November 5, 2022
A couple of weeks ago, the school received an invitation from the Brotherhood of Catholic Businessmen and Professionals to join an inter-school contest. Four contests. Namely: Oration, essay writing, manual poster making, and digital poster making.
I was assigned to coach digital poster making.
We only had two or three days to submit the names of our contestants. And the contest was supposed to be last Saturday (October 29). That means we only had a couple of days to prepare. However, it was our exam week. That means we can't get our contestants from their classes to practice.
Then the Severe Storm Paeng came. Classes were canceled on Thursday and Friday. Thus our exam was postponed.
Read: How Did You Spend Your Extended Long Weekend?
In the following week or this week, we had no classes from Monday to Wednesday due to All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day celebrations.
Again we had no chance to practice our contestants.
Our contestant for the digital poster making used Canva in creating the piece she submitted during our selection process. She did well. Unfortunately, Canva was not allowed in the contest.
My option was to teach her Photoshop, which is not familiar with. Though she made the piece she submitted, she admitted she doesn't know how to draw. I told her not to worry, based on my previous experience in digital poster making, the organizers will provide the images and the contestants will use those photos to create a poster. Of course, the contestants can add other elements.
The rules in this contest are different. The organizers allowed the contestant to bring their images and even download images from the Internet.
I saw a loophole in this setup.
Medibang Paint Pro
Since we had no chance to have a face-to-face tutorial, I opted to use Medibang Paint Pro. I chatted with the contestant and instructed her how to download and install Medibang Paint Pro.
Then last Wednesday, we had a short tutorial via Google Meet. I had to cut it down further because my wife got sick that day. Besides, I don't want to take so much time from our contestants because it is exam week. The kid is also at the top of her class. I don't want her grades to be affected because of an impromptu contest.
My only goal for that tutorial session is to get her familiarized with Medibang Paint Pro.
Yesterday, we had a two-hour tutorial. I want her to know the tools that she can use for creating the poster... then again, one can only learn so much in such a limited time.
Contest Day.
I was amazed that some contestants are well prepared and well equipped. At least two even brought drawing tablets and painted their piece from nothing.
Our contestant finished her piece before the one hour time limit.
Unfortunately, she did not win. I was amazed how calm she was though. No regrets at all. Even during the contest, she was just so calm.
Even though we did not win any of the four contests, we were grateful for the experience. Hopefully, there will hold the same contest next year.
Thanks for reading.