The Narrative Project was our first in-depth dive into fiction. In our English class, we were tasked to develop a short, fictional story. In our Design class we created a piece of digital art that showed a representation of our main character through different animals and a background that was a more whimsical version of a main setting in our story. Lastly, in our Digital Media class we recorded our short story and created album art for it. Through this project we were able to sharpen our skills in Adobe Illustrator, Avid ProTools, Tascam Audio Recorders, Google Apps, DSLR cameras, and Adobe Photoshop.
I valued this unit because I learned how difficult it was to spend a long period of time creating different pieces in various forms of art based on one thing. This was very important for me to learn because it is a skill that we use throughout our time at Freestyle. It also taught me how necessary it was to understand the ins and outs of my character including aspects that aren’t even mentioned in the story itself.
English
Character Questionnaire and Plot Map
We began the Narrative unit in our English class by filling out a questionnaire that would help us develop our character and start figuring out the story. It asked very in-depth questions so that we could become extremely familiar with our character before beginning the writing process. This helped me understand every facet of my character which made writing the short story a lot easier. Eventually, we made a plot map that mapped out the general course our stories might take.
Short Story
I had a difficult time coming up with a topic for a short story that I would enjoy writing and working with for a long time. One day, I was sitting on a bench with my friend drinking coffee and we started playing a game where we guessed the life stories of the people passing by us. Afterwards I thought it would be interesting to write a story about someone who does that basically as a living. I adapted a quirky character who was struggling figuring out what he wanted to do with his life after high school, and depended on people-watching to give him hope.
After writing the story, we were tasked to record it on our Tascam Audio Recorders and produce it with sound effects in Avid ProTools. When producing this, I really had learn patience. Since the recording was really long, I made quite a few mistakes in the audio, and editing it was a very lengthy, meticulous process.
The Prickly Green Bench
Ouch.
Every day I sit on the bench and I can feel the little chips of wood stick themselves unto every inch of my body that is touching the surface. It hurts, but I don’t mind it. The bench is a faded green, but the colorful personalities passing by and sitting on it light it up. At this point, people pass by without acknowledging my existence: no eye contact or polite smiles. Like a statue, I camouflage into the background, going unnoticed by the people around me.
Faint hums and singing of TV show theme songs fade into the air as some little kids swing around the tree- playing games and getting their shoes dirty. The light hums are overpowered by the sounds of bloody murder coming from a scary woman in a dark blue pantsuit screaming into her phone at what I’m assuming is her subordinate. SPLASH! A frazzled green-eyed woman spilled a cup of to-go coffee all over a soft, yet scruffy looking man. Their eyes met- it was love at first site. All these people, so hopeful, so much zest for life. There were two cups of coffee spilled that day. A beautiful black-haired, brown-eyed, millennial woman walked out from Café Rosé and tripped on a crack in the cement. She spilled her deliciously aromatic hazelnut latte all over my plain white t-shirt. At first, I was taken aback- this was my first real human interaction since I sat down on this prickly old green bench three months ago. I love people-watching, but I never actually wanted to interact with a person. Observing is just enough to give me some hope for my life.
After a minute of staring at the woman and processing the situation, I got up. I walked straight into the cafe and headed to the Lost and Found. The only shirts that would fit me were vibrant and very noticeable, but I had no choice. I walked out of the cafe with a damp white shirt in my hand and a bright green and blue tie-dye shirt on my back. I sat back down on the prickly green bench without even realizing the woman was sitting on it too. I went back to people-watching, but I kept getting interrupted by faint sniffles and muffled noises. She was crying. There were tiny tears streaming down her freckle-filled cheeks. The color in her personality began to fade and I had no idea what to do. My heart was thumping inside, pleading me to let it out. Luke-warm sweat dripped off of my palms and forehead. I didn’t know how to console her. I began to pat her head and it was pleasant. I don’t think it was the normal thing to do, but it was right.
I went back to people-watching once again. I saw some more kids playing on the street with their bikes and scooters. A teenage couple awkwardly holding hands and strolling inside Café Rosé. A man holding a brown leather briefcase reading the flashcards in his hand aggressively. Then, I saw a little boy skipping out of Mr. Green’s Music Store with his father holding a shiny new Yamaha keyboard. The wonderment in his eyes reminded me of myself when I was just a little boy skipping out of Mr. Green’s Music Store with a new keyboard. I felt a rush through my body and suddenly I couldn’t control my actions. Tears were flooding out and my eyes and my head began to tilt and rest on the woman’s shoulder. I couldn’t contain myself anymore. I collapsed into her lap. My body was so cold and numb it felt like I couldn’t move. The woman and I stayed there until the sun began to set and, without saying a word to each other, we both happened to get up and part ways at the same time. I dragged myself all the way home, I thought I was in high school again because my back was slumped the same way it did with my 300 pound backpack on. I looked at myself in the mirror and my face looked like it was being pulled down by a weight. For the rest of the night I layed in bed, contemplating my life, and trying to fall asleep.
I let myself sleep in until 11 this morning. I figured I was allowed to create my own schedule since, after all, it’s a gap year- I don’t have anything to do. This morning was different because after last night the whole street seemed to change. I didn’t see any regulars around except for the man who sits on the brown bench across the street who I think is also a people-watcher.
No matter how much I wanted to observe the people around me, I couldn’t bring myself to focus. My eyes kept drawing back to the grand piano in the window of Mr. Green’s Music Store. The struggle between trying to focus on the people, but coming back to the store continued until the man sitting on the brown bench started coming towards my spot. I had never spoken a word to anyone since I sat down on this prickly green bench three months ago, even if they directly asked me a question. When he started asking me questions about myself I felt even less inclined to speak than I did to the people asking me for directions. The man told me that he knew I was a people-watcher and that he sits on the brown bench across the street and people-watches too. He said he does it because it makes him happy to see so many people struggling and making their way through life. He asked me why I people-watched and all I wanted to do was blurt out my life story, but I remained completely silent. To my surprise, he continued the one-way conversation and told me why he thought I people-watched. He was completely correct. I had just gotten out of high school and taken a gap year because I had no idea what I needed to do with my life. I’ve always wanted to do something that had a real purpose for the world and made me happy, and I wasn’t ready to go into a major I didn’t even like and then end up at a 9-5 job that made me want to retire every day. People-watching gave me a sense of hope because I could see other people excited for life- doing things they love and that give them what they need. Although it gave me no real direction in my life, it felt like it did. I took a long time to process this and he patiently waited for a response. I again had no control over my body and my actions, but I could feel my head slowly bobbing up and down as a sign of agreement. As soon as I began to nod, his crooked fake-toothed with a little drool of a smile flashed out.
My heart began to thump loudly again and my palms grew sweaty, but instead of letting out a flood of tears, words began to spill out of my mouth. I told this man my whole life story and hours passed by, but it felt like time didn’t exist. I started from day 1 to my rejection letter from Julliard. My family was very supportive of me and was happy with anything I wanted to do. I wanted to go to Julliard to play piano my whole life and that was one of the only real dreams I had ever had for myself. The old man stopped me and invited me on a walk with him. We strolled around the city and I continued telling him about my life until the present day and after 20 minutes we ended up in Mr. Green’s Music Store. My fingers brushed softly against the black and white keys of the beautiful white grand piano.
Play.
My slightly sweaty hands took control over my body and music notes started pouring out of my fingertips. Another rush came up my body, but this time it felt good. I hadn’t touched a piano since my audition at Julliard 13 months ago. This was really the only thing that made me truly happy and I hadn’t felt it in so long. After about a half-hour of playing, Mr. Green came up to me and told me he was closing the store. The old man was gone. I got out of the chair and walked back home. I was content. That night I had a long conversation with my sister (over video chat) and my parents. It felt good to tell them that I was ready to let go of this daily routine of sitting on the prickly green bench. I was ready to move on. The bright blue light of my laptop screen illuminated my face as I was tapping through all the websites to book a flight. I was going to my sister in Washington to visit Puget Sound University. Never in my life had I slept as well as I did that night.
That weekend, I walked over to the brown bench while dragging my indescribably heavy suitcase to visit the man who changed my life. I was so eager to tell him all about the night before, but he wasn’t there. I didn’t know what to do, but it didn’t kill my happiness, so I walked back to the old green prickly bench and instead of sitting on it, my hand lightly tapped the top of it. A taxicab was waiting at a red light a few feet away, so I threw my bags into the back and sat inside.
“Where to?”
“The airport please, I think I’m ready to leave this town”
Digital Media
Before and during the process of developing our short story, we began learning how to use Adobe Illustrator in our Digital Media class. We worked on two projects to build on our skills: a Geometric Light Cover and a project of choice- I chose to create a patch.
Geometric Light Cover
Artist Statement:
Abstract Shapes
In our Digital Media class, we were challenged to create a Geometric Light Cover in Adobe Illustrator that would eventually be transferred to something we could create physically using the laser cutter. We had to create two different designs that would be the same on two sets of individual pieces. We also had the option to adjust the outside edges of the design, so when connected would make an interesting shape. I took this opportunity to play with the different shape tools in Illustrator and the pen tools. For my first design, I made a flower by tracing one petal-looking shape using the pen tool and then option-dragging it to essentially copy and paste multiple petals which I then rotated individually to create a circle. For my second design, I used the ellipse tool to make a variety of sizes and shapes of ellipses and circles, placing them around randomly to create a more abstract look. Lastly, I adjusted the outside edges using the pen tools and direct selection tools so that when the designs were printed and put together they would have a weird, abstract shape.
As this was our first Illustrator project we did in Digital Media after learning how to use it, I value the balance between artistic freedom and restrictions we were given. Although we were able to design our own shapes that could depict anything, we were limited to the same geometric light cover that everyone was making, and we weren’t allowed to adjust the connecting lines on the outside edges, or make too small shapes or lines that would not be recognized by the laser cutter. Although these restrictions made it much more difficult, it was interesting to see if everyone was able to create a piece of art they were proud of that still looked aesthetically pleasing to them.
Illustrator Project- Patch
Artist Statement
Our Beautiful Planet Earth
In our Digital Media class at Freestyle, we were challenged to create a digital piece of art on Adobe Illustrator that will eventually be transformed into a physical piece of art that we would we able to use. Some of our options included t shirts, morrocon lamps, stickers, mobile device engravings, patches, night lights, etc. I thought it would be interesting to make a patch because it is very versatile based on where you can put them. My patch depicts the Earth sitting on top of a sunflower. I created this because when I was a little kid I had a theory that the Earth sat on top of a sunflower and that is where everyone got their energy from. Although this obviously isn’t true, metaphorically it is an interesting image that can relate to current issues we are dealing with the environment. Recently, the media has been conveying many environmental issues as negative in order to establish a sense of urgency so we can learn to take care of our planet. Looking at an image of the Earth on a sunflower evokes positivity and optimism, which is something we need in order to better our planet and continue to take care of it. A sunflower is delicate and beautiful, just like our Earth, and needs to be nourished and taken care of to stay this way or else it may wither.
I valued being able to create a piece of art with almost complete artistic freedom. Not only were we able to choose what kind of physical artwork to make (from a broad selection), we were also able to create a piece of work that depicts whatever we want. This also helped me understand Adobe Illustrator a little better and find what tools I like and dislike using. Through peer and teacher collaboration, I learned a lot more about different tools I hadn’t really used before and I am now a lot more comfortable working with Adobe Illustrator.
Design
During this unit, in Design, we learned the ins and outs of Adobe Illustrator and one and two point linear perspective both digitally and hand-drawn. We also furthered our knowledge of the Elements of Art and Principles of Design, as well as color theory and color schemes.
Colored Pencil Project
We began the Narrative unit with our colored pencil project, which helped us better our understanding of tints, tones, and shades. The assignment was to use colored pencils to showcase the seven elements of art. We were able to use high quality colored pencils and had full freedom to create whatever we wanted based on the elements of art. There were barely any restrictions, so I was challenged to think outside of the box and sketch more complex, abstract ideas.
Visual Narrative
For our primary Narrative project, we created a visual representation of our short story that were separated into two parts: a character and a background. The character consists of five animals of different species that represents five main traits in our main character. The background is a significant scene in our story that we could make more metaphorical and whimsical.
Before the Illustrator process, we compiled images of ideas we had for our background and creature. In order to capture the movement and shape of the creature from different angles to get a more realistic sense, we also photographed people posing as the animals.
Our next step was to actually begin illustrating. We started off with our creature and then our background. Eventually, we put them both together for our final piece.
Artist Statement:
Prickly Green Bench
My short story, Prickly Green Bench, is about an 18-year old taking a gap-year after high school trying to figure out his path in life. He sits on the same green bench outside the Café Rosé every day for hours on end, observing the people in the area; he calls this “people-watching”. This gives himself a sense of hope and comfort because he is very fearful of his future. He eventually meets an older man who people-watches in the same area and learns from his character because this man is essentially an older, wiser, version of himself. My character breaks through and realizes what he wants to do with his life- go to college and play piano- and takes action in order to do so. At the end of the story, he says his last goodbyes to the bench and leaves in a taxi to the airport to start his life. I thought that the green bench in front of the cafe would be an ideal spot to capture as my background.
I built my character using five different types of animal parts to represent five different traits: a turtle shell to represent reserved, an elephant head to represent hopeful, hummingbird wings to represent socially-awkward, praying mantis legs to represent unsatisfied, and cat ears to represent worried. In Adobe Illustrator, I primarily used the pen tool to trace the actual body parts of the animals and for my background I used an image for reference, but mostly freehanded it. I surrounded the cafe and bench with clouds to symbolize how my character is always in his own world, disconnected from the rest of society, going off of the saying, “head in the clouds”. I used linear perspective to show that the cafe and bench is 3D and give it more of a realistic look.