Introduction
Introduction:
The visual narrative project was a sort of difficult task to take at first. I was very overwhelmed with being presented with the multiple big items that needed to be completed by each of my teachers. Yet through time, hard work, and much revision, I am pleased with my completed products.All the projects completed were designed to allow us to explore real world issues that interest us and affect our community. With the help of our classmates and teachers, I was able to develop my skill in applications such as Adobe Illustration, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Audition and Pro Tools. Each of the projects being shown were revolved around a short story we had created in English. Despite the obstacles that appeared among each project, they provided a learning experience and allowed me to gain strength in my skills, knowledge of my capability and creativity that I was unaware I had.
Below are examples of projects we completed in digital Media when initially learning how to use Adobe Illustration:
Story
Story:
The assignment in English was first to create a character that would be the main focus of the story. Through various exercises and peer edits, we were able to fully develop our character and our knowledge on it. Eventually we were able to enter the more important portion of our assignment which was to create a story involving our character. My inspiration for my story was a character that in ways reminded me of my father. Yet instead of being from Montenegro, my character is from an small island off of Greece.
In terms of producing the audio version of my short story, I used various applications such as Audition to help implement my audio recording into a file that was capable of attaining sound effects or changes to the audio to help its delivery. Through the help of Digital Media, I was able to find myself valuing the details of my writing even more. Through adding various sound effects, small details in my story were emphasized and the overall ambience created a more realistic feel to my audio. It was as if the recording was taken from a movie which in my experience, interested me more into my work.
Every Step in Life
Below is my short story audio with sound effects:
Malu is laying in his bed in deep sleep when suddenly…
“Beep Beep Beep Beep” “Beep Beep Beep”
The sound of the alarm progresses louder and louder as the ring echos between Malu’s eardrums. Suddenly the beautiful sight of the coral reef resting underneath the light blue sea is replaced with an alarm clock reading 9:30am. Instead of particles of sand covering his face and outlining his eyes, Malu is faced with just crusts filling in his inner and outer corners of his almond shaped blue and green eyes. His big,muscular hands that had been accustomed to movement of the ocean are suddenly being seperated by the linings of the white cover that Malu was partially under. The crazy, curly hair malu had just dancing in the wind was indistinguishable to his current partially tamed, short brown hair and freshly shaved face. “It was all just a dream,” Malu attempts to repeat to himself, yet he wishes it wasn’t. He wishes that some dreams were transformed into reality such as this previous one of him being at his favorite spot in his hometown in Greece. He wonders if this dream was an idea to nudge him into the direction of having Greek culture be an inspiration for an agricultural assignment he is completing. Yet, he doesn’t give the idea too much energy. He felt that many better ideas could be drawn throughout his exploration excursion in New York City today. With this, Malu pursues this idea for his main goal today and finds final motivation to get up, dressed and out the house before his friend woke up. Malu dresses on his favorite black leather jacket, levis jeans, a nice top, vans, and a black Christo necklace with mother Teresa and a cross on it. He always put on that necklace since it had been his last memory his beloved grandmother gave him before she past. He attempts to dress today with the intention to blend among the crowd of New York as well as incorporating his own style. He ventures off to the kitchen portion of the tiny studio apartment he had been staying in. From there he grabs a quick banana and water to rely on as his breakfast for the morning. Satisfied with what he retrieved, he then heads for the door. Before leaving the house, he grabs his wallet, keys, phone, notebook and pen to draw out ideas that come to mind throughout the trip. After locking the door, Malu walks 4 flights of stairs down to eventually exit out through a tiny escalating door. He laughs a little at the idea that as he leaves this apartment building every day, he enters a humongous and hectic city through a tiny door. Which appears to be quite ironic to agriculture’s design of this building yet he leaves whom to have their own message through their artwork. As soon as Malu takes his first breath of the fresh air outside, his mind begins to pile through multiple emotions. Sadness runs about him being away from home and family who he strongly loved. Happiness wonders throughout his mind suddenly and begins to be expressed as he gradually splits his lips open into a formation of a smile. With this smile, crooked and stained teeth from all the sodas he used to drink in the past are shown and shined upon by Malu. Yet among these, the emotion of curiosity appears the strongest for the adventure that is waiting upon him to take. Feeling the shrivels the bearing cold brings throughout his body, Malu attempts to look at his map quaking at every sudden shake made by his body. He finally grabs control of himself and observes into more depth the areas of the city he circled to view for inspiration. He can’t seem to decide on the first sight to venture to, yet eventually decides to explore Times Square and other popular areas that he heard about. He tries to ask those around for help on the direction he should head. Yet after continuous pleads for help, Malu is left shocked by the lack of interest and empathy he observed these people had. Unlike those in Greece who were continuously generous to all, Malu felt that he was just talking to walls. Walls with facial expressions that showed the obvious rolling of an eye or sudden smark of language that even Malu never knew would come to mind. Eventually a young man in his mid-teens approached Malu and helped guide him through the system of the subway and emphasized its importance as the main transportation throughout the city. For this action, Malu had much hope and was very fortunate for the young man of helping him. Malu was able to travel to areas of Soho, Malu had the information at hand and he was on his way to Times Square, Central Park and other areas that were admired by many outside of the United States. Through a space filled with smells indistinguishable and packed with people like sardines, Malu entered each area out of the station as if it was freedom. Yet, what eventually came to mind for Malu at each of these destinations was he wasn’t inspired. In spite of the beauty each area contained, Malu’s mind was distracted by the mass, aggressive crowds that came with. Constant shouting
“Ay, I am walking here!”
Or various other slang phrases that were too aggressive for even Malu to comprehend.
And constant pushing and shoving from every corner surrounding Malu. He couldn’t simply take the time to observe and allow ideas to flow in since his mind was prevented by everything else. From this chaos, Malu decided to venture off into other areas in the city where it wasn’t as overwhelming. Malu didn’t have a clear idea of where he was headed, yet he felt in his place at that moment his curiosity and open mindedness was guiding him. He also felt no necessity for caution because he never heard of any safety hazards in New York City. Like a feather resting upon a flower, he was ready for the wind to push him into whatever direction it felt was needed to be explored. Malu found his navigation by being in the flow of the wind. He discovered various forms of art, and these different forms were those that represented truly the diversity of New York City to Malu and he couldn’t help but to be mesmerized by the purpose of each artwork and how despite it being a city, artists were still able to incorporate their artwork into it. As observing the mass amount of graffiti on this one wall, his eyes were following the artwork down, and Malu became struck with an unique image. Various tents and blankets were rested on the wall that held this artwork. In many spots among these blankets were images to Malu of homeless individuals attempting to shoot up heroin and fight one another for the last dollar. It was a complete devastating image for Malu and despite the gratitude and heartbreak Malu felt for these people, he couldn’t help but notice something. Through the may different aspects of this scenario, Malu’s eyes began to widen in shock to a sight of a group of 5-6 men exchanging money and various mini bags of white powder and green plants. It was at this moment when Malu realized that he was witnessing a drug deal. In Greece, it was known that whenever a drug deal occurred, anyone in the surroundings needed to vanish rapidly or else they would be punished by those dealing. Therefore as Malu’s body is overwhelmed with fear, he attempts to escape the scene as rapidly as he could. Every step he began to take was filled with a rattle of shakes, hands beginning to perspire and heart racing as if it was trying to win a Nascar race.
But it was too late. The men noticed Malu at the corner of their eyes trying to run off. It especially wasn’t hard for them to see him when he had been the only one in the area with the nicest clothes and with a fear of needing to leave. From this observation, the feeling struck in them that he was a cop or some other type of individual that would expose their actions. So as it was done in Greece, these men were influenced by the quo that they needed to punish him. As jaguars capturing their prey, the following 5-6 men gassed towards Malu and completely knocked him down. With punches and kicks from left to right Mlau constantly felt pain throughout his body. He began to witness the formation of blood among various parts of his body yet didn’t use his energy into focusing on them. He tried to plead for He pleads for forgiveness yet all he would barely here were words of hatred. He was upset with the accusations that were made by these various men but he didn’t have any courage to simply say anything. Malu was tremendously scared and began to shed tears that once fallen to the ground, had hints of red in them.
“Swipppp”
A pain like never before arises at that very moment. It was then when Malu looked down, he saw one of the men carrying a knife that dripped in red blood. He was completely and utterly astonished.
How could this possibly happen?
Why would this happen to me?
If i die now, will my family back home find out?
I wish I could tell them I Loved them.
These were some of the many questions and thoughts that rises through Malu’s mind in absence of some of the pain. Suddenly, Malu heard noises of the men running and some being pushed to the ground and held captive. To find out who was helping him and providing the karma of these men that they deserved, Malu was shocked. He never imagined to sight a woman beyond courageous and strong enough to handle these men down. She signaled to some other people that consisted of both men and women to help retrieve the other suspects and also to help Malu. They moved Malu onto a stretcher and into a ambulance. The loud sirens were had more strength in spite of everything else to Malu. Yet, he eventually tried to shift his focus on where the woman was. When he spotted her, he vigorously tried to retrieve her attention. When he did, he exclaimed his gratefulness towards her. She was very fortunate of his words and gave him his notebook and pen to have among this next step of his journey. In spite of the many different emotions that came through Malu’s head in that instance, his mind was driven on one idea. Malu discovered that the dream he had about his home that reminded him of the emotions he longed for, could also be available in the start of his new life. For this to be present, he realized he needed to be available for the experience that involved a new perspective he was ready to incorporate into his life.
Here is a screenshot of the Adobe Audition process of creating my short story with sound effects:
Illustrations
Illustrations:
Each of the illustrations I created for my section headers on this page were inspired by my story and my experience in freestyle. The first image is of two butterflies I traced with illustration on a blooming flower. I created this illustration to demonstrate the courage my character had venturing off into an unknown area along with the courage I took creating my illustration in design/story in English. The second and third images are of the national Greek Flowers and a olive tree because when creating my background of my character initially, I did a fun segment where I envisioned what his home would look like in Greece. In this little practice, I covered the home and area with a mixture of the national flowers and olive trees. The final image is of the Mediterranean which is the water various Greek islands, such as the one my character Malu is from, are located in. In the beginning of my story, I highlight a dream my character is having which is of the clear, blue water in his hometown. I had this picture of the Mediterranean from a past vacation I had over the summer in Montenegro. Despite it not being ‘Greece,’ Montenegro is located at the Mediterranean and carries similar characteristics Greece has. In every one of these illustrations, they were all created through the help of previous photos I had from past vacations along with Adobe Illustrator. Adobe Illustrator was extremely valuable when I needed to trace the images and implement my own creativity into them.
Here is a screenshot of the Adobe Illustration process to create these banner images: 
Another application we used to further format the banners on our website was Adobe Dreamweaver. Through this application, I used various types of codes to help construct the banners on my website therefore as my viewers would scroll down my page, the banners would have enabled this very interesting and cool affect that allows them to look the way they do. It was a difficult yet interesting experience learning how to code and apply it to projects such as my website.
Below is a screenshot of the application Adobe Dreamweaver we used to help format the banners on our website: 
Personal Illustration
The personal illustration assignment was open for us to create a piece of art using Adobe Illustrator. For my illustration I was inspired to create something that made me feel happy through these past stressful weeks. Therefore, I used an image I captured in Montenegro this past summer from my grandparents house. This view was one that I aways viewed every morning while having a cup of coffee with my grandma. Those memories are ones I constantly cherish till this day and wish to have occur every day. With Adobe Illustrator, I traced over this image and added a couple touches of flowers using symbols so the illustration could appear more ‘full.’ This illustration fortunately reminds me a lot as the view from my grandmothers which as writing this, makes me filled with joy and happiness.
Below is a screenshot of the process creating this illustration with Adobe Illustrator:
Story Media
Story Media/Work from Design:
The elective class I am in is Design. In this class, we had the assignment to create a creature that represented all of the characteristics our character held. We also had to create a background scene that illustrated our character emotionally or a specific scene in our story. I decided to create a background that represents how my character Malu felt tied between old memories of Greece and making new ones in New York. I selected an elephant’s front legs to carry the personality trait of openness. I chose to use a lion’s back legs to represent courage. The dog head was to represent my character being outgoing. The butterfly wings showcase grace in my characters presence constantly being around various types of people and places. The fish tail is to connect to a personal memory I had with the movie ‘Finding Nemo’ with how driven and brave the main character had been to find his son. It is these characteristics above, that shaped Malu’s character to navigate and step into life.When first sketching out ideas, I wanted to incorporate Malu’s emotions with feeling courageous such as skydiving and his hesitation with continuing to reminisce on his beloved Greece. I thought that with Adobe Illustrator, it was important to include the beautiful, clear, blue sea and Greek land my character cherished deeply, while also having New York city be off in the distance. This would help demonstrate Malu’s thought process and yearning for his country versus this new territory. Having the character sky dive off a plane emphasized the importance of courage in both the story itself and this scene. With the help of Adobe Photoshop in the character process, I attempted to implement various animals that represented the characteristics I envisioned my character’s qualities. From an important physical feature from each animal, I meshed them all together and traced them later with Adobe Illustration.
Through this process, it allowed me to value each of characteristics my character carried. It took a while to have the product become completed, and throughout this 1-2 month journey I was hesitant of my capability. Yet, through long hours and work, my Narrative Creature Illustration was completed and I’m proud of what I accomplished. When viewing it, it could be better, yet I have to come to understand that every artist has a problem with the piece they create yet that is what helps them improve and become better. Through the creation of this creature, I was able to improve my skill with Adobe Illustration and become more confident with creating projects that required tracing. I would love to thank my wonderful teacher Ms.P for all the help she provided throughout the course of these past few months creating this narrative illustration. She was always willing to help out no matter how big or small the issue had been. I would also love to thank my fellow classmates that were very kind people and were constantly open to helping me and providing the feedback I needed to improve my project. Overall this was an amazing experience and I can’t wait to create more projects involving the usage of applications such as Adobe Illustrator.
Below is a screenshot of my Narrative Create Illustration we had as our big class project:
Here is also a screenshot of Photoshop creature complication: 
There were other very cool and creative projects we completed in design I would like to remark on. Each project was involving creative and artistic talents I was unsure I was capable of. Yet, eventually through hard work, all came out to be better than what I had expected. Each of these mini projects were either draw or done with physical paper, so we had to use the big scanner in the digital media room to transfer them from physical to digital copy; which was pretty cool to learn how to do.
Below is a picture of the Positive Negative space exercise we completed to help ourselves improve our understanding on the value of negative and positive space in a photograph. The negative space is often the area the object isn’t in while the positive space is the area the object takes up.
Below is a picture of the Blending Watercolors to understand neutrals project we completed to appreciate the value that arrives when blending two different colors together. What was interesting from this experiment was how after blending all of the different colors in their own pairs, each color mixture would result in a sudden brown tone. Yet aside from this conuicidence, it was beautiful to experience having carefully painting these colors on with water. It allowed for my appreciation of color pigmentation to increase as well as the process of water-coloring itself.
Below is a picture of my Colored pencil project to understand tints tones and shades. In this project we were designed to color multiple versions of the traditional colors on the rainbow. To each section of a color, we had an individual tint, tone and shade. This process helped me appreciate the affect an individual affect of a tint or tone can have on a color. During the project, it was initially difficult for me to carefully add back, grey or white to the color in order to make the color a tint, tone or shade of the original. Yet through practice and the help of others, I was able to get a hang of it and eventually sketch realistic tin, tones and shades of each color.
Below is a picture of Understanding Basic Color Theory Exercises that was designed to help us understand how to blend colors using colored pencils using tints, tones, and shades. By adding black shading to the color at the ends to help represent a shade then decreasing the amount of black added when going to the middle of meeting another color, allows for a smooth blend. When a color would approach another and eventually intersect, I would mix both of the colors together and add white so it can help allow a smoother transition. This project was redone a second time because initially I had too much of the black colored pencil mixed with the orange, which is a light color and emphasizes the black more than other darker colors. Yet, I would consider this project a vast learning experience because I was able to understand the logistics behind blending colors and transitions of shades, tones and tints to influence the creation of a smooth color blending.
Macro Photo
For my first project in Design, I chose to photograph a leaf of a fern. I intended to photograph because beyond the various objects and plants I captured photos of, this fern caught my eye the most. When taking this photo, I was mesmerized by the various tones of greens and the different types of texture each aspect of the leaf had. I thought with the purpose of macro photography to catch the details that other lenses wouldn’t have in as much depth, this leaf could be a great source. I shot this photo in midst of golden hour beginning, because I felt that this hour of day was not too strong of lighting from midday or yellowing from the golden hour, yet was just the perfect middle to allow the diferation of tones to pop. With this hour of day, the shadowing of the sun through the tree branches above allowed for difference of highlighting and showing among the leaf which I saw to be very beautiful and as mentioned before, emphasize the tones. In order to add depth , I attempted to shoot at an angle between over and from the side of the fern that allowed photo to show the drops of each strand of the leaf being pushed down by gravity. In order to enhance my photo even more, I used Photoshop to adjust the coloring of the photo so the different tones are expressed in a stronger hue. I tried to increase the saturation of the photo to help achieve this coloring. Also, I used a collaboration of the quick selection tool and healing tool to pick out pieces in the background that were distracting and I thought if removed would allow more focus to be brought to the areas of the leaf that I wanted. Through editing in Photoshop, I learned how to properly edit an photo to correctly bring focus to areas in my photo that I want the viewer to look at. In addition, I furthered my knowledge on adjustment layers and how they may be used to add hue and saturation to an image. Through the use of Photoshop’s tools and my camera settings, I was able to create a product hat helped develop my understanding with the elements of art and editing techniques that I will be able to incorporate in my future in photography.
