Hello, I'm Rebecca Mitchell (Becca).
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Ever since I started school I knew Art (or cutting and sticking as my Dad calls it) was my passion in life, it was always the one subject that made me happy and confident knowing that I could achieve something that people were impressed by. On leaving school I went to Canterbury College to sample higher education and the art world. During this year we did a mini project on typography, researching different designers and how typography had been developed and was used. I had discovered Graphic Design! All the work I saw just looked so creative and appealing to me, it made me want to discover more. Also during this course we got to experience IT tools such as Photoshop and to create our own piece of work. After completing the Art and Design course I knew I wanted to study Graphic Design more so I applied and joined the Graphic Design course at level 3 for two years.
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During these two years I learned so much! I found out more about all the Adobe software such as Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop. I also learnt about typography, screen printing, how to design a poster, branding, logo design, book binding, paper sculptures and researching into different designers. I didn't realise there was so much out there! I was amazed by it all, and knew this was the path I wanted to take. I did get a great deal of experience with Graphic Design during my time at college, with the encouragement of tutors to achieve the best grades, I just knew I wanted to gain more experience and knowledge. So I applied to the University of Portsmouth who loved my portfolio and offered a place to get a degree!
Going to University was a big life change for me, it felt like a scary adventure, but I knew it was something I wanted to accomplish. It wasn't just about getting a degree, for me it was about exploring a new place, meeting new people and proving to myself that I can achieve things on my own. I learned a lot about myself and had the best three years of my life so far. Each year at university taught me different skills I never knew I had. I overcame my fear of public speaking, I worked in group projects, tackling difficult briefs and working with new software such as Adobe Animate and Muse. I was also developing the Graphic design skills I already had. The one thing I was looking forward to the most was screen printing, I love how it has its own unique texture, bringing physical life to a design , and you never know what each print is going to turn out like as it can be different each time. I had a basic knowledge from college about screen printing, but I learned everything else I wanted to know at university, how to expose my design onto a screen, printing with more than one colour, preparation and care of the equipment which is so important.
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University was the place to discover the strong and determined person inside me. There were one or two times when something knocked me down and I thought I should give up and go home but the whole point of being there was to try my best and see what I could do, so that’s what I did! Whenever I struggled it made me try again and work harder with the next project because I knew I wanted to succeed, to prove to myself I COULD DO IT! I have grown in confidence as I progressed and have become a better version of myself.
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So now I am ready to take on the next step of my Big Adventure.