With Art I Can...

I began creating ideas for the assignment 'With Art I Can" from the moment I received it. In an attempt to meet all the criteria, I wanted to create something that expressed my past, present, and future through art; this was attempted with the logic that art can express ones goals. After doodling, I made the conclusion to portray my goals, that in life, that is- to become an astronaut.

With this idea as the base, I built upon it and eventually came up with the draft seen below.

The very bottom of the globe shows an explosion of smoke, which is a representation for how I began my journey to success. The idea is that everyone starts off school in the same level, but at the end, everyone is scattered into different places. It is up to every individual to decide where they want to be amongst the crowd, someone who stands out, or just an ordinary, common person. The trail left behind by the rocket symbolizes my actual journey. This includes all the hurdles and problems I have had to face. The rocket represents where I currently am, clearly showing that I am above earth in its entirety, and no longer an average, typical student. The reason of emphasis is that I believe I can achieve my dreams of being an astronaut if I work hard and excel in my education. This leads to my next point. The moon represents my goal, in this case, to be an astronaut. The surrounding background is inspired by the quote, "Reach for the moon, even if you miss, you will land upon the stars." This truly speaks to me because it allows me to believe that even if I do not reach my final goal, I will be a lot better off than if I chose not to person my dream to begin with. 

After the rough draft was complete, and all my reasoning was put on paper, I began to work on my final product. After its completion, I added clock hands to represent how goals in life take time; and how one cannot expect to complete a goal without having dedication.

When all was said and done, I ended up with the design below, which I believe does an excellent job in portraying my initial intent for the piece.

My Social Cause is Teen Suicide

          I initially chose to do my blog post on the topic of teen suicides for a plethora of reasons. For one, I have time and time again come home to find yet another in a list of articles and reports of teen deaths. These deaths are often caused by the teens themselves; and as such, I feel as though it is necessary to shed light as to what actually causes teenagers to at times resort to such severe solutions to their problems. Perhaps knowing the reasons can help lead to its prevention. It is for this reason that I chose Teen suicide as my social cause; one can only hope that the information obtained from this post leads to suicide prevention amongst teens.

          Upon researching the topic, I learned that teen suicide is one of the leading causes of death amongst adolescence. These suicides are often a climax of depression or emotional distress. Said causes are a result of several different factors, ranging from environmental to social means. For instance, bullying, abuse, or a broken relationship, all of which make coping with life difficult for many. Despite these known causes and symptoms, the irony of the matter is that a only fifth of teens with depression and emotional distress get help. Furthermore, it is safe to say that the media, in its efforts to showcase unfortunate deaths in young individuals, actually promote suicide itself. This is known as copy-cat suicides, in which teens crave the same media coverage that others are receiving from there deaths. All in all, it is important to recognize these symptoms, their causes, and help teens cope with them to avoid the unthinkable.

5 Key issues regarding Teen Suicides

• Suicide is the third leading cause of death for adolescents and young adults. (
Zur, O. 2014)
• About 2/3 of people who complete suicide are depressed at the time of their deaths. Depression that is untreated, undiagnosed, or ineffectively treated is the number 1 cause of suicide. (Dosomething 2015)
• Nearly 800,000 people die each year from suicide. (NoBullying 2015)
• For every suicide death, there are 100-200 suicide attempts made by adolescence. (HealthyPlace)
• More youth die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease combined. (wtw 2014)

          A recent article published by The Washington Post in February addresses the issue of suicide. The discussion is in regards to the site 'Tumblr', in which two transgendered teens attempted suicide (one of which succeeded) and left a post on the social media site as to why they chose that route. The jist of the article sheds light on the 'copy cat suicides' previously mentioned in this blog post. It goes on to say that the death of the first teen seemingly romanticized the idea of suicide amongst teens, eventually leading to the second teen attempting to take her own life. Furthermore, the article goes on to say that when a suicide gets media coverage or attention, other suicides are likely to follow in hopes that they can receive the same attention for their deaths as those before them. All in all, suicide is a big issue, and is present in both the straight and the LGBT community, it is an issue that should not be taken lightly.

Below is a political cartoon of the discussed Article:

Repetitive Pattern Design

Cell Phone Case Pattern Design

My inspiration for this design is the many giant robots of my childhood. Upon receiving the assignment, I envisioned a design that acted as a tribute to the robots I grew up with. My initial inspiration was that of the power rangers, who often have repetitive colors and designs in there robotic tech. When recalling this, I realized that I to could create a design with repetition while still completing the given assignment.By implementing repetition via both colors and shapes, I was able to create a robotic looking figure that both met the criteria and made tribute to the power rangers.

The evolution of this design started with a simple idea. One of the biggest parts of my childhood were the power rangers. The intent of the assignment was to create a design with repetition, which, as previously mentioned, immediately reminded me of the power rangers and their varying colors as well as repetitive shapes. With this in mind, I began with a simple hexagon, and continued my way until i began creating what appeared to be the figure of a man. Once this idea was established I moved forward, choosing shapes with straight edges, and eventually came up with the figure of a robot. After adding the extra details, the final design came to be.

The finished design, as previously described, is meant to look like a robot. By implementing the idea of robots from the Power Rangers, I was able to create a design that not only met all the necessary requirements, but also resembled the shape of a futurist machine. As such, the final design would not be possible if it were not for both my inspiration and evolution for the design.

My design as it looks around a phone:

 All in all, I am proud of the design I made, as I successfully gathered inspiration from a part of my childhood and developed my own twist on the matter. The final design, as it looks around the phone, meets the requirements of the assignment and my own craving for originality. With this said, I believe that my time spent creating this was both fun and a learning experience.