Introduction
Being a Freestyle Academy student, this program unlocks different forms of expression and communication through ways such as art and design. For most projects, we have simple boundaries but not to an extent where they are stifling creativity. Throughout the year, you are introduced to tools and technology that are meant to help you with whatever you choose to create. This is the main thing I value while being part of this community because the possibilities to what you make come to life are endless. My favorite experience so far in my junior year with English and Digital Media has been making music and mashing different songs. As music is a large part of my life, I found this task to be exciting and helped me gain knowledge for my own interests and use.
Haiku
For an English assignment, Freestyle students were asked to produce a haiku relating to the topic they were given, along with taking a supporting picture. Later we learned how to insert our finished pieces into an editing tool called Adobe Premiere Pro. Next, we recorded our audio and added music to fit the mood of our poems. As the topic sentence I was given related to exploring the feeling of humility through the experience of reuniting with an old friend, I took to a different interpretation. The idea behind this poem was for the main character to be revisiting a childhood nature spot, specifically involving a very distinct tree. When reuniting 10 years later, they notice how the environment is not like it had been before. This poem is a small apology and rude awakening of how the negative impacts of climate change and lack of economical protection is affecting the world around us today. My creative intentions in making this Photo Haiku include structure and punctuation. I decided to use this picture of the reddened sun because of the fires from August 2021. This further depicts how negligent we are being when it comes to everything, even to the main necessity we need, being air. I also chose to space out the lines to give more of a dramatic feel and punctuated according to the sentence. Throughout the creation of this, I valued learning new technological techniques and being able to express my creativity in a different way.
Poetry
For this project, we were asked to write and produce our own Free Verse Poem which meant the topics were open to essentially anything. We later chose an image that related to the poem we had written and layered it on text with Adobe Photoshop. Through this experience, the main lesson I learned was patience and resilience.
HER is a free verse poem that is not only about the power and strength of the African woman, but black women as a whole. When I first saw this beautiful piece of artwork, I first noticed the different arrays of sharp colors and simple shapes. From the crescent shapes of their traditional head wraps to the rectangular portions of their bodies, the way the artist included the largest and smallest details clearly contributed to making this portrait unique. When looking into the color scheme, I thought of the bright pigmented paints worn on the African skin during festivities and holidays. But when I saw the women individually in this painting, I saw the main concept of melanated strength. I made sure to vividly include details about the women but as a singular girl to generalize a clear visual for my audience. Throughout this poem, I wanted to convey the message that through a culture filled with despair and hardships, humanity is still possible. In the first stanza, I use imagery to represent the way she carries herself and the way she makes others feel. I purposely used nature to symbolize the stability, vibrancy and life she has inside of her. For the African setting, I use common animals that are specific and important to the native land. When speaking about her personal traits, I purposely describe her hair as wild, as people with this hair texture were considered to be during certain times and even at times today. I called her royalty because when a black girl walks into a room, people stare. Not because there is anything specifically wrong with the girl, but simply because her skin is darker. Like a king or queen, their attention is automatically drawn to the concept of difference. So, I took this piece of knowledge and turned it into something positive, hence the line of, “unofficial royalty”. Overall, when switching techniques, the speaker’s attitude towards her changes to admired to inspired. I wanted to make sure the reader felt affected by this girl but in an encouraging light. I wanted my reader to understand the pain but to be motivated by her calmness and kindness. This is also why I included the line of, “she does not curl up when you scream.” This line exemplifies her inner strength and shows her audience that she is fearless. Ultimately the use of constant end stops and welcoming tones in the poem bring a very sincere feel and makes it easier to relate to. My biggest poetic inspiration was “I Remember the Carrots” by Ada Limon because of how she lineates her poems and the detailed imagery she adds. Although I was absent for the peer review, if I could do something different when responding to the artwork would be to include more about the African heritage and adding rhetorical questions. I feel like this would add another level of conversation to my poem and open up more topics for discussion.
I really value being able to speak and act freely at Freestyle because you get to make your visions come true.
Animation
Being an Animation student at Freestyle has opened up many new possibilities for me and allowed me to experience tools I would not have had access to by going to normal school. At the very beginning, we are taught how to use different applications such as DragonFrame and Photoshop. These are a large part of the creations we produce as long as rely on our natural skills like sketching.
For this animation, I was given the task to create a story merely through repetition and hard work. It was definitely not easy to continuously add something new on the next piece of paper, but in the end, the work was rewarding. Through the use of the Zoetrope, I was able to see my artwork come to life by taking a simple shape (a flower with various colors), and making it unique. Each square by itself would not convey much, but when put together, they all created something beautiful. Seeing this entire process, from the creation of the first square, last square, and final product, all taught me how patience in the process is key.
When instructed to create a 90 frame animation using only paper many possibilities came to mind. For my final idea as it was around Halloween, I chose to make the main character a pumpkin. I used different colored construction paper to make the objects and made sure to place them correctly at every frame. A challenge I had while producing this short film would be steadying the pieces and even having to redo some of the steps.
When I was given the prompt to create a 60 frame story using the program DragonFrame, I was intrigued with the opportunity to express my creativity in a unique manner. I first decided to start off with a simple shape; a circle. Its simplicity gave me more flexibility to form my story. I begin by using vivid colors to create bright illustrations for my circles, which then form into a jellyfish. I also used different tones, such as a light yellow which then changes to a darker yellow. My jellyfish, made of a pink shade with purple spots, begins to move upwards before flying back down and hitting a bone. Despite the 60 frames being a somewhat tedious job, I really feel that I learned how each frame in my flipbook is necessary in order to tell a story. Simple shapes, such as a circle, can then be used to help build a more intricate design, such as a jellyfish. This combined with contrasts in colors helps portray my creative side at its fullest.
For this project, we were asked to make any creation we wanted in any form using around 90 frames. I chose to make a duck out of clay and even followed a tutorial on how to sculpt each piece. I also added a tie and a couple of flowers to give my setting some design and realistic traits. I decided to bring this idea to life because I wanted to challenge myself and try a new concept. Throughout this process, I had a couple of setbacks which included pieces of my character breaking off various times. Instead of trying to fix them every few frames, I decided to use this to make my Animation unique and full of twists.
My vision behind my phenakistoscope project was women empowerment. I included various African American women with flowers and birds in their connective hair for my main concept. I chose these specific details to depict warm kindness while being strong and powerful. As this was my first time doing a project like this, it was challenging to draw every frame again without the assistance of a lightboard. However, the best part of bringing my creation to life was the small details such as color pattern and overall theme. If I could have another attempt at this same project, I would have used different lining tools to prevent bleeding colors.