The Experiment

Hello everybody! I'm here to tell you about the very first thing we did when we turned on the computers. It was a Photoshop experiment where Mr. Sanderl let us have free reign and do what ever we wanted. Because my computer was acting up, I didn't do as great as I would have liked, but that's okay. We did this because Mr. Sanderl wanted us to learn about the program the way he did when he first got it, and for us in our second year, review it. It was fun, and would have been great if I could have had longer to finish up. Even so, it was fun to complete.

I made a blue and white gradient background with the gradient tool to represent the sky. Then I drew a sun with the   and wrote smile. I used the layer effects to make a shadow, and to add texture. That's about it. I did another one though, and even though it's not finished, it looks great so far. It's a contour of me, a photo I took in photo booth, another great program. When it's done I will post it here with smiley. (That's what I named my sun artwork)

This project was great because I got to be free Photoshop, one of my favorite activities. Photoshop is actually one of my favorite programs. I love taking things and turning them into artwork. Contours are my preferred choice, by I also enjoy freehand drawing. This project would have been better if I could have started with my contour instead of wasting time on my smile art. But over all, a good way to start off the year.

Link List

• That first link takes you to a Photoshop experiment that I found fascinating. Even if you are like me, and don't really like leaving the webpage, I highly suggest everyone, especially the girls and women, go and read this page.
•  The second link takes you to Mr. Sanderl's blog. It's pretty cool, and has links to all the student blogs, not just the student's in my class.
• The third link takes you to a Gradient tool user manual.

500 Viewers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone, yes I know I'm back, it's exciting! Let the streamers fly, because believe it or not, this blog just made 500 viewers! Yes, I know to some of you that might not seem like a lot, but I'm really excited, because knowing that 500 people around the world have seen my work, well, that's amazing to me! So keep the views coming, I want to make 1000 before this school year is up! If we make it, then I will give virtual cookies to everyone ever. See you later!

Back to School

HEY everybody!!!! I am so sorry that I haven't posted in two months! It's just that summer vacation was very busy, what with all the sports and exciting things I did! (I will do a post on that. Eventually) Anyway, I'm back at school for my seventh grade year at K.M.S! It's already the third week of school, I can't believe how fast time flies. This year Is going to be great, I can already tell.

Anyway, because this is a school assignment and stuff, I need to follow the requirements, and that involves telling you about the most challenging part, and best part so far. Well, the most challenging thing so far is getting up in the mornings at 6:30 and actually functioning. Like I need to get dressed and not just lounge about in my pajamas all day. Also challenging has been figuring out how to find everything. My pod is different this year, so I've gotten lost several times, and been late too. Oh well, I might be a slow human being, but eventually I'll get it!

The best part so far is defiantly my two elective classes, Gt, which you will be reading about a lot, because most of my posts are about it, and Art. Gt is always fun, and Mr. Sanderl is a great teacher. I love art because when I go into that classroom I just relax instantly, and I always enjoy the lesson. I know that it is important to have that stress free class where you can just breath. I tend to stress, (a lot) so it's important to have a "calm class" so I don't have a heartattack by the time I'm 16.

To be successful this year, I will try to stay on top of things. I just need to know what I'm doing, then everything can get done, faster and easier for everyone involved. Using my planner more would probably work too. Lots of things to help me not run around in a blind panic day after day! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little insight into the mind of me, I hope you'll come again and be dazzled soon! (Joking) Leave a comment down below, and if I like it, I'll publish it! See you later!

Me and my bestie Kasiah Vercelli. (She is the one on the left)

Metamorphosis Animation

Hi everyone, I'm so excited to be posting again. Sorry it's been so long, we have been very busy with our newest project, our animations!!! That's right, we did animations!! It was most definitely the best project so far, as we got to work in garage band and a whole lot of new programs!! Garage band was so fun, I love music!! So anyway, our animation (And by our, I mean my group, Lani, Talia, Kasiah and me) was about Artemis, Greek goddess of the hunt, being turned into a puppy by the horrible titans. We used Stykz, claymation, and stop motion to really make our story come to life. Our project was to make our characters morph into something else, and to grow and change. According to our scores in our class critique, we did pretty well. The video is underneath, if you want to see it.

Our first scene was of Artemis sitting on her throne, when the titans come bursting in.  They turn her into a dog, and then Zeus kicks her off Olympus. In the second scene she must fight a horrible sea monster, but then they become friends and the monster gives her a ride. Then she is trekking through a huge forest when she is attacked by an evil hydra! After facing a spider demon in our forth scene, she finally comes across the cave of the oracle of Delphi, where she begs to be turned into a goddess again. After Delphi complies, Artemis and Zeus defeat the titans, and succeed.

Our first scene was done in Stykz, by our brilliant digital animator Kasiah. (For those of you who don't know, Stykz is an animation program) The second through forth scenes are done in claymation, which is animation done with clay. All our monsters were made by Kasiah and I, and Talia made the dog with some assistance from Lani. As you probably have realized, our fifth and final scenes were done in Stykz, and our last few in stop motion, and claymation again. Talia is an excellent stop motion animator, and between Lani and I we managed to get every stop motion scene done, to say the least. Thanks to my whole brilliant team, you are all wonderful, and we really worked together well. I mean, we got second place for overall video right? but seriously, I'm so happy we got to work together, it was a great experience. And now for the video.

P.s this was supposed to go out like two months ago, so count this as last years work.


P3T6 Metamorphosis from Kapaa Middle School MEDIA on Vimeo.

Percy Jackson Series Part 1

OK, hey everyone, I'm very excited to share with you the first ever post of my new label BOOK REVIEWS!!!!!! After a long time trying to decide what to choose for my first ever issue, I decided on one of my personal favorites......... The Percy Jackson Series!!!!!!!!!! When I first read the books, I was like 9, and I never wanted it to end! Now I'm twelve, and to this day I have reread it about a million times, and can literally recite all 12 major Greek gods. For those of you who haven't read it, and so I'm actually reviewing the book, it's all about these teenagers who are the sons and daughters of Greek gods.

The first book is all about Percy Jackson, and his normal human life at his boarding school. Then, when monsters begin attacking, he must leave his mother Sally and cruel stepfather Gabe to go to a demigod training camp. On the way there, his mother is taken by Hades through the minotaur, and Percy kills the monster before being knocked unconscious. When he wakes up, he is surrounded by challenges such as the bully Clarisse, a daughter of Ares trying to stuff him down a toilet, and game of Capture the Flag which got unexpectedly dangerous when someone (SPOILER) cough, cough, Luke, cough cough, summons a hell hound. When he is claimed as Poseidon's son, though, his whole new life changes.

He is forced to go on a quest to find Zeus's lighting bolt before a war breaks out. He must find three pearls before going to see Hades, where the bolt is believed to be. His mothers life is also on the line as he is also headed there to find her- although no one but him knows about his secret agenda. After facing monsters, and gods, he finally saves the day, returns the bolt, and saves him mom. Gabe gets kicked out to. Percy finishes the summer at camp, before deciding to live with his mother for the rest of the year. Another perfect happy ending!

I know this is super over due, and I'm really sorry, it took me a lot longer than I thought. You know how life gets in the way. I hope you can all forgive me, and I will make sure to publish another one as soon as possible. (Which, since you know me, could be a little while.) See you soon, hopefully within the month!!!

Words of Wisdom

Hi everyone it's me again, and I just wanted to tell you a bit more about the last project we did in class for Hiki No, and it's called Words of Wisdom. What we did was we interviewed Kasiah's mom, Katie Vercelli about her time in the Peace Corps, and got shots of her pictures of her time there. We had to ask her questions, and turn her answers into a story. It was hard with the four very opinionated people in our group, but we did it! It took a lot of team work, but eventually, and just in time, we got it finished, and it was a great experience even though we didn't win.

The words of wisdom we got from Auntie Katie were great. She told us to always follow our dreams, and to work hard and find a way to work your dream out. Her words of wisdom are so important because no matter what, your dream should come first. She tells us all about how she wanted her whole life to be a part of the Peace Corp, and when she met Uncle Jason, Kasiah's father, they went, and signed up, and say it's the best experience. Her advice is truly inspiring, don't you think?

Here is our video, and it is utterly fabulous, so you better watch it!!!

Five Tips For…

Hi everyone, today I want to tell you about a project we did a while ago, our first group project actually! What we did was a five tips video for Hiki No. My group, strange as ever, did a minute long video about how to friends with your cat. The reason we chose that topic is because it was really the best one out of group, and because it was pretty funny. We also chose this project because we thought we could get some pretty good B-Roll of it, seeing as I have two cats.

So what I think we definitely done better was choose our tips better. Maybe something a bit easier to get B-Roll for, instead of how not shaking your cat from it's tail is a very good idea. (Don't worry, we used a fake cat for most of the daring stunts.) We also could have had better filming, but who can blame us, it was one of first videos, so it's not as good as some of the newer ones! Overall, it was pretty good for our second official film project!

Well, for those of you who are incredibly interested in our fabulous kitty video, HERE IT IS!!!!!!!!!
 
P3T6 Five Tips from Kapaa Middle School MEDIA on Vimeo.