Reflections

In the Reflections unit, we wrote a personal statement essay reflecting on past events and our goals for the future. In this, I learned how important basketball has been to me. It has provided me with a support network, an accepting environment, and opportunities to grow as a leader and team-player.

Mandala

Using Adobe Illustrator, I created a mandala that automatically reflected the drawing quadrant. For this mandala, the final product would be laser-cut onto something of our choice. For this reason, the art had to be black and white. While drawing, I found interesting ways to give the impression of water and shadow. I chose leather as the surface to be engraved on and added dots around the outside to aid in sewing this onto something. To me, leather conveys a certain tone of a rougher demeanor. I tried to give it a different tone in this piece by calling on imagery of knights and castles to convey nobility.

For the color mandala, I explored creating effects without color and adding simple coloring on top.

Photoshop Art

For our Photoshop art, we first got familiar with painting in the tool using the pastel painting, where we were challenged to use only one brush, and then used it for watercolor painting.

Pastel

 Creating this piece, I wanted to try to use a small color palette and instead vary the vibrancy while creating a background. Getting used to Photoshop took some time, as I was used to using Clip Studio Paint. Using different layers was beneficial when working on different areas of shadow, as I could more easily move things around and erase, without having to worry about changing the rest of the piece.

This project was valuable to me in that it introduced me to and familiarized me with Photoshop. It also helped me become more conscientious of lighting and color values.

During this project, I learned that I work better when things are divided into many layers so that I can make more fine-tuned decisions and also try out multiple things at once.

Watercolor

This painting symbolizes looking back at happier times and at youth. The wilting flower shows that fragility of the memory and how it slowly fades over time, though its vibrancy in contrast with the rest of the piece’s monochrome cool color palette also highlights a gloom of present day. The penciling of the hand gives the shape a more concrete feel, tying it to the present, while the rest is blurred like a memory.

The medium of watercolor has always been a beautiful thing to me in how smooth and free-flowing it is as well as how bright and vibrant it can be. I also particularly like the edges of watercolor stroked and how they can either be clear and well-defined, or they can be blurry and loose.

In comparison with the Pastel Painting, I thought that the watercolor medium felt more freeing. I’ve always wanted to get better at watercolor painting, but I always struggled with analog because of all of the variables in regards to water on the paper, and in the brush, the amount of pigment, the way the colors bleed together and lay on top of each other. Digital watercolor removed a lot of these variables and made it easier for me to focus on getting the effects I wanted and expressing what I wanted to express.

Watercolor Effect

All of these pictures are from times when I was stuck somewhere, whether that be inside on a rainy day or in the car for a long drive. Looking back, I remember a feeling of ecstasy at seeing my beautiful surroundings and making something from it. But my memory is faded and blurred.

Using the watercolor effect from Photoshop allowed me to take these photos and represent them how they are in my head: a muddied remembrance of a peaceful time. In this way, filters can help portray subjects in a photo in a more authentic way that conveys more emotion to the viewer.

In the future, I hope to use these techniques to help tell stories and immerse the viewer in the perspective of the main character. This could mean changing the background to make it seem less real and portray a loosening grip on reality or a memory. It could be used to blur objects and make them feel as though they have a more sentimental value, or are attached to a memory. There are many applications of this technique that I would like to explore in future story-telling endeavors.

Composting 2 Photos

Compositing 3 Photos

Surreal Art

This composition was inspired by George MacDonald’s fairy tale The Golden Key, a tale about the journey to the afterlife. In it, a creature, as the one in this composition, serves as a guide for a short while to the main characters on their way to the first stage of their journey. They serve this purpose gladly because they wish to be cooked alive after so that they may move on to their next step of existence. In my piece, this creature is shown up high, seemingly aimless, as though it is lost and unable to find its way back so that it might take its next step.

In this piece, I found the use of smart objects extremely useful in simplifying my workflow after creating the creature. Clipping masks were also extremely helpful in cropping the textures of the creature so that it fit the description in the tale of a creature that moved and looked like a fish, but with the glimmering feathers of a hummingbird instead of scales, and an owl’s face in place of a fishes.

I feel like surreal compositions allow for more creative expressions than realistic compositions. They allow for visual metaphors as well as more novel concepts that allow them to communicate more complex ideas and make the viewer think more.

Personal Essay

In this I discuss a major disruption to my life at the end of last school year.

Basketball practice, April 22, 2021. Running down the court with nothing on my mind but blowing past my defender for a layup – no worries about the monotonous homework my teachers piled on after spring break, no worries about demanding parents, nothing but running the fast

BrEaK

I was on the floor, knee hugged to my chest, radiating pain. What was that? My MCL? Natalie said her MCL sprain is going to take 6 weeks to heal. Or my meniscus? How long does that take? My ACL? That’s at least 6 months, right?

But I’m going to miss school volleyball. Why am I thinking about a season that hasn’t even started yet? I’m going to miss the rest of THIS season!

With ice, crutches, and a rushed ride to the COVID-impacted ER, the gravity and uncertainty began to sink in.

The following week of doctors and scans was filled with tumultuous thoughts of what I would have to miss and what I might get to do. Would I have a healthy knee and be able to walk around campus and finally meet my classmates returning to in-person instruction, or would I have a summer on the sidelines for the first time since elementary school? Would I be healed for club volleyball nationals in July and then get to be a part of a front row packed with 6-footers during my senior season for another run at a state championship? Or maybe I could have time to explore what I want to do and who I am beyond an athlete.

Despite being successful across sports, I had often felt out of place, whether because of the weird looks and comments or being the outsider at both boys’ baseball and girls’ softball. Now I might have a chance to find my place.

When the diagnosis came in, my mom read it to me as I iced my knee in bed.

“You sprained your MCL...

tore your meniscus…

and tore your ACL.”

For the first weeks after surgery, I couldn’t get out of bed unassisted or sit at my desk. I wasn’t going to be able to run for months, let alone play any sports with my friends. Whole teams and seasons were wiped out. With this news, my motivation plummeted. The stress of school, immobility, parents, and my mental and identity struggles left me exhausted. I wanted to escape to my friends and basketball, but it was hard to get up, let alone get in a car.

Over time, the physical difficulty reduced, but the mental barriers remained. I tried to make it to every game and practice, but the mountain of makeup work and AP test prep often outweighed the emotional benefits of seeing the team. I felt powerless and frustrated that I couldn’t do it all.

As a stressful school year faded into summer, time opened up to explore my interests. I had more chances to craft stories and explore the foundations of quantum physics. While I still had to crutch everywhere, I no longer had a mental hill to climb. I returned to basketball practices consistently, even leading a few of them when the coach asked. I seized this opportunity to develop my skills as an inclusive team leader, later being voted team captain, while working hard to recover.

My bright side came back, too. I was able to work with my dad to help him understand me and my identity better. I realized that even though I might not have been able to take more steps in my transition before basketball season, or even this school year, I will soon, and I can keep working towards that.

While I might not be able to play in games for another month, I’m back to running down the court with a clear vision, blowing past barriers and leading others forward, appreciative of what I’ve learned and regained.

Animation Projects

We had three main scenes that we worked on throughout the semester to learn about modeling for 3D animation. We started with a preliminary modeling in Maya to get the general shape, and then moved to ZBrush to refine it and add detail. From there, we moved to Adobe Substance Painter to add color and texture to our models. With the character model, we then went back to Maya, applied the texturing that we had been working on, and then rigged our characters using the quick rig feature. Due to my character having a tail, I had to take extra steps to add rigging for the tail, which is a similar process to adding rigging to fingers. We then animated a walk, run and jump cycle with Maya’s key frame animation and then rendered our animations.

Weapon

For the weapon, I wanted to create something that felt simple and old, so that it wouldn’t steal too much attention away from the rest of whatever production I would use it for, but would also clearly have its own story.

Character

Walter Jynkins arose from the idea of a small character rampaging with the axe, which would be unwieldy for a squirrel. This idea grew into Walter’s backstory, which has continued to grow.

Table Scene

My table scene was sort of just an amalgamation of various things I wanted to try modeling. When I got to paint the scene in Adobe Substance Painter, I started to think about how things could tie together. While it is still very much all over the place and messy, it has a little bit more of a common thread now than it did when I first started modeling.