Welcome to my page! I am Ibby and here at Freestyle, I am a first year senior taking English, Digital Media, and Film. Being at Freestyle made me wish that I was here for the full two year ride but alas, I can’t go back in time.
My passions include watching anime and reading manga and light novels. I just generally read a lot of books. I also take pride in my ancestral roots in Chinese culture as Chinese history is extremely intriguing to me.
Zenith Project
Although I don’t believe its the best I have done in terms of quality, this project means a lot to me. My project was to take anime styles and scenes and adapt them to the live-action medium. Below you can watch the short I created.
Although there is not too much to it and camera technique is not great. The main point of putting this project as part of this showcase is because it shows how meticulous of an editor I can be despite not having the greatest footage to work with and also understanding the style of the director. When you see the shots of the main subject’s walking legs, I edited the original scene to add those shots.
Photoshop Surreal Composition
This Photoshop Surreal Composition photo is definitely the work I am most proud of.
Dragon’s Mountain’s core is the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in China. Nature in China is one of my favorite things about this planet and when I think of nature in China, I think of the Zhangjiajie Mountains and Guyun Stone Forest. I chose the Zhangjiajie mountains as the background because the mountains feel very mystical in nature. I then added the Chinese dragon to represent Chinese mythology. Chinese dynasties would always use dragons to symbolize their authority, but more specifically, the emperor’s authority. In the picture, the Dragon is the Emperor of the mountain and with the addition of the characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender, travelers are introduced. Avatar characters were chosen specifically because many of the mountain settings were based off of the Zhangjiajie mountains, so naturally they blended extremely well with the background. At the bottom of the picture is a Buddha head to represent ancient history tapping into tradition that hasn’t changed for thousands of years, just like the long-lived Dragon of the mountain.
The most challenging part of making this was fusing the dragon behind the trees. I had to zoom in really deep and point out every pixel that should be dragon or should be tree. It felt like a waste of time doing every single pixel, but my meticulousness wouldn’t let me skimp out on it.
Reflection of Growth
My time at Freestyle helped me grow immensely as an individual. Freestyle was a place that didn’t tell me I had to “make that using this format” but rather told me “make whatever you want as long as it fills the core requirements.” It pushed me to think critically and creatively. I can’t draw whatsoever. My hand-eye coordination is extremely bad, but using Photoshop didn’t require me to be able to draw. Using Photoshop is something that I want to continue to use in the future. The meticulous usage of all the tools just engages me for reasons unknown. During the Freestyle Exhibition, I actually talked to Vladimir Zaystev, a Freestyle Graduate from its first year, and I learned that his professional work uses hundreds to thousands of layers which simply amazes me. I grew a lot both as an artist and an individual and I will never forget the experience Freestyle provided me for the rest of my life. Although I plan on studying Business in college, I still will keep Freestyle-related courses in mind.