TED Talk Reflection

     I was pretty satisfied with how my TED Talk went. Aside from one bump in the beginning, I felt that I was successful in not reading off of my cards, talking at the right speed, and coordinating with my presentation.

     And the most amazing thing: as far as I could tell, I was actually speaking at a normal volume! As you may or may not, in every single presentation I've ever done (I'm actually not exaggerating), I've had some comment about my volume -- apparently I just cannot speak loud enough. But I really tried to speak louder in this one (plus the audion has really good acoustics), and I think I was successful.

     In the beginning of my presentation, I was trying to use a mouse as a remote/clicker, but it didn't work. I'm guessing it couldn't communicate with the computer at that distance. I should've tested that out before I started, but I didn't really think about the distance. However, I don't think that was much of a problem, since Ian jumped in right away to change the slides for me. (Thanks Ian!)

     I was actually really proud of the script I wrote. I didn't read it exactly, since I was trying to not look at my notecards. I tried to incorporate a message about practice (practice makes perfect, basically) into my presentation while using examples from my process.

     I'm not sure what my time was, but when I practiced the night before, I was ending up at around four and half minutes. So hopefully I was around there, since that's right on point.

     I really liked the grading strategy Drew used, so I'm just going to steal that:

Clarity and delivery of intended message: 14/15 (93%)
     -I felt that my message was pretty well-incorporated, but I did tie it into drawing a lot. I think I could've used more examples from other projects/situations to engage the audience.
Description of project/process: 5/5 (100%)
     -I think I described my process pretty thoroughly without going into the actual drawing techniques or anything, since I didn't feel that they applied to my presentation.
Poise and preparation: 4/5 (80%)
     -I spent a lot of time writing my speech and I don't think I looked at my notecards much, so I think my preparation was pretty good. And like I said, I thought my volume finally was acceptable, but unfortunately I had a slight technical problem in the beginning. Also, I stuttered a few times.
Improvement: 4.5/5 (90%)
     - As Drew said, there's always room for improvement. I think I've improved hugely in my presenting skills over these past two years, but I still have a long way to go.

    I'd give myself a 27.5/30 (I apologize for that half point). I really did feel as this was one of my better presentations.

    And I'll leave you with my finalized final product (I added shadows and a horizon line, though nothing's different with the people). I used this in my presentation, but I haven't posted it on my blog yet.

     I'm considering adding some sort of background, but for the sake of this project, I didn't feel that was necessary.

     (Interesting biology fact: Stress activates a hormone pathway from your brain to your adrenal glands (located atop your kidneys), which release the hormone cortisol. However, when a lot of cortisol is secreted, it can affect memory by actually damaging cells in the hippocampus (which is important in memory function). So, too much stress can cause too much cortisol to be produced, which can then damage the hippocampus and ultimately cause problems with memory.

     Basically, I'm trying to say that I actually have little memory of presenting today, which is rather disconcerting. I mean, I remember enough to grade myself, but still...)

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     I finished!!! And I don't think I can express how happy (and surprised) I am at how this turned out!

(Click to see a larger version.)

     I think it's fairly obvious that I improved even just in this drawing. I worked from left to right, starting with the back row and then moving up front. (And since that sentence was kind of confusing: first I drew the guy on the far left, then the standing up one on the right, then the squatting guy, and finally the sitting guy.)

     I wasn't particularly satisfied with the first person, since he ended up kind of disproportionate. I was really happy with how my second drawing turned out, but there were still a few small proportion issues (his left hand, for example). The third turned out wonderfully, except for his face, which I kept messing up. And then the last one. I'm actually not sure how this one turned out so good (all that practice really helps!), but sudhfgjdsfkg I'm just so happy with it!

     Here's the video of me drawing the final person (Nicholas, the singer):

Nicholas Time Lapse from Annie G. on Vimeo.

     The song in the background is Tightrope (Acoustic) by Walk the Moon.

     I think learning the basics in my previous six weeks was really helpful to get me started on mastering realistic, full-body drawing. However, I think this piece gave me the practice I needed to produce a really amazing drawing. I stated earlier that I had been struggling with shoes. I definitely had problems in the first part of this drawing, and even for the second person, I felt that I wasn't getting the shading or perspective right. However, by the time I got to the third and fourth people, I felt that my shoe-drawing ability had really improved. (This doesn't just apply to shoes -- I actually feel this way about every single element of the people.)

     I still have to add final touches (such as the shadows behind the band members), and, knowing me, I'll spend a few hours just tweaking random elements of it. When that's complete (probably not tonight -- it's too late), I shall post that picture here.