Introduction
Throughout this unit, students were challenged to learn and explore ways to answer the question ” who am I?” with the techniques and software that we learn. In Digital Media, students were challenged to express ourselves by incorporating and finding our individual artistic preferences and styles in Mandalas, Photo editing using Adobe Photoshop, and so on. In Animation, we were introduced to new 3D modeling software such as ZBrush and Maya, in order to create our own characters with our mind. In English, we were challenged to utilize ‘words’ as a way to express ourselves throughout the writing process of multiple essays. From this unit, I was able to reflect and reconnect with myself in numbers of ways by rediscovering what my preferences and styles are in terms of art and writing.
In English class, we students were assigned to list out 10 things that holds value to our lives as a way to practice expressing ourselves.
“10 things” list assigned from the English course:
-Kafka on the Shore novel( my favorite book)
-The smile ring( given to me by my father)
-Dizi flute(my hobby)
-Art Museum pamphlets( My current goal is to become a museum curator)
– A name badge from Koebi-Tai( When I volunteered at the Setouchi Triennale Art Festival
-Fish Ring( my friend gave me)
-Hakama( when I practiced Kyudo( Japanese Archery))
-Copy of Family collection of a book by Hosui Yamamoto( my Japanese heritage)
-an “eye” from Greece( a charm that reflects bad luck)
-Catholic bracelet( from my mother)
Mandala Project
In this project, we learned the use of Illustrator in order to explore the production of our own Mandalas. Throughout the production process, I was able to play around with the brush textures, patterns, and colors of my preference to come up with the final product.
Black and White Mandala:
Laser Engraved Mandala:
Colored Mandala:
Mandala Reveal Video:
Mandala Artist Statement:
Title: Fluidity
Throughout the process of creating the black and white/colored mandala, I noticed myself valuing a free and a rather order-less expression as I created the shapes and designs using a rough brush. Unlike a classical mandala where specific and simple geometric shapes were used and overlapped to create patterns, I decided to not use any simple geometric shapes, and I utilized different brush strokes to create a more hand-painted-like texture and roughness to my product. I also wanted to incorporate dynamics within the mandala, so I managed to overlap strokes for darker intensity for some areas, while other areas were kept blank.
Because creating a personal mandala was a completely new experience for me, I was able to re-discover and acknowledge my “tendencies” as a person. Reflecting back to the overarching question “ Who am I?”, I learned that I tend to be more dynamically fluid and intuitive, and also constructive in a way that I built the mandala and kept on constructing layers and layers on top to create the final piece. This was an interesting assignment to work on, especially with the freedom we were given to truly show our personalities in a piece of work.
This I Believe Opinion Video Production
In this project, we students were first assigned to write an essay on one thing or a concept that we value throughout our lives using the techniques that we obtained from the book College Essay Essentials. I chose to write about my Japanese art/cultural Heritage through my experience at the Setouchi Triennale Art Festival volunteering last year. Then, we utilized our techniques that we learned from Digital Media in order to use Adobe Aftereffects to edit a video that corresponds with the voice-recorded version of our final essay. I felt that it was most challenging for me to express my essay visually and verbally(tone), rather than simply writing an essay without any of the other elements.
This I Believe Opinion Video Final Product:
AM English 4
8/31/20
Within the Ocean’s Depths
I believe in the Dolphin Man.
As I grew up in Japan, my mother, once a scuba diving instructor in Hawaii, used to tell many stories about the legends of Jacques Mayol, a french free diver who held multiple world records in free diving. Jacques Mayol was also known as the Dolphin man, as he was more fondly attached to marine animals than humans. Well known for his philosophy that “All Life is interconnected,” he wished for humans to stop prioritizing themselves over the environment and creatures.
Occasionally, my mother would explain how diving deep into the ocean can affect divers like Jacques Mayol. She told me that, in the ocean’s depths, the diver feels the water surrounding her skin differently, like a dense, creamy substance, and she is slowly engulfed until she no longer senses a physical boundary between herself and the ocean. I am left bewildered to this day by what “losing boundaries” might sound, look, or feel like.
Last summer in Japan, I had a boundary-dissolving experience through a volunteer program to support preparations for the Setouchi Triennale Art Festival. Prior to the trip, I was afraid of entering an unfamiliar, solitary environment. To make clear, this fear of solitude had always existed within me. I felt it as I moved to the US, leaving my friends and family behind. I felt it as I experienced cultural differences and found language as my barrier. In the end, I managed to deliver myself to the shrine with the fear lingering within me—until a change of weather arrived.
One day, I visited an island named Ogijima. A storm was coming, and the heavy rain sounded extremely appealing. With no map, I wandered through the steep, slippery streets, until I found a small public library.
I stayed inside the library for hours, waiting for the rain to stop, but as I read books, I forgot about the rain, the time, the island, and the last ship. The stillness of the library did not leave me in a deep thought, as I felt an intimacy with Ogijima and its heavy rains.
Leaving the library for the port, I discovered that I missed the scheduled ship. Luckily, I did not miss the last ship. As the rain washed out the sounds, I thought to myself how, as I saw visitors and locals enjoying and living in the islands, I did not feel the loneliness that I was expecting going into the trip, but rather, a sense of solidarity.
Waiting there in the rain for the last ship, I realized that the solitude I felt for years was a misapprehension that served as a shield for me. Like Jacques Mayol, there are people who solemnly live encircling the ideology of “losing boundaries,” in which inseparableness does in fact exist. As I drive myself to achieve independence, I am beginning to recognize that I am actually not independent but instead intricately tied to my surroundings, part of a totality without limit.
Reflection: My peers advised me to simplify and shorten the overall essay, not only because it was over the word limit, and also told me to focus on a single belief rather than multiple. I ended up cutting words and details out of the essay to meet the word count, and I tried to also limit down my belief to one. However, I am still unsure if the details that I deleted has caused the essay to be more concise, or the opposite.
This I Believe Opinion Video Production Process
Photoshop Art Production
In this project, we were assigned to create multiple edited pictures and designs using Adobe Photoshop, in order to explore new digital media techniques that may come into use in the future. From this project, I was able to learn more about the use of Photoshop in order to produce something creative in the future in a more efficient and professional way.
Photoshop Painting:
Photoshop Painting Artist Statement
Title: At Rest
For this assignment, students were challenged to demonstrate the use of Photoshop and the different techniques learned in class, in order to create a final product that represents individual style and artistry. As I worked with Photoshop and explored through different brushes and effects, I was able to rediscover my preferences and tendencies as an artist. It was first a challenge for me to efficiently use the pastel and watercolor brushes, as I preferred to use solid pens for a rough stroke. However, as soon as I was able to adjust the brushes, I grew more comfortable with the soft tone that the brushes create. If I were to change anything for my project, I would apply the use of watercolor brushes more, because I only used a mixture of pens and pastel color brushes. From my final product, I am most proud of how I scaled the drawing to fit within the canvas, and the overall proportions. In the future, I plan to challenge myself to continue exploring through different brushes and textures, similarly to how I was able to do so in this project. Lastly, this project allowed me to acknowledge the diversity of other artist’s styles and tones of art through a mere difference of brush types.
Photoshop Photo Conversions: For this project, we learned the use of Photoshop extension techniques, ‘water coloring effect’ that we will be able to apply in the future. As a practice, I used 3 of my original photos in order to practice applying the effect and adjusting the picture on Photoshop. We also learned the use of photo conversions, where I used various pictures and used parts of each of the pictures in order to convert and produce a single photoshopped picture( The cat and the red triangle picture displayed at the bottom).
Photoshop Conversion Artist Statement:
Title: Above Air
For this assignment, students were challenged to learn the necessary techniques of converging various photos in order to create a final product using Adobe Photoshop. This project was challenging for me in a way that I am not as familiar of using Photoshop to create an artwork using solemnly pictures, instead of drawing and painting digitally on Photoshop. I chose to take different objects that I had photographed in the past and editing each of the objects with Photoshop to add to the background picture that I took on the plane. I am satisfied with the final product, because I was able to cleanly edit the objects into the background photo to make it look so that the objects are floating in air.
Photoshop 360 Art Production: For this project, students learned to produce a 360 VR image using Photoshop.
This is an image of the practice 360 VR image that I created using Photoshop.
360 Art- in progress(due Friday)
English Honors
In this class, we were challenged to study in depth of the different styles and techniques of writing used by professional writers in order to express themselves. For the Memoir Essay project, we chose a memoir by a writer of our choice to study and analyze the writing techniques used by the writer, and produce an essay that carefully shows the connections between the techniques and the writer’s communication of his/her/their message. For the Lyrical Essay Study, we are assigned to write an essay on an individual research of a topic of our choice, while incorporating lyrical essay writing techniques.
Memoir Essay: in process of revising-
Lyrical Essay Study: Ongoing-
Animation
In Animation, students were challenged with the new 3D software, ZBrush and Maya, in order to obtain skillsets to create environments, objects, and also sculpt our own character. From this unit, I was able to learn new techniques that is applied in a professional world in digital art today, which could become in use in the future. Furthermore, I enjoyed the process of experimenting with designing my own character concepts and sculpting a 3D model of it for a final product, which is displayed below.
Concept Design Character Making: Ongoing-
Environment Modeling Rendering Greek Temple
Prop Modeling / Rendering Fire Hydrant
Digital Sculpting / Rendering Human Skull
Digital Sculpting / Rendering Head Bust
Digital Sculpting / Rendering Game Weapon Design
Production Process
