Introduction
Throughout this unit we used Adobe Illustrator the most to produce work. We also wrote a flash fiction story in our english class. We got to use Illustrator to develop several projects where they all required us to think creatively and come up with characters and a setting and illustrate it. My favorite assignment was the individual illustration project for Digital Media where we got to produce a drawing and turn it in to a physical object.
Story
Transcript
Her final day of work had already come to an end. This day had become both dreadful and exciting because she knew it would be bittersweet. Avery and her father had just finished packing up her bags after indecisively deciding what to take while drowning in a large pile of clothes and miscellaneous necessities on the floor in her almost completely bare bedroom. Oddly enough her suitcases were lightweight considering the fact that she was moving from the west coast to the east coast and couldn’t pack her whole life with her.
Streaks of light flooded the florist shop as the sun was setting for the last time that she would see for a while. Avery stopped rushing to leave to take one last look at what she called her second home. The place where her mother taught her not only how to wrap bouquets but where she learned her love for science, family, and dogs, especially Luna.
The shop was a floor beneath their house which made it feel even more like a part of their home. It had been a family business since Avery was 7 when she first moved to Seattle, Washington. Despite how curious and creative Avery was, she struggled to make friends so she was really only close to her parents and her dog. Part of what made moving to Maine for college so difficult was the thought of saying goodbye, something she never had a problem with before. When Avery and her parents left Canada she was a young child and had just gotten Luna a few months before. Luna is what made the move so simple and easy as if Seattle had always been their home. As Avery grew up, so did Luna and they stuck together like glue. Even after a rough day, Luna would always manage to bring out the best in Avery and kept her going.
“Hey, can you finish these last few- are you okay?” Leila, Avery’s mom said to her startled as she saw her just sitting against the front door of the shop.
“Yeah I’m fine, well good enough, I just can’t stand the thought of not being here. Are you sure I shouldn’t stay? I can take a gap year and help out with the business-”
“No!”, Avery’s mom exclaimed, she gathered herself and said, “I understand that this is difficult and you have to believe me, it is for us too. Your dad and I know that this is what is best for you and it’ll take time to adjust but you can’t keep holding yourself back.”
As Avery collected herself trying not to breakdown in front of her mother she walked around the shop once more. The rich dark green walls that Avery and her dad had painted when they first moved, the old rickety cash register that they have to hit on the left side every once in a while to get it open, and the worn-down floral patterned grey rug that Luna would take naps on when Avery worked her shifts. All of these small simple things that would seem insignificant to someone else meant the world to her and the thought of her leaving it all behind to study Environmental Science almost didn’t seem worth it.
After the sun had set and she had finished making sure she had everything she needed it was time for her to say goodbye. Ever since Avery was a young child she had her family and Luna by her side. While she had anticipated that this moment would be the hardest thing for her to do, she realized it would only be temporary. Just because she was leaving for college did not mean she would never have her family and her home to come back to. She took a step back and looked at her childhood and Avery realized that she didn’t let herself live. Her best friend was Luna and while she had no issue with that she never gave herself the chance to make friends at school or meet new people at all. Closing herself off enabled her to work really hard to have the chance to study but in return, it made her question her ability to move on and forward.
As Avery’s mom drove her to the airport she studied her surroundings just like when she first moved to Seattle. A place she had known and loved so deeply was now going to become more of a memory than a reality. And so, it was time for her to get on the plane and leave. She clutched her mom so tight and held her like an octopus wrapping its tentacles around its prey. Moments passed and for the first time she was all alone. The buildings seemed taller, the people seemed scarier, but she clutched her bags like they were the hands of her parents and went through security and made it to her flight.
As it took off, she looked down at Seattle and how it was all dark but the city lights lit it up like a Christmas tree. She was going to get some rest until,
“Hi! I’m Lydia, I think we went to high school together but I didn’t really have many friends there. Or at all really. Anyway, what’s bringing you to Maine?” Lydia asked.
Avery who was now startled said, “Oh yeah hi I remember you I just didn’t really have friends either. I am going to college in Maine-”
“No way so am I! Are you going to Bowdoin?” Lydia exclaimed.
“Yeah! I am studying Environment Science! Wow, I can’t believe the chances of that happening and us being on the same flight!” Avery said positively.
The flight began to feel shorter by the minute despite the hours it lasted and not only did she feel better about moving but she had already made her first friend.
Illustrations
For our Illustration project, we were given the ability to create something using Adobe Illustrator and turn it into a physical object. For my project in particular, I chose to draw a personal illustration surrounding the topic of climate change. Since we had the ability to create literally anything, I wanted my piece to focus on something that is important to me.
I initially wanted to have this piece be a layered wood engraving but I realized it would be more fun to incorporate color into this artwork. I first sketched out what I had in mind. I knew I wanted to have a border of some sort, animals, and of course the sun as a clock. I then created a color scheme using Adobe Color.
I chose to make the sun a clock to put emphasis on the little time so many animals have left because of the impact us humans have on the Earth. For the animals I chose to draw bears. I initially wanted them to be polar bears but when I drew them with their light coat it blended with the background too much. I decided to use a bring orange color so it would pop against the background, their color resembles a warning sign since their population is declining. Finally, for the border I drew leaves and butterflies. I chose these two symbols to talk about deforestation and the declining monarch butterfly population. Overall, I really enjoyed this project and I am proud of how I managed to convey my message!
Music Production
For our music production project, we had to create a parody of a song.
Lyrics to: The Night We Met by Lord Huron Parody, “In-Person School” by Meri Sanders
I am not the only student
Who’s behind in all their work
I’ve sitting in my room all day
Take me back to in-person school
And then I can tell myself
To be prepared for a pandemic
And then I can tell myself
Not to fall behind in school
I had good grades and saw friends
Now I sit in my room
Take me back to in-person school
I don’t know what I’m going to do always in my bedroom
Take me back to in-person school
When the days were full of laughter
And I had a schedule
When I had something to do
Oh, take me back to in-person school
I had good grades and saw friends
Now I sit in my room
Take me back to in-person school
I don’t know what I’m going to do always in my bedroom
Take me back to in-person school
For this project, I rewrote lyrics to “The Night We Met” by Lord Huron as the song “In-Person School” by me. My initial thought process behind this piece was to create a song about how I miss physically going to school much like many other students. This year and the end of my sophomore year have been really difficult when it comes to staying focused and maintaining good grades in such a difficult time. I had a lot of fun writing these lyrics especially since they are to the instrumental of one of my favorite songs.
Design
For our project in Design, our task was to create a Narrative Creature in Adobe Illustrator based on the main character in our flash fiction for English. This project deepened my understanding of Adobe Illustrator as well as how to be a storyteller through my artwork.
We began by coming up with what animals would depict our character and what body part we would pick to represent it.
Our first task actually using Adobe Illustrator for this project was to create a moodboard that includes a color scheme and the animals that would display the different traits of our main character.
After that, we started our official piece by designing the character and then the background.
Finally, we completed our project and I really love how my creature turned out! This is the final product.
Artist Statement for, “A Second Home”
My short story, Goodbyes, follows a young girl named Avery who has grown up in Seattle for almost her whole life. She always struggled with being extremely shy from a young age but she knew she could always count on her parents, her dog, and the floral shop that they owned. The store was a second home to Avery where she discovered her love for science, which made leaving for college all the more difficult. It’s the place where she grew up and became the person she is today. Even though this chapter of her life was so difficult to move on from, she knew that this new part of her life would lead to great things. And so, Avery left Seattle to study Environmental Science at Bowdoin College, on the other side of the country, but she knew in her heart that Seattle is her forever home.
Using Adobe Illustrator, I used reference images of five different animals all based on traits relating to the main character of my short story, Avery. I used the limbs of an axolotl since they are shy creatures, a lizard tail as they’re optimistic reptiles, the head of a red panda to show curiosity, the wings of a butterfly to express creativity, and the body of a lovebird to communicate Avery’s loving quality. I used a color palette ranging from coral to blue as they represent all of Avery’s traits in the best way possible. When drawing my character, I used different techniques such as feathering as well as going in individually to perfect the look of the feathers covering the body. When it came to the background, I used a monochromatic color palette of green since it contrasted nicely with the colors of the animal and matched the floral shop theme quite perfectly. When making the animal, I struggled with the look of the butterfly wings. I ended up lowering the opacity to make it appear somewhat transparent which made them look nice and delicate against the background. With over 60 layers, I am very proud of my end product and if I had time I would add more detail to the background.