Final Project

Frame 1 (Teen Years)

• Up close because when you’re young it feels like everything is all about you

• Grave because of a friend of hers that committed suicide when they were young

• Grave says Hero instead of RIP because of a song that played during a school assembly for the student.

• Hand holding because of multiple relationships.

• Road because she moved away from her home

• Door for two reasons

• Because her Dad left

• Mom was hardly ever home

• Red background because she has feelings but not good feelings usually

• Covering eyes to hide from the bad

• Hair is down because she cared about her looks

• Cuts on arms because she started cutting at this age

Frame 2 (20s)

• Slightly zoomed out because she’s starting to realize not everything revolves around her

• Cigarettes because she smoked at this point in her life

• Alcohol bottles because of Boyfriend-of-the-time

• A young girl holding a baby with a dog next to her to symbolize her two kids and pet hiding from everything.

• Boyfriend-of-the-time beating her because obvious reasons.

• Red background with black to symbolize depression seeping through

• Eyes closed but not hidden because she’s still hiding but not trying to hide

• Screaming and crying because of the terrors around her at this time

• Bangs down but hair in ponytail because she’s starting to not care about looks

• No cuts seen because she is trying to survive abusive boyfriend

Frame 3 (Early-mid 30s)

• Zoomed out more because she now knows she isn’t the center of the universe

• Three kids standing together because she now has three children

• Bald man is now husband

• Picture of her and a friend to symbolize new bonds being made

• Background is blue to symbolize freedom with some splotches of red and black

• Blue is the color of the sky, hence freedom

• Eyes now opening because she’s happy now and believes that it’s okay now

• Small smile because she’s afraid to trust this newfound happiness but is still happy

• Hair in ponytail because it’s cute but effective

• No cuts seen because she feels happy again

Frame 4 (Late 30s-to now [early 40s])

• Zoomed out now because she feels detached from all of it

• Cigarettes and pills because husband started using again

• Broken wedding ring to symbolize broken marriage

• Another (bigger) grave to symbolize the death of a very close friend

• Says Best Friend this time

• Background is just black because depression has swallowed her

• Eyes fully open now because she already opened them and can’t close them now because she knows what’s going on

• Mostly expressionless because she can’t believe it went downhill so quickly

• Hair in bun because she hasn’t washed it in a while

• Cuts seen because she has taken up cutting once more

Reflection

• Why did you choose the particular individual you did? How are you specifically incorporating the theme(s) covered in class into their life story?

So this is Julie Aldous, aka my mom. I chose her mainly because she has always wanted people to know about what she's gone through. She wants ignorant people to see that life will almost always follow Murphy's Law. And her life fits almost all of the themes we learned in class. Some more so than others. Happiness and The Good Life: This one fits because she often looks toward religion to be happy and to feel like she's living a worthwhile life. Identity: She is 1/2 Syrian. She's lived here her whole life. Aside from moving through different states, she hasn't lived outside of the US. She didn't use to have a ridicously hard time being half Syrian until all this recent stuff started. Now she gets profiled constantly and certain people *cough* Trump *cough* are threatening to deport people like her even though she's lived in the US her whole life. War: Her first husband was a part of the marines.

• How did the assignment evolve (or not evolve) with your thinking (again, point to specific experiences) about it? What went according to plan and what surprises did you encounter? What still needs work?

Being as I already knew most of this stuff, my thinking didn't really change. But the way I approached the subject and the way I portrayed certain parts of the pieces changed. My rough sketches had quite a few differences, being as I added and deleted stuff for the final products. Also, the style I used was quite different from my normal style. Though I did that on purpose because it was more interesting this way. And a surprise I encountered... it was the horrible. It was 1 AM, I had just finished the outline for the second frame. I was tired, not thinking, when I clicked on the paint bucket tool, changed the color to a dark red and, without saving, clicked to color the background. Before I knew it, the computer had crashed; all that progress, all of it, was gone. I cried, and wanted to scream but everyone was sleeping, so I cried some more instead. When the computer finally rebooted, I re-outlined the whole thing, still crying, and saved it at every oppurtunity. I didn't finish that stupid frame until 4:30 AM that night. Then the next night, I hadn't had time to work on the third frame, but I wanted to finish all of them before I had to present, so I vowed to finish number three. But my rough sketch wasn't finished. So I had to finish the rough sketch, which entails object placement, and figuring out what looks good and what doesn't look good. Then I had to outline it, then color it. I fell asleep at 6:30 AM that night. And for the rest of the day, I had to run on 4 hours of sleep. Could've been worse, but for me, it was pure and utter hell.

#humanities #Fall2015