Culminating Blog

In all aspects of the Capstone project, I used critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. I used critical thinking when supporting the thesis for my Capstone paper. I knew that all comic book stories and characters had influence from society to some extent. What I needed to do was interpret that societal influence from the information I found because not all influences where obvious. I used my communication skills when contacting people from Image. I introduced myself, made arrangements to meet my mentor, and frequently let him know about my posts on my blog through emails. I used both collaboration and creativity in many instances during the hours with my mentor, including the last project my mentor and I worked on: the mock cover issue for Spawn. He took a sketch I did, scanned it, opened up the file on Photoshop, then added highlights and shadows after adding basic color to the black and white sketch. The art was then given a Spawn logo, Image logo with the issue number, and price. Mr. Chan let me create the issue cover exactly how I wanted, and I was amazed by the results. 

By completing the Capstone project, I gained a lot from the experience personally, socially, and intellectually. Because of the Capstone project, my love for comics has deepened. I was at first hesitant on whether or not I should consider going into the comic industry, but now, I know that I definitely would like to do something in that area in the future. It also has motivated me to start my own comic book series. Because of the contacts I know have from interning at Image, I know that I can make that happen. I am a very shy person, and I felt that meeting new people in a professional and friendly manner has helped me to become a little bit more comfortable in meeting people in general. The hours done with my mentor has definitely benefited my knowledge of professional work not limited to comic books. I understood more on how much time and work is put into creating a comic book. I also learned how to use InDesign in a professional manner. InDesign is used for many projects in the professional world, so I feel that knowing how to use this program will help me on potential jobs that may be available to me. During the hours, I also learned how effective double-(and maybe even triple-)checking your work is. When I was placing the pages of an issue, I did not notice that I had made a mistake by duplicating a page. I noticed this mistake when I was going through the links page as part of the checklist on the office pass around. 

While completing the Capstone project, I overcame many challenges. The first challenge I encountered with this project was figuring out what I wanted to do. I knew for sure that I wanted to something with either science or with comic books. I had always loved learning in science, and I was particularly interested in chemistry, so I wanted to do pharmacy. I knew that I would be able to find a career that I liked if I went in that direction, but I deep down inside, I had another passion: drawing. In particular, I wanted to draw for comic books. When I was trying to decide whether to go in the pharmaceutical or comic book direction for my Capstone project, I asked my English teacher his opinion on which direction I should go in. He suggested I go in the comic book direction and told me that he would also be able to help me find a mentor. Needless to say, I choose the comic book direction, and I loved every bit of it. I also had a difficult time figuring out how I was going to travel all the way to Berkeley to meet with my mentor for the physical part of the project. In order for me to be able to do this, I needed to first convince my parents to let me take 5 classes for the 2nd semester instead of the normal 6 classes. Using the 6th period class time for my mentorship would definitely help me with getting my hours completed. I explained to my parents that if I was able to get off of school after 5th period, I would have more time to be able to get to Berkeley and back and do my school work afterwards. This was enough to convince them, and I was able to take  only 5 classes. The next hurdle I was confronted with was how I was going to actually get to Berkeley. My parents didn't want me riding on BART by myself, so I knew that they or someone they trusted had to go with me. Luckily, my dad was able to get on a work schedule where he would get off around the time I would get out of school with my early schedule. Another challenged I faced was during the physical project. My mentor put me in the position where I had to put everything he had been teaching me into play. He had me on the computer placing the pages myself with him over-watching everything I was doing. I was very nervous and unsure if I was ready to do this myself, so I made sure to ask a lot of questions and to pay really close attention to detail. I was able to successfully place the pages for an issue during that session.