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This website was made in order to present projects done for our second quarter narrative unit.

The purpose of this unit was to explore visual storytelling. In English class, we wrote Flash Fictions, or stories that are extremely brief. We then took these stories and turned them into 3 to 4 page graphic novels. We learned how to communicate a story without words through the graphic novel by manipulating panels, character expressions, and iconism. In design class, we turned took the rising action of these graphic novels and turned them into a short, one page comic using Illustrator. In digital media, we used the same storyline to create a short animatic and animation using Illustrator and Animate.

The pages of this website display my finished projects from each class.

From this unit, I was able to learn how to tell a visual story through different forms of media such as animation, illustration, and writing. I also got to strengthen my experience with Adobe programs such as illustrator and animate.

This is a picture relating to my webpage
Animatic

Thumbnail of graphic novel
Click on image above
to view my graphic novel
In English, I was able to create my own flash fiction story and turn it into a short graphic novel. I illustrated the story of a boy who longs to play the piano again like he did when he was a child. The flash fiction and graphic novel laid the base for the animatic and animation that I made in Digital Media.

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Animatics are simply animated storyboard. An Animatic is a preliminary version of an official animation, used in order to plan out and test concepts and scenes. Animatics allow you to see what the animation will look like for the first time to get a sense of the timing, flow, and continuity of the concept.

Through these projects, I was able to learn the process of animation, and how a simple story can transform into multiple forms of media. From a flash fiction, to a graphic novel, to an animatic, and finally to an animation. Writing and illustrating the flash fiction and graphic novel was entertaining and comfortable to me, but since animation was a new concept to me, I had to step out of my comfort zone in order to complete these projects. Although they may appear rough, they are products of stepping onto unfamiliar grounds from more familiar places.

this is a screenshot of my adobe animate file
Animation

This was the first official animation that I have ever completed. In making this animation, I took a lot of inspiration from Japanese anime that I have seen as well as short animations from Short of the Week. The inspiration for the story came from my Flash Fiction.

Although I got the message across, I had to change and revise a lot of my originally planned scenes because I either did not have time to complete them, I did not yet have the tools to create them, or I the story works better without it.

During this process, I learned how to use Adobe Animate in order to create and manipulate my animation. I learned about frames, keyframes, graphics, movie clips, and more. I also learned how to apply the 12 principles of animation in order to make my story cohesive. Below is a screenshot of my work file.

this is a screenshot of my adobe animate file
Illustration

For this assignment, we were to create a one page comic illustration based off of the rising action sequences of our flash fictions. For this project, we started off with using pencil, marker, and poster board, and eventually transfered it into illustrator to produce the final product.

This is my comic illustration
This is my Comic Illustration

My illustration, based off of my Flash Fiction, was about a boy who reunites with his “lost love” of playing the piano. On a rainy day, he finds himself at his old music school. He remembers himself when he was a child and how much he used to love the piano. The mirage of his younger self tells him that he should just play if it will make him happy. And thus the boy reunites with his passion.

This process for making this illustration started as a small sketchpad layout, which was eventually transferred over to a large poster board. After sketching out and burnishing the design onto the poster board, I scanned and uploaded the image into illustrator, though which I finalized my comic illustration.t

Although I always wanted to try it, this project was the first time I was able to create my own comic through a digital platform. I like to read webtoons and manga online occasionally, and always thought about creating my own but I never got to it, nor did I know where to start. This project allowed me to learn step by step and explore how to create a comic.

this is a screenshot of my adobe illustrator file
Story

In English class, we were assigned to write Flash Fictions, or extremely short narratives. I wrote my Flash Fiction about a boy who, for one reason or another, had to stop playing the piano even though he loved it. The story depicts his return to his old music school, and his reunion with his “lost love”. I wrote this story after I had just quit the piano. I didn’t quit the piano by choice, but I needed the extra time to study for the SAT and concentrate on my Junior year school work. After the SAT is finished, I will continue my piano studies, but this flash fiction was a reflection of my wanting to continue practicing.

I really enjoyed this assignment because I got to explore storytelling with a topic that was relative to what I was feeling during that time. I really love reading fictional narratives so it was a really interesting experience getting to write one of my own.

Lost Love

It was raining that night. Pouring. Tears dripping from the eyes of the clouds above, falling down and smacking the gray, concrete street. A cold droplet pierced his cheek, and he looked up to feel the biting collisions on his face.

He had spent the day just like every other, staying late at the school library until dark had fallen without his realizing. Every other day he would have gone straight home, only to lock himself in his room to study more. But on this stormy day, he found himself just outside the old music school. What led him there, he did not know.

He peered into the window, and although the room was dark, he could faintly see the body of the old, stand-up piano. Dust and mothballs had collected, yet it was the same as it had been seven years ago.

His eyes blurred out, and when they refocused it was on his reflection in the window. How different his reflection had been the last time he had been there. He closed his eyes as he tried to remember what it had been like back in those days. The days he had taken for granted.

When he opened his eyes again, the mirage of a young boy had replaced his reflection in the window. The reflection stood there with piano books too heavy for his small arms, and a light of innocence in his youthful eyes. The reflection smiled gently behind the boy, and the boy curiously turned to look back.

But as he rotated around himself, the world and the city around him seemed to fade away and disappear. All that was left was the rain and the old, stand-up piano. Cautiously, he approached his once-familiar friend and traced his fingers along its rough edges and curves. A lot had changed since their last encounter; his height was now taller, and he no longer felt worthy to freely touch the ivory keys after neglecting them for so long. Yet he sat down and tentatively placed his stiff fingers on the keyboard. He feared it would be unfamiliar to him.

He pressed down gently, yet longingly. His fingertips yearned to touch the ivory keys again which were once family, but he was greeted with a sound like the welp of a dog left behind. Again he tried, hands stiff from years of neglect and the cold of the wind.

The piano welcomed him graciously.

And once again he looked up at the rain, and this time it felt like the stars descending.

this is a screenshot of my protools session used to create my audio file