{"id":496,"date":"2020-06-05T21:50:26","date_gmt":"2020-06-05T21:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~AlecC\/?page_id=496"},"modified":"2020-06-06T00:21:06","modified_gmt":"2020-06-06T00:21:06","slug":"explorations","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~AlecC\/explorations\/","title":{"rendered":"Explorations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Explorations unit challenges students to explore one of their passions while improving on one of their 21st Century Skills<\/a>. For my own project, I wanted to focus on visual literacy by analyzing effective visual storytelling in comics and creating my own short graphic story.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Process<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I had to make many tough decisions to ensure I would finish the project on time. Instead of ensuring a visually finalized product, I decided to focus on the concept and pacing. This led to me drawing out more pages than I had initially planned and trading fully lining and coloring everything for only sketching them to ensure an appropriate narrative flow. However, I still lined and colored the first page to get a feel of how the comic could look like if I decided to finalize it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The first few steps happened in my sketchbook. I started by brainstorming<\/strong> the different approaches I could take when creating a comic and the main elements I felt were necessary. Because of the time restraint, I decided to focus on exploring some emotions I’ve been struggling with lately instead of creating characters or backstories (which I very much would’ve liked to have done).<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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I settled with uncertainty and change as the main themes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The second step was sketching<\/strong> out the storyboard, laying out the basic page layouts and text. I already had an idea of what I wanted to do, but most of the writing was done on this stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I then finalized the sketches digitally in Photoshop, oftentimes changing up parts of the layout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then came the line-art<\/strong> stage, where most of the detailing happens. I also added the text and page numbering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, I added colors and shading<\/strong>. I found that this was the main establisher of tone and mood. On this page, I used contrasting teal and red hues to symbolize conflict and tension, coupled with dramatic lighting to give it a darker feel.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Here is the final production: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(click to view)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Infographic<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Using either Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign, we also created an infographic related to our topic’s research. In my infographic, I wanted to identify four of the main elements that make a memorable comic in a visually engaging way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Final infographic, made with Photoshop!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Photoshop project with initial sketches<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Presentation Video<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I compiled my findings and process in the following video!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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