Narrative 2

Introduction

Our Narrative Unit is definitely one of the biggest we have had. First, we wrote a research essay in first semester about any current world issue of our choosing. Then, in English, we got into groups and created worlds with characters and plots that could possible be inspired by our research essays. Our Elective and Digital Media projects were also based off of what we made in our world building groups

English

Above is my personal research essay, where I did research on over the counter birth control. I weighed the pros and cons. On one hand, periods can be debilitating to women, and it is better they have easy access to birth control, but on the other hand, birth control can come with severe side effects and could need a doctor consultation before access.

In Digital Media, I then made a Surrealist Composition based on my research. The cage is protecting the dove from the storm of flowers, but it is also trapping the dove, showing how birth control is a double edged sword.

Here afterwards is where my group and I presented our Worldbuilding Project, which ended up not having anything to do with my research essay:

Digital media

IIn Digital media, we used Photoshop to blend two images together. They were supposed to be funny, and I unfortunately forgot to make them funny, but I still like the outcome.

Our largest project, however, was the 3d art project. I drew out the layers for my wood ring on Illustrator, and then used a laser to get them carved into wood, before manually assembling the art piece together.

Here is also a Timelapse of my process:

I also later uploaded all the layers to Adobe After Effects and turned it into a 3d model I could animate

Design

In design we had many fun projects. The first one doesn’t have anything to do with world building, we just had to create a logo for any product of our choosing. My product is children’s multivitamins. I chose to create this product due to wanting my logo and label design to be more cartoonish and goofy. Most items designed for children will have those qualities to make it more appealing. I specifically chose to design multivitamins because I like their taste. My “mascot” is a cartoon owl because of how children are more drawn to simple shapes. The owl is also superhero-themed because I liked the idea of taking the vitamins to get a “boost in power.” Also, superheroes appeal to most children, no matter their age or gender. I used big, bold letters for the font to match the style of superhero comics. The color palette includes red, blue, and yellow—primary colors thatI associate with Superman.

To design the label, I first sketched the idea on paper, then uploaded it to Illustrator and traced over it with the pen tool to clean it up. The hardest part was adding the shadows because I had to be precise with their shape and placement. After finishing the design, I went to Placeit.com to create mockups for the product and merchandise. For the merch, I picked generic items like a mug and a tote bag because they’re items both kids and the adults buying the product can use.

Afterward, we started two projects that directly correlate with world building: the book jacket and the movie poster.

The story my poster is based on is about a girl who lives on a ruined Earth, filled with natural disasters and overgrown toxic plants. The more fortunate humans on Earth have evacuated to Mars and completely left Earth behind. She and her friends set off on a mission to bridge the divide between Earth and Mars to save their planet for good. In the story, there is a scene where they sneak off to Mars on a cargo ship, which is the inspiration for my poster, where the main character is standing in a cargo ship, holding a flower with magical properties that greatly aids the main characters on their journey.

For my book jacket, I wanted all of the four protagonists on the cover, but also for it to be on the more simplistic side, so I chose to have silhouettes to everyone in the cover.

I used Adobe Illustrator to make my poster. I started with a rough sketch to block out where things would be. Then, using the pen tool, I traced and refined the rough sketch, with the end goal of making it resemble a cartoon poster. After adding base colors, I added shading to make sure the viewer can tell the location in the poster is a dark room. To do this, I looked up many reference images so that I could properly draw light and shadows in appropriate areas.

Before this project, I rarely drew backgrounds for art pieces, so the poster was a challenging new experience. It was difficult to find a way to make the subject “blend” with the background, but what helped was making sure that light and shadows fell in the right way, bringing everything together.

For my movie poster, I wanted to emulate cartoon posters, so I decided to draw the central character in a cartoony artstyle 

Both my movie and book posters are in very different art styles, but they were both equally fun to create. I heavily enjoyed trying new things in art.