Self Symbol GIF

The Cut

1. My concept behind the GIF that I had created was a rather personal one, rather than something silly or fun. I decided to show the increase of confidence I had gained after cutting off my long hair, which I had hated since I was six. Since I had such long hair I always felt as though I was hiding behind it, I hated my long hair so much that it had in a sense made me hate everything  about myself. It corrupted my self image, but yet after cutting it short for the first time I felt happier as a person (hence why the background and clothing becomes a light yellow, insinuating happiness and joy). I came to the idea of this GIF by thinking of all of the things that have happened in my life, and how I could portray it into something that moved. I wanted to show a form of growth as a person, and what better thing to do than a before and after in the process?

2. Originally, I wanted to create a GIF that involved music, which from previous posts it is known that music has impacted my life to a great extent. But after thinking about it more I decided to go a different way with my concept. My thumbnail posts and post it notes showed a completely different idea, I decided last minute to go with this concept. 

Gif :)

On Her Way

Portrait Transformation: Which has a higher value?

Final Product

1. After changing the concept several times, since I couldn't think of solid ideas I finally decided on this one. The concept is basically the values of life, and what society and others believe has more value. As you can see, my hand holding the money is slightly more elevated than the other, it signifies what society sees as more important. As for the opposite hand it represents peace and happiness, which is something I value more than wealth which is why I am looking at it.

Overall I'm not as satisfied with my results, I'd say it came out okay. I think the style of the peace sign and heart make it seem childish which is not what I wanted.

original picture

background

money

2. The tools I used were the burn tool, magnetic lasso, filters, layer mask, and image adjustments to fit the photo into the background.  I got the background, the image of money, and the other details incorporated into the final product from google images. I used the burn tool to make the money look darker, and show how  money doesn't assure a person automatic happiness (...or at least for long period of time). I used a mask around the image of myself and erased the background, using the feather brush to get the harder to reach edges. I then used the magnetic lasso for the other images and
made them smaller so that they could fit in the palm of my hand. As for the filters, i chose whichever filter that made it seem like i was actually there.

Mini Lesson 4

Marissa- Melanie Martinez and Halsey 

Letter Project Reflection

Note: The idea of this particular project was to create a design for the letter assigned. In my case, I was given the letter E.

 

List of ideas I came up with

1. Overall I would say the process of planning out the project did help me to a great extent. I struggled a lot with coming up with an idea for this project, and I think through all of the sketching and brainstorming I was actually able to get something out of it (normally I  don't). The process consisted of drawing random pictures, and writing down a list of things that start with the letter E.I decided early on that I wanted to have my design be music related but I wasn't sure how I could actually go through with the idea. I realized that a lot of the bands that I listen to have an 'e' in their names (ex. All Time Low, Sleeping With Sirens, Twenty One Pilots, etc.) so I wanted to include them in some way. After many crumpled up papers, and thirty minutes worth of songs I finally came up with my concept. The peer review did help, I received good advice, and was able to translate it onto my art.

Random Sketches

2. I suppose my concept for this project would just be the joy in music. I wanted to include some band symbols on my project just to show my interest in music, and the type of music that I listen to. The 'tattoos' I had drawn were logos from the bands Sleeping With Sirens, Five Seconds Of Summer, and Twenty One Pilots. The quotes written are song lyrics from DollHouse and Rejects, two of my favorite songs at the moment. In order to create the E I used a hand holding drumsticks, an electric guitar, and a microphone stand.

Final Piece :)

3. I think the most challenging part was coloring it in, I'm pretty terrible when it comes to tracing and using colored pencils. I'm so used to using chalk pastels that it was difficult for me to actually make it look decent. 

First Draft Ideas 

4. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out, I went from having no idea what to do- to a solid idea and I like how it turned out  even though my coloring abilities aren't very good. 

5. If I could change something about my project I would change the materials I used to color it in. I think it would have looked much better if I used chalk pastels like I always do.

My Summer

Hi my name is Marissa, I'm a Puerto Rican sixteen year old girl who has an obsession with bands and Halsey! Music is everything to me, it's my way of escape and it fascinates me how just a song can easily make someone feel as though they aren't alone, or give them a reason to smile. I'm a proud feminist and I hope that one day my capability of being able to do something will no longer be based off of my gender or race. 

Now onto the main point of this particular post, my summer vacation:

East River

 I have to admit my summer was pretty boring, I didn't travel like most people had or explore the city with friends. I stayed home majority of the time, and played video games. So it was pretty uneventful. The picture shown above was taken in the East River. That day I had gone with my mom, older sister, and a cousin to have a picnic. I remember how we had blasted music and I had practiced skateboarding for a bit. Although it was pretty hot that day I had a great time and enjoyed spending time with family. It was nice to get out for once :)

The view of a sunset outside of my building

 I had gone out with my parents right before the sunset to get ice cream. We sat in front of our building at the park and watched it. The colors were so pretty so I had to take a picture. It was a nice night, and a good family moment.

In front of my cousin's house

I remember I was looking outside of my cousin's window, and I thought the view was really pretty. It was a beautiful day outside, and I loved how house in front was covered by trees only showing the roof. I was with family at the time, guiltily ignoring them as I took this. It was rather refreshing to be out of the city for once :)