While I initially knew what I was going to draw for my self-shape, it took me quite a while to figure out what kind of style and theme the shape should be. I began by researching color palettes that looked interesting to me and the theme that best represents me. I chose a flat and bold color scheme such as dark green, maroon, cyan, orange, cream, and beige to go with the shapes because I find them neutral and calm. Subsequently, I chose to use Adobe Illustrator for this project because of my extensive experience in the program. For the blank canvas, I decided to use a landscape 1920 by 1080 so that I showcase my shapes in a wide format. The shapes I will be using for this assignment will represent my hobbies and interests because I feel like my hobbies best represent who I am to other people. I began by drawing squares with some curvature on their sides to represent a rock-like shape which is usually perceived as something stable and heavy. I believe by using squares, I am able to convey my strong and passionate personality towards my hobbies. The use of natural curvature brings originality, organic, and balance with my hobbies, and its abstractness represents uniqueness. In addition to the curved squares, I removed all forms of strokes to represent my minimalist graphic design style and show that I am a simple person.
Meanwhile, I decided to draw three of my hobbies which are photography, racing games, and keyboards, which also happens to represent my hobby for technology. My first shape would be a minimal silhouette of a mirrorless camera. I have been dubbed a creative person by the people I interact with, and I believe it has to do with my passion for photography. To draw this shape, I created two Squircles, a portmanteau to the words “square” and “circle” which is, in essence, a rounded rectangle to represent the body of the camera and the shutter button and an ellipse to signify the lens of the camera. Using a brighter color on the lens shows that I have a clear understanding of what my goals are. In addition, the shutter release button of the camera represents my responsibility to act quickly and reliably when I have work to do. The camera also denotes my creative side and shows that I enjoy going outside.
My second shape is based on the rims of a car. Ever since I was little, I have always been a huge enthusiast of racing video games. This hobby has given me opportunities to meet like-minded people and talk about cars. To construct the rims on Adobe Illustrator, I used several techniques to create the freeform shapes within the ellipse and used a rotate tool to copy the shapes in a consistent manner. The natural shape of the rims further shows my originality, while the consistency of the shapes represents my perseverance and balance as a person. Furthermore, this also shows that I am pretty good with my hands and love interacting with other people.
Lastly, my third shape is centered on an abstract 60 percent WKL keyboard layout. I chose this shape because I want to show my passion for technology as well as my unorthodox hobby of custom mechanical keyboard collecting and building. The keyboard represents one of the primary input devices of a computer and signifies the gateway to technology. I chose yellow as the color of the keyboard because I prefer brass plates on my keyboard due to its unique properties. This material creates a sharp and dense feel and sounds to a keyboard as opposed to other materials such as aluminum or FR-4 which also happens to represent my somewhat dense knowledge and sharp skills in technology and computers. I am an over analytical person and always try to think of solutions to my problems logically. Due to these reasons, most people see me as someone passionate about learning computers and technology. The keycaps and detail towards the shape also represent my detail-oriented and perfectionist personality. I chose to add consistent shapes and spacing between the keys of the keyboard to show my perfectionist persona and my goals to pursue success. Despite that, I am also a curious person, and the keyboard also shows that I consistently use my computer to research and learn more through technology.
Reflecting on what I drew for this assignment, I was able to understand more about my personality. While most of the shapes seem random to me, I feel as though it accurately represents who I am and how I see myself.
