Category: Maker

I guess

The Choir Performance of December

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The Seycove choir performance was a big step in my musical career. I practiced and practiced until I finally got all the words right and mastered the key. That is why I chose to outline this photo.

Stage 1: Outlining

For the first step, I spent my time carefully tracing the outline of the photo that matched the picture behind it (thank god for layers ?). The only problem I ran into was tracing the other person’s (Dara’s) feet, since they were blocked by the person sitting in front of the camera. That is why they may look wonky and disproportionate.

Step 2: Details

(Photo above depicts the outline comparison that I used, photo below depicts the side-by-side technique I used to get the right colours [more on that at the end of step] for filling the logo in)

I noticed that my drawing was looking a bit plain, so I decided to add some more details from the photo to make it look more interesting. This is also where I first decided to start colouring. As you can see below, I used a side-by-side comparison to eye drop the right colours I needed. I did this by grabbing the shirt from my closet and taking a photo of it in-app (Sketches Pro).

 

 

Step 3: Colouring

This was by far the most fun AND challenging part of the step-by-step process because the fill tool disliked me a lot. I had to change the outline to a different colour as to not confuse the fill tool. I used the same technique as in step 2 to get the colours right. Another reason that this was hard was because some of the smaller details, like the eyebrows and inner ear were to close to the outline, so every time I tried to change the inner details, it would change the outline too. I eventually just drew in the colours I wanted instead. I also had trouble with the smaller areas because they were so small that they would just merge with the outline and not fill the whole thing.

Step 4: Finish Up

This step is where you complete the piece and edit anything for last minute changes.

Step 5: Admire

Self Explanatory.

My Third Music Recording

The Seven Best Songs

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Hello, and welcome back to my blog! In this post I will be talking about the 7 best songs (in my opinion)(as of right now) and I will include an audio clip of the best part of the song (again, in my opinion). You may have heard of famous singing groups doing lists of their top songs made by them, so this is my list of 7 songs made by other artists that I like. Here we go!

7. Fairytale by: Livingston

6. She Knows (feat. Amber Coffman & Cults) by: J. Cole, Cults, Amber Coffman

5. Mama Said by: Lukas Graham

4. Alien Blues by: Vundabar

3. Fed Up by: Ghostmane

2. Seven Nation Army- The Glitch Mob Remix by: The White Stripes, The Glitch Mob

1. The Lone Slim Shady by: Deez Memes (Original Songs: Lone Digger by: Caravan Palace and The Real Slim Shady by: Eminem)

 

Thank you for listening to and reading my second blog post. I hope you enjoyed!

My Second Music Recording

Warning: May be cringiest thing ever layed eyes upon by another human being

Music: Why it Matters to Me

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I was a fan of singing since I could first speak, and now I want to share that interest with others. On this part of my blog, I will talk about my musical history, favourite songs both to sing, listen to, and to play (on instruments), and some vocal techniques. At the end of each blog, I will share a video recording of me singing and/or playing a song. 

Today, I’m talking about my favourite songs to sing, and why I’m so passionate about singing. Some of my favourite songs to sing are:

Faded by: Alan Walker is a great chill song to practice and listen to as the lyrics are slightly repetitive and easy to memorize.
Candy Cane Lane by: Sia is a new Christmas song that has caught the eye of many and is also a pretty catchy song to jazz up your merry little Christmas.
House of Memories by: Panic! at the Disco is a very catchy song with an upbeat rhythm that keeps your head bopping the whole time.
Pompeii by Bastille is a song that gives off a reflective tone.

Now I’m going to talk about why I’m so passionate about singing. 

I find singing as a way of expressing feelings through vocalization without actually saying how you feel. I find it to be a way of silent release of energy that helps you relax and push away other thoughts. That is why I joined choir. A whole room full of focused and projected energy in perfect harmony. I’m really passionate about singing because there is just no better feeling than hearing a vocalist sing just the right notes to go along with the song and match the notes. That is why I have chosen music to be my “Geek Out” topic.

I hope you enjoyed reading my introduction to “Geek Out”

My First Music Recording:

The Power of the Blade (Apple Pencils)

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This was one of my favourite topics in class so far. We learned about the power of the pencil and a bunch of other skills that would come in handy when it comes to art.

 

Using Pressure Word Art

The first skill that we learned about is 3D lettering and block layers. This was the first lesson that kicked off our Carr classes, and a fun one at that. We were tasked with creating our name out of block letters and making it as creative as possible. This was mine:

 

Sketch Notes

In our next class, we leaned about all the necessary elements of sketch notes and why they can be helpful when taking notes. Sketch notes are a very useful tool when you need to take quick notes and don’t have the time to write a ton of words. Instead, you also use images to represent things and lines and arrows to direct the eye around the page. I found this really cool and I have actually started using it a bit too. We were supposed to make our own sketchnote on a topic of our choice and I made one on how to beat Minecraft. Here it is:

 

Shading

I was really looking forward to the shading class from the moment I sat down and saw the road map. I knew that this would be a fun activity because shading is one of the main key elements to drawing that can make the art pop. One of the funniest parts of this lesson was when me and Kadin tried to find out the date of a globe that we were drawing. Here is my sketch of the globe:

 

Perspective

I had a lot of fun for the perspective class. We were tasked drawing a room by following certain steps. I followed the steps and created a unique room (showing at the end). We were then told to take or find a photo and create an outline of that. I think I did a pretty good job on mine. What do you think?

My Room Drawing (Creator’s Note: still editing this drawing)

My Outline Photo of My Cat

 

Adding Colour

For this last class, we got to have a special meeting with Chloe Devine, a graphic designer, creative strategist, and illustrator (her words, not mine). She gave us some tips on creating art and we were asked to create a logo based on the business we created or made. Here is mine:

Thank you for observing my reflection. I hope you enjoyed it.

Lights, Camera, Photos! (Part Photography)

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Know: Content
  • Media production skills and storytelling for still images
  • Layout and design for graphics and images
Understand: Big Ideas
  • Complex tasks may require multiple tools and technologies.
Do: Curricular Competencies
  • Creative Communicator: How might I use technology to create and communicate?

In the Herzog learning group, the first media skill that I learned was to use Keynote and Shortcuts to create cool GIFs of myself and my friends. One of the neat effects I was able to show through GIFs was transforming myself from when I was young into present day Cam. This was able to communicate the changes in my features and show the aging process. The second media skill was the process of creating a silhouette. I found this quite complex because there were multiple small steps that would have really changed the photo if not completed. I made sure to remain focused so as to avoid missing any crucial steps. I paid close attention to the task and still managed to somehow transform my partner from image A into image B (a monkey-like silhouette that looks like it has an indented skull and a hair bun).

A

B

 

As I think about the Herzog activities, I think that my photography course in Grade 7 helped me get a head-start on the basics of photography including “leading lines” and the “rule of thirds”, so while I learned how to use some of the newer programs, some of the content was a review.

Overall, I really enjoyed this photo unit. It taught me a lot of techniques that I was previously unaware of.  10/10. Would recommend to a classroom near you.

Officially Becoming a Grade 8 PLP Walking Catastrophe

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The PLP Exhibition. The thing we’d been working up to for countless weeks. The time and place where we would show our learning throughout the project. That’s exactly what I’m going to show you.

Exhibit A: The Big Life Journal. For this assignment, we were tasked with finishing the tasks within the big life journal and read through it in class, and at home. It took us a month or two to completely finish, and in my mind, that was a very fun month or two.

Exhibit B: The WordPack Image. This was one of the first activities that we did in semester one. This was by far one of the most fun activities in my book. We were told to brainstorm some of the things that represent us or are us. Then, we were supposed to put those words into the WordPack app and choose a symbol that represents us. This would become our WordPack image, which is the thing that I put into my Keynote as my “one other choice.”

In conclusion, I am officially a PLP learner.