use perspective, you have to draw some straight lines with your shapes following those lines. This really elevates your drawings from good to great. Our first drawing we did was just a simple room, until we drew two people in it, one further away from the other. This also gives some good perspective in drawings. For homework this time, we had to use all of these past skills to draw some perspective drawings, preferably a room. I decided to use the Green Mile by Stephen King for mine. It is a row of prison cells that are green, stretching down for a mile.

For our last and final skill, we did something that you see almost every day. We made a logo. There is much more work and effort that goes into making logos than you might think. Making something simple yet sophisticated, eye-catching but not too colourful, can be very hard. To make things even more challenging, we had to make our own company to make the logo for. For my logo, I decided to use all of the skills we had learned in the past four skills. My logo was for a company called Hop the Barrier, which you can have them organize a bike race anywhere in the world. It is called Hop the Barrier because in a type of cycling called cyclocross, there are barriers, and if you can jump your bike high enough, you can “hop the barrier”. We met a professional graphic designer who lives in New York and is Ms. Maxwell’s (our teacher) best friend. She told us some very helpful tips. For example, she told our logos should be very simple, and should represent the company you are making the logo for. Then, as an example, she helped out one person with their logo, and that person was me! She helped me some up with some great ideas, until I came up with my final product after!

After this whole project, I have come to learn all these important skills, and I improved my drawing greatly, but the main lesson that I learned was that I love to draw! Especially with Sketches Pro and all the tools you can use, I think that drawing can be really fun to do, even though I may not be the best artist. Throughout this project, I learned many drawing tips and tricks, to massive skills as well like learning how to draw with perspective. I learned how to make a good-looking logo, and I learned how to draw a really good looking mug as well. I can learn how to draw more of these amazing drawings with Sketches Pro, and all of the tools and layering you can do with this fantastic app. This definitely was different than Herzog, as I learned how to take photos and interact with the real world, and Carr was all about drawing both real and fake drawings, the main difference between Herzog and Carr is that with Carr you could let your imagination run wild, drawing whatever you want to, not letting the world hold you back from constructing your creative communication. If you go and read my Herzog reflection, and read what I did in that part of this big project, you with truly know, that Herzog and Carr were different, but kind of the same.