First digital art, not a short revenge story

The picture above was my output when I first started learning how to use Photoshop seriously, emphasize on seriously.

During 7th grade, we were already introduced to the basics of Adobe Photoshop in our computer class but I did not enjoy it at that time. In the 8th grade, I was elected as the grade-level representative. As part of my work in the council, I was tasked to create a shirt design for the annual Brigada Eskwela. When all designs are finished we had a meeting with the council, our adviser, and some teachers. When the designs were presented, another council member pointed out that my work was "panget" or ugly. I know it was ugly #FactsareFacts , the vectors still have watermarks on them, but It really hurt my feelings. Maybe I'm too emotional (Olivia Rodrigo, 2021).

From that day on I challenged myself to improve my work. I watched many youtube tutorials to learn the basic tools, terms, and techniques in Photoshop and asked my friends RV, Julia, Louise, and Anne to teach me. As time pass by, I really enjoyed editing photos, and graphic design. I started to get slightly better and have a good taste for design. Here are some of my early works:

I am so very thankful to that person who told me that my work is ugly because It really changed my life. As I get better at using Photoshop, I challenged myself more. I run for Public Information Officer (PIO) position in the student council, elected, and got the opportunity to design publicity materials for the council, create logos, design shirts, tarpaulins, pins, lanyards, and many more. I also joined the campus publication as a layout artist. Now, I’m using my skill in graphic design to earn money.

To visualize how much I improved, here are some of my current works:

Moral of the story? I don't know, I just want to share how I started graphic design, and how ugly my first digital art was.