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⚠️Warning: 

This chapter contains cringe-worthy artworks. proceed at your own risk

Part 1: #artPH

So a week ago, I joined the craze on twitter and posted some of my digital and traditional artworks. This trended for a few days in my country as Filipinos prove there's no shortage of talent in the Philippines. The artworks posted ranges from oil pastel paintings to photography. There are even some artworks with peoples' faces made out of leaves and pasta. 

"Hi! 😊I'm Shanna Lei (BS Computer Science; UPD). I make graphics/digital and traditional artworks ❤️"

[Note]: most of the drawings I posted were done around 2 years ago. 

• • • 

Part 2: My Journey 

I believe everyone started out somewhere. I'm still definitely not a pro at graphic designing, but looking back, I must say I improved a lot. 

March 9, 2015: Text-Slap covers

Prior to this, I made some personal graphics for my stories (from my previous account) and designed some stuff for my school. I knew about the MDC before then because I requested a cover way, way back (2012-2013?) for my book. It wasn't until March 2015 that I returned to Wattpad after a two-year hiatus and joined the MDC.  

Back then, you can still open some thread and hold a cover contest for your book. In exchange for the covers submitted, you must do a small payment like a 'follow' to all participants. The contest usually ends when you found the cover fitting for your story. I felt really happy whenever my cover gets chosen by the thread owner. 

Likewise, I held a few cover contests for my story 'Tuned in to Love.'

After that, I tried joining small group threads. Thinking about it, I don't know why the hell did they hire me. The first group thread that I was part of was a celebrity-themed thread where I was "Demi Lovato" IIRC. This kicked off my manip cover phase. 

*cries*

⚠️I already warned you:

keep scrolling at your own risk

IDEK why I considered these as 'great' covers back then. No kidding. I remember being upset whenever people won't use the covers I made or won't hire me upon looking at my examples. Now, I can't even - ughh. 

When I tried joining Stef's (seventhstar) GOT and RT's (HiItsMeRT) Royals threads, that's when I realized I was not great at all compared to other designers in the MDC. I didn't get hired in both of the threads, but their feedback was enough to help me improve. 

I spent some time trying to improve my manipulations and then, I opened my own group thread. I haven't created another since then. It was called Luxessence and I got to work with #kween Rachel (RachelS8766). I feel blessed to get the chance to interact with some of the great designers in the Guild when they were starting out, although I'm not sure if they could still remember me. 😭 

Because of my lack of confidence, graphics competitions scare the hell out of me so I try to avoid them back then. Instead, I opened several solo threads to get some requests and practice a lot more.

My manips significantly improved. At this point, I switched from Photobucket to Imgur and discovered Topaz and lighting textures. 

From covers, I started experimenting with different layouts and graphics. Below is the first image thread I made. It's been a while since it was created, but I'm still proud of it.  

Since college started, my graphic breaks became more frequent. Designing provides a good distraction whenever I feel stressed from acads, but at the same time, the load is to much for me to handle. At one point, I felt like I'm just forcing myself to finish requests. Eventually, I got better in balancing my time and now, I've been joining tons of graphic competitions. I never thought it would be so fun. I don't really visit the MDC that often nowadays to avoid dramas. 

• • •   

That's basically it. I 'think' I figured out what my style is...somehow (I struggle a lot whenever someone asks me about it. I don't know how to describe my style. Help!)

And woops⁠—I can't believe I'm making photo manipulations now!

Thank you! ♥

8.20.2017

- The End -

Do not copy, edit or steal any of my works. Do not repost on other websites, such as Pinterest.