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.

Project Statement

For my 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.

What i did to achieve this goal was through a number of programs. I first used Polarr for filters on both characters. For the Trump supporter I used a warm purplish color because the shade of the color was suppose to complement the dull facial expression of the character. For the Hillary supporter, I chose a bright filter which complements the happy facial expression that the supporter is showing. I wanted to make the facial expressions really pop out since I wanted it to be comical.

After I was finished the filtering I used the adjustment tool from Polarr to change the angle of the Trump supporter character to make it seem like a cartoonish scene where the character pops in from the side of the screen. Then I used Paint Tool Sai for almost everything else. The magic wand allowed me to cut out the image from the original image and make it have a transparent background. I used layers to overlap images. I lowered the opacity for the second image’s “I’m with her” text to 70 since it had a glaring background. I then went to a text editor to add a logo to the first character’s shirt then changed the perspective of the text to fit around the shirt and a speech bubble to the second character.

There were some ups and downs for my project, but I got through it. Some failures was using the blur tool on Polarr,. I tried everything and it didn’t work. That’s what lead for me to use Paint tool sai. I learned more about Paint tool sai than I knew when I first got it. I didn’t know I could use the magic wand to copy the image. I would definitely use Pixlr to add my drawings, because it changes any picture to transparent and that would help me put a watermark on my art so people wouldn’t steal it. I honestly would use Pixlr again in the future while drawing, due to it having an easy learning curve. The toolbar is easy to read and to use. The only thing on Pixlr I just didn’t like the magic wand tool. I found Paint tool sai’s magic tool easier to use because I can color in whatever I want to copy or fill. My future goal is to learn how to PhotoshopCC so I can draw.

Tips for Teenagers

By: Zack Waxler (3), Brandon Miranda (4), Taylor Simmons (1), Chloe Bartlett (2) and Mya Bulgin (5)

Based on the I-Search papers that we completed on teenage development, here are some tips for teenagers to help them be happier and to help them develop in positive ways.

1. Don’t trust people too much because sometimes that overwhelming sense of trust can come back to hurt you. `

2. It’s not your fault, so don’t blame yourself. If someone in your life is having a hard time getting through life, you might blame yourself and think that you are the reason why they are having a hard time. Don’t do that.

3. Getting appeal from your peers isn’t as important as you think, don’t have that as your top priority in life.

4. Do not be influenced by those who will make you unsuccessful. Remember that most of people (that aren’t your parents) that you look up to could be the reason why you are losing the capability of achieving what you want.

5. Find your own identity and be proud of who your are.