Ever since the first time I picked up a crayon and completed my first page of a coloring book, I fell in love with making art. My aunt had an impact on my perfectionism by showing me how to fill in the lines and different ways of coloring – making it lighter, having dark outlines, even making gradients.
Displaying my interest for art was kickstarted with the trend of being gifted all sorts of tools for art. At Christmas, getting those kits with the cheap markers, colored pencils, and the poor quality crayons was the norm for me. For my birthday, I requested acrylic paints, canvases, and brushes. I’d do my research and web searches of all different kinds of mediums and styles, and my love for anything art-related kept growing. The most recent items I’ve received were last Christmas, where I got an entire pottery wheel, and even more recent items I bought myself for school being some graphite pencils, kneaded erasers, black ink, a gessobord, palette paper, watercolors, and more.
Due to favoring art as a whole and getting over a four-year long artist’s block, I decided it was in my best interest to pursue a career in art: Graphic Design. Now, because of this specific major, my classes consist of different kinds of art. So, I will be reviewing and ranking my favorite to least favorite mediums to deal with as a freshman in college majoring in Graphic Design.
GRAPHITE DRAWING
Drawing is easily the best to work with and overall do. Being able to have the creative freedom to do whatever you’d like with it and the simplicity of keeping everything black, white, and gray keeps things simple. A bonus is being able to do most styles with ease and not having to worry about certain things that you’d have to keep in mind with other mediums.
ACRYLIC PAINTING
Acrylic painting is easy to learn and also has the same amount of creative freedom, but with more qualities where more techniques can be applied. Acrylic paint in particular is fun to work with because of the texture and bright bold colors to work with. Plus, acrylic painting can either have a cartoon-feel or be used for realism, allowing for multiple styles just like drawing.
TYPOGRAPHY
Typography work is great because giving words and lettering a personality through shape, color, and line work, allow for a lot of free creativity. It’s definitely on the easier side of graphic design but isn’t as fun as drawing or painting because it’s less illustrating and design-oriented.
COLOR DRAWING
Color drawing is similar to graphite drawing (it’s harder of course), but with extra knowledge needed in color theory, shading, and understanding the steps beforehand. Once you put color down, especially colored pencil, it’s practically impossible to take it back since it’s not erasable. So, understanding what steps need to be taken for an effective color drawing is essential.
WATERCOLOR PAINTING
Watercolor is fun to play around with but when it comes to making art with it, it becomes challenging. It’s hard to work with because of how ‘thin’ it is. It’s runny and blends easily, thus making certain kinds of artwork harder to make, especially realism.
DIGITAL DRAWING
Digital drawing is easier when you’re experienced with it, but learning it and getting used to it is very hard for traditional artists. Especially if you don’t have a drawing tablet and have to use a computer and mouse, it becomes significantly more difficult. Although, more textures are available and easier to achieve paintings or drawings that would require more time and attention to detail.
PHOTOSHOP
Photoshop is quite literally the worst program for graphic design, specifically because it’s really hard to learn and there’s so many tools to work with. Plus, the amount of thought you really have to put into it when editing photos to make the look better takes a toll because you’re constantly wondering ‘Is this better?’ ‘Should I have done this?’ ‘Maybe I should change it back’ – constant black and white thinking about photo editing.