Introduction
In this Visual Narrative section of Freestyle, we were challenged to tell stories through our art. In these different projects we learned a variety of modern professional equipment and applications such as Wacom Digital Drawing Pads, lighting equipment, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Animate, Adobe Premiere Pro and Adobe After Effects. This section was a lot of fun and allowed me to show my creativity and learn a ton in the process.
Story
In our English class, we were tasked to write a Flash Fiction Short Story. While writing our stories, there was a lot of emphasis on “Show don’t tell”. This made us take certain extra steps to be clear and show the readers what is happening in their minds. After writing it, we had to record ourselves reciting the story, and then edit in SFX and different audio files to add to the story. We used Pro Tools and this also helped us better express the locations/sounds in our stories. I valued creating the audio version a lot because it adds a lot of the choice and people can choose if they want to listen to or read my work.
Phoenix
Phoenix
Lester lays, reclined in the chair, the cool light spilling into the room. He remains, and his eyes gently blink to wake himself up. Eventually, his rough fingers grab onto the armrests and he pushes himself out of the chair. His legs creak as he gently straightens and bends them again. His rough skin and wrinkles on his face create hills and valleys on his face, his crows feet and smile lines lit up by the light coming in through the windows. Mr. Springfield was once a man full of life, but now, at age 67, his dark bags and pale face, suffer the consequences of spending his days inside. Like a stagnant pool during winter time, he lingers, looking out the window, past the red bricks of his apartment in rural New York. The leaves on the trees are no longer green, and the streets are getting filled with the leaves that have dropped recently. The trees line the streets, and every apartment has a concrete staircase leading up to their door.
Today, he watches as many cyclists and people pass by. He sees one family in particular that catches his eye. A young child is wobbling around, mesmerized by the bright red leaves. The child wanders forwards with his head looking up at the trees. The kid’s mouth hangs open, his cheeks pink and eyes full of wonder. He stops moving, almost suspended in time for a few seconds, unable to look away. The parents’ faces then suddenly drop in shock as the child’s face collides with a rough tree. Lester lets out a chuckle as the parents swarm the kid. His eyes follow the kid longingly, briefly reminded of his childhood. Then, as if medusa struck, his face turns to stone and he walks away.
As he slowly makes his way over past the kitchen, he glances at the table, a clean, empty, surface. The cool air sends a shiver through him as he walks in the hallway. He wanders to his room and as he takes a step towards the dresser, he loses his footing and barely grabs onto the mattress in time. He tries to control his fall, his upper body collapsing on the mattress, but his knees still knock the ground. Harsh pain shoots all through his legs, like a shock of lightning. He closes his eyes, takes a deep inhale and then exhales soon after. His mind runs a mile a minute, both relieved and yet still fearful. He lightly shakes as he tries to calm down his rapid heartbeat, and as he rubs his eyes a lone tear escapes. Moments later, he begins to stand again, a light ache in his knees as he sits down on the side of his bed, making sure to be careful. Lester stays unmoving, the throbbing in his knees reminding him that he isn’t indestructible. He reaches out and flips on the lamp on his bedside table. An image of a small boy next to a mother and father, holding each other and smiling fills his vision. He reaches with his fingers, shaking as he hesitantly grabs the image. He flips over to the back side, and he slowly undoes the frame. After removing the black backing, he begins to trace his rough fingertips across the smooth surface of the paper, his fingers tracing the ink. He stays looking at the photo, warmth flowing down his body in one motion. With one last long breath, he pieces himself back together.
He then slowly puts the picture frame back together and returns it to its place. He lets out yet another long breath as he stands up and continues about his morning routine. For the first time in a while, he heads towards the entryway of his apartment. As he steps outside, he is greeted with the chirping of birds, and the cool breeze blowing leaves down the street, in little flurries. He cautiously walks down the steps, and takes a seat on a cool green colored bench. Looking into the sky and the nearby trees, he surveys his surroundings. Right in front of him, he sees a leaf begin to descend. Mostly yellow, but with something that looked like a flame of bright red traveling across the middle of it. It floated back and forth, and finally settled on his left knee. Momentary warmth delicately wraps itself like an arm around him. He grabs the leaf, feeling the leathery texture, unlike the crunchy leaves nearby his feet. It is so fragile compared to his rough hands, and it extends only about halfway in his palms. Lester gently tosses it down to the ground. He settles back in, and soon after, a few more leaves from the same tree fall next to the one leaf.
Without thinking, he drags his fingers out of his pockets. Despite the cold weather, he feels warm, even as he shakily reaches out and drags his fingers forming a vertical line through the leaves on the pavement. The leaves part ways, and he draws another line nearby. Finally, with a soft smile forming, he draws a curved line underneath both the vertical lines. He then turns his head up to the sky, and watches with a content smile as the leaves drift all around him, like being in the eye of a storm. His eyes began to sting as his eyes gently water, the breeze biting at his eyes. Regardless of the cold, his heart warms his whole body with content as he stares into the sky to catch a glimpse of sunlight escaping the clouds then quickly getting covered. Autumn’s sharp breeze just got a lot more bearable.
Illustrations
For this project we used our new skills of Adobe Illustrator to create a physical product of our art. I decided to print out clothing art, and I made it inspired by my favorite movie, Ender’s Game. This project helped me expand on my Adobe Illustrator skills and express myself creatively and without restrictions. I am super happy with the results of this project and it was very fun to make.
My inspiration for this project was the movie Ender’s Game. It is one of my favorite movies and so I wanted to create something wearable that resembles it. I grew a lot by creating a ton of details and by struggling to create a realistic looking creature. It is something resembling an alien so I need it to look more realistic and understandable. I encountered a lot of struggles with color choices because I wanted to create something brighter than the plain brown that the alien has in the movie. I also struggled with different ways of creating layered details and by trial and error I was able to create a realistic rendering. I would change it by making the background darker or cutting it out, but overall I am very happy with it. I am most proud of my abilities and how I was able to successfully create a recognizable character that is very detailed and complex. I will use my skills in future projects and in other areas of my life be creating more projects with Adobe Illustrator and being creative with anything I want to make. This project changed the way I see other’s art because I can see how difficult it can be to create designs and so I better appreciate other’s designs.
Another project that we did was the exquisite corpse project. We created groups and all made illustrations on our own artboards and at the end we connected them together. The whole point was that you don’t know what the rest of your group is doing. This project was very fun and although we had different ideas and themes, somehow they fit very well together and are very cohesive. My section of this project is the bottom one, and I decided I wanted to create an animal coming out of a chicken egg. I wanted the feet to be poking through, and I wanted a very simplified design. I think this project went very well overall and I really enjoyed the process.
Music
For the Parody Project, we were tasked with creating a parody of a popular song. We decided to choose the song Famous by Kanye West to parody. In our parody, “Having Made a Name for Oneself”, we recorded and produced a parody of a song. My partner, Tyler Crissman and I decided to do a parody of the song Famous, by Kanye West. We had the idea to put the lyrics into google translate, and translate it into multiple languages and then back into english. This jumbled up the lyrics and made interesting new lyrics. For example, it changed “Man I can understand how it might be” in the original song to, “Father how can I know”. This creates a funnier combination of lyrics, and in some cases, the rhythm doesn’t line up with the original, making it faster and slower in sections. We thought this would make it funnier for when we were recording and eventually producing it. This makes our production a good “parody” because it is so awkward and just barely makes sense. We purposely made it sound bad in sections, to make it funner. I am most proud of the combination of the ad libs and our additions of audio effects to make everything more interesting and never boring. This process was very fun and difficult, as I spent a long time trying to get rid of the singing in the song. In Pro Tools, I definitely expanded my toolbox, and I now feel very confident in my skills, which is a harsh comparison from the beginning of the project. I was very confused and overwhelmed with the program, as it is very complicated and difficult to understand at first. Now however, I feel comfortable with the interface, and I would gladly use it again. No other class has taught me these skills and I think this will become very useful for me in the future, with any projects that I create.
Our Lyrics:
Chorus 1:
Father, how can I know?
It’s difficult to love a girl such as me
I am not accusing you of wanting to be unconfined.
Just wanted to give you knowledge
Verse 1:
(Swayze said rock music) (OH)
All the boys in the south I know very well
I think Taylor and I are still friends
why? The famous girl (stuff)
You made this girl famous
Every girl got something from Kanye West
If you see her on the street, treat Kanye with all she can.
why? It is foolish not to be popular
I do not know my name, so they are mad (tell me man)
You do everything in the store
But it seems Kanye can’t calm down
But we are still famous
Yes, we still have a good reputation
Chorus 2:
I just want you to inform you
I loved you more than your relatives
in front
I don’t really blame you for wanting to be free
(Be awake senor. West!)
I just wanted you to get knowledge (Oh, he woke up!)
Verse 2:
They are floating exercises in Puerto Rico
Benz Marina del Rey is next to you
She went to school to become a real estate agent
I helped her pay for the car last month
When you’re small, we live, big! (great)
We will never die, (great!)
I just got on a plane to skip my personal debt
Enter the sky
The sun is in my eyes, (great!)
When I woke up, I realized how I felt (Amazing)
No matter how hard you try, (it’s amazing!)
we will not die
I just wanted you to inform you
Original Lyrics
Chorus:
Man I can understand how it might be
Kinda hard to love a girl like me
I don’t blame you much for wanting to be free
I just wanted you to know
Verse:
Swizz told me let the beat rock
For all my Southside (boys) that know me best
I feel like me and Taylor might still be friends
Why? I made that (girl) famous (Goddamn)
I made that (girl) famous
For all the girls that got (some) from Kanye West
If you see ’em in the streets give ’em Kanye’s best
Why? They mad they ain’t famous (Goddamn)
They mad they still nameless (Talk that talk, man)
Her man in the store tryna try his best
But he just can’t seem to get Kanye fresh
But we still hood famous (Goddamn)
Yeah we still hood famous
Chorus:
I just wanted you to know
I loved you better than your own kin did
From the very start
I don’t blame you much for wanting to be free
Wake up, Mr. West!
I just wanted you to know (Oh, he’s up!)
Verse 2:
I be Puerto Rican day parade floatin’
That Benz Marina Del Rey coastin’
She in school to be a real estate agent
Last month I helped her with the car payment
Young and we alive, whoo!
We never gonna die, whoo!
I just copped a jet to fly over personal debt
Put one up in the sky
The sun is in my eyes, whoo!
Woke up and felt the vibe, whoo!
No matter how hard they try, whoo!
We never gonna die
Design
For the main Narrative project for design, we were tasked with creating a creature that combines 5 different animals. One has to be an underwater creature, an insect, a mammal, a reptile, and a bird. I decided to mix an eagle’s wings, a lionfish’s body, a gecko’s feet, a beetle’s horns, and squirrel’s eyes and mouth. This creature was very hard to come up with and I am very happy with how it came out. For the background, I decided to make an underwater lost city with cracked buildings and seaweed. I wanted this environment to be whimsical but still tell that story. We used Adobe Illustrator to create this artwork. This was a very helpful project and I gained so many skills from working on it.
Hidden World
This project tells a story about a creature who discovers an underwater lost city. This underwater city has cracked buildings and plants growing all over it, but it still has it’s beauty. The color scheme for the background used blues and purples, as well as light browns for the sand. I also used greens for the seaweed. In this scene, the character sees this city, and is intrigued by and drawn to the city. My color scheme for my character consists of oranges, greens, blues, and another orange color. This color scheme highlights the orange color and this also stands out in comparison to the background too.
I created this illustration on Adobe Illustrator, and the process was very tedious and detailed. I mostly used the pen tool to create small shapes that made up the creature and the background. While using Illustrator, I learned a lot and I began using more and more complex style choices to create my desired effects. I experimented with drop shadows, outer glow, feathering, blurring, and many other effects. My character is a mix of a lion fish, eagle, gecko, beetle, and squirrel. The lion fish represents his strength and perseverance. The eagle represents courage, and the gecko represents being loving. The beetle represents how antisocial he is, and the squirrel represents how he can be ill tempered. I decided to use a one point perspective as I wanted to be able to see the city from the front, so as to better show the cracks in the buildings. The abandoned city represents how he is on his own, however he is still able to appreciate the beauty and the wonder of this city, regardless of him being alone. I had a few challenges with this scene, as I did not know how I wanted the city to look, so I experimented and sketched out different cities for ideas. I am pleased with my work and the only thing I would change was that I wish the character looked more in the scene, rather than flat on top.
Cursive Name Project
For this project, we used watercolor on our printed out designs made in Adobe Photoshop. We made used our knowledge of color theory to help us make a more cohesive piece. This project was a lot of fun and I ended up putting in a few faces in the piece to add some cute characters.