For the this Unit, we had a total of four different Design projects. On this page, you can see the artwork I produced with their instructions beside them.
Narrative Comic Page
In English, we wrote stories on fictitious characters with internal and external goals that we created. One of our assignments for Design was to turn one of these stories' climaxes into a comic page. Another requirement for the assignment was that the characters were to be personified as monsters or creatures that under scored a personality trait of theirs. The stories can be read on the English page.
Artist Statement:
My comic strip illustrates the climax of my narrative story. In this scene, the main character, an indoor cat personified here as a different creature, realizes that he is trapped outside. He has always liked to think of himself as independent, but at this point he realizes that he heavily relies on his owners. His owners, after all, are the ones who open doors for him. To make matters worse, as he is contemplating this, it begins to rain.
The character is represented by a small, yellow, rabbit-like character, who is covered in spiky fur. His form represents his personality; prickly and cold on the outside, even though on the inside he is soft.
Character Portrait
This assignment was to create a believable character and then photograph them. Instead of simply inventing characters, we created them by incorporating personality traits of ourselves and those we knew. Then, we had them communicate over the internet, without telling our classmates whom our characters were. Finally, we photographed them, supplying our own props and one model- the model was to be a classmate, and one objective was to make them unrecognizable.
Artist Statement:
Janet works as a pizza delivery person, though she does not like her job. She does not do very well at it, either. In fact, she doesn't try at all; Janet has already resigned herself to a life of 'good enough'. After challenging herself and failing too many times, she became convinced that the world was against her success, and she began to work towards completion rather than achievement. She began to not care at all, and finally became detached. Now, Janet surrounds herself in the world of the Internet and rock music, finding its easy access a good distraction. Her most treasured item is her motorcycle- a gift from a friend. Janet cannot afford nice things, and tells herself that she is fine with that, but her attachment to the bike says otherwise. Here, Janet is preparing to make another delivery, but her phone seems to have the highest priority.
She is probably already running late.
In this picture, Janet, wearing her usual attire, is about to make a delivery. Her phone is in her hand, and she is facing away from the pizza. Her dark clothing and background represents her detached personality. Her facing away from the pizza represents how she is, mentally, cut off from her responsibilities. Similarly, her face is turned away from the viewer to also show detachment, and her focus on the phone. She is sitting, and doesn't seem to be going anywhere right now. The motorcycle helmet next to her is the connection to her precious bike, which represents Janet's regret; she has given up trying to be successful, but her attachment to the bike shows that she does want the fancy things and lavishness that comes with the success she once tried to achieve.
Surrealism
For several weeks, we were instructed to keep a 'dream journal', by writing down our dreams. When we had seven dreams, we proposed one to the teacher to 'photograph', using photoshop for digital manipulation. Although none of my dreams were surreal enough, I took pieces from multiple dreams and created this.
Artist Statement:
Home
Venturing
with rivers of sawdust
and birch trees
floating on a current.
Watch them as they go
on a journey home;
a parade of giants
underneath the floor.
10 years
This is one of our last illustrations at Freestyle. This piece is representative of our hopes and fears for the future. Specifically, ten years from now. We had to incorporate both our fears and our hopes into the same image, in a symbolic way.
Artist Statement:
Ten years from now I think I will be chasing my dream. How close to my goals I'll be I don't know, but I do know that I will be happy aiming for them. I want to be a character designer, working on designing characters or drawing their concepts for movies or cartoons or video games. I know that jobs in that field aren't so specific, and those that are close to such specificity are high up on the ladder. I know it will take a while to get there, and it will be a lot of work, but I don't think there's any other job I'd rather have. Although, I am weary of the long road it takes, and I'm worried about other things: having a slower start, not being able to promote myself, and focusing too much on my own hobbies and projects. I am also afraid that I don't know exactly what it will be like when I get there.
To show this, I have represented myself with a mouse behind a stage on the floor, looking up a rope to the rafters above. The height and brightness represent success, visibility, and position, but mostly a goal. The bright light also masks what is behind it. There are already mice high up the rope, nearing the top, and there are also mice at the top already, representing a slow start. In its paws, the mouse holds a marionette puppet, representative of my own personal characteristics, which happen to be what I am afraid I will have to relinquish in pursuing this goal.
2012 c. Hannah Kirn