My first year in Art School (HS)
It's officially summer vacation now and I had this idea of a quick recap of my art journey after entering high school. I finished my first year in art high school just now as a graphic design major and I'd say I've settled in quite well. All of us don't have the same artistic backgrounds -- I myself am self taught and one of my closest friends on the other hand has studied arts in an art school since they entered elementary school. The gap can be quite big and everyone improves from their own level, so the grading system revolves around exploring your own style and adapting it to a range of projects! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intimidated by my fellow classmates, but the community is very supportive and I appreciate all the feedback I can get from these experienced people~
This one was for a collaboration with all the graphics students to create illustrations of the historical event including Erik Laxman, who originated from the same city we reside in. The finished piece is as of now being exhibited in Riihisaari Museum here in Savonlinna. I rushed to finish it and am not happy, but hey, no-one removed it from the exhibition so I'd say that's a pass.
Our latest assignment was a logo commission contest for an ancestry community, I did it in one sitting right before the deadline,,, Needless to say mine didn't get selected.
a colored sketch, experimenting
the crew from my hometown, started during fall so everyone's looks have changed since then, oopsie
The works I got into this school with were very mediocre, I got full marks anyway, since the scoring is based on your enthusiasm towards art. I'd say I'm more of an appreciator rather than an artist. Art may be my career and the thing I pursue, but ultimately I do it because I love to see the result. Everyone has an unique style and anyone can start creating art -- I hope more people will realize that soon and the luxury of living with no financial worries will attract everyone to try some form of visual art as a hobby!
If you'd like to learn more of the majors they offer here, here's their social medias:
MUKU (Design and Visual Arts) :
an Instagram
The research I had done when applying to this school was minimal; I simply knew they accepted digital artists and the city had a great historical background, my criteria was that I'd get to move out from my childhood home and as far away as possible from the people causing me mental damage. Nevertheless coming in with zero motivation didn't really affect my experience as much as one would think. I adapted to the situation and I unpacked a lifetime worth of events to people with similar backgrounds and I feel like such a weight had been lifted.
"More art, less about me", yes, but unfortunately I'm not a machine and my mental state actually determines my ability to create and finish pieces. BoVA (basics of visual art) did push me to the limits with the amount of tasks so I don't have many pieces I'm particularly fond of, I burned most of them.
First up was the orientation, where we got to know all the majors and the teachers we'd get stuck with for the rest of our school years (in good humor), each were luring us in with their different courses, but the from the four available ones I picked GSD, graphic (space) design (GTS in Finnish).
We never got our orientation works back, but here's what I managed to find:
"Design a statue to a public place":
We were assigned to create a design based on the exhibitions we saw when we visited an art cave, Saimaa's Art Cave Retretti, mine is based off a carved wooden statue of a character from the folk epic Kalevala. Unfortunately as I stated before -- I never got my finished work back and didn't take a pic before submitting so here's one that I took when stuck with the brainstorming, the sketch I made my finished piece from was the second one down.
"More art, less about me", yes, but unfortunately I'm not a machine and my mental state actually determines my ability to create and finish pieces. BoVA (basics of visual art) did push me to the limits with the amount of tasks so I don't have many pieces I'm particularly fond of, I burned most of them.
First up was the orientation, where we got to know all the majors and the teachers we'd get stuck with for the rest of our school years (in good humor), each were luring us in with their different courses, but the from the four available ones I picked GSD, graphic (space) design (GTS in Finnish).
We never got our orientation works back, but here's what I managed to find:
"Design a statue to a public place":
We were assigned to create a design based on the exhibitions we saw when we visited an art cave, Saimaa's Art Cave Retretti, mine is based off a carved wooden statue of a character from the folk epic Kalevala. Unfortunately as I stated before -- I never got my finished work back and didn't take a pic before submitting so here's one that I took when stuck with the brainstorming, the sketch I made my finished piece from was the second one down.
"Create a short animation":
To be completely honest I used no time whatsoever on this, did it in one sitting and it took like 5 minutes. I just had to get it over with while the teacher was breathing on my neck...
"Photobomb in an old photo"
This one I have no photos of, no work in progresses either, but the idea was just as the title said - put yourself in the old setting. It was fun to see some people hide modern items in the background as easter eggs!
To be completely honest I used no time whatsoever on this, did it in one sitting and it took like 5 minutes. I just had to get it over with while the teacher was breathing on my neck...
"Photobomb in an old photo"
This one I have no photos of, no work in progresses either, but the idea was just as the title said - put yourself in the old setting. It was fun to see some people hide modern items in the background as easter eggs!
"Self portrait"
Not limited to your outwards appearance, many took this as a self-love, mediating exercise. I was most likely channeling my inner Robespierre at that time,,
We all made either pentagons or hexagons and when they were put together they made these big hanging decorations in the gallery.
Not limited to your outwards appearance, many took this as a self-love, mediating exercise. I was most likely channeling my inner Robespierre at that time,,
We all made either pentagons or hexagons and when they were put together they made these big hanging decorations in the gallery.
"Create a logo based on the prompt water"
I had already made a logo based on the water prompt so I felt like I needed to step out of my comfort zone a bit more. I decided to make my logo in the shape of a rectangle instead of the classic circular shape. I think it paid off, it helped me stick out of the crowd of talented artists and I'm pretty sure this work was the reason I got accepted into the most wanted major, graphics.
"It seems like it tells a story" was the comment I got, as well as the teacher telling me that I supposedly did everything wrong in the best way possible -- I'll take it she liked it? Otherwise I wouldn't be here.
Those were the orientation works, after that everything got out of hands. I had to balance the visual arts mandatory courses (such as the basics, my major & art history) with the high school courses everyone else were doing. I decided to focus on all of the arts and luckily managed to get through all the "normal high school stuff" with commendable results.
My favorite subject as of now is History of Arts for sure! It's a lot of work because we have to fill up our portfolios with a lot of notes, but I'm enjoying the lectures wholeheartedly. First part of the courses was High Cultures and the second was Non-European Cultures. There were 1x exam, 1x portfolio and 1x assignment per course.
The High Cultures' assignment was to study one story of Greek Mythology and create a cardboard vase with an illustration from the story. I chose to make one on Hypnos, unfortunately I burned it already, but just imagine Zeus and Hera getting it on under a tree while Hypnos flies over throwing sleeping dust on Zeus~
The Non-European Cultures' assignment was to make a matchbox based on the culture of your choice. Most chose Japan and made amazing 3D sculptures on their matchboxes, whereas I did mine 3 hours before the deadline and it ended up looking like a cigarette box. I'm ashamed that my motivation is so low even when the subject is something I genuinely enjoy. Nevertheless here's mine, based on the Chinese ink-paintings.
My favorite subject as of now is History of Arts for sure! It's a lot of work because we have to fill up our portfolios with a lot of notes, but I'm enjoying the lectures wholeheartedly. First part of the courses was High Cultures and the second was Non-European Cultures. There were 1x exam, 1x portfolio and 1x assignment per course.
The High Cultures' assignment was to study one story of Greek Mythology and create a cardboard vase with an illustration from the story. I chose to make one on Hypnos, unfortunately I burned it already, but just imagine Zeus and Hera getting it on under a tree while Hypnos flies over throwing sleeping dust on Zeus~
Here's some other things I've done during school/for school projects!:
I absolutely adore sketching stuff with a dropper, its so quick and easy~
This one was for a collaboration with all the graphics students to create illustrations of the historical event including Erik Laxman, who originated from the same city we reside in. The finished piece is as of now being exhibited in Riihisaari Museum here in Savonlinna. I rushed to finish it and am not happy, but hey, no-one removed it from the exhibition so I'd say that's a pass.
If I ever get the chance to enter another logo contest I'll try to give it my all, since these will obviously be in my portfolio and help me build my reputation.
I also discovered my color scheme stays quite similar in logos, I'll have to step away from the orange and blue hues soon.
These are a few works from our basics course I did, the first one is still a wip ^
I think what we can all gather here is that traditional art is not my strong point, but I'm learning so much and I believe I can always utilize the taught information in my own medium, which is digital art.For comparison here's my latest works done in my freetime:
a new profile picture for my social media, a self portrait if you will
my game avatar
a quick profile pic I did for my CSP account
a colored sketch, experimenting
a sketch, experimenting
a sketch WIP for my current graphics assignment I've put off for too long, topic being "Girls Girls"
the crew from my hometown, started during fall so everyone's looks have changed since then, oopsie
(above are the works I submitted and got in with, they are from 2 years ago since I held a gap year due to COVID and other complications)
If you'd like to learn more of the majors they offer here, here's their social medias:
MUKU (Design and Visual Arts) :
an Instagram
YLEINEN (General, includes more of the traditional stuff) :
a blog, this one is starting to be active again I think?
a blog, this one is starting to be active again I think?
MEDIA :
a blog, updated only once almost 10 years ago -- Oops!
And here's a collective Instagram account that's more active: https://www.instagram.com/taikkarinkuvis/
I personally would've wished there to be a better showcase of the creations of the year on these social channels, but I guess being active there is more of a hobby to the teachers rather than a duty...
Last, but not least, here's our school's homepage:
http://www.taidelukio.fi/
a blog, updated only once almost 10 years ago -- Oops!
And here's a collective Instagram account that's more active: https://www.instagram.com/taikkarinkuvis/
I personally would've wished there to be a better showcase of the creations of the year on these social channels, but I guess being active there is more of a hobby to the teachers rather than a duty...
Last, but not least, here's our school's homepage:
http://www.taidelukio.fi/