Category: Student Posts

To find inspiration for this week’s sketch, I looked around my dorm room for objects I could use. The long weekend was in the back of my mind, and I thought about taking my hammock out to the quad to sit in and take a break. My desk is next to the micro-fridge, which also inspired me. My roommate happened to have left a banana on top of the fridge from breakfast. It then clicked: Why not take the banana and make it into a hammock?
I set my sketch’s setting at the beach, as I always think of it as the perfect location to set up a hammock. I then marked the ends of the banana so it could be “attached” to the trees, just as my hammock needs to be before it can be sat in. I made sure to draw the person a little arched so it looked like it was lying on the banana. The banana worked really well as a hammock, and I’m curious to see how other foods can be transformed similarly.

Original Prompt link

This is my pet dog, Mocha, and is what often first comes to mind whenever I think of ‘home’. Specifically, this is the last photo I took of him before I flew out to the US for college, and is very funny as I used a Snapchat filter that squished his face up. Finally, I chose to write my name in a bright mint color both because I wanted it to pop out, but also because I really like this color.

The avatar is a combination of my character and the difficult topics that will be discussed in class. The blue sky on the top of the avatar indicates my open-minded personality I hope to demonstrate throughout this semester. Since this course explores mature topics, having an open mind is essential for me to dive in the core and understand the essence of these unspoken subjects through the readings. Another aspect of this avatar that represents myself is the maple-colored path. As the avatar shows, the path extends without a clear end. This is meant to display my ambition of exploring the unknown future ahead of me.

The original image was a white wall with no significant drawings, yet, I combined a raising fist using different layers. The fist represents violent topics such as bullying and self harm. The intended effect was to make the raising fist look like a graffiti art, but my lack of technical skills limited my representation of the final product.

Photo Credits:

patz0. “Raising Fist.” Flickr, Yahoo!, 7 Feb. 2008, http://www.flickr.com/photos/patz0/2248684195/in/photolist-4qH6ta-bwgYGM-8xvsJU-8mx4pL-7FUccU-c62x7o-8xvsFs-8xvsME-Eiz8U-8xsqPR-8xsqSt-8xvsWE-3eYfsf-25dB3j-8xsqzD-ieJBD-8oTazZ-56pGf1-2jQbKn2-7eLToh-6bnWKj-9U36Ur-8xsqHc-8xvsEq-a8d76y-SuwG6y-7FUcc3-8xsqBR-ehiHxg-gRJVJP-5MWHuK-dWobb-oniK4B-4tv2Uj-7EKsn-255bjwv-vYDVnm-7nj2SN-NfS8G-BQtLd-9mWRfB-92G2AK-9nwQED-2nhdLik-9mWQvT-Qrx6W-mLY7X-DjriDw-fSxWcW-4XFU4r. Accessed 28 Aug. 2023.

Ele, Rick. “Picking up the Neighborhood.” Flickr, Yahoo!, 31 Mar. 2014, http://www.flickr.com/photos/rickele/13529472704/in/photolist-mBy5SL-TkThP1-UqBi5T-Y2AtEN-WRA5z7-ctjN4C-EMu2Jj-Ts1dEr-XgJg8z-BMdocT-XA3akq-WD6jWZ-WJh2e2-YfL5Hc-UD7WPk-uqRyxh-pTggzQ-egRgRS-RGA1R1-YjhqKe-UGMjQo-MjJ25W-WxTmhA-QKkaVL-VnF5zf-RRAHAX-YjuDuZ-eAnsyE-S27LdV-Xoxmmt-X2KqWL-TuMHeJ-VtkjUz-Wq3JtG-YdFozg-Yf4qQp-VpRexV-61ZJg5-SKNuMH-Y6EAuc-YsejD4-UoJmL7-Sa2fAj-GHGhEk-XMZJ8p-E5PRZ3-P8CHhw-TfDS7D-Di3ui3-awQ4Ev.

I chose this avatar because of the wordplay you get when pronouncing my last name correctly and my connection to music. Schuchat, pronounced “shook-it,” is often challenging for most people to say correctly the first time. Usually, I get called “shoe-chat,” “shoe-cat,” or something along those lines. A name is integral to one’s identity, so the maracas symbolize the most common thing people think of when I tell them how to pronounce my last name. Also, the value of music in my life can not be overstated. So, the use of an instrument is not a coincidence (milkshakes are the other popular object people think of when I tell them “shook, past tense of shake, like a…” ). My life revolves around music, whether listening to it 24/7, scheduling around playing by myself or with a band, or writing about it in college essays. I love music and have kept it in my daily routine for years.

There are very few things that I am sure about, but one of them is this: Paddington 2 is one of the best children’s movies of all time. Few movies of our time deliver the seemingly obvious message of “be kind” without being either condescending or cliché, but Paddington 2 does it magnificently. Paddington is a polite, sometimes naïve bear who loves marmalade, constantly causing problems but also spreading an endless amount of joy and comfort wherever he goes. In his red hat, blue coat, and suitcase, Paddington is an icon and role model.

I also really like Legos and used to build Lego sets with my dad. Every birthday or Christmas since I was little, we would sit down together and build my Lego set, with me building it incorrectly and my dad patiently breaking it apart and fixing it.

I did not know what pixels were and had a five minute research session on what pixels are. The rest was not too challenging.

Paddington Bear (cropped)
Wookieewarrior
CC BY 2.0
https://flic.kr/p/J2C9sy