For this unit, we were tasked to reflect on ourself. Throughout this unit I created many different projects that helped me understand myself and answer the question, “Who am I?” In all my classes; Digital Media, Design, and English, we worked on projects that helped reflect my core beliefs and values. To make a majority of these projects I used Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and more.
Personal Mandala
In Digital Media, we created a personal mandala in Adobe Illustrator. We were challenged to incorporate our beliefs and core values in the mandala. We started by making a mandala in black and white then progressed to making a colored mandala.
For this project I really wanted to look into my life; what I enjoy, my core values, and my inspirations. I wanted to put myself into this project. The first detail I added was the hands reaching out for each other. I added this detail because I wanted to show how I’m not afraid to ask for help and that I’m always there to support my friends and family. Another detail I added was a star to represent my last name and how much it means to me. Lastly I added a wave, a moon, and stars to represent my love of nature and the outdoors. I am very happy with how this project turned out and I am extremely happy with my new knowledge on adobe illustrator. If I were to do this project again, I would add more detailing to make the mandala look more intricate and personal.
For the colored mandala, I decided to use my black and white mandala and color it in. I wanted to color in my pre-made mandala because I thought it would add so much more of my personality and my values. I added a lot of bright and vibrant colors into my mandala. I also added a layer of darker calmer colors to represent a deeper and more personal side of my life. I created the colored mandala by making a copy of the black and white mandala and used the paintbrush tool and the live paint bucket tool to fill in the gaps of the lines and color the lines. If I could do this project again, I would make another mandala and color that instead because I had a bit of difficulty coloring it in. Other than that, I am very happy with how it turned out.
After the intricate process of making and designing our mandalas, our mandalas were printed on a surface of our choosing. I chose to have my mandala printed on acrylic because I wanted to have a more modern feel to my mandala. I really liked the look of the light and how it brings to life the art that I created as well as my core values. I am extremely happy with how it turned out and I can’t wait to use it in the future.
Photoshop Art
During this unit, we created many different art pieces in photoshop utilizing different effects and tools. Our projects ranged from turning a photo into a pastel painting to blending multiple photos together. Overall, the unit helped me learn a lot of new tools in Adobe Photoshop that I hope to use in the future!
Pastel Painting
For this project, we were tasked to create a pastel painting in photoshop. I decided to trace over a picture from the SF Moma, because this is one of my favorite freestyle memories. I wanted to commemorate it by painting over it in photoshop. To create this artwork, I uploaded a picture into photoshop and changed the size to fit the correct dimensions of the piece. I then added another layer on top and started drawing with different brushes and colors to try and closely match the image.
Watercolor Painting
Ever since I was a kid I had loved creating watercolor paintings. I was super excited to be able to make a digital painting now for school. I wanted to incorporate my personality and life as well as my childhood. I created a painting of a small boat in a vast ocean. The boat represents myself and my childhood. I did this by making the boat seem small and toy-like. The large ocean around it represents the hardships of life and how you need to take it one wave at a time. To create this painting I made a new photoshop document and placed an image that looks like watercolor paper in the back. I then used brush strokes that I downloaded to start painting the background and the boat. I wanted to incorporate a feeling of calmness and joy. I did this by incorporating blue and yellow into the painting.
Watercolor Effect
For this project, we were tasked to take three photos and make them look like watercolor paintings. To do this, I used Adobe Photoshop and imported all of the photos. I then used multiple different filters such as the watercolor filter and the render cloud filter. These and other changes helped turn my photos into cool watercolor paintings. I am very happy with how all of them turned out. I loved being able to give a different look to my photography that also looks realistic.
Photoshop Composites
Surreal Image
For this project we were tasked to create a surreal Photoshop art piece that represented our worldbuilding stories in our english class. My story is about a walled city in the US that is run by a large corporation that uses find control. To express this story, I created a large city surrounded by a wall on the map of the US. I enjoyed this project a lot because ive always wanted to try surreal images in Photoshop. I was able to learn many different tools and techniques to help me complete this project. Overall, I am very happy with the outcome and I cant wait to explore this type of art in the future.
Personal Essay
For many colleges, we were required to write a personal essay or statement that helps explain us as a person. It helped me reflect on the”Who am I?” question at the beginning of the unit. I dug deep and thought about my passions and fears. What makes me happy and sad. In the end, I decided to write about my fear of being home alone.
The Essay:
As a kid, being home alone scared me. Typical childhood fears of ghosts, intruders, and the dark bore big in my mind. However, what truly scared me the most about being left alone was the responsibility. What if someone came to the door with a question I couldn’t answer? What if one of my dogs escaped from the yard? Unfortunately, something worse than I could have ever imagined happened that confirmed this very fear. This event posed a challenge that caused me to rethink my fears, reform the way I felt about things, and ultimately grow and mature. Several years ago, after completing a semester of college out of state, my cousin moved into our backyard cottage as he contemplated his next steps in life. One particular afternoon, my mother and brother left to run errands. Shortly after they left, I got a text from my mother checking in. A concerned neighbor had called her to ask if everything was okay – he had seen emergency vehicles in front of our house. I’d been in my room listening to music and was unaware of anything unusual. As I walked out to our living room, I was shocked and confused to see policemen and EMTs swarming my backyard. I then spotted my cousin sitting on the ground with his head cradled in his hands as his girlfriend was being pulled out of the guest house on a gurney. I was frozen in place. Seeing this as a child was terrifying. I called my mom and through tears tried my best to tell her what I was witnessing. I could hear the panic in her voice as she told me to try to stay calm and that she was rushing home. But she was about twenty minutes away. I was alone. I mustered up enough courage to go talk to the police to see if my cousin was okay and to ask what I should do. I recall the police being kind, but also firmly telling me that I had to go back into my house. I felt powerless. What could a child in a situation like this do other than wait for someone more responsible to come home? It turned out that my cousin and his girlfriend had been doing drugs, and his girlfriend had overdosed. At first, I felt as though the entirety of this experience was negative. I knew drugs were dangerous and up until that moment, I never imagined my cousin was experimenting with them. It was hard for me to reconcile the loving and mature cousin I knew, with the knowledge that he was struggling with drugs. I started to feel uncertain and unmoored. I grew even more scared and anxious about being alone. However, as time passed, I started to recognize the ways in which I could grow and learn from this experience. It showed me how resilient I was and proved to me that I can overcome difficult and challenging situations. I learned to empathize with, rather than judge, my cousin and others. I understand that despite what face we put on for the crowd, we all have different struggles and challenges beneath the surface. Knowing this allows me to meet others with patience and sympathy. The resilience, confidence, and insight I gained from this experience makes me well prepared for my future. Additionally, I can happily report that I am no longer scared to be home alone.
Design
PSA Assignment
The PSA I created for this project is about academic anxiety. I constantly struggle with my workload and asking for help. I know that many others feel this way too, this is why I created this PSA. The PSA I created is a black and white self portrait of myself stressed over my work. I added red, orange, and yellow swirls over my head to represent a feeling of being overwhelmed and anxious. I then added text over it saying, “it’s okay to ask for help.” Though I represented stress with the squiggles over my head, I also wanted to show happiness and content. I made it so that the words “for help” were in a warm yellow color. This portrays the message that it is indeed okay to ask for help when you are in need of it.
To create this piece I first made a moodboard. On this moodboard I added other PSA examples that inspired me and ones that I liked the format. I also chose a color scheme which included reds, yellows, and oranges. After creating my moodboard I took a self portrait of myself. Going into photoshop, I then edited the exposure, contrast, and curve before changing the photo to black and white. Afterwards, I uploaded that image to canvas and wrote the phrase I used. I found a bold font to represent the seriousness of this issue and changed the color of each line. Lastly, I added the lines over my head. This was surprisingly the most challenging part of this project. I had a difficult time choosing the color, the brush stroke, and the orientation of it. But with the help of my peers’ edits, I am extremely happy with how it turned out. Overall, I wouldn’t change anything about this project and I am thoroughly happy with how it turned out.
Aboriginal Art
I was born in February meaning my astrology sign is a Pisces. Since Pisces is a water sign, I wanted to incorporate aboriginal symbols and other designs that have to do with water. To make the artwork feel more like water, I made the background cool shades of blue with paths and dots to represent currents and bubbles. The first symbol I added was a watering hole symbol around the leopard in the middle of the art work. To represent Pisces creativity and outgoing personality, I made the watering hole bright colors. I further expressed myself in the art work by adding star symbols to represent the origin of my large family, the Starkeys. Ever since I was a kid, a snow leopard has always been my favorite animal on many different levels. I chose this animal to be my spirit animal. I decided to place it in the middle of the watering hole to make it the focal point. The overall feeling of the picture that I wanted to portray is calmness and balance.
To create this project, I first created a new document in Photoshop with the correct sizing and dimensions. I then sketched out the general idea that I wanted to create. I then started making dots and lines using a cool toned color pallet. Using the brush tool I was able to make different dot sizes and lines to help make the symbols and background. Some challenges I encountered with this project were the border, the composition, and the leopard print. To help overcome these challenges, I looked at inspiration pieces and got the help and criticism of my classmates and my teacher. Overall I am very happy with the turn out of this project.