 Digital Literacy Narrative Sketches to Symphonies

The Beginning  From the start I have always enjoyed art and creating unique works of art. I like how one can see what another thinks through the completed piece. Art like writing is individualistic and can show someone's true personality.

The Younger Years  When I was young I was influenced by my mother, who shared her art with us. She showed us her art as kids in the form of cartoons and sketches. This is the basic way of analyzing something, a basic sketch to get the idea across. My writing style also started here, as a child my writing was basic and was not yet developed.

Mother’s Drawing

Art in Grade School  Was always told by my parents that I should do what I like and I preferred art. I soon began to do more artwork, even for school projects.

Picture of 3 th grade Journal

Middle School  In middle school I took art as an elective once a week. During the 8 th grade art my drawing took home an honorable mention, which fueled my passion even more.

High School  I took art as an elective and I was showed that art did not only have one style. There were many ways of creating a masterpiece through various mediums. I took art as an elective all four years of high school.

Art and Its Many Forms  I learned in high school that art was not only two- dimensional and didn’t have to be on paper, it could be something that was physically held. This idea of sculpting opened my eyes to all the possibilities of art.

Sculpture Whistle Freshman Year

Progression  I soon found that I preferred drawing and saw sketching as an enjoyable and relaxing activity. Charcoal, as a medium, required constant attention to detail which I liked. Soon focusing on details transitioned from the easel to my writing. It helped me focus on detail while maintaining the bigger picture in my writing.

Charcoal Bones

Charcoal Paper

Charcoal  Pencil  Just like charcoal, use of pencil required many revisions and complete focus. This revisionistic style was soon implemented into my writing, creating a more concrete piece of writing.

Pencil Drawing

Pen and Ink  Pen and ink, similar to pencil requires an undisturbed focus but ink is permanent. Pen and ink also allows for incredible detail and added depth. I learned from this medium that attention to detail is paramount to the success of an art piece and I applied this to my writing. This detail and depth also began to show up in my writing and strengthened works.

Pen and Ink Drawing

Art and Its Impact  It showed me to pay attention to detail and not to lose focus  It helped me understand revisions and major reworks are essential to the success of a great work, both in art and writing  My writing greatly improved from the knowledge gained from my high school Advance Placement Art class because I applied the artist’s holistic approach to my writing

Writing  Learning how to physically use a pencil to craft an illustration is one thing, learning how to illustrate using words is another. I learned how to write better because they share the same basic ideas and have similar components. These components such as revision, detail and depth not only create a better work of art but also can create a solid writing piece as well. Just like art and writing there are many ways to approach a topic to create a masterpiece.

Shells (Sophomore Year) Gorilla (Senior Year)