Final Capstone Blog

          Well Capstone has finally finished and I am satisfied with the result. I didn’t imagine I would get so much done and ever since my Capstone project started I have become more motivated than ever. This experience has allowed me to become prepared for acquiring a career in the real world and gain more knowledge on how to do so. 

        Crafting the graphic novel has been an eye-opening process and I have discovered many ways and new techniques I could use to craft more graphic novels. I will surely take this techniques with me to the real world and try to make a career out of all the knowledge I’ve gained. 

The portfolio that I have crafted for my Capstone will surely be the starting point to gaining an actual job. After I graduate I may get some experience in my field by working for the Baha’i Faith. What I will actually be doing is not known yet but I am sure it will help me gain more experience I need to achieve my goals. 

         I could not have gone this far without my director Monica Larson, and the other staff at the Communications department in Shepherd University. I have been to two other universities before Shepherd and started out as a Psychology major but I am glad overall with the switch I made to Communications as it is truly the gateway to achieving the career I want most in this world. I am thankful that I made the right changes during my college experience and I thank all who have led me to this path. I have planted the seeds necessary to start my life in the work world and gained the traction I need to be succesful. The capstone experience was very necessary and I am thankful for where it has gotten me over the semester.

Cultural Attendance Blog #5 - The Birth of Bahá’u’lláh

            I attended a religious gathering of the Birth of Bahá’u’lláh. I am a member of the Baha’i Faith which is a religion that basically believes in the unity of mankind, the unity of religion, and the equality of man and woman. The founder of the Baha’i faith is known as Bahá’u'lláh and to celebrate his birthday, members of the Baha’i community gather together to say prayers and enjoy good company. His birthday was on November 12, 1817 so it has been almost 200 years since he was born. I have not been involved in many religious activities since the Summer of 2013 and it was nice to see the community again. I attended with my mother and we were both on the fence about going due to the lack of knowledge of the location where the event would be held. We went anyway and I noticed many technical difficulties and videos being played to celebrate. 

           A thought occurred that I could possibly create videos for my religion and spread the teachings of the Baha’i Faith across the country. After attending all of these events I realize that more and more of what I learned in the Communications department could be applied to my everyday life. From the events I attend to just simply helping my parents and other people learn new software and techniques. I realize that Communications is relevant to my world. It helps that I have all this knowledge as it is becoming more relevant to acquire knowledge of these techniques. I learned this well in this event and even planning events could be applied. 

To learn more about the Baha’i Faith one could check the link below this post. 

http://info.bahai.org/

Cultural Attendance Blog #4 - Super Smash Bros for 3DS midnight release

          I attended the midnight release of Super Smash Bros for the 3DS. It was not my first time attending a midnight release of a video game. The other midnight release I attended was for Pokemon X and Pokemon Y a year prior to this event. 

          It still baffles me today that people would ruin their sleep schedule to come out and support a game as the soon as the clock strikes midnight. Of course I am guilty of this because I too wanted to play the game so bad. I can honestly say I did not sleep well that night as I plugged many hours into Super Smash Bros as soon as I got home that night. My dream is to create a product such as this where individuals come out at ridiculous hours of the day just to get one of the first copies of my product. As I waited in line I partook in playing Super Smash bros matches through the demo version of the game with random people waiting in line too. Just like with Otakon it felt good to be around people with similar interests and I would love to be around people like that all the time. I would love to get a job in the video game industry just because I play them almost everyday and I want to spread the joy to other gamers too. 

          Gaming is not just a form of entertainment but it was a way of life. It encompasses so much from storytelling to emotional therapy. Gaming has healed the minds of many (myself included) that I don’t find it too insane that people want these games so bad. I learned from these releases that people just want to have fun that much because having fun is the greatest feeling a person can have.

Cultural Attendance Blog #3 - Otakon

          I attended Otakon in at the Baltimore Convention Center. Otakon was the first anime convention I have ever been to. For about 5 years I have been trying to go with my friends but they always came up with excuses as to why they couldn’t go. I decided to just go on my own and had low expectations as I was by myself. I had arranged to meet up with people who I met through tumblr.com and I had never met them in person before.

         Surprisingly everything turned out fine and it was a really fun experience. I got to meet other fans of the same stuff I watch and it was crazy having people understand all of the anime references I make because I’m not used to that. I went to panels that featured voice actors, the Japanese history in anime, and I got to see how Anime licensing companies in the USA operate. 

          I attended Funimation’s panel (an anime licensing company stationed in Texas) and I saw all the announcements they made and trailers they themselves made about anime that were going to be dubbed into english for US audiences. I actually had the thought occur that Funimation would be a company I would want to work for and I could actually adapt well considering my knowledge in the communications department combined with my knowledge of anime. I could tell from the panel that the staff at Funimation really do love anime and enjoy their jobs and that is something I look for in a job. They also get to go to conventions across the country all the time which is something I would not be opposed to doing myself. So once I graduate I will look into a job in Funimation Entertainment because it is very relevant to my interests. I had fun at my first anime convention and I made some new friends who I would like to see the next time I attend a convention. Hopefully my other friends will go next time after I tell them of my experiences there (but not of the money I spent there).

Cultural Attendance Blog #2 - Comedy Show in Washington DC

           I attended my first comedy club showing in Washington DC. The reason I attended was actually because my sister was one of the comedians participating. It was a sort of audition where there would be 10 comedians each performing for a few minutes. If they performed well they would perform in front of a bigger crowd next time. My sister passed the audition round and it was a great night. 

             My sister Elahe Izadi is actually a reporter as well as a comedian. For years she has done this and managed to partake in both of these paths of her life. I learned through her that it is possible to follow more than one dream and I look up to her for this. My sister’s performance was great and I realized how much work she actually puts in for both of her jobs. 

           I need to obtain the same work ethic as her if I want to do everything I’ve planned to for years. I want a stable job and at the same time I want to construct graphic novels for a living. These are my callings and this event made me want to obtain the same greatness that my sister achieved. All of her friends, coworkers from her reporter job, and family members were there just to see her perform and it was heartwarming to see the crowd laugh at her jokes. She often appears on Msnbc for her reporter’s job and takes on a complete different demeanor and attitude. If it means accomplishing my goals I will work as hard as my sister does. 

       I’ve never really cared for stand up comedy and I just went to support my sister but this event was surprisingly enjoyable for me and my family. I would like to attend more of my sisters’ events to support her.

Video on my sister: http://elaheizadi.com/media/

Progress on my Capstone Project - Storyboards finished and Enhancing my skills

As the date for capstone presentations slowly approaches I find myself pressed for time on getting everything in order. My progress on the project however is currently on schedule and I am good to go for now. I need to start working more and I have quit my job to allow myself to have more time for this project. This project is the gateway to many better job opportunities so I devote my time to that. 

I have finished my rough storyboards for the project and I await the review from my director to see what I need to improve on. The sprites have been enhanced to look more crisp for my project and each character that appears now has a sprite of their own. The sprites size has increased so they won’t look blurry when I craft the graphic novel. An issue I have had with sprite comics in the past is that my sprites usually look blurry when I put it onto a Photoshop canvas but now I have eliminated that problem with the help of Adobe Illustrator a program in which I have no prior experience in. 

This project has already expanded my horizons by allowing me to gain more experience with more software which I need to have knowledge of in the work field. The programs I learn the more job opportunities open up for me as a person in the field of Communications. I now need to make some sample pages so I get a feel of what my actual novel is going to look like. I need to use the Photoshop filters to make the backgrounds look like they belong with the sprites. I plan on taking actual photos of the backgrounds and with Photoshop I am planning on editing those backgrounds to appear more sprite like as to much the cartoonish appearance of my sprites. Thanks to my existing knowledge on how to use the Photoshop program I am able to execute this method with minimal problems. As I am on schedule I hope to continue to be on this path and enhance my repertoire of skills for the work world.

Capstone Progress

Half of the semester has passed by so quickly it’s hard to imagine how fast the next half is going to be. Production towards my actual graphic novel has begun and I have done many things to further my progress. I have crafted sprites from a wonderful website that lets users customize their own sprites. These sprites will serve as the cornerstone for my story. They are the tools that will help illustrate 

emotion and plot. 

I am not one for planning. As I craft more parts of my project more ideas just flow into my head. As I write character profiles I instantly craft new ideas and create more pieces of work to manifest those ideas. I am a person who becomes more creative during the process of creating. Ideas flow into my head once I force myself to work on a story. As I wrote a character profile for my main character I immediately crafted a brand new character in my head that would play more importance in the story than most of the others. I wonder if other writers have this happen to them as well. My main character Jonas was going to be motivated in his quest from his own experience but then I had the idea of adding a mentor figure to help guide him on his path. I believe this will enhance the quality of my story and help explain certain parts. 

My director Monica Larson helped me figure out how to make my pages look well together with sprites and natural backgrounds. I am not an artist but with the programs that I have sought out I am able to make myself appear as much of an artist as I possibly can. With this project I hope to learn more about programs such as Adobe Illustrator which my director showed me to help my project. I have not touched Illustrator but I look forward to diving in the program once I begin production on the actual novel. 

This project is a gateway to a world of possibilities. With this project alone I am learning so much and acquiring more skills that I am able to use in the real world. I hope to take these skills with me and pass these on to many others just as my superiors and professors have done for me. I appreciate this opportunity I have worked for to be able to craft works and have others view them.