Photoshop Art
In this unit we learned a lot more about the many uses of Adobe Photoshop. I learned how digital painting works as well as compositing. I explored different tools especially the brush tool. Photoshop was a pretty intimidating program because of the seemingly unlimited possibilities of the program, but this definitely helped break that stigma and familiarize myself with it.
Photoshop Compilations
I based this compilation off of The Beatles’ Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. I followed the description of the lyrics and created the song in a visual form.
Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes
Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Towering over your head
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes
And she’s gone
This one was far more experimental, I simply thought of random things, looked for random images, and threw them all together in a fun way. Not really any rhyme or reason, just uncanny mixtures.
Photoshop Painting
For this project we practiced our Photoshop painting skills in any form that we chose. I chose to make something for my Grandma. She loves butterflies and the color purple. I also added the warm toned background because it matches her house if she were to put it up on the wall.
Mandalas
In this unit we learned how to create mandalas on Adobe Illustrator. We created a clipping mask that reflected a certain section as many times as we’d like around the axis to create one whole mandala.
Black & White
Colored
Artist Statement
I’ve been drawing mandalas on my own by hand for years now, so I was super excited to find out that we would be doing some in Freestyle. I really focused on creating something that looked whole and connected. In my black and white mandala I incorporated fragments of my asian heritage by using the Yin Yang symbol and turning it into intertwined koi fish. I thought that this idea would be perfect, especially since it was only to be black and white. For my colored mandala, I really wanted to incorporate eyes as I felt like it would make a cool “staring” effect after being reflected so many times. Overall I wanted to create intricate yet not overpowering mandalas that were interesting and unique.
Creating my personal mandalas taught me that I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I was constantly changing things because it never felt done. This also resulted in me taking a lot longer than intended to complete them. This is both a blessing and a curse that if I learn to harness can be super beneficial and make my work more unique and interesting.
Photoshop 360° Galleries
This I Believe
In English we were challenged to write a “This I Believe” essay. In this essay we zoomed in on one of our beliefs and wrote about a story that led us to that belief. Then in Digital Media we visualized this story in Adobe After Effects. This part of the project taught me a lot about video editing in terms of keyframes and making each visual element do what you want, when you want it to.
I believe in facing the truth.
When I was twelve years old I had over 2,000 cuts on my body in the span of a year. This overt display of self harm was one of many symptoms of childhood trauma, resulting in adolescent anxiety and depression. Consequently I was admitted into an outpatient program for teens, specifically the program for middle schoolers. To say the least, I did not like it there. I spent three hours per day three times a week with kids who I found impossible to connect with. The adults were worse. I wasn’t their favorite either. They didn’t like what I had to say, and half the things I said or did were “triggering” in one way or another. As this continued, I didn’t hesitate to challenge their methods as they didn’t make sense or align with the supposed goal of the program. How are we to heal if we’re not allowed to talk about the things that really hurt us? Sitting in a small room facing the program director, tears running down my face, barely able to get a breath in, I expressed this to him. He dismissed me and told me to “put this in a box on a shelf” to deal with later. That day he discharged me from the program, claiming that I wasn’t a good fit.
I then joined another program geared towards older teens, I being the youngest one there. This program was much less hands on and allowed space for reality. There they taught us that no words are off limits, that we had to address our truth rather than “put it in a box on a shelf.” I wasn’t better yet, but I finally felt heard. Matched.
The truth is uncomfortable, and sometimes that’s how it’s supposed to be. I’ve had to fight for the truth, my truth, for my entire life as others try to challenge it.
Growing up, and even in recent years, I was made to feel crazy. My truth was manipulated in the name of power. Through all of the family disparity and abuse I was forced to define my truth and stick to it. Family court will do everything that it can to control you, and it is far from an honest setting. I will admit that there were times where I strayed from the path and ignored what I knew was true. Once I lost track of that, I lost myself. It was a traumatic and ugly process, but in the end I sacrificed my childhood and comforts for my truth.
The truth truly does set us free. It’s rarely easy or pretty, but necessary for knowing yourself and others. After all, who are we without it? As a truth seeker and truth speaker, I encourage you to define your truth and stand by it. Not to say it cannot change, but don’t let anything or anyone but you determine it. Take the box off the shelf, unpack it, and inside you will find the truth.
