Reflect. Look in the mirror. Look into your past. How have you changed? Are you the person your past self hoped you would be? There are many questions to ask yourself when reflecting. There are no wrong questions or answers. It is a question about your journey as a person. No matter where you are, it is always humbling to see how far you have come.
Mandala
I loved Adobe Illustrator last year, and it was just as great this year. Being able to create one stroke and have it be mirrored in a circle was so cool. You could make anything look good because of the symmetry. It was such a fun time to experiment with how things mirrored and be a bit abstract. This was definitely a project I will not forget.
Black and White
My original idea for the black and white mandala was symbols of human greed, so I put symbols of cards such as the spade, club, heart, and diamond, to represent gambling. Unfortunately, that file was lost, so I had to restart. I decided to go for a more abstract look and had a lot of fun with the symmetry tool. I decided to go for a more chaotic, wild look on the outside because I wanted the center to be really detailed but the outside to be less defined.
Color
I had a lot more fun with the color mandala because I experimented with brushes and different colors. I also added a glow effect to add more interest. I also like this one because it’s a bit less detailed and not so hard on the eyes. I also like how it stands out against the black background. I’m really happy with how this came out.
Laser Engraved
I really like how this physical product turned out. It’s so satisfying to be able to touch something you made instead of just seeing pixels on a screen. Plus, products made out of wood or similar materials are just nice to feel either way. I do not know what I might use this for, but I am happy with it.
Process Video
In this video, you can see the mandala come together piece by piece digitally. It is very satisfying to see it become more and more detailed.
Photoshop Art
Learning more photoshop skills this unit was enjoyable. I would say the best ones were when we got to create our own original art such as in the pastel and watercolor projects. The surreal composition was still fun, but I did not get the same feeling of accomplishment since I took the images off the internet.
Pastel
I wanted to take a photo that I used for a project last year and make it into my pastel painting. I chose a photo that I took in New York that I used for my Haiku video. I’m not sure if I followed the assignment directions as closely as I should have here, as a lot of this was just blending. I think the actual pastel relies less on the type of blending I used. I would say my favorite part of the piece was the water, I think it shows the lighting of the original photo really well. I like the way the dark buildings contrast with the light sky as well. I also think the buildings shapes are fairly well translated while being a bit abstract. I’m not super happy with how this came out, but it’s not terrible visually, it just doesn’t look pastel-like.
Watercolor
Shivers
I was inspired by one of my favorite games, Celeste, to create this watercolor painting. I put the game’s protagonist, Madeline, in front of mountains, with her hands in her pocket to show how cold she is. I especially like the effect I did with the splatters to show the snow. The ice mountains were also fun to create because they contrast with the dark sky. The purple clouds represent the other part of her which is like a much darker version of her that tries to stop her from climbing.
Surreal Composition
The Beginning of Heaven
I was inspired by seasonal forests, specifically fall colored leaves, to create this composition. I thought warm sunset colors would pair well with the trees, so I added that too. My vision was to have a nation in the sky, but it is somewhat difficult to see that in my piece as I was unable to show the floating islands. The capitol building in the background is simply a placeholder for marble buildings, which I imagine this nation to have many of those. You can also see a mountain in the background, which is a neighboring nation. You can reach that nation by gondola. My final touch to this piece was to add a stylized effect by using the oil paint filter on everything. I am overall very pleased with how this came out, as the trees seem to resemble fire, and the piece looks a lot better with the filter.
Personal Essay
My personal essay is all about learning to grow without giving up. I’ve been working towards this goal for all my life, and honestly, I’m still learning it. I just wanted to reflect on how I’ve grown over the years. I personally think I’ve grown a lot.
Hanging off an edge in a glacier in Höfn, I wondered if I should have taken the easier path. I looked across at the pale ice that stretched onto the skyline, and then down below at my friends. My arms ached from driving the pickaxe into the ice and pulling myself up. What I did next was completely unexpected, given what I used to be like.
As a child, I liked to draw animals. I was inspired by my grandpa, an artist who specialized in landscapes. He was proud of me, but I wasn’t good enough for myself. When I would draw a cat in my sketchbook and I made one of the legs too long, I would get upset. If I was writing, every letter had to look immaculate. I would always compare myself to others, and when a challenge loomed in front of me, I would give up.
I started coding in 4th grade with a website called Scratch, a block-based programming language for beginners. In the first game I coded, you played as a chef pig who owned a pizza restaurant. I enjoyed making it. My classmates said I was talented, but there were other people who were better at animating and coding than me. I wanted to prove myself in a competition in 6th grade, but I ended up trying to add too many features and did not finish the project in time.
In 7th grade, I decided to try a new hobby: video editing. I made my videos about a niche video game called abs0rb. I would record myself playing, edit the footage, and upload it to YouTube. By late 2018, I became one of the most popular content creators in this small community. It still wasn’t enough for me, though. There were still people who made more impressive content, so I started to lose motivation.
In Sophomore year, I was determined to find a way to reversealter this self-fulfilling prophecy of failure. I turned back to video editing, this time with a specific objective: to create two videos a week. The goal was to make something on a regular basis and learn from my mistakes, going against my previous idea that only flawless work can be published. Having low view counts did not stop me from wanting to improve.
Now my mindset was to not give up so easily. My resolve was tested as I entered Freestyle Academy, a special program for students who wanted to learn how to communicate ideas through media, with a focus on digital creation. Almost everyone there had been practicing art for years. How could I compete against them? But then I remembered, the goal was not to be the best, but to grow. Mistakes led to new ideas; for instance, in Animation, a cat turned into a skeleton!
It wasn’t just Freestyle that helped me change. I also had great friends there who taught me these lessons. These friends, who are passionate story writers interested in character designing and world building, are constantly revising their work. Their ability to celebrate mistakes and keep going inspired me. As we approach our world-building unit in English, my goal is to bring back a story I scrapped a few years ago. It won’t be perfect, but I’m sure I will improve it.
Now when faced with a challenge or failure, I don’t give up. Instead, I take a step back, look at what I did wrong, and keep going. On that icy cliffside, I didn’t have anyone to look to. I used my remaining strength to drive those pickaxes into the ice and pulled myself to the top. The only way to learn is through your mistakes. Instead of asking yourself if you’ll fail, instead ask, how much can you learn?
Film
Looking back, I’m not sure if my reflections really portrayed the message I was hoping for, but it’s fine. I was writing a script meaning to talk about a journey and I tried to write it so it was both about a game and myself, but I don’t think it really worked. It kind of came off as weird and confusing in my opinion. Also, the mountain was supposed to be a metaphor for mental health but I’m not sure if that worked either. I think the part I was most proud of is how I was able to clone myself in the mirror. I think that was a cool effect.