Who Am I?
The main focus of this unit is for students to–after a period of introspection and personal projects–answer the question “Who am I”?
In English class, this unit involved writing a personal paper that introduced ourselves and our ideals. While technically it was our Common App essay, it is still narrative writing nevertheless. Like any piece of personal writing, there was a lot of self reflection involved in the drafting process. I thought of my experiences–the happy and unhappy moments, the triumphs and struggles, the person who went through that life, and the person in charge of continuing it. Along the way, I identified the most important things to me, my core values.
In Digital Media, I created my first art piece of the year for the personal mandala project. It gave me an opportunity to be creative, and it also coincided with English’s core values brainstorming days, so I had a lot of inspiration for what elements to put into my mandala design.
In Film, we created a short movie about ourselves–an explanation of our thought processes and character. I made mine about my reason for choosing to pursue filmmaking. Much like with English, I had to look back and study my life prior to putting myself on this path.
In all three of my reflection projects, I emphasized the importance of ambition and perseverance–the desire to succeed and the fortitude to achieve that.
Core Values Video
This is a video I created in Digital Media that identifies some of my core values. I made a lot of artistic choices with the fonts, colors, and animations. In terms of music choice, I used an upbeat song to set a positive tone. For the first word, fun, I wanted to make an exciting intro and convey a happy, playful feeling. To achieve this, I shrunk the letters until they were too small to see, then rapidly expanded their size to create a pop effect. To enhance this, I colored it orange–a bright color–and used a bubbly font. For growth, the next word, I went for a plant-like aesthetic. I turned the words green and used a font with curvy lines, which I thought looked somewhat like the growth of vines or curly leaves. In addition to this, I rotated the word on its side, compressed it into a jumble of letters, and expanded its length vertically to emulate the growth of a tree. For skill, I tried to make its appearance and movements sharp, which included using a really angular font and making the word slide in quickly at an angle. For resilience, I created a breaking apart and coming together effect by using two text blocks–one for each half of the word–and rotating them in opposite directions. This made the work appear to snap. After that, I rotated them back to mend the word. For achievement, I raised the word from the bottom of the screen to the top to emphasize its meaning, reaching higher and higher. I also used a font that sort of resembles the ones used on fancy award certificates. For contribution, I faded the word in to express the idea of bringing something into existence–or rather contributing it to reality. Finally, for the last word, I made family swoop around the slide, wrapping around some of the other words like a hug.
Personal Mandala
This project involved the creation of a mandala, achieved by using a masking layer on a circle in Adobe Illustrator. I had used Adobe Illustrator previously, but that was for drawing out schematics or product designs. Digital art was very different. Getting acclimated to the Wacom pen and all the different brushes was a bit of a struggle, along with getting my designs to a level I could be satisfied with. Even so, it was a really fun and cool experience.
- B&W Mandala Artist Statement:
My mandala is mostly composed of arrow-like shapes. The arrows near the edges of the mandala resemble mundane objects from my life; for example, I drew some keyboards and books, representative of the time I spend practicing piano and reading. I slowly shaped them into more triangular shapes as they converged toward the center of the design. There, I have concentric rings reminiscent of a target. I wanted to convey the feeling of movement and progression, and I expressed this by converting aspects of my life into arrows shooting at a target, my experiences fueling the pursuit of my goals. A much more subtle detail I added was the inclusion of a 12-slice mandala on top of my current 10-slice one. However, I drew only one small line on the new layer. This created 12 small notches on the edges of the mandala, similar to the time markers on a clock. This means my artwork could be interpreted as aiming for something while time is passing by.
For this project, a small problem I had was drawing with the Wacom tablet and pen–I was pretty inexperienced with tools like them, so I had some difficulty drawing cleanly. For most of the early process, I exclusively used the mouse to draw. However, partway through, I decided to at least try using the pen. After spending a class period practicing a bit, I was able to become more comfortable using it. The main issue I have with my design is that there’s a lot of empty space. I didn’t want to make it too complicated or packed, since I really wanted the numerous arrow shapes to be well-defined, but I also feel like I could have done a bit more to fill the space. Perhaps I could add more details to the arrows, such as more lines around them, or maybe little arrows within the current ones.
This project felt somewhat like a writing exercise. I had to think introspectively, considering what my ideals were and what parts of myself I wanted to share. I came to see the importance I placed on perseverance, ability, and resolve. I’m proud of myself for finding a way to express these values in my design. Moving forward, I’ll try to take this approach as I make more art pieces, staying mindful of my intent and the expression of my thoughts. Going through this thinking process has also caused me to view other people’s art differently. Now, I find myself looking for the small details people put in their art–the personal touch that gives me just a little more insight into their lives and values. - Colored Mandala Artist Statement:
For the colored version of my mandala, I wanted to really emphasize the feeling of progression and direction I had established in the black-and-white version. I achieved this by tracing the arrows with bright colors–shades of red, orange, and yellow–and creating a gradient effect with them. I felt like the color tracing made the shapes bolder and more vibrant, conveying a much more intense feeling than it had in just black and white. The gradient effect worked together with the arrows, as the transitioning colors and the directional markings created a flowing movement from the edges of the mandala to the center. And in the very center, I added a new design. I decided to do this based on my main issue with my black-and-white mandala; there was too much empty space, notably at the center. I still wanted to maintain the target shape from before, so I just played around with a few designs within the concentric rings. I made a few different designs, but eventually settled on one that resembled a poker chip. I see it as an object representing the uncertainty of my future and goals. Like a game of poker or blackjack, I don’t have guaranteed success; in fact, the odds even might be against my favor. But the only thing I can do is continue to move forward, making the best decisions I can.
While I do prefer my colored mandala to its black-and-white counterpart, I still feel like I could have done more to improve the design. One part I especially want to remake is the poker chip center. It’s a new addition made somewhat with a momentary flash of inspiration, so it’s not as polished as the other shapes. Another small issue it had was that there wasn’t much variability in colors. I really only had shades of red, orange, and yellow. I could try experimenting with other colors, maybe even ones on the other side of the color wheel, such as blue or green. A less dramatic alternative to this would be adding a few more shades of the colors I originally had, giving the gradient a smoother look.
Creating the colored version of my mandala has helped me better understand the concept that art can evolve as you move along the process. You can add new things as you continue to draw and design, which adds another layer of complexity that you haven’t thought of before. I added things like the poker chip at the center that reflects a facet of my ideology, or the color gradient reinforcing the concept of flow and change; I hadn’t even considered them while making my first iteration. Now, in other people’s art, I try to imagine how they and their pieces evolved as they worked. Surely they didn’t come up with everything at the start. There’s a story in that, a narrative in every art piece that I’ve come to appreciate. - Laser Engraved Mandala Artist Statement
I composed my mandala of many arrow-like shapes. Near the edges of the design, the arrows resemble mundane objects from my life: keyboards and books representing my hobbies such as piano and reading. As these shapes converge toward the center, they become more angular, aiming at the center, where a series of concentric rings form a target shape. I wanted to convey the feeling of movement and progression, expressed through the conversion of aspects of my life into arrows shooting at a target, my experiences fueling the pursuit of my goals. But there’s another element beyond the first arrows: twelve notches spaced like the markings of a clock, representing time passing as I strive to refine myself into an arrow, ready to take a shot at my target. Each attempt brings me closer to achieving my goals, with every experience adding knowledge and precision. Thus, my mandala is a depiction of my journey—”Series Shot” a representation of my life’s evolving trajectory.
Behind The Scenes:
Below are screenshots taken of my Adobe After Effects file for the Build Video
I really enjoyed this project, this opportunity to create a digital art piece. To be honest, it isn’t really something I’d typically do in my free time, so I’m grateful to have a place that actively directs and encourages me to work, as well as provides me the resource to create something. This was also great practice to improve my proficiency in Adobe Illustrator, and to a lesser extent, Adobe After Effects.
College Personal Essay
As I stated before, the personal essay was structured so that it could be used as a submission for Common App. However, our teacher advised us that while it is important to keep that in mind, we should remember that this is a piece of personal writing meant to help us gain a better understanding of ourself. Before drafting the essay, I consulted Ethan Sawyer’s College Essay Essentials, a guide to writing successful college admissions essays. The first step was brainstorming our core values. Many of the values I decided on in this stage were eventually implemented into my essay. By the end of the drafting process, and the essay’s completion, I had answered the question of who I am. Or rather, I stated who I wanted to be. My essay described a major personal challenge that I overcame, and I ended it by stating the plans I have for the future after that crisis.
Film
1 Period Movie: For this film, the class split into groups of three and brainstormed, shot, and edited a short film in one class period.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nlxv-bxLUng
Reflections Video Essay: This was a personal short film to be made alone. I wrote a narrative essay about myself, then made a recording of me reciting it. After the recording was finished, I shot footage relating to the content of my essay. (Trouble uploading, will wait until it’s posted on Youtube)
Swap Films: After splitting into groups, we each created a storyboard. After every group was finished, our storyboards were shifted to the group beside us, and we shot the storyboard of the group that handed us theirs. After filming was complete, each group did another shift, and my group edited footage from another group.
Surround Shots: This assignment was centered around the idea of 5.1 surround sound. I learned how to control sound in Adobe Premiere Pro through panning audio.
I’m just glad I finally have a class full of equipment and peers to help me pursue film further. It’s been so fun getting hands on experience and working with a crew! I can’t wait to do more projects and hopefully create an amazing portfolio.
Art Reflection
This was my favorite art piece from SF MOMA’s Art of Noise Exhibit. I interpreted the piece as a world filled with vibrant landscapes, expressed through the lens of a music sheet. I wanted to build onto this idea of embedded aspects, so I added words from my audio voiceover into the measures, where they moved along with the sliding art piece itself. The words faded in and out, gradually appearing further through the sheet music’s measures. This expressed my comprehension of the piece, the thoughts and feelings I had as I continued to study the artwork.