Class 104

Radish Kid
-Brianna Thorne

Radish Kid is a 3D character made in Maya. I wanted to make a 3D character for my discovery project since I originally came to VFS to learn 3D. He is a character that I used to draw in high school. He is an elementary school aged kid whose name comes from the radish colour hood that he always wears. Radish kid embodies all the great things about childhood. Life is simple yet exciting and anything seems possible. I think that as a child people understand themselves better than they know. In this scene radish kid is drawing at his desk with some of his other drawings scattered around the room. This is a reference to my childhood self. I have always loved to draw and be creative, but as I got older I would unknowingly let other people’s opinions affect me. In high school there is a lot of pressure to plan out your life and career. I thought that becoming an adult meant that I had to abandon all of the fun things I liked to do as a kid. But now I think that no one should feel guilty for enjoying the things they like. I knew what I liked when I was a kid, and for the most part that hasn't changed. This piece is an ode to my childhood. If the me from the past saw what I’m able to make now, she would be really happy.

Materials: Maya, Illustrator

Light Up the City
- Jasper Chan

In Cantonese, “neon lights” are written as 霓虹燈 [ngai4 hung4 dang1]. 偽 [ngai6], which means “fake” or “imitation”, has a similar pronunciation. Due to government regulations, neon lights were taken down, and “fake neon lights” 偽虹燈 are erected in place.

To the young generation of Hong Kongers such as myself, neon signs that filled our streets can only be seen in history books and archived photos. What’s left are scattered neon signs that stand alone in a sea full of LED lights. What was once a defining icon of Hong Kong is now slowly being replaced by imitations that lose the craftsmanship and soul that neon lights once held. With this piece, I wanted to imagine myself witnessing these signs, a myriad of colours that overlapped each other, squeezed in between the narrow streets that all those who lived in Hong Kong were familiar with.

Materials: paper

Modern Propagation
- Colton Stirling

Modern Propagation explores the concept of widespread propaganda in our current political climate. Using the medium of acrylic paint on watercolour paper, I created three posters inspired by 20th century propaganda. We all think of propaganda as a tool of the past but, we are subject to it every day. No one is born racist, misogynistic, or a raging consumer, it is taught to us; and not by individuals but through the system we exist in. These systemic issues are deeply ingrained in our culture. Even on bottles of syrup, an African American Mascot was intended to allow white consumers to indulge in a fantasy of submissive enslaved people. One man can impregnate nine women every day for nine months; that’s 2,430 pregnancies whereas a woman can only get pregnant once within 9 months. We dump 2.12 billion tons of waste every year. So, one will make a difference.

Materials: acrylic paint on paper

Mind Of A Cyborg
- Sukaiyna Habib

It is 2021, our reality is that we are now more dependent on technology than ever before. Online learning and working environments are currently the only way; the effect on our brains is far greater than we could have ever imagined. This excessive utilization of technology causes the blue light from our screens to impact our brains negatively. Eyestrain, dry eye and sleep issues are a few examples of the blue light’s extensive effects on our brains. I created a 3D model of a human brain covered with actual blue lights with an attached charging cable. This project portrays the blue light in our brain after excessive use of technology and its negative energy/effects. The blue light’s impact on our brains is so ‘great’ that the negative energy can ‘literally’ be converted into enough energy to charge a phone right from our central nervous system. I wanted to challenge myself by using materials I never have before, and challenges are opportunities for growth.

Materials: mixed media including salt dough, acrylic paint, LED lights, iphone

Scribble Beyond Belief
- Kurt Hilario

This piece was a very determined attempt to try and illustrate a common starter technique for amateur animators. I called it, "Scribble Beyond Belief" due to the fact that I attempted a frame by frame style which reminded me of scribbling like crazy as a child when trying art for the first time. It was surprisingly nostalgic.

I feel this piece was just a small reflection of the sets of colour and figure, for characters, in my mind whenever I design ideas for art in my head for any medium. Whether it will be a sketch, painting, or animation.

Materials: digital (AdobeAnimat)

Theatre of Scarlet Dreams 
- Ismail Sher

Since the onset of the pandemic and the increasing restrictions on public gatherings, I've felt the loss of football crowds and the atmosphere they created. Therefore, I wanted to capture the same essence in my vision of a fictional boxing fight, with the scarlet flare being a crucial aspect. Through my panels, I center the focus on the crowds and the surrounding atmosphere, rather than the fighters themselves.

Additionally, the minimal detailing puts the fighters on equal levels of importance with the crowd, and only draws attention to one fighter during the knock-out punch - a moment he has worked so hard for. These elements culminate in a sense of nostalgia and reinforce the essential theme of unity, as seen between the fighter and the supporting crowd. Though we are separated, we can help each other fight our personal, societal and even political problems in our own ways.

Materials: watercolour paints

When It’s Free
- Nai Marriott

I want to make things that have a feeling of fantasy but in the world we know.

There are many amazing things to encounter and even more that we will never know, and art is the only way we can depict possible ideas.

Materials: watercolour on paper

OGAÁ (home within a home)
- Rachel I. koko

I as an individual struggle with identity and I couldn’t think of a more perfect way of self actualization than bringing together the very element that my identity stems from, ‘my home,’ not just the actual home but a sense of it. I believe firmly that a home can be created anywhere as long as you carry the memories and the feeling it brings and that’s one of the most important means of building one’s character and Identity.

With a mix of media- pictures, wood carving and painting I have have let all these elements co-exist on a canvas. in total both broken and installed within this project are 93 wooden popsicle sticks and 7 carved wooden people…to make it a wholesome 100.

Materials: mixed materials, wood, paint dried leaf and clay

Synthetic Advance
- Juan Diego Holguin

Synthetic advance is a digital painting project that explores the cyberpunk aesthetic and environment concept art. Synthetic Advance explores the concept of how society acts when they need to be together, for example in a post-apocalyptic world, and how even with technological advances society would still separate into different sides. In this project I tried to get as close as possible to the cyberpunk aesthetic by adding elements like neon lights. I also tried to get a more realistic look in the technical aspects of the painting using lights and shadows to create mood. I did this project in order to show my way of thinking about society and because one of my objectives is to make better art. In order to do that, I have to create challenges to be better

Materials: digital painting, Photoshop

"Destruction = Creation"
- Jian "JC" Cuizon

When humans think of death, we often think that's the end. The finish line. The inevitable. As true as that may be, more than not, death is also a form of creation. A clean slate, a reset, to replace what was obsolete with something better. My sculpture is an attempt to represent that. The skull being 'what was,' and the roses being 'what will be.'

Materials: air dry clay, fake flowers, plastic bottle, acrylic paint

A Normal Life of a Book
- Kai Shiang Chiang

This project is a unique stop motion animation which shows the small life a book. Why am I doing this? Well, the reason is that every time I look at the book shelve, I always have this thought in the back of my head: what are these book thinking about their owner and how they are treated like objects meant to be thrown away? Rarely does the owner treat them well, as most of them are often stored away and left there to gather dust. It's an interesting idea that never really got explored and that is why I decided to do it. The biggest challenge for this project is...easily taking the images and making sure that everything is right. It was pretty exhausting as everything has to the be in the right position. Another challenge was the shooting of the book as I discovered that it was quite hard to keep it staying still all on it’s own. This proved quite a challenge in itself and when I tried to open the book...it didn't go well, so I decided to abandon it which reduced the showing of emotion within the book action itself. However, I did some tricks using the lighting to show some emotions by using the shadows to show time passing by.

Materials: stop motion animation