<p>This will be submitted to a few schools - Mass art, Drexel (cut down) and Otis college of art. They wanna know something specific that influenced me but the problem is there hasn't been ONE thing. It's more like I've been involved with art all my life, so I'm not sure if this is what they're looking for or not...</p>
<pre><code> I cannot remember the first time I was introduced to art, but I do remember each influential occurrence that helped me decide it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. There has been no one strong instance or person that has pushed me into a desire to pursue a future in graphic design, but a slow and steady build up of individual events in my life thus far.
My earliest memory of an encounter with art is from when I was in kindergarten. Before bed every night, my mom used to let me pick out a story for her to read to me as I fell asleep. I would never usually let my eyes close until it was over; the story was more about the pictures than the actual words. I was always far too entranced by the illustrations on the page, from Eric Carles colorful caterpillar to Dr. Seusss Thing 1 and Thing 2. Wanting to be just like them, I would make my own pictures (although they resembled less Eric Carle and more involuntarily explosion of a watercolor palette) which would get the ultimate sign of artistic achievement to a five year-old: Fridge Status. Walking proudly into the kitchen every day, I knew then what my calling was--I would be an illustrator.
Alas, I grew older and that fad in my life diminished. Third grade came and reading wasnt cool anymore -- it was all about the cartoons. I would sit around in my room mindlessly engaging myself in the world of Spongebobs Bikini Bottom adventures. Emulating cartoons became my new obsession. No paper was safe from becoming victim to my cartoon-copying frenzy. Later that year, Disney and Pixar released Finding Nemo, for which I probably bought enough tickets to pay for my first semester of college. The animation in that film was more than just moving images to me; there was a sense of poetry about the free-flowing motions of the kelp and the natural dissolution of Dorys blood into the salt water. Its safe to say I went home officially self-diagnosed with animation fever. The only thing I wanted out of my life was to learn how to be a movie-making expert like the Pixar animation gods.
Granted, I was still eight years old at the time, and Im not exactly the same person as Third-Grade-Me. However this phase did last all through elementary school until I hit junior high. Sixth grade was the year I discovered the love of my life: Adobe Photoshop. I once saw my mom playing around on it for fun, pulled up a chair beside her to learn the basics, and taught myself from there. I would learn how to make all kinds of cool yet useless graphics and design my own imaginary book covers and t-shirts. When my mom told me that some people out there called graphic designers made a living off of my newfound hobby, my life was changed. Not once since then have I doubted what path I intend to embark on -- graphic design was for me.
My love for design has only strengthened since my junior high days. Since then, I have taken classes, explored other Adobe programs, ventured into the world of web design, joined the school newspaper to learn print layout, and done all I can to extend my artistic boundaries to the point where they no longer exist in my eyes.
The more I learned, the more I realized just how much design is underestimated and powerful. Graphic design is the art that can change the world, which coincidently happens to be exactly what I plan to do. Many have triumphed in bettering a community with the aid of an effectively designed campaign. Some have been extremely successful. As just one example, the LiveStrong foundation has raised over $400 million for cancer awareness and research in large part due to its unmistakable logo and image that so many wear. Throughout my education at Mass Art, I hope to project my own voice and inspire the community through my designs. In the future I aspire to becoming a member of a publication such as a magazine or news source, but for now, I just think there is much more to gain from an art school experience than a diploma. I have known for years now that all I want to do is make art that matters.
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