About Me
Hi there! I’m Kelly Lam, and welcome to my page! I was a senior at Los Altos High and a first year at Freestyle Academy! I found out about the academy through some of my upperclassmen friends who had already been through the program. Prior to this I had been taking drawing classes at LAHS for the past 3 years, and I thought this would be a great opportunity to try something new. Though I didn’t know very much at the beginning, I was extremely excited and willing to learn!
One of my favorite genres of art is surrealism, and I take inspiration from music, video games, and other things I see and experience in my day to day life. I have over ten years of experience with traditional art forms such as drawing and painting, which I enjoy using as an emotional outlet whenever I’m feeling stressed, and I find it a relaxing way to express feelings that I otherwise would have trouble putting into words. Aside from that, I also enjoy reading, singing, taking walks in nature, playing minecraft, and folding origami cranes.
This year at Freestyle Academy I hoped to learn all about animation, since it’s an art medium that I found interest in and looked forward to experimenting with. I’ve enjoyed watching various animated shows and movies in the past, and so to make something of my own that others will be able to enjoy was my main goal.
Through all my projects, I’ve shown how I’m able to learn both through teaching in class as well as teaching myself. Before this year I had next to no experience with animation at all, and I only knew of how to do it from watching cartoons or videos on youtube. Additionally, I was primarily a traditional artist and had nowhere near the amount of experience with digital art as I do now. As I grew and kept reaching to expand upon the works I created, both on a technical and creative level, I feel much more confident in my ability to create things that have value and meaning, both to myself and, as I’ve found out, to others as well.
I’m also glad that everything I’ve created this year has been made straight from my heart and soul, and I’ve been increasingly making myself more vulnerable and expressive through my art. I used to be the type of person to fixate on flaws or potential areas of improvements within my art, causing me to never feel confident enough in my art. However, though I still strive to better myself and learn more about my areas of growth, I can now finally say that I can see past the mistakes in my art and can just appreciate it as it is. This is why I knew for certain that after I graduated from Freestyle, I would continue to expand and improve more then ever before, and the satisfaction I feel in my work will only grow from here.
Overall, I may have only spent one year here at freestyle, but I think I’ve definitely grown a lot as an artist and as a person from it. I came here because I wanted to get out of my comfort zone, and that’s exactly what I did. I made new friends, I explored new ideas in my art, and I tried things that I never knew how to do before. I’ve gained both independence and confidence in myself, and I’ll be remembering this experience for the rest of my life.
Personal Stationary
At the end of the year we got the chance to design our own resumes, letterheads, and business cards. I had fun choosing the color palette and made it match the themes of my Zenith project.
Goodbye Freestyle!
I’ll miss you guys <3