Introduction

The Reflections unit’s overarching goal is to find out who we are as a person. In English, we focused on our college personal essays that we can use for Common App. In Digital Media, we focus on our core values, values that make us who we are using Adobe After Effects as well as making a mandala that represents us.

In Digital Media, we began to learn how to use the program Adobe After Effects using text transitions. We learned how to animate text along with using images and voiceovers. Using the core values we wrote about in our English essays, we produced a short video of our core values.

Mandala

In Digital Media we created a mandala in Adobe Illustrator that represented who we were as a person. I advanced my knowledge of Illustrator by learning how to use clipping masks and repeating lines.

 Senior BW Mandala: King Miffy

My main inspiration for this project was Miffy. Miffy is one of my favorite characters since I remember watching it when I was younger. For this project, our mandala had to reflect who we were and I’ve been told that whenever they see Miffy, they think of me because of my love for the character. Thanks to many comments like that I decided that I wanted to base my mandala around the cute bunny character. I had a great time making this project because I was allowed to make anything I wanted. Using the brush tool for the first time was very exciting as last year in Design we used Illustrator but didn’t touch the brush. This definitely won’t be the last time I use Illustrator, but it will be a while till I do since I am no longer in Design, so I know I will miss it. Overall, I had a really fun time making this project and it was relaxing being able to make something that looks cool and very me!

Senior Colored Mandala: Colored King Miffy

Using the black and white mandalas we made in our last project, we then colored them in. I knew I wanted my colors to be bright and eye-catching because the design itself is simple, and Miffy has a bright color scheme. As much as I do love neutral tones and browns, I knew that I wanted to stick to Miffy’s color scheme from the original show which is bright orange, yellow, blue, and green.

One challenge that I faced while making this was since my outline layers were grouped, it was difficult to color in the black lines that I had already created as they wouldn’t let me color them individually. If I double-clicked enough times, I could edit that one outline, but it was difficult to keep the colors consistent since everything would slightly grey out while I was working on them. It took me multiple tries to get the right color for each of the outlines but I think it was worth the work as it allowed me to color in some of the more empty areas with color. I enjoyed making the black and white mandala more than coloring it, but I still enjoyed the process.

Senior Laser Engraved Mandala: King Miffy

My main inspiration for this project was Miffy. For this project, our mandala had to reflect who we were and I’ve been told that whenever they see Miffy, they think of me because of my love for the character. The black and white mandalas we made in our last project were engraved into my pizza board using a laser printer. For the colored Mandala, I’m very happy with how the colors came out since I knew I wanted my colors to be bright and eye-catching because the design itself is simple, and Miffy has a bright color scheme. In the end, the outcome came out even better then I expected and I’m very proud of my work. I feel as though my mandala represents me and I can’t wait to hang it up in my room.

Overall, I enjoyed this project because I was allowed to draw Miffy. If you couldn’t already tell, Miffy is one of my favorite characters so being able to create my own Miffy designs was very exciting. This was very different from our first illustrator project last year, but I enjoyed this one better because the end product is so much more rewarding.

English

In English, we wrote our college Common App essays. When writing our college essays, it was very important for the colleges to understand who we were as a person and so we implemented our core values. I focused my core values on detail focused, dexterity, creativity, communication, and helping others. I feel like those are traits dentists should have in their work. I learned that I have a very blunt and straightforward writing style in this process. I also learned that I dislike writing about myself in a more structured way. I wanted to challenge myself with writing the common app essay since I have never done something like this before, but I now know that I enjoy writing more freely. Overall, I feel like I learned a lot from writing this, and understood the importance of peer feedback. I won’t be submitting this essay, but I think it was a really good way for me to write about myself which is a way that I’m not used to.

Animation

Skull Render

Head Render

Table Render

Artist Statement

This project allowed me to grow as I deepened my understanding of ZBrush and Autodesk Maya. In Substance Painter, I explored new techniques, like painting images directly onto surfaces. I even added Splatoon stickers to my table. One of my biggest challenges was working with lighting. The umbrella cast strange shadows, but through experimentation with the settings, I was able to work around it and create a balanced final image. What I’m most proud of is how the muted colors capture the feeling of objects weathered by time outdoors. I had a lot of fun working on this project as it was simple and a great learning experience.

Game Weapon Render

Artist Statement

This project helped me grow both artistically and technically, particularly with tools like Autodesk Maya, ZBrush, and Substance Painter. One challenge I faced was organizing the layers in Substance Painter. Since this was my first time using the program, it took some trial and error to figure out how to manage the layers effectively. Looking back, I would have changed how I handled the materials. I didn’t realize I could change the color of the materials until later in the project. If I had known, I would have chosen different colors and materials that I enjoyed more. What I’m most proud of is that this is my first successful project using Substance Painter, and it turned out better than I expected. It closely matches the reference I used, and I’m happy with how it came together.

Character Render