Andrea Atkinson
A passion turned into college education is the story of freshmen Andrea Atkinson.
Growing up in Omaha, Nebraska Atkinson never knew exactly what path she would take once her college days rolled around. She bounced between becoming a teacher and going to nursing school, but eventually she decided to follow a path closer to her interest in art.
Graphic design was an interest Atkinson had from a class in high school, so when she showed up to her first days of graphic design classes at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln she was intimidated by how much her peers already seemed to know.
Atkinson was more familiar with painting, as it was her favorite form of art in high school. The first few days of her graphic design classes were intimidating, but she said those were the most influential and important parts through art in her life thus far. The reason being: she never gave up.
As her classes progressed, she learned to accept what she was doing and began to love what she was doing and to be proud of her work.
“Don’t compare yourself to other people’s work, because you don’t know how much time they’ve had to learn it before you,” Atkinson said. “You just need to put in the work and put in the time to get your skills to be better.”
It wasn’t always smooth sailing for Atkinson, however. It took her a while at the beginning of freshmen year to fully understand the programs she was working with.
While she compared graphic design to drawing on a computer, there was a significant learning curve that came along with each project. Painting and drawing were her main forms of art before jumping into a computer programmed side of art.
“Other forms of art took time to learn but they came more natural,” Atkinson said. “There’s room for improvement in both forms, and I think they are both similar in the fact that it lets you express yourself and create in unique and fun ways.”
Once she started to better understand programs such as photoshop and indesign, she branched out and started to make designs for her friends. She compiled a brand book and logo for another student who does fashion design.
Atkinson said it was a great experience to be able to work with someone else. This gave her the opportunity to bounce ideas off of someone, and prepared her to work with clients in her future endeavors.
Graphic design is a way Atkinson has broadened her knowledge in art, and looking back she said she wouldn’t change a thing.
