Ashley Chester. Graphic Designer and Photographer.
Welcome to my portfolio website! I appreciate the interest you have in my art and me.
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My love for art began very early on in my life. I have always had a large interest in shooting photos and editing them, whether it be to color correct or to enhance the photos with a little embellishment like some photos below. These examples below are all from very early on in my career, before I graduated high school or relating to my hometown.
My graphic design interest started in middle school, however my school did not have any programs or courses for graphic design. From an early age I knew that I wanted to be a Designer professionally in the future. Because of this, I wanted to start expanding my knowledge beyond what I was doing in my personal life. Due to my persistent interest in becoming a Graphic Designer some day and wanting to learn more about the world of graphic art, my high school began offering courses in Graphic Design. These courses began with just myself and the Art teacher teaching ourselves essentially until we proficient in all things graphic art. Slowly, more and more interest was being expressed by other students to follow in my footsteps and take graphic design courses. Soon because of others showing interest in these sort of classes as well, multiple digital art classes were created and offered.
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After completing every course offered for digital art through my high school, I begin my college and professional career as a Graphic Designer and Art major at the University of Iowa. Being an art major at The University of Iowa is very unique, no matter your area of focus or study. Graduate requirements are very demanding but also very broad. The U of I art program really forced me and my peers to expand our love for art beyond just our areas of focus and helped us to experience many new areas of art, including but not limited to: darkroom photo development, ceramics, screen printing, animation, coding, and even a welding class to create sculptures.
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After graduating from The University of Iowa, my professional career took me to Des Moines for new and exciting opportunities. Please take some time to review the other pages in this portfolio website to view some of the work that I have created since then!