The Beginnings: My First Photoshop Project

From there, Dad added some text and printed the design on 50 3x5' cards to pass out. I remember the next day, after passing a few out to some "friends," I found those same cards on the ground before going to class.

Unlike social media marketing, I do not know how long I have been designing. It could be in 2017, when I opened up Photoshop for the first time, or in 2003 when I was drawing in preschool. Throughout my life, I've been doodling and drawing whatever came to mind at the time. I remember drawing alternate versions of Dragon Ball Z characters with exaggerated muscles, or even when I got suspended in 5th grade for drawing something inappropriate. To this day, I still blame that teacher for not pushing me to pursue drawing more (positive things) after that. I could have been more proficient with the pen and inspired, but it's in the past.

Another story following that trend: I remember in 10th grade, I started making a short comic series called "Dreams" based on the dreams I had during classes. It only had two issues until my counselor took away the third issue and destroyed it because it had violence in it. I haven't made another comic since.

I remember my first time opening Photoshop. It was 2015, and my friend was running for vice president in my high school graduation class. I wanted to help, so I went to my family's print shop and saw Photoshop on my dad's computer. I have known about the application since the mid-2010s, which was the Photoshop era. People created memes, did face swaps, toned bodies, and removed ex-boyfriends from pictures. I started the application, and I was overwhelmed by what to do, so I went on Google and searched for "how to make a class president flyer in Photoshop." I followed a YouTube tutorial and created the flyer. The focal point of the flyer was a picture of his head split in half, with one side having a quote and on the other side an unedited photo of his face.

I created a mask over the left side of the face, then added the text so the other half of the original picture would be the base for the text, which is easy to do now. From there, Dad added some extra text and printed the design on 50 3x5 cards to pass out. I remember the next day, after passing a few out to some "friends," I found those same cards on the ground before heading to class. 

The day of the elections came, and his name was not on the ballot! People who came in to vote wrote his name in instead of voting for the other candidates, and at the same time, they had the cards with them asking why his name wasn't on the ballot. This issue created enough traction that it eventually caused the voting committee to do a revote, which he won! We were both shocked about the situation, but he did it! 

You might ask, "How did your friend do in the position?" He never got into the actual position. Irmaria happened a few months later.

But that's a story for another post.

Den.