Introduction

This unit occurred during senior college app season, and college apps require a lot of reflection when writing essays. At Freestyle we practiced reflecting on ourself through different projects. I believe this unit helped me prepare for college apps and helped me improve my essays.

Art Curation for Personal Museum

Within the first month of the school year, Freestyle went on a class field trip to the SFMOMA. While visiting we got to explore the museum and look/interact with all the amazing work displayed. We where assigned to take images of 3 pieces of art you liked and 2 pieces of art that didn’t particularly interest us. The pieces of art that I chose where colorful, detailed, and dimensional.

How has your own work as an artist and your own criticism of your artwork influenced your choices about which pieces made your Personal Museum and which pieces didn’t make the cut?

I personally like artwork that is color and artwork that is neat. I like when it expresses a positive emotion and I like when it is somewhat simple. When art is messy or all over the place it can make me feel anxious and confused. The pieces that I chose to include in my personal museum represent colorful and simple art and the pieces that didn’t make the cut I consider messy and boring. 

My Personal Mandalas

Black and White Mandala | Artist Statement

I created a 12 slice mandala through Adobe Illustrator. In order to help me create the mandala I used images from the internet. The images helped me draw the surfboard, the seashells, the dolphin, and more. Also as I drew my mandala, I decided to use the wacom tablet because it allowed me to draw lines more smoothly. I found using the wacom tablet very helpful when drawing more detailed objects.

I decided to center my mandala around the beach and ocean because it is one of my favorite places. When starting off, I first drew a sun and from there I was able to figure out what other objects I wanted to draw.

After using the wacom tablet, I realized that I was able to draw my design much easier. Even though the tablet was hard to get used to at first, it helped me draw my mandala a lot easier in the end. Being able to successfully use the wacom tablet allowed me to confirm my technical and artistic skills. I think the best part of my mandala is my surfboard drawing. I really like how the design turned out and it was really fun to draw using the wacom tablet.

Colored Mandala | Artist Statement

After creating my BW Mandala, I then used Illustrator to also color the Mandala. This piece is different from my BW mandala because it is more visually appealing. My printed BW Mandala is on wood from a tree trunk, and my colored Mandala is on MDF wood. When first seeing my printed colored mandala I was super satisfied. It was rewarding to see something I had spent time working on in physical form.

My intention with the color scheme was to continue to build on the coastal theme. I decided to make my mandala based on the beach and ocean because it is one of my favorite places. When starting to color my mandala I decided to use blue colors as well as pastels. I was happy with the colors I chose besides the yellow. The color that came out on the printed mandala didn’t fit the exact color from the illustrator which somewhat affected the color scheme. I think working with color changed my artistic technique because I was able to color continuously off of what I believe best fit my color scheme. I was able to choose what my color scheme wanted to be and that helped my mandala feel cohesive. The coloring process was really fun!

My favorite part of my colored mandala is the surfboard. I really like the way the illustration turned out when I made the BW Mandala and I think I did a good job coloring the surfboard in a creative way. In conclusion, I am really happy with the result of my BW and colored mandala. Besides changing the yellow background to the surfboard, I wouldn’t have done the process any differently. This project was really fun and I really enjoyed it!

Mandala Build Reveal Video

Mandala Project Reflection

I was amazed when first seeing my engraved mandala. It was really rewarding to see something you designed online in physical form. After looking at my engraved mandala, I think that the physical artwork matched my imagined digital artwork really well. I think the engravings looked clean.

I decided to choose the tree trunk with bark as my material because I really liked the appearance of it. I liked how this material was thick and it seemed like a material that wouldn’t break. I also liked how this material has interesting detail with the bark. After completing the mandala project, I am satisfied. I am really happy with how my mandala turned out and I think this project was super fun. It was really relaxing designing my mandala and then it was exciting when we got to color it. Finally, when seeing my laser engraved mandala I was super happy with the result and I was able to see my work pay off.

After this project I plan to use the skills I learned to continue to improve my artwork in the classroom. I was able to become a lot more comfortable with illustrators through this process and I believe that will help me later in Digital Media. After doing this project, it allowed me to understand how much time it takes to create artwork, though also how rewarding it is when you are done.

Film

In the film reflections unit, we were assigned to make a film about ourselves. We we asking to film b-roll and then put a voice recording over the film. This project was challenging at first when trying to decide on my topic, but I enjoyed the process and I got to learn more about myself.

For my reflections film I decided to focus on a passion of mine, running. I had my dad and friend help me record the b-roll and then I later recorded my voice over in the studio. My film is about experiencing runners high and how it makes me feel. I am glad we started the year with this assignment because it allowed me to challenge myself due to this being an individual project.

Class Exercise