Throughout my years at WHSAD, I have seen myself transformed from a quiet little kid to a more ambitious public speaker. During my freshman year like most others I lacked confidence, but as time went on from during many different projects like Battery Park, Staten Island Signage project, and many others I have learned to step out that shell. WHSAD has also really been the stepping stone to help start my career in design and architecture with the different software available and the different machines such as the 3-D printer, 3-D scanner, etc.
There’s always something new to learn here like currently in our 4th marking period learning how to make self portraits. Making a portrait might seem difficult at first but our great teachers came with a solution of splitting the paper into grids so your brain doesn’t get overwhelmed by the workload. After many trial and error drawings, we interpreted our facial features and figured out how to make it seem more 3-D, like making the nose feel like it’s coming outwards and not just flat. The way we came about a solution to this was by adding different shades of paint to interpret the way light reflects off the face. Even though this was my first time doing a self portrait and working with paint like that, I found this project very calming and amusing.
Like I said before, the fun at WHSAD never stops with all the tech available. One of my 2 favorite machines I’ve used have been the 3-D scanner and the 3-D printer. With the 3d scanner you can pretty much make a scan of what ever you want and in my case a scan of my face which took about 30 min just sitting there trying not to cry with the flashing lights in my face, but it was all worth it with the end result. After the scan was finished we were able to print it on the 3-D printer which took some time but is a great process to watch. After the print was done, I was able to clean it up a bit and paint the model, which although the colors were bit too accurate I had a great time doing.
Overall I couldn’t regret my decision to attend WHSAD with all the opportunities offered here like paid internships and programs that would cost thousands for free and access to advance technology that is very fun to use. I have also learned to be more of a leader and more confident in myself from all the countless community service projects I’ve done and public presentations where I would talk to community partners about design proposals for projects. While this may seem scary at first, many opportunities have gotten easier through the years.