1. Process: For me, the beginning of the process (thumbnail sketches) was very helpful because it allowed me to be able to brainstorm a variety of choices I could make with my letter. Originally, I wanted to do the idea of a kite and clouds to represent a capital R. However, my peers did not think that was the best idea--they thought that the firecracker idea was better-it represented the "r" better. It seemed that more people liked the firecracker idea more than the kite, so I chose the firecrackers.
Top: Brainstorming Ideas
Bottom: Thumbnails
2. Concept Representation: When I started brainstorming ideas of firecrackers, I wasn't sure whether I should do an upper case or lower case "R," so I tried both. In the upper case one, I tried to use an explosion as the curve of the "R," and the rest of firecrackers as the 'legs.' Then I tried a lower case "r'" with just firecrackers and a bit of an explosion. I compared which one was more visually obvious, and chose the lower case one. On the final, I also decided to add in some of the light to add a "surprise" to the image.
3. Challenge: The most challenging aspect of this project was coloring the firecrackers themselves. I did not know what colors to use, and didn't know how to combine colors in unity, so I asked for Ms. Lee's help. I saw what colors she used and decided to use them myself. While trying to figure out how she colored the firecracker, I also changed some things to make the colors flow better (I added more blue and green). What made the coloring hard was that the firecrackers were small, and there were so many, so I had to color each and every one of them one at a time.
4. Satisfaction: I am very satisfied with my project. I added in a background that I didn't figure I'd add when brainstorming. I also liked how I applied the soft pastel onto the paper (with a paintbrush), it allowed the colors to "flow" into each other better than if I used my hands.
5. Changes: If I could change something, I would change the string that is lit on the firecracker. I feel that I didn't put enough effort into making that string look realistic at all, it was like I took a random color closest to black and traced over the line.
