Evaluation - Skills development

Looking back at your preliminary task (the college magazine task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Looking back on my preliminary task, and comparing it to my finished magazine, i think the difference is clear between the two that i have most definately improved on my photoshopping skills as the project has gone on. I already had a brief knowledge of photoshop, but i feel that as i have wanted to do different things with my magazine, i have taught myself how to do them using tutorials and help from my teacher (for example, wrapping text around an image like i did on my DPS and my contents page).
Obviously, i wanted to put a lot more effort into my actual magazine as apose to my college magazine prelimiary task, so, when i thought something would look good i put a lot more effort into finding out how to do it, whereas during the prelimiary task i just changed my idea if i couldn't work out how to do something because i realised it wasn't as important as my final piece.

Also, when doing my final magazine, i put in a lot more research into other pages and how they go about certain things to produce a magazine (what is conventional). This is why, i think, my prelimary task looked so unproffesional and tacky, because i had no knowledge of other magazines, but once i looked into others (Vogue, especially), i became aware of the types of things i needed to include and how to go about including them. I think the contrast of this is shown when i compare my prelimiary task contents page to my final contents page.

I learnt a lot of new techniques when using photoshop that helped me to develop my work andmake it the best it could be. When i created my contents on the preliminary task, i had the text wrapped around my models head, whereas in my final product, i learnt how to create a box that moulded to the shape of my model so i could continue to write and the text would work its own way around. I also learnt a lot more about the softening and sharpening tool, If there was any areas that weren't so good, or could do with a bit of blending (such as when i made Vicky's hair a bit 'bigger'), The softening tool worked wonderfully to produce the effect i was going for. Once i'd used this, i would then sharpen the areas i wanted to stand out the most (Such as the eyes - Subjective gaze is always sexy and needs emphasizing), this would then detract the eye away from my softened areas. The softening tool also came in very handy after i had used the clone tool (another new one i was learning to use), once i had cloned an area, to cover up any inperfections, i would soften the edges to make the whole thing a lot less harsh and noticeable.

Also, as i put more effort into my final magazine, I did a lot more research into my audience and what makes them 'click'/how i would appeal to them. I researched magazines my audience are attracted too and looked at all different things about it, from the font's to the composition, and the articles to the way they're written. I realised that these magazines had a main focus of attention to detail and keeping everything minimal and chic - So i also did. I also did a lot of research into Lady Gaga when writing my article, in an attempt to make it as believable as possible. I do think that research, and learning many new techniques is one of the main reasons why my magazine was a success.