Introduction

A Zenith Project is where we got to show off what we can do, armed with everything we’ve learned so far, and launching ourselves into trying something new. “Zenith” by definition is the time at which something is most powerful or successful. As I have always focused on telling a good story, I decided to tell a story again for my zenith project, except this time, using different mediums to tell a personal story. I planned on learning how to do stop motion using playdough to tell a story of superheroes. The new challenge is telling a story that is deep and personal, using pictures to convey the message.

Process

Having watched many YouTube videos on different claymation, the process seemed daunting with many detailed steps. I found ingredients for making homemade playdough with food coloring for creating my own colors. But the homemade playdough wasn’t as smooth and malleable, leaving chunky parts. So I ended up buying commercial PlayDough because they did not dry out as fast and were easier to work with for fine details.

I decided to include hand drawings to the project as a background for the claymation. I’ve always wanted to draw different superheroes showing off their superpowers. This could be a powerful background where claymation can come alive.

When you observe carefully and get to know people, you realize that some people are actually superheroes and that they’re hidden among us. Using observational drawings of a wooden doll, I created superheroes with different superpowers. The power to run fast, fly, create energy balls, control wind, and create tornadoes by spinning.

Superheroes usually keep themselves hidden but if you look carefully, you can see them blended in where the energy has been created. I used various mediums to draw each pose, watercolor, color pencil, pencil, and pen. Then I cut them out to make a collage. I created some backgrounds. One with swirls of energy as the background can camouflage the superheroes. Thus, I started the process of creating a piece called “Hidden Superheroes”.

I realized that it’s not just the superheroes that are hidden. Many people are “hidden” in that, they go unnoticed. They live out their lives without being heard or making any impact. I started doodling faces and people using ink on pages of books where these faces and people are blended in within their background. People all desire to be heard and understood, but so many people feel insignificant.

So I started series of ink drawings using newspaper and book pages as canvas.

I merged the superheroes with the “unnoticed, lonely” people to play with the dynamics within the collage.

Hidden Superheroes

The final collage is a world of energy swooping throughout, generated by hidden superheroes.

Final Product #1 – “Hidden Superheroes” in colored pencil, ink, watercolor, pencil in a collage, 29″ x 29.5″

My Superhero Family

Using the theme of superheroes, I decided to tell a story that is meaningful to me. I gathered a pile of past homework assignments, and piles of my textbooks that I used throughout high school. Each homework page and textbook represented hours and hours of hard work for me. As I learned and digested the learning materials, I grew and matured. I struggled through math while flying through Spanish and drowning in Digital Media and Animation projects. I took pictures of these items to create a background for the superhero cutouts.

The five figures represent the members of my family: me, my twin brother, my little sister, my mom, and my dad. A lot has transpired within our family during the last four years of high school but they’re the ones who helped me get through it.  

As I reflected, I realized that the figure that represents me is the one with the power to create tornados, which I often did a lot at home, causing the household to get sucked into my hectic life.

I used to complain that each person was preoccupied with their own life and that we weren’t supporting each other. But as I explored different layouts of the figures, I was reminded of how my little sister had always supported me, even when I was going through mental illness. I realized that my dad was always supporting the whole family, working hard and making sacrifices. My mom always relied on my dad, while working hard to cook and provide other essentials for us. My brother worked hard in school to get good grades, to make my parents proud. He and my little sister brought happy dynamics to the family. The process of exploring different layouts of the superheroes, I was reminded of the supportive aspects of our family. 

I am grateful for my family. I am graduating this year from high school. Despite the crazy ups and downs of the last four years, I am graduating successfully, not just from high school, but from the crazy emotional rollercoaster of adolescence. As I am launched into adulthood, I look back and see that each family member’s superpower and their way of showing love created our unique family. This is the family that I belong to, and I embrace. My family are the superheroes in my life.

Superheroes Come Alive

I made the two collages “come alive” with claymation stop motion.

Zenith Reflection

I have taken this photograph a year ago while experimenting with my SLR camera. I realized that even back then I was interested in super powers.