Explorations
“How can you find, explore, and/or expand your passion?”
An interesting question. But first, what exactly is it that I’m so passionate about, something that’s so important that I would want to create for my final project of my Junior year at Freestyle. In Animation this year, we were taught important aspects of animation and illustrations. The foundations on what we needed to build onto that. But this time, we could take the initiative and decide what we wanted to do. Anything we wanted to create. So what would I make for this important project? Well, it’s quite an easy, and simple answer, a comic.
I already came up with a simple plan, the characters, the plot, everything. I had my mind set on this, as I’ve been dying to make some sort of comic for years now, and I could finally do that. But why do I want to make a comic so bad? It’s because ever since I was a kid, I always loved going to the library, reading the comic books like Amulet, Dork Diaries, or even Smile. Both the stories and characters were interesting, to watch them grow and interact with many characters in a whole other fictional world. I would be so immersed in fantasy comics, that even now, I still read them, just the WEBTOON versions. Many being romance, or comedy, fantasy, or modern. I love it all, especially when the art is amazing, and I get to appreciate the artist behind the work.
I had to do some research on how to start the comic, by figuring out the dimensions of the canvas, how I wanted to make the panels, and add the text with fonts that actually look like from a comic. I used procreate on my Ipad throughout the entire process, figuring the storyboard, and making the sketches, which were harder than I expected since with a bigger canvas, it gives you less layers to use.
At the end of the day…
I’ve learned that it’s highly recommended you actually plan out STEP by STEP on your ideas and panels, leading up to specific moments. I didn’t do that with my storyboard, since I actually wrote it instead of drawing it. Also, make sure you manage your time well, something that was challenging for me considering I had upcoming finals, and my Ipad would also die a lot when working for long hours at a time. But I am actually proud of this project, even if it wasn’t much that I could get done. I finally got to make one of my dreams come true in making (at least part of) a comic! I hope to do more projects similar to this in the future.
Below is my Explorations Presentations!
Music Recording
For our Music Recording Project, we were tasked to work as a group to create and produce a song of our choice. The group members that worked on this project are Mason Serna, Cam Munoz, and Orlando Morales. We chose September by Earth, Wind & Fire as the song to produce the track. For the recording portion, Mason would sing the first couple verses, then the three of us would sing the middle beat drop. Afterwards, Cam would sing the third verse, which would transition to the final beat drop. We took three different takes, which would be later combined in editing.
The three of us all sang, however we split the jobs to make the work load more comprehensible. Orlando took the role of editing together the clips and making the final version of the song through ProTools, Mason took the role of creating the album art using Photoshop and pre-production, and Cam took the role of being the third singer in the group.
Overall, the group had fun working together as a group and generally had a great time creating the song. While the final product isn’t perfect, the project came from a place of genuine care and passion. The project wouldn’t be as it is without the three hard workers who produced the song.
Below is the Process Shot in ProTools
English Poem
As a final project in English for our Poetry unit, I decided to use one of my first poems created from our first workshop with an amazing poet; Christine Moore. We made poems based on articles given to us, and by chance, I got a article that spoke a lot about politics, especially with situations happening now from the past few months. And though I don’t speak much about politics, nor do I wish to dive too deep, I wrote a poem based on how I viewed our system.
Realizing what my first article poem turned out to be, I went back to it, revising and adding more lines so I can use it for our Explorations poems. I made it into a statement, a call for help, and a call to stand back up. To everyone and anyone, because it really is time to wake up. I wanted and felt like I needed to put effort into this, after all, I care for the place I live in and for the future of what’ll become. And I can say with a genuine smile, I’m proud of my work, even if it was on a topic I don’t speak much on.
“Downfall”
The economy’s in shamblesMoney is Painite
In a diamond Cove,
Debts grow
Expenses Rise
Our people suffer
Here & there,
No one’s safe.
Women’s rights.
Disappearing
Our bodies are
No longer ours.
The economy’s in shambles
As if time
Is moving backwards
It’s time to wake up,
Take what is
Ours
For if no one stands
Our downfall will come
And history repeats
Audio Portion
