Shape to Symbol Reflection

While using Photoshop, I found that the most difficult part of creating the animation was creating each layer before actually making different frames for the animation.  The process was a bit tedious because I had to have all of the layers in one spot and individually make certain ones visible for every frame.  While the process wasn’t all that bad, at times, creating all the layers just made it difficult for me to keep track of everything.

That said, after completing the project, I feel a lot more confident in using the layers tool.  I’ve used Photoshop in the past but never quite had a grasp on how to use layers or what they were for.  I now see that they can be very beneficial when drawing on Photoshop because I can create individual parts, which allows me to work on separate areas without risking making a mistake on the whole drawing.  Layers can be moved or shifted as well, so if I didn’t like the placement of something, it was quite a bit easier to change that without erasing everything and possibly getting rid of parts I wanted to keep.

If there’s one tool I wish I were better at using, it would be the paint tool, such as the brush.  Clearly those tools are important for making a drawing and while I think improvement will come with time, at the moment I’m still having some trouble making clean lines and shapes.  Drawing on Photoshop is a lot different than drawing with pencil and paper and in some ways proves more challenging.  Even though mistakes are easier to correct with Photoshop, I find the process itself a lot more difficult.  Hopefully as I use the program and that tool more, it will begin to come more easily.

What I’m looking forward to doing next with Photoshop is photo editing.  I’ve always been interested in that and would like to learn how to tweak or enhance photos.  I used to take pictures a lot and sometimes I would want to change things like the light in just one area, or the hue in another.  While I have used basic editing before, I’d really like to learn how to in more depth and edit specific areas, and just become more familiar with it overall as I think sometimes editing certain parts can create more drama and pull the viewer’s attention to what was intended.  So, I’m excited to learn more about this program.