Introduction
Hello! My name is Arthur Kim and I am a senior at Freestyle Academy. I attend Mountain View High School, and am planning on majoring in Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. My focus at Freestyle is on Animation, although I still take classes in English and Digital Media. Freestyle has allowed me to produce a wide variety of quality productions that take on many different forms, including graphic design, physical art, animations, and 3D models. I think my growth as an artist is quite pronounced given the sheer breadth and depth of projects I created. I am excited to share some of my best work I have produced in my reel, as well as an in-depth breakdown of my senior year Zenith project.
Thank you for taking the time to review my work–it means a lot to me and your feedback would be incredibly valuable in my continued artistic growth. If you have any inquiries, arthurk@freestyleacademy.rocks is the best way to reach me.
Showcase Video
For my showcase video, I chose to focus on my Zenith project I recently finished, which is a 3D render of a modern living room interior. I explain the general process and share some techniques I learned while working on the project. Because the Zenith project took such a long time, I thought it would be suitable to give it the spotlight for this video.
Showcase Reel
My showcase reel is a short montage of some of the best works I made here at Freestyle. These works span all the way from the beginning of Junior year to the end of Senior year, covering all kinds of different mediums and subjects. Check it out if you want a general overview of my Freestyle experience.
Reflection
The Showcase project really allowed me to reflect upon everything I had accomplished up to this point at Freestyle, which is a lot more than I had expected. Looking back at all of my older projects made me realize that I had grown significantly in terms of the quality and creativity of my work. However, for the purposes of the reel, I wanted to highlight a wide variety of content rather than only show my recent productions. Every piece of media I made was a learning experience for me, and gave me valuable insight as to what I did well and what I could do differently next time. As someone who was previously a purely STEM oriented student, Freestyle has taught me that there is no right answer all the time, as is often the case in Math and Science. Exploring new skills and techniques is what fuels creativity and innovation, and I think I have done that well throughout my time at Freestyle.
As a whole, Freestyle has been a critical part of my high school experience. Coming into the program, I had minimal experience with media editing software and art in general, so I was expecting to have a difficult time starting out. However, my worries were subdued quickly as I realized that it wasn’t necessarily about having knowledge of the software–what was more important was the determination to think creatively and apply that creativity to different projects. Over time, I became more comfortable with the general workflow and I feel that I was better able to express my artistic and creative skills. Coming to the end of the road, it feels bittersweet looking back on my 2 year long journey.