Introduction

I kicked off my second year at Freestyle Academy by not only reflecting on the foundations built last year, but further developing my skillset it in a variety of applicable ways. With this unit, I made it a goal of mine to let my core values ring out in every project I completed. I took my growth mindset to another level, and contemplated the ways in which each experience might serve me in future artistic jobs. The reflections unit consisted of the long awaited Mandala project in Digital Media, where I used the repetition of simplistic wild west-themed illustrations to create unique patterns. For my personal twist, I incorporated my love for country music into the intricate designs of each circular layer. In further exploring new art styles, I crafted a symbolic piece of Australian Aboriginal Art on a starry night background. I also created my very first Public Service Announcement regarding mental health, a prevalent issue that has become more relevant than ever in the Bay Area. Lastly, I dive deep into my personal struggles and the freedom I have found through songwriting in my Personal English Essay. I hope you enjoy this deep dive into my creative process for this unit at Freestyle!

My Core Values

All of the projects that I completed in the Reflections unit were inspired by my core values. A large portion of the skills learned within this unit had a focus of animating text using Adobe After Effects. In applying the skills I learned, I created this mini video to convey my core values using AE text transitions and keyframes.

Sunflower Mandala

Designing a personal Mandala in Adobe Illustrator was an incredible experience that I hope to continue pursuing. To create the art within the mandala, I only had to design one slice of it using a clipping mas,k and then reflect that design across the circle to ensure repetition and consistency.

SLide to See B&W vs color

artist statement:

While designing my mandala, I was greatly inspired by my love of music and a trip I took to Nashville Tennessee to explore the country music scene. I not only have several references to music, such as the group of music notes and acoustic guitars, but also several country-specific references that I drew from my visit to Music City such as cowboy hats, boots, and hooves. The objects come together in a mandala to form a sunflower shape in which the smaller parts are encompassed by larger flower petals.

It was challenging to bring each shape together smoothly and have the smaller elements appear as if they were a part of something bigger. However, incorporating the sunflower shape really helped the flow of my mandala. My color palette was heavily influenced by a western aesthetic, and I used many different shades of brown and red to achieve this. 

Motion Graphics in AfterEffects

We learned many valuable techniques for editing Motion Graphics in this unit that I will continue to use as I edit and create my own videos. Here are some short videos that I created to display rotoscoping, which is the tracing of live video elements to seamlessly blend them with animated elements, synching graphics to audio, and the reveal effect with a shape, in this case, a line.

behind the scenes – synching graphics to audio:

Personal Statement

In English, we were promoted to reflect on our personal experiences and creatively deliver an invaluable personal experience that shaped us into who we are today. In doing so, I felt a natural inclination to dive into my greatest passion and form of reflection, songwriting. The joy I found in this creative medium has not only led me to record and publish a variety of songs but also influenced me to fall in love with the creative nature of Freestyle as a prospective student in my Sophomore year. Songwriting and music have not only been a highlight of my teenage years, but a bridge that carried me over the flames of hardship. I dove deep into this as I married my experience with writing and illness in this personal statement. I further brought the story to life using Adobe Audition as I narrated, edited, and enhanced an audio recording of my story.

Design

Summer Collage

Upon returning to Freestyle at the start of my senior year, we were challenged to create a collage that encapsulated the most significant parts of our summer, using real photos in Adobe Photoshop. After completing that, I created an illustrated version using the shape outlines and colors in Adobe Illustrator. My collage displays a giant building. record, and microphone to represent my time studying music business at New York University. Aside from that, I wrote a lot of music, particularly country music, which is represented by my cowgirl hat and the Tennessee sign. I spent a lot of time in nature, which is why I chose the leaf background.

Public Service Announcement

In Design, we were prompted to create a PSA (Public Service Announcement) poster for a topic that weighs heavily on our minds. I chose to bring awareness to the increasingly prevalent mental health crises, while conveying the value of creativity and art as a form of connection and therapy.

artist statement

As someone who has used art as a form of expression to help me through my own struggles with mental health, I wanted to bring awareness to the importance of creativity in everyday life. Creating can be a very freeing experience, and through my PSA I encourage others to turn their hardest moments into something beautiful with art. My primary message, “Art Saves Lives” refers to how the creative process can be a form of healing and reflection. In my PSA, I represent the power of art through a drawing of two hands, one holding a knife and the other holding a paintbrush. The hand with the knife represents the darkness that comes with depression and mental health struggles, and the paintbrush represents art and creating. In the end, the paintbrush helps take away the influence of the knife by painting over it and turning it into something beautiful. In addition, the background of the piece is pitch black, but the area surrounding the paintbrush is brightly lit by a spotlight. This is a metaphor for how art can bring light into the darkest of moments.

Using Adobe Illustrator, I was able to bring my concept to life. For my color scheme, I used contrasting colors to put emphasis on the power of art. While a large portion of the composition is made up of neutral colors, the pink paintbrush and “Art Saves Lives” message in bold red stand out. Finalizing the layout for my PSA involved a lot of trial and error as I worked to make it both simplistic and effective. I ended up using the spotlight as a frame, which provides leading lines to guide the viewer’s eyes towards the center. In order to create the shapes, I used the pen tool, and after carefully selecting my colors used the live paint tool to fill in each object.

Aboriginal Art

Aboriginal Art is a style that incorporates repetitive symbols and shapes such as dots and lines. I had never made a piece in this art style before, but I enjoyed creating a piece that incorporated water symbols, because water is the corresponding element for my astrological sign, as well as my spirit animal and the astrological symbol for the Sagittarius.

I created my piece using Adobe Photoshop, relying on the brush tool as I drew repetitive dots and lines of varying sizes. These smaller shapes came together to form large ones that are presented as symbols, animal parts, and decorations surrounding the frame. During the creation process, I encountered difficulties when exploring an ideal level of size variance that allowed my piece to convey a sense of artistic intention without appearing too cluttered. Before this project, I had never created illustrations in Photoshop, so this was a great learning experience as I expanded my skill set within the program. Above all, I enjoyed making Aboriginal art as it allowed me to step out of my comfort zone, and I hope to create more in the future.

artist statement:

My Aboriginal art consists of symbols and colors that are inspired by an aquatic theme, all of which come together to tell my story. The colorful hummingbird is both the focus of the artwork and my spirit animal, due to its free, optimistic nature. It is also a symbol of love and joy, two things that I strive to incorporate into my life as much as possible. My astrological sign is Scorpio, which led me to include the Scorpio symbol and zodiac constellation to further enhance my piece. I intentionally made these astrological elements bright on a dark background, like stars in the night sky. The element associated with my zodiac sign is water. This influenced my palette to contain variants of aquatic colors such as blue and green. The two symbols with repetitive dots and lines originate from Australian Aboriginal culture. The ripple of circles represents puddles of water or waterholes, and the curvy lines represent waves.