introduction

“Who am I?” I learned a lot about myself during this unit. I realized I can be vulnerable and its okay. I learned what makes me happy and what memories I hold near and dear to my heart. My essence is loud, sweet, funny. I value family and friends and I think it shows because I kept in mind my loved ones while creating art.

core values

This is a video I created using Adobe Audition and After Effects. I first recorded using Audition and then edited my font and colors in After Effects.

Mandala project

For the mandala project we were instructed to create a mandala that represents ourselves and things we enjoy, this was very exciting for me. I got to draw my favorite things and it was really fun to create something that represented me. I wanted to add different elements of nature because I have always been around nature and loved it my whole life. Going to the beach, going on walks with my parents and swimming have shaped me. I included a hummingbird to pay tribute to my deceased grandmother. She always said she wanted to come back as a hummingbird and when I see them frequently I think about her looking down on me to make sure I’m okay. I wanted to color the mandala in a different way instead of earthy tones that you would usually see. I chose to do different shades of red because my grandmother was such a passionate strong and fiery person in her life. I think those colors well mesh with her life.

english

personal essay

For the beginning on the reflections unit in English we were instructed to take a story from our lives and create an essay. I chose to talk about my struggles with mental health and how I overcame them. I discussed a lot about my personal growth and how I have overcome significant challenge’s.

text and graphics

For this project we learned about how to use graphics, text and video to come together and work in unison to create an engaging video on After Effects. I had a little trouble at the beginning getting used to the software but overall it was really enjoyable.

design

aboriginal art

In my aboriginal piece I used 3 symbols, Moon, Fire and Kangaroo Tracks. The moon represents my love for astrology, star gazing and spirituality. I found my spirituality through the moon and it is an important factor of my life. I used the fire symbol to represent my star sign, sagittarius. Sagittarius is a fire sign and I think I am a very fiery person.I included my sign and constellation as well. I have a lot of passion and I am very opinionated. I love hiking and nature so I felt that the kangaroo tracks were fitting to include in this piece. I first started this piece by drawing a sketch on paper. I included the fire on opposite ends and the cheetah in the middle to represent my spirit animal. I looked up photos of cheetahs running to give myself inspiration of what I wanted the cheetah to look like. There was a lot of trial and error involved in this process. I changed my spirit animal and colors multiple times. I am also more confident with Adobe Illustrator rather than Photoshop. It was definitely a learning curve to switch to Adobe Photoshop after not using it for so long. I forgot to add more layers which caused me to start over once. It was also difficult to place dots for a long period of time and made my hand cramp up. If I had to do this piece again I would plan a bit more and do my background first. I would also take my time and remember to add layers as I go.

PSA

I wanted to create a PSA to recognize and bring attention to black artists. Patronizing Black owned artists within the Black community generates jobs, increases wealth and contributes to closing the racial wealth gap. By empowering Black artists, you are giving them freedom and self-reliance. I chose vibrant colors for the artist’s hair to represent black excellence and power. I wanted the audience’s eye to be drawn there. I drew a photographer, guitarist and painter that showcase the different art types the audience can support. I used the rule of thirds to place two artists on top of the text and one below. I am hoping to reach all non black people who are open to the ability to change. I first started with gathering reference pictures of cartoon artists. I used the pen tool on the bodies and tools to create them. I struggled with colors and my text wasn’t the main object of my PSA. With help I changed it to be a bright red so that it would be the first thing that the audience would notice. I originally wanted to do more artists and after I had drawn them I realized I hated them and it was too busy.