Reflections

Reflections Project Introduction

With our reflections projects we were challenged with answering the question of “who am I?”. We answer this question through each of our classes. In English, we read and write about what makes us who we are and write about why we chose to do the things like draw, paint, or write. In Digital Media, we used adobe illustrator to create mandalas that represent us, and after effects to produce a video about our core values. In Design, we created a concert poster about an artist of our choosing and a aboriginal inspired art piece about ourselves using adobe illustrator, and a watercolor piece using a reflection of our name using photoshop, and product design and logo of an item of our choosing using photoshop, illustrator, and a website to create a mock up of our product.

My Personal Mandalas

intro about mandala project

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I was really excited seeing my final laser engraved mandala on the acrylic because I felt that I really captured what I was envisioning for the project. The light stand that the acrylic was on also made it 100% better. Seeing the different colored lights filter through made me really happy with the end result of my engraved mandala. The reason why I chose to engrave my mandala on the acrylic was because I felt that it really symbolized the meaning of the show that I was representing. Because Avatar the Last Airbender was about how the main character would unite all 4 nations, I felt that as the colors changed from 1 to the other it showed how everything is connected. After finishing the mandala project, I learned that I need to make sure everything is how I want it to be before sending out the final version to get printed, engraved, etc. I didn’t make sure that everything was how it should be and my engraved and black and white mandala ended up having a few lines that I didn’t want to be there and I forgot to add in a line into one of the details. This made me more conscious that I need to double check and triple check that everything is how I want it to be before I say the project is finished. Although there were little things that I wasn’t happy with, I am most proud of the details that I chose to represent each element in my mandala. I felt that everything represented the element and that people who saw the show would understand what each thing was. Through this project, I can apply what I’ve learned in Adobe Illustrator to create future projects using the pressure sensitive brushes. I can also now truly appreciate other peoples work of mandalas because I can’t imagine how long it would take to make a physical one and not a digital one. Because with digital we can replicate what we want in the quadrants with ease while people who make it using physical products must replicate on their own every single time.

For this piece, I chose to color my black and white mandala. This required me to go back in and fill in the white spaces with color and make sure that everything was cohesive. Upon seeing my printed colored mandala, I was really excited I was able to meet my expectations with this piece and that it came out exactly how I wanted it to. The color scheme that I chose for my piece was one where each element had their representative color, and each item from the show that I chose to draw represented how it looked in the show so when someone sees it they are able to recognize what I am referring to. Working with color allowed me to create hierarchy in the piece and make sure that I correctly drew my viewers into the things I wanted to highlight in my piece. Through this project, I can apply what I learned for my mandala to future pieces and that I should finish my pieces faster. When finishing the piece at home I had so many paths that I grouped that it was slowing my laptop and so I have now learned I need to work more efficiently so I can use the amazing tech that freestyle offers.

introduce your mandala build reveal video

final reflection about mandala project