Introduction
The Visual Narrative unit was where students got to learn about story writing, narrative building, and putting together creative pieces of art and be able to use creativity. Using programs like Adobe Illustrator, and Pro Tools. We even produced short stories whilst having a better understanding of how stories are structured. As someone who is extremely passionate about storytelling and working on my own immersive stories outside of school, it was a different approach to have to produce a smaller story. The Illustrator Project was by far my highlight. I was able to do drawings of my choice and I always looked forward to coming to class just to work on that project.
Story
In English we worked on original short stories, creating characters, and telling their story within. We also did audio versions of the story as well as cover art. Given my short story being more direct I had to work with two different voices to produce more intimidating tones during their argument.
Illustrations
My favorite part of the Narrative unit. We used Adobe Illustrator to create a project of our choice, and I chose to make stickers of my own characters.
Artist Statement:
For my project I made stickers of original characters I have created from my own original webcomic. I was super excited about the whole idea of this project because I got to create something that means so much to me. I used the original drawings of the original characters I had before and simplified them into a style called “chibi” where characters are simplified down in a small and cute style. The main difficulty I encountered was that Illustrator was new for me. I’ve only ever used one digital art program and this was the first time I was exposed to a newer one. It took time getting used to the tools but once I did finishing the last few characters was easy. I can’t think of anything I’d change because I am very proud of the entire outcome, being able to capture the original traits of each character, and I believe the artwork and poses they were in can say a lot about who they are. I feel now I have a great understanding of how Illustrator works and can now utilize it just fine, so I can easily produce more pieces in the future.
Music Production
Pro Tools was the common software being used during music production. Using the different sound and recording tools the software had to offer.
My parody song was of the strange life that can be found in high school whilst being a parody of the song: “Life Will Change” from Persona 5. With the tune of Life Will Change that I am very familiar with I made fun of all tropes of high school into one parody song.
Design
During Design we learned how to use Illustrator, and for the first project we put together a linear perspective version of our room. This is what my room looks like when recreated in Illustrator.
Using Adobe Illustrator, I put together a creature design based off the character I had made for my English Story
Artist Statement: My short story, Overtime, was about a busy hardworking student by the name of Riley. Riley never takes time off or takes breaks, and spends way too much time working, thus making him aggressive and hostile when someone doesn’t do what he wants or tells him to take it easy. He thinks he can handle everything just fine, but he doesn’t take good care of himself.
I created this piece using Adobe Illustrator, and put together a hybrid of the Mosasaurus, bee, chameleon, lion, and cockatoo. Each one of these animals represents a trait of Riley’s. The Mosasaurus, being a very aggressive aquatic creature, represents Riley’s more direct side, and doesn’t care about what he says as long as he gets his point across. The bee is a very busy insect and never stops at its work. This is just like the loop Riley has gotten himself in by working far too much nonstop. Chameleons are reptiles that can change their color to adapt to their surroundings. Riley’s case is more stubborn. He has adapted to his lifestyle a little too much and made that his entire life. He refuses to “change color” or tweek his lifestyle and continues to remain the same. Lions are powerful animals that can represent leadership. Riley is his own leader and his alone. He may even boss others around, such as his roommate, Wilfred. Cockatoos are very noisy birds, similar to how Riley gets very loud when he’s frustrated. The background resembles the deep sea or underwater. This can be symbolism for Riley being lost in a sea of endless work and refusing to rise to the surface to give himself a break, and isn’t doing any good for himself. The cave can also represent his desire to not leave behind his decision to keep at his work. His seclusion from everything else life has to offer but he refuses to take it. The corral and the other fish represent the opportunities he has to break free of his loop and live a normal life. The beautiful and fun opportunities but yet he refuses, that’s why the creature is facing deeper into the cave as if it’s heading in deeper to isolate itself more and more. The linear perspective of the cave was tricky in how I had to use perspective to organize the corral and the seaweed, though it did come out very well. The algae growing in the cave I feel really represents the isolation concept I had going for the background. I’m proud of how I added texture to the creature and how I detailed the background. I really like how realistic the fish came out and I think adds a lot more character to the background.