Prof. Jenna Spevack | COMD3504_D061 | SPRING 2024 | Thurs 2:30pm

Discussion: Introductions

Add a comment to this post introducing yourself to the class.

You could include your academic interests, why you chose your major, what you enjoy reading, listening to, watching, gaming, and doing in your spare time, who or what has influenced your creative work, or anything else you want to share (include your pronouns, if you wish).

Include a link to a drawing, photo, or video of yourself and/or your creative work.

Before the next class, read the comments and get to know your classmates! 

Reply to one of your classmates’ comments. Do you have something in common? Did you learn something? Do you have a question?

NOTE: If you don’t see your comment appear right away, don’t worry. To avoid spam, your first comment on the site will need to be approved. After that, remember to log in to the OpenLab first, and your comments will appear right away.

39 Comments

  1. Nicholas Santos (Nick)

    My name is Nick, I’m taking up Communication Design to learn Animation and also enhance my work on Video Editing whether its a Montage or better ways to edit a 3 hour stream without taking forever. I chose this major because I have a goal to one day work with Rockstar Games (gaming company for GTA (Grand Theft Auto)) in Manhattan. I read here and there but mainly stream/play video games competitively and listening to Kid Cudi. Kid Cudi inspired me by pushing me to be who I want to be because while battling depression he helped me gain confidence on loving myself again and growing/uplifting myself even when times get tough in life but most importantly to never give up because we are never alone in this world.

    • Jonathan

      Hello nick nice to meet you. you asked some great questions on day 1 and kept the conversation going. Im a cudi fan too not huge but love the vibe. Have you heard of his song Creepers off the cruel summer album? One of my favorites is Mr. Rager.

  2. Ita

    Hi, I’m Ita, my pronouns are she/her. I chose COMD because I’m a graphic designer interested in research and strategy. My current interests are:

    • Reading: Dungeon Meshi by Ryoko Kui, Extrabold by Ellen Lupton & etc.
    • Listening: KAI, Sugababes, Belanova, Santigold
    • Watching: The Bear, Breaking Bad, Taskmaster
    • Gaming: Splatoon, Hades, Just Dance

    In my spare time, I make collages and mood boards. I also practice Folklorico dancing. I’m indigenous Mexican so my culture influences my work; other influences include Min Heejin, Jenny Odell, and the Chicano Poster Movement. My portfolio is here.

    • Nick

      I like the way your website is organized and font stands out pretty well.

    • Sonali Heath

      I love the layout of your portfolio pieces on your website, its very creative, did you code it yourself?

      • Ita Flores

        Thank you, I did code it myself!

    • Eduardo Mendez

      Hello, how are you, and nice portfolio that you created, it was master piece, and also I like how you play splatoon.

    • Malika Pardis

      I love your layout for your portfolio and how theres an interactive option and a grid system just in case to see everything seperately.

  3. Tonisha

    Hey am Tonisha, I am here to get network, socialise and improve my skills. I am a pretty boring human. I don’t have much of a hobby other than taking photos.

    • Adrika Hoque

      Hi Tonisha, great to meet you! What type of photos do you enjoy taking the most?

  4. Sonali Heath

    Hello my name is Sonali and my major is COMD focusing mainly on Graphic Design. I like looking at illustrations, making them, watching anime and sleeping. I gain influence by looking at other people’s work which makes my gain inspiration.

    • Luke El Dib

      I like the attached photo. Did you take it or is it an example of your inspiration?

  5. Adrika Hoque

    Hi! My name is Adrika and my pronouns are she/her. I chose COMD because I’m passionate about storytelling and bridging the gap between tech and the creative. My creative work is influenced by mostly architecture, history, and literature. In my spare time, I like to read a lot of fantasy/surreal/psychological thriller/sci fi books on my kindle with a warm cup of tea. My favorite artist is Panic! At The Disco and I was able to go to a concert in 2022 which was incredibly fun. My portfolio is linked here where I showcase my work in advertising, art direction, event design, and typography.

    • Avar He Zapata

      Hello Adrika. I skimmed through your online portfolio. Did you personally cook any of those foods are did you just have to assemble what you were given? Did you really work at a fancy restaurant or did you just design the menus and nutrition facts? Either way, your work looks professionally legit. I’m in Storytelling For Creatives with Prof K and I also had to do storyboarding for my Intro to Video class with Prof T. Jackman.

      • Adrika Hoque

        Hi Avar, no I was not asked to make any of the food. Event styling is more about prop design and photography composition. Think of it more like sculptural where you’re molding everything to fit perfectly. I had Josh for intro to video and he was amazing! You’re in great hands.

    • Miranda N.

      Hi Adrika! That space between the creative and tech is such an opportunity, I agree. Your website is…honestly I’m a little jealous, you’re actually shining a light, no joke. It’s very cool, and seems like it’s probably effective. Have you found it effective so far? It looks great. I’m so curious and will look around some more.

      Have you seen the current show at Poster House yet?

      https://posterhouse.org/

      Deco always strikes me as architectural even in two dimensions.

      • Adrika Hoque

        Hi Miranda, Thank you for the compliment! The portfolio took me a while to complete so I’m glad it was a hit. I haven’t seen the latest show at Poster House but I’m a big fan of Art Deco so I’ll be sure to check it out 🙂 Last time I went they had their “Made in Japan” exhibition that had some incredibly moving pieces especially relating to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

  6. Eduardo Mendez

    Hello, My name is Eduardo Mendez. I choose this class, because I need to complete for spring semester and graduate in Citytech. Also I though this class will teaching about create animation, create web design, and history of comic arts.

    What I’m enjoying things:

    • Reading: Dogman, Diary of a Wimpy kid, Mangas, and other graphic novels
    • Listening: Anime openings, video games/tv shows soundtracks, and nostalgics songs
    • Watching: Spongebob, Family Guy, and Rick and Morty, Anime(except Spy x Family)
    • Gaming: Playing Nintendo Switch

    In my Space Time, I like to draw something, then scan it with my phone, then upload to my laptop, then drag my drawn in photo pea, and illustrate it. So I like to illustrate with my Wacom tablet bluetooth, that I like to draw and animate in each frame in storyboard app. Therefore, those my hobbies, is drawing on my sketch book and illustrate in illustrator software.

    • Avar He Zapata

      Hi it’s Avar. You and I share a lot in common. I also like to draw and then digitize it. I plan to do more of that when/if I commit to doing my comic book. So far, since I don’t have windows at the moment, I have just been relying on Photoshop just to edit something that I found on the internet. I can post a few samples below.

    • Avar He Zapata

      TMNT

    • Avar He Zapata

      Thomas and Spencer

    • Avar He Zapata

      TMNT and Power Rangers. (The first image was of the Ultra Guardians from the Pokémon Sun and Moon anime redesigned to look more like Super Sentai/Power Rangers characters.)

    • Avar He Zapata

      Thomas and Spencer (early sketch).

  7. Luke El Dib

    Hey, I’m Luke. I like making things in any capacity; Computers, machines, photography, websites, UX & UI, 3D models and software. My interest in design stems from the overlap of all my other interests.

    Good design is invisible, bad design is what you notice, and a lot of my work is a response to my experience with poor design to improve my experience with the world around me.

    I just finished coding my prototype portfolio site at lukeeldib.dev , give it a look and let me know what you think.

    • Ita Flores

      Hey Luke, your take on good and bad design really resonates with me.

      I think the light/dark mode on your website is cool; I also like how your photography is showcased.

    • Esmeralda Ensaldo

      Hey! I think you did a very good job coding your portfolio website. The fonts and color palette gives it personality and it is very easy to navigate.

  8. Tonisha

    hey my name is Tonisha. I am not sure what I am aiming for in the future whether advertising or 3d animation. But, I do hope that at the end of the course I learn as much as I can to guide me through that right path.

  9. Andre Sadhu

    My name is Andre Sadhu and I enjoy drawing, brainstorming ideas, and listening to music among other things. In my COMD experience, I’ve taken particular interest in video, graphic design, and web design.

    This is my portfolio: https://portfolio.adobe.com/42b30971-974d-4fad-940c-7086c6f760dd/editor/work

  10. Avar He Zapata

    Hello everyone! My name is Avar He Zapata. My major is in the Communication Design department. I’m a bachelor in fine arts. I currently have no minor and I’ve been told by my advisor and some professors that I don’t need one for this program, but my parents tell me otherwise since I believe any student in the CUNY system is entitled to one regardless in any field you take.

    But going back to me, I am in this program because I always wanted to go to an art college after high school. I tried applying to any SUNY and CUNY colleges within the area that I lived in but I wasn’t accepted to any of them because they all required that I submit a portfolio which is something that my advertising early college high school didn’t prepare me for. City Tech and City College were the only two institutions that took me because they didn’t require a portfolio to get in. Just good grades, GPA, exam scores, the usual academic stuff. But I still don’t know if what I am being taught here is what I want out of my creative and professional life or if I’m being expected to work in one specific field that may not allow me to do something else. However, I am trying to be optimistic and take advantage of any professional opportunity that might come my way.

    Since this is a writing-intensive course, I would like to take this opportunity to say that ever since I was 12, there has been this one specific story that has been developing in my brain that I want to do something about. I always wanted to tell it in the form of a comic book series since I love drawing and I attempted to do a rough draft comic trilogy when I was in middle school using binders. I don’t have a photocopy of that sadly but it is somewhere in my house.

    This passion project of mine started when I did after-school activities in early middle school like drawing in small sketchbooks and another activity where a teacher read to the class a graphic novel called Cardboard by Doug TeNaple. The story and illustrations in that book really captivated me and I thought it was of movie quality. It was there that I decided that I wanted to work somewhere in the field of cartooning and maybe animating. I never really got a proper education in terms of how to produce work like that and I was hoping that my high school would do something like that but it was just a small club that I didn’t stay in for that long, and the teacher working there I felt was trying to discourage my creative ideas. I have since started to teach myself how to draw comics and more intense pictures in my spare time but then stopped doing that after a while because I felt down during the pandemic. But now I think I want to get back in the swing of drawing more.

    I am in the city tech anime club and Discord and I sometimes talk and post some things about the stuff I like about anime or show off my nerdy and social side of myself. I just finished watching Pokémon and began to watch Sailor Moon last spring. I don’t know if I want to get back into watching that show again since I’m two seasons in. I’m also trying to make an effort to watch a lot of superhero movies from both Marvel and DC because I can sense that another cultural shift in mainstream movies is about to happen with the DC movies rebooting and video game movies beginning to get more popular. I also used to play video games. I got Sonic Frontiers last Christmas but I haven’t played that much of it. I plan to get back into though.

    Now that I posted a little bit of myself, here is a link to my e-portfolio in open lab. There isn’t a lot that’s there. Just stuff from my Graphic Design Principles II class. I tried adjusting the settings so that non-logged-in users can still view it. I plan to update it as the semester goes.

    Graphic Design Principles 2 Project – Avar He Zapata’s ePortfolio (cuny.edu)

    (If you still can’t view it, then you will have to be logged in. Otherwise, I think I can post a proper picture of myself whenever I’m at home using my personal Mac.)

    • Sophie B.

      I loved reading your little story about yourself. You caught my attention when you said, “I still don’t know if what I am being taught here is what I want out of my creative and professional life”, because these are the same thoughts that run through my mind. Choosing a career path is definitely not an easy decision. It’s difficult to find a spot where you fit and feel confident. I guess for now we’re both just going with the flow, and hoping that things fall into place for us when the time is right!

  11. Esmeralda Ensaldo

    Hi I’m Esmeralda. I’m part of the communication design department interested in graphic design. I decided to get into COMD because design is everywhere and it’s interesting how we react to it depending on the element choices (and how this communicate something).

    I enjoy watching tv shows mostly drama/thrillers and recently I started listening to podcasts.

    Here is the link to some of my work I’ve done so far https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/eeclara-eportfolio/

  12. Melanie Martinez

    Hello! My name is Melanie I don’t know what it is I want to do yet as I’m still discovering myself and what I like. However, COMD got me into so many things that I was never interested in before so I’m excited to learn and discover more. I enjoy listening to music, watching movies and anime, reading web novels, and playing games. Before NYCCT I had no laptop so I usually drew in my notebook, but after taking figure drawing 2x I never did it again. Maybe it’s time again as I want to improve drawing people.

  13. Sophie B.

    Hi everyone! I joined this class a tad bit late, but anyways, my name is Sophie and I’m a COMD major. Design is something that has always intrigued me. Whether it’s interior design, jewelry design, graphic design, fashion design, etc. I just love design of all sorts. Being in the field of design is a way to unleash your imagination and make your vision come to life. It serves as a vessel for you to be innovative and explore the possibilities of what can be. Lots of times it can even make the impossible, possible, with just a little extra creativity. I’m also very much into fashion and makeup – basically anything girly is my specialty.

    A little odd, but I also quite enjoy doing essays 🙂

    Despite being so intrigued by design, I don’t have a clear vision yet of where I want my career to head. It’s tricky to settle on a singular area of interest. So, for now, I’m just working on bettering my skills all around. I love to spend my spare time with my family, shopping, or even just online browsing.

  14. Malika Pardis

    Hi I’m Malika (she/they)

    Interests are:

    • Shows/Movies: Abott Elementary, A lull in the sea, Kung Fu Panda Trilogy
    • Songs on repeat: Jennifers Body by Ken Carson, It almost worked by TV Girl, Igual Que Un Angel by Kali Uchis
    • Games: Valorant, CSGO, Genshin Impact, Rainbow 6

    I’m a senior and my focus is UX/UI design and product packaging.

  15. Miranda N.

    Hey, I’m Miranda (she/they), and I’ve just transferred from Kingsborough where I took all possible classes for UX/UI, Advertising/Graphic Design, Ceramics, and Illustration. I technically graduated yesterday. It’s been intense. My experience was amazing, and I got some pieces in the student shows and magazine there. The shows have not been digitized, and the magazine has not been published yet.

    I am thrilled to be at City Tech! I Chose to be Here. I have experience from the industry as a graphic designer and copywriter, but it was long ago. I have had very different experiences since then, and found myself within and adjacent to home education circles after attending F.I.T.. Being back in school feels better now than being in school felt then. The industries have grown and diversified, or become more formal and cohesive as separate disciplines. I feel like the things I have wanted for my career for so long are only possible now, only at City Tech.

    I look forward to seeing how I can fit the visual vocabularies I prefer to work with into their social and historical contexts, to analyzing and observing. I hope to grow and expand my ideas about those vocabularies.

    Music is various, I’m from here. I like all of it. Games are minimal bc work and fam. Reading is usually sci-fi before bed, business in transit. I am learning code and markup on Mimo, my instagram is too dated to share, lol, LinkedIn same. It’s time for an update! I’m rehabbing a thumb injury by learning ukulele. I like plants!

    Image: A minimal watercolor illustration of an orange koi carp on a mottled cream background, as a PRINT magazine cover. In this homage the original illustration is mine, design is mine. I used Adobe Illustrator.

  16. Jonathan

    Hello mY name is Jonathan. I am a communication design student and i want to get into advertisement.My passion is music so currently I am trying to learn animation so I can aniamte stories and visuals for some of my favorite songs.I love clothes as well, I try to be bold and creative with my outfits. God bless take car.

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