Conceptual

 “How can I use unconventional forms to express myself?”

     This unit emphasizes creative risk-taking through poetry, music, art, animations and challenging students to express their opinions through a distinct personal aesthetic. We were introduced to professional equipment and applications such as Canon cameras, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Animate, Adobe Premiere Pro, Dragonframe, and Google Apps.

     Oddly enough, I feel as if this is the unit I stretched my creativity and thinking the farthest, since for the most part, we were essentially allowed to do anything we wanted, especially when it came to poetry. I thrived in this unit because prior to Freestyle, most of my artwork was already conceptual, so I didn’t struggle much during this unit. Back then were simpler times… Can we go back to the Conceptual unit? I miss writing poetry and taking pictures of toilets…

Poetry

“Bristly”

Haha… so as you can tell, I was depressed as hell at this time.

 I believe this was created during the September of my junior year, and I was on an upward trend of hating myself and the way I looked. At this point, I was getting over a hardcore crush I developed during the Spring of sophomore year.  It was very unhealthy because I put this person on a pedestal; I thought this person was better than me, was pure and wholesome. Whenever I looked at myself and then looked at this person, I felt so dirty and unworthy. It sounds grotesque, but I honestly just wanted to leave my body because my skin suit, who I was as a person, felt so disgusting.

     To put it simply, I wanted to shave myself clean, and this is what this poem is about.

“Great Awakening”

“I am exploring the feeling of scorn through the experience of compromise.”

A sprouting tree stands.  

Serpentine trail

of budding flowers.

We planned to meet halfway.

 

The warm sunlight crawls under my skin.

I quicken my pace.

 

Soon the tree greets me

with open branches

and a diplomatic bark.

Reconciliation runs through its leaves –

a handshake after a civil war,

a sight of bewilderment.

 

Thus, I extend my hand

and rip out its roots.

I bark back at the bark,

a ferocious battle cry.

The blood

orange seeps through my fingers,

drip drop on the clawed floor.

 

Surroundings are now ablaze,

but not due to the beating sun.

Flames arouse a winter,

frozen

                           in 

                                               stalemate.

“An Average Day in my Fabulous Life (Behind the Scenes!)”

I wanted to do a spoken word with heavy wordplay because I was listening to a lot of Eminem and Bo Burnham at the time. Ha, I thought I was soooooo clever. I liked it a lot at the time because it was fun (despite the depressing content), but looking back, I kind of just cringe (I hate using that word but it’s the best word to use in this situation) at how edgy and depressed I was… I mean someone said my performance of this poem sounded like they were listening to Biggie Smalls, so I guess that’s cool. I personally don’t think it’s nowhere near the musical talent of Biggie, but I’m glad I was able to deceive him into to thinking it was.

I wake up with a clean slate

in a dazed state.

Only truly get going once I reach the school gate.

 

Approaching my friends who are sitting at the table.

If my software enables, I put on my first mask.

“She drowned someone in the sea, I thought this girl was naval!

And I ain’t talking about belly buttons,

though the head was concave-l.

But can we talk about how weird belly buttons are?

It only collects dirt

like my messy bedroom floor.”

And my scuttered, cluttered brain

that everyone ignores.

 

I said that last part in my head for I’m too afraid to show it.

And by it I mean the constant fear

of not making any sense

and losing all my friends

and “Will they still be here

even when I’m not making any cents?”

Am I coming off as intense?

Had they just taken offense?

Do I need to make amends?

 

But the first bell rings

and my mind’s wiped clean.

I make my way over to my artistic dream,

spreading on a face mask of voluptuous cream.

 

Though it’s 9AM physically, it’s 3AM mentally.

When I think about it, time is just a construct, anyways.

I talk of God, our society, the after-life, death,

and the true delicacy of human breath.

But curiosities as such are often kept in in class

when I hear phrases such as

“I was bewitched by her beauty, it felt like it was mass.”

Mass, a mass of talent in which I could never surpass.

You ask? It’s ‘cause mine’s a steaming pile of trash.

Don’t bash, I’ll bash

my head in with a bat

so maybe then I’ll stop thinking things as taunting as that.

 

Arriving at home, mask switching to stoic.

To my family, I’m a robot

with a disregard for their needs.

My sister wants to play but I’m too busy with homework.

My family wants to eat together but I’m too busy with homework.

Perhaps I would have time if my procrastination wasn’t a problem.

But I don’t want to do math problems, that’s the real problem.

What’s the point if these problems in my future isn’t probable?

Though as pointless as it appears, I pick up my pencil, pained,

and force myself to work until my final dying days.

 

At the end of the day,

I strip off the masks.

A look in the mirror

and what do I see?

Pandora’s box, waiting to be freed

and someone facing me,

as faceless as can be.

 

Design Projects

“Piss the Ring”

Artist Statement:

“I am experiencing the feeling of scorn through the experience of compromise.”

I chose a ring to exemplify compromise because in relationships, especially in marriages, both parties must make compromises in order for the relationship to work. I decided on a ring with a huge, gaudy pink jewel to portray the disgust that can be felt towards making concessions. As one might be repulsed by a flashy ring, one may be appalled by a compromise’s false promise of a better future. Additionally, one may not be completely satisfied by its conditions and will do anything to win. In terms of scorn, I decided to use fake urine in a toilet because of the immaturity and disrespect demonstrated through urinating on something. Though childish, like narrow-mindedness in an argument, it still conveys the message of pure animosity. The ring placed in the urine exhibits this hatred towards compromise. In addition to tangible objects, I also used lighting and angles to demonstrate my concept. I shot from a downward-side angle to mimic the feelings of superiority expressed in scorn. This way, I am quite literally “looking down” on compromise. In regards to lighting, I directed the light on the ring while leaving its surroundings relatively dark. Darkness is interminable if not ended by light as fights are interminable if not ended by compromise. The darkness surrounding the ring threatens to swallow it up. If we allow scorn to overcome us, then the possibilities of compromise disappear.

These aspects combine to create a photograph that ultimately conveys the different facets of my concept statement. It demonstrates the fight between compromise and argument. It is separation versus union, light versus dark, a luxurious ring versus dirty urine. The contrast between the elements in my photograph conveys this tension between the two, and scorn is winning this battle.

In Photoshop, I essentially made the ring and pool of urine brighter while making its surroundings darker. I made it darker by adding a black vignette, and I made the ring brighter by making a selection with the pen tool. I also made the pink ring a little more vibrant by using a red filter on the ring. By making this selection, I was able to make the ring shine and stand out more. Finally, I used the Dodge and Burn tool to emphasis its shadows and highlights, adding more depth and emphasis to the ring. Other than the ring, I sharpened the photo a bit to enhance the grime of the toilet. It juxtaposed it with ring’s opulence, further contributing to my photo’s theme of contrast.

“Transported to a Peace of Mind”

The first Design project of the year. I don’t have much to say about this, besides that I love the lighting in this photo. Gotta love that Golden Hour.

Artist Statement:

“I decided to take a photo of a Google bike because of its colorful appearance. To showcase all of its colors and to enhance them, I took the photo in an angle that showed almost all of the bike at around sunset. The bike is laid on the grass to add to the warm and peaceful atmosphere of this picture. There’s something serene about being enveloped in the grass, as if you’re connected to the earth. Overall, a culmination of these elements make the photo feel less industrial and cold.

During this project, I learned the importance of taking photos in raw because most editing is done in that mode. This way, it’s easier to manipulate the image as a whole. On my image, I bumped up the vibrancy and the brightness a bit to accentuate the bike’s colors and the sunlight. I also applied a subtle, light orange filter to enhance the warm atmosphere of the photo. Other than that, I also learned how to use the brush, eyedropper, dodge, and burn tools. I used the brush tool to cover up small distractions in my photo. For example, there was a dark line in an odd place. It was small enough to cover up, yet big enough to be distracting. To solve this issue, I used the eyedropper tool to pick a color around the distraction and the brush tool to paint over that mistake with that color. As a result, the distraction was gone. Finally, I used the dodge and burn tool to put emphasis on the sunlight reflecting off of the bike. It ultimately made the picture ‘pop’.”

Animations

Phenakistoscope

Ah, good ol’ memories. Yes, this was the first ever Animation project of the year. If you don’t know what a phenakistoscope is, it’s essentially an old animation toy that was created before animated films were a thing. To use it, you have to stand in front of a mirror, peak through one of the slits, and spin it. As it spun, you would basically see an in real life gif. It’s quite addicting to watch.

To create this toy, I used traditional pen and paper, and I suppose my creativity. To create this gif, I took a picture of the artwork and animated it moving in Photoshop.

Exquisite Corpse Animation

An exquisite corpse is a collaborative work of art in which multiple people contribute their own art to one unified piece. The theme for the Junior AM Animation class (my class) was “Chef Pirate”. Funny anecdote: except for me, my whole class initially did the exquisite corpse incorrectly. However, the egg was on my face because I ended up having to start over in order to adhere to their techniques. It sucked, but I suppose you sometimes have to make sacrifices for the sake of others…

Like my phenakistscope, I used traditional pen and paper. However, because this was an animation that required different pieces of paper, I had to use a lightboard and pegboard so I had an idea of the positioning and where to animate based on the previous frame. To put it all together into one comprehensive animation, I used Dragonframe. It was… a pain to have to take a picture of every single piece of paper… but I was left with no choice.

I don’t have the whole exquisite corpse, but I do have my own contribution. Enjoy that, why don’t ya.

Flipbooks

You know those little animations you would make with post-it notes? You would draw little characters on each post-it note and then flip through them real fast? Yeah, this project is essentially that, but with bigger pieces of paper. Not gonna lie, this is probably the Junior Animation project that I’m the least proud of. To me, I feel that I could’ve taken more creative risks with this. It just feels… a bit uninspiring? I know I’m supposed to be fluffing this up to look good to people who happen to view this sight, but I want to be honest. I think it’s important that we are able to look at our work with a critical eye and make improvements based on that. But I digress.

“Great Awakening” Animated Poem

I believe this was the big animation project of the Conceptual unit, and it’s based on the poems we created in English class. This animation is based on the poem, “Great Awakening”. You’ve listened to me whine enough on this page, so I’m just going to keep this simple: I like my poem, but I don’t like the animation that much. Though I think it’s creative, I think I could’ve executed animation principles a bit better.

For this project, I used whiteboard markers, paper, pencils, markers, and charcoal to create the art and I animated the images using Dragonframe. Just like the exquisite corpse and flipbook, I had to take an image of every single still. The only difference, however, is that I created the artistic content and used Dragonframe at the same time, as opposed to drawing everything first and then taking pictures afterwards.