Inspirations in life ☆

Of all the motivations/inspirations I have in life, I would say one of my biggest ones was my neighborhood in Chicago. I especially loved the park, since it contained the majority of my childhood memories. I can still clearly recall spending my summer nights near the pond, hanging out or simply relaxing with my friends. I learned how to fish there also :P The tranquil environment would distract us temporarily from our burdens by forcing us to realize and appreciate how marvelous nature can be (When we lay on the grass and stare into the night sky). I enjoyed those moments of peace as they allow me to think rationally and sometimes even ponder on life.

The park is approximately 37.42 acres and has a baseball court, two retention ponds and three softball diamonds as its amenities.

http://www.vhparkdistrict.org/parks/grosse-pointe 

Letter Project Reflection _(:з」∠)_

• Describe your process when creating your letter project. How was the process helpful or not so helpful to you?

Despite all the troubles I had gone through with the drafting process, I have to admit that it was pretty helpful in coming up with my final design. Since I had to change my design multiple times due to reasons like lack of concept, too hard to create etc, I found the thumbnail sketches really helpful because they gave me a variety of options/backups to choose from. The gallery walk activity we did was also pretty beneficial to me as it provided me with feedback from my classmates. I got to see what other people thought of my project and was able to improve from their suggestions.

• How did you arrive with your concept/idea for your letter? How did you represent this concept visually in your design? (Give 2 examples)

Trying to come up with my concept/idea was actually the hardest part for me. I had come up with many different ideas throughout the course of the drafting process but had to abandon almost all of them. I originally thought of using a paper clip and bending it into the shape of J, however, the idea was abandoned along all the other ones due to the lack of concept. Luckily, my dog inspired me one day as I was staring into space trying to come up with a new design. From the way he was sitting, I was able to vaguely make out the letter "J" and that was how I settled on my current design. In order to make the letter more obvious, I had to alter some parts of the dog such as elongating the tail as well as the body (it kind of looks like a fox now..but I guess it's okay..) Since the dog is portrayed sitting, his body then represents the vertical chunk of the letter "J". Not only that, I also elongated and curved the tail to make it look more like "J" and not just a vertical line.

• What was the most challenging aspect of the project for you? Why?

Aside from coming up with the concept, I would say the most challenging part was probably drawing the fur. It took me 3 class periods and I still had to take it home. Since I didn't want the dog to look cartoonish, I watched a few tutorials on how to draw fur (but they didn't really help..) So the body of the dog ended up looking like a tree trunk for at least 3 days, until I consulted with Ms.Lee and was able to make it more realistic by adding in&shading with different colors.

• Are you satisfied with the project? Explain your answer.

Overall I am pretty satisfied with my project. Though the dog didn't turn out as realistic as I expected it to be, I guess it did succeed in representing my concept as well as the letter. Also, I was able to improve my drawing skills through this project, especially my ability to shade.

• If you can change anything about your design, what would you change or do differently?

If I could change anything about my design, I guess I would force my dog into that sitting position again and take a picture of him. That way I would have something to reference to when I'm drawing, especially the shadows created by the lighting and the texture of his fur to make my drawing more realistic, because right now it still looks a bit cartoonish.

                                               in progress

                                            final product