Multimedia and Design Q4 Benchmark

This was a website that talks about myself and what I aspire to be. I wanted to show the projects and achievements that I was most proud of and what I want to accomplish in the future.

I found the website to be a successful because I made sure to explain who I am as a person and why I want to become the person I want to be. The only part that needed a tid of fixing was the pictures I used for the website.

For my quarter two project I decided to edit two drawings that I created into something comical. My project pokes fun of the election without belittling anyone’s opinion on who should win, because if a joke offends a large amount of people, then it isn’t considered funny.

I made two of my characters either a Trump supporter or a Hillary supporter. The whole point of the project is to create a cartoon representation of the election, but at the same time create a smirk because of the facial expressions of both characters. I found the project successful because it managed to be funny and political at the same time.

For my project, I decided to create one of characters in its own world. The purpose of the project was to practice background making and have the background reflect on the character’s color scheme. I was going for a deformed space theme since the character is a spirit. The character is suppose to be the spirit of time and I thought it would be a good idea to draw her reaching out to the broken hourglass.

I wanted to show the theme of regret and imprisonment. Since my character is alone in her own world, reaching out to an hourglass which would turn back the hands of time. I believe that the art piece was a success because the background perfectly shows chaos and gives great detail on the character’s emotion. The shading is consistent and the reflection of the ground is smooth. It was experimental but it ended up being successful.

I decided to revise my third quarter project because I forgot to add eyebrows which is the most expressive part of anyone. I decided to add eyebrows because eyebrows show all expressions.

I felt that my character didn’t have a facial expression to match the pose and situation. Eyebrows are a powerful art component in order to portray emotion. I completely forgot to add it because I was so focus on the background. With the eyebrows I am able to give Nova who is my character emotions.

My highest point of the course was creating an original digital piece. I’ve been a digital artist for three years and I never pushed myself to create a background that reflects on one of my characters. That created the idea of my third quarter benchmark which turned out to be successful.

The biggest area of growth would have to be making backgrounds. Before the third quarter benchmark, I avoided making any type of background for my characters and if I did, I would make a simple one color background. For quarter three, I branched out and did a complex background. I was nervous to make a complex background but it turned out great in the end.

One tool I would use outside of school is the mirror effect. The mirror effect is where you can make a reflection on anything you draw by copy and pasting whatever is facing it and lowering the capacity. I thought this was a great trick because it gives the illusion that the surface glossy.

I think one cool idea that I would pitch in for next year is creating your own original character. An idea that is original but can be inspired by another creation.

First tip I would give to future students is be on time. Be on time with the checkpoints because assignments lock quickly. If you don’t turn it in then your grade drops tremendously and you miss out on criticism.

Second tip I would give is give good constructive criticism. Give details on what to improve and what the person did good on. No one can grow if all you say is “good job.”

My final tip would be use time productively. It’s best to do your checkpoint right away instead of waiting until the day is due because your teacher can give you feedback early and you can resubmit to get the full points.