{"id":24,"date":"2025-09-30T04:11:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T04:11:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~MiraT\/?page_id=24"},"modified":"2026-10-23T01:31:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T01:31:41","slug":"reflections","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/freestyleacademy.rocks\/~MiraT\/reflections\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Digital Media Work<\/mark><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

English Writing<\/mark><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Design Projects<\/mark><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflections Unit Introduction<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Reflections unit experiments with answering the question “Who am I?” through various artistic mediums. We write essays exploring our motivations and past experiences that led us to creating the art we do today. We strengthen our skillset in technical communication through our continued use of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, and more.<\/mark> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Digital Media Work<\/mark><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

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My Personal Mandalas<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The mandala project consisted of four main parts. First, learning how to set up the Adobe Illustrator file for different numbers of repeating mandala sections. In the next part, we used pressure sensitive brushes and Wacom pen tablets to create the black and white version of our mandalas. After making the black and white version, we made the colored version by choosing a color palette and adding color to both the existing strokes and the negative spaces. The last part of this project was making a build video that shows all the layers of the mandala turning on, one by one, showing a close up gradually zooming out.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If the images do not display below,
On a Mac, press Command + (plus) then press press Command – (minus)
On a PC, press the Ctrl + (plus) then press the Ctrl – (minus)<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mandala Laser Engraved on Acrylic<\/mark><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\t\"Black\n\t\t\"Engraved\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

My initial reaction to seeing my final laser engraved mandala on acrylic with a light stand was surprise that it turned out so good because I was worried the small details I included wouldn\u2019t translate well to being engraved. It was really fun to play around with the light stand, changing the colors to see how it changed the way my piece looked. I had my design also engraved on a second material, so I was also surprised to see how the finest of details looked even better on the one engraved on bamboo. When I compare my digital BW mandala and my physical laser engraved mandala, I really appreciate all the time and effort I put into the details because it gives the physical one much more depth and interest. I like that the light stand allows me to change the color because different colored evil eyes have different meanings, so changing the color is like changing the meaning of the whole piece.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My choice of acrylic for my laser engraved mandala best represented me because it allows the design to be dynamic and change with the different colors. It lets the artwork itself have more meaning with different interpretations. Through this project, I can apply what I have learned about pressure sensitive brushes to any future work I do in Adobe Illustrator, and use the techniques I learned to add depth and movement to this work. Seeing how other people included parts of their life and identity into their mandalas through little easter eggs was really interesting because I think it added so much meaning and thoughtfulness to their designs. I really enjoyed looking at other people\u2019s work and trying to find all the things they hid inside it.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Colored Mandala Printed<\/mark><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\t\"Colored\n\t\t\"Sublimation\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

For this piece, I built off my original concept for the black and white mandala using evil eyes, and made the entire colored mandala look like an eye itself. This artwork is different from my black and white mandala in that it uses the shapes and sections along with color to create the appearance of a pupil and iris. For the most part, I really like how the printed version came out, but the blues did pull a little more teal than how they were in the digital version. I used a monochromatic muted blue color palette to go along with the traditional evil eye colors being bright blue. My idea was to make the mandala look like what an evil eye would look like if it wasn\u2019t stylized, as in a more muted blue-grey iris. Specifically the blue evil eye represents protection and calm, which were core concepts I wanted to illustrate in my piece. Using a reference image of a real blue eye, I used lighter blues in the middle of the iris and darker blues both fading out to the outer ring of the iris and along the edge of the pupil.<\/mark>

Working with color allowed me to add much more depth in my mandala as I could change the shades and tints of both the background colors and the colors of the strokes themselves. This along with the different thicknesses of the strokes allowed me to pull some details out more and have others fade in. When I was working with only black and white strokes, it was difficult for me to have certain details or strokes grab the viewer\u2019s attention more than others, because I could only change the thickness or style. Working with color changed my overall attention to detail because it forced me to really think about which details I wanted to be more prominent and which I wanted to exist more to fill the gaps but not be as eye-catching.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brighter blues of the evil eyes stand out the best against the more muted background and stroke colors in my mind. I surprised myself with how well the evil eye motif works alongside the concept of the mandala being an eye as well. Overall, I really enjoyed this project and I hope to apply what I learned about color and strokes to other pieces I make in the future.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mandala Build Reveal Video<\/mark><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is the mandala build reveal video, which shows each small section or stroke of my mandala turning on individually. The video starts zoomed into the center of the mandala, showing the tiny details in the middle, and gradually zooming out to show the entire piece. To make this production, I used Adobe After Effects to add music, a title page, and a final image of the piece to the video.<\/mark><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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