With the rise of technology, more students are being exposed to creativity and technology. In the Digital Media Course, these work hand in hand as students learn how to use multiple softwares and partake in many projects.
Aaqib Salim
Name: Aaqib Salim
Grade: 10
Future college: University of Nevada
Wingspan: Why did you choose to be part of 3D Modeling?
Salim: “Well, first of all, I needed a fine arts credit, but it also seemed like fun option, everyone takes art or something like that, so it’s pretty amazing to work out of the box.”
Wingspan: Do you animate in your free time?
Salim: “I don’t, I don’t plan on going into an animation career, but it is fun to do on the side at school.”
Wingspan: What programs do you use?
Salim: “We use photoshop to edit pictures, we also use Maya for more complex animations.”
Wingspan: What challenges are you presented with?
Salim: “Well, it’s not as easy as it seems; coming in I thought it was gonna be an easy class but it’s actually harder than I thought. But as you get on with it and through time, you learn how to animate properly, draw better, like I couldn’t even manage to draw a stick figure at first but now I’m pretty sure I can draw actual figures.”
Wingspan: How can animation tell a story better or differently than other mediums?
Salim: “Well, basically, with cartoons it’s informative; by using 3D models you can sort of emphasize that and use it’s unique visuals to make people pay more attention to it and take it more seriously.”
Wingspan: What’s your favorite thing to animate or model?
Salim: “We animated this little ferret on the moon, and it was pretty funny, ‘cause it would make fun noises and movements, so anything that involves sound or just something interesting is fun to me.”
Wingspan: What’s the hardest project you’ve done so far?
Salim: “Oh, right now we’re actually doing value scales and all that so you have to draw a one point and two point perspective and shade all of it, I’m not much of a drawing guy; modeling is way easier for me so this is a challenge.”
Wingspan: What has been your favorite project?
Salim: “At the beginning of the year we created our own personal characters, which were fun to design, then we had to make movie posters for them, so that was really fun too.”
Wingspan: What’s your favorite part of the class?
Salim: “I really like designing things and modeling; and we’re gonna be getting into combining the two soon, so that’s going to be fun. I think modeling is easier for me though because you can easily fix your mistakes and you can make a good representation of what you’re thinking about, so it’s nice.”
Wingspan: How does animation improve other mediums?
Salim: “Obviously, when you read a book it’s your perspective; you don’t have a defined idea of the character other than what’s in your head, you are the world, technically, meanwhile in animation it’s someone else’s character and story with your view; it’s almost both. You get to see someone else’s ideas and share them.”