This unit was about reflecting on ourselves, and answering the question “who am I?”. In Digital Media, we created mandalas, learned motion graphics in After Effects, and made a new home page for this website that better represented us. In English, we wrote a personal essay (one that would work for the common app, but also one that is representative of who we are). Finally, in Animation, we learned how to create 3D models in Maya, add details in ZBrush, and color them in Substance Painter.

One of the exercises we did before writing our personal essay in English was make a list of essence objects, some of which have inspired projects for our other classes too:

- stuffed seal from when i was little
- green + brown quilt my mom made me
- mango sanrio chapstick my friend gave me (we all have matching ones)
- little box of little gifts (mostly sticks, rocks, paper cranes)
- night in the woods (video game)
- bee & puppycat (animated show)
- nimona (animated movie + comic)
- moominvalley books my mom used to read to me and my sibling
- friendship bracelets
- little dream eater plush
- bracelet from my mom
- sketchbooks (current and old)
- my black hoodie
- artichoke bread and apple slices
- my binder
- the tape on my ceiling (its very significant)

These are mostly things that remind me of people, gifts from people, objects from my childhood, or other important/nostalgic things.

Another exercise we did was a core values exercise, where we brainstormed the values that are most important to us, and narrow it down to our top few. This is a video of those values:

Mandala

Our mandala project in Digital Media, we used symmetry in Illustrator to digitally create our own mandala. We created a colored version too, and then a laser cut version (mine was in black plastic with white lines).

Black & White Mandala Artist Statement:

For this mandala, I wanted to create something a bit creepy and sort of spider web like. I struggled getting this impression across without directly drawing a bunch of spider web shapes, and I think parts of it worked although parts could be better. If I could do it again I think I would use more references and be more purposeful in every line since some parts don’t give the impression I wanted them to. Overall I’m happy with how it turned out though, and I had a lot of fun making it. 

Colored Mandala Artist Statement:

For the colored version of my mandala, I took inspiration from the bright colors in the Spiderverse movies. I used a triadic color palette (cyan, yellow, and magenta) to find three colors that contrast well. I used cyan as more of an accent color since it was the only cool color, although I still used it in big chunks in some places. If I could do it again, I might try relying less on the black lineart and using colors that contrast more in brightness, but overall I’m really happy with how it turned out! 

Engraved Mandala & Artist Statement:

It was so cool finally seeing my mandala engraved! I chose the black plastic with white engraving since it reminded me of how a spider web glows when you shine a light on it in the dark. I love how it turned out, the way the legs of the spider in the center fade a bit as they get closer to the body was unintentional but it makes it look more 3D which I love. I took this photo on top of some black plastic tables, the light was reflecting on the edges creating white bars, and I thought it looked really cool with the black and white mandala.

Mandala Reveal Build Video:

personal essay

In this essay, we more literally answered the question of “who am I”. I wrote about my struggles growing up neurodivergent and undiagnosed, and how I’ve overcome parts of that, while expressing interests and things/people that are important to me. I think it pretty accurately represents me.

motion graphics

In this mini-unit, we learned a lot about different motion graphics in After Effects, and how to use them to make our own videos in the future.

Learned rotoscoping, a tool that lets us remove the background of something, to place text behind a person walking.

Used simple animation we learned and applied it to our own idea. I chose to make ripples in water by making circles grow bigger until they disappear.

We also learned to sync graphics to audio! I used my Marceline lip sync animation from last year, and added synced graphics around her.

I didn’t enjoy the entire process of learning motion graphics, but I really liked getting to apply what we learned to our own projects. It was fun being creative with it, and I now have more skills to apply to future things in After Effects, like animations.

animation productions

In Animation this unit, we learned a lot of new software for 3D animation! Since our Senior year is focused on 3D instead of 2D, we had to learn 3D modeling in Maya and ZBrush, and coloring in Substance Painter.

skull model

One of the first modeling projects we did was sculpt a skull using ZBrush. It was really difficult trying to imagine 2D references in 3D at first, but I learned a lot and I think by the end I was a lot better at it.

head model

After the skull, we made a head model! I decided to model Nimona! This was super difficult for me though, especially the hair. The shapes are simple and yet really hard to get right, especially in 3D because it has to look good from every angle. I’m pretty happy with the finished product though!

table model + render

The table scene I made was a longer process than the skull and head models, as we used all 3 of the software for different stages.

We started out in Maya, making the basic geometric shapes of the model:

Then we moved on to ZBrush, where we added details. The main detail I added in ZBrush for the table was the wood grain pattern.

Then, finally, we import the ZBrush model into Substance Painter and color it, getting the final render!

weapon model + render

We also made a model for a weapon, something that could be used in a video game or something, using the same process.

character model + render

Finally, we made our character model! This was a full body model which was really difficult, I struggled a lot getting proportions right while keeping them stylized. This character will also likely be used in our narrative animations next spring!

I really enjoyed this unit, I love 3D modeling! It’s not something I’ve done much of before, but I had a lot of fun learning it and I’m excited to make more models in the future. In Digital Media we learned a lot about new software too which was fun, and I liked how we were able to creatively connect ourselves and our identity to many of the projects from all our classes.