Animator Biography

Joseph Barbera

Joseph Barbera was an Italian-American director, producer, storyboard artist, cartoon artist, but most prominently known for being an animator. His film and television cartoon characters have entertained millions of audiences worldwide for a majority of the 20th century.
As Joseph Barbera transitioned into his art career, he moved to New York City and joined Van Beuren Studios in 1932 and Terrytoons in 1936. A year later, 1947, he moved to California while working with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). This was Joseph Barbera's big bang, where he met William Hanna. The two of the people collaborated, produced and animated Tom and Jerry. After his contract with MGM ended, William Hanna and Joseph Barbera combined to create Hanna-Barbera, a successful television animation studio. They produced: The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo, Top Cat, The Smurfs, Huckleberry Hound and The Jetsons.
Joseph Barbera died from old age at 95-years old, in his house in Studio City, Los Angeles on December 18 2006. Joseph Barbera had a 70-year career in animation and is a legend in the industry.

Photoshop Animation Video

Art Video Game Reflection

Sofia Tiu - World Hunger Video Game - Adobe Flash Pro CC - 7 May 2015

TECHNICAL

The technical steps that I used for the video game were learning the new controls and learning the entire program itself. I am extremely unfamiliar with Adobe Flash Pro CC, just as I am with all of the other Adobe programs. Jumping into a program with no guidance was kind of rough. While working the program, I figured out how to: change the background of games, change the question side of cards and change the answer side of cards. I also figured out how to experiment with different programs and trying to 'explore' around to find my way. Lastly, I was able to learn how to function a timeline on Adobe Flash Pro CC. 

IDEA OR CONCEPT

The idea that eventually used in the video game was the World Hunger theme. My world hunger theme was to incorporate the idea of World Hunger and to show a difference between how easy it is to feed the poor and the middle-class/rich. There are seven different answer sides, 3 being poor and 4 being rich/middle-class. The player will notice that it's difficult to get all the cards matched and I intended for this to show the harsh reality of starvation. There is only so much food in the world, and the ratio between being able to feed the rich and the poor is extremely more unfair that 4:3.

My idea never really changed throughout the production process. I knew first thing that I was going to go along with the world hunger theme because it was the first idea that struck during my epiphany. Though several ideas about the theme changed overtime. At first I wanted the idea to be flappy bird, but then I changed it over to memory because I thought the theme would be more easier to understand or comprehend.

INFLUENCES

I didn't have any influences for my art video game. If anything, I was inspired by the actual video game itself to recreate it into an art video game.

COMPOSITION

The layout of the video game was already set up beforehand. I decided since the layout was fairly symmetrical in itself, I would keep the layout the same. I didn't believe that there was a reason to change the layout so it was asymmetrical because I thought it would have taken away from the concept.

Since the layout of the video is symmetrical, the eye movement doesn't necessarily move in a circle but as harmony in the centre. Though that might be considered boring, I thought that the video game might have broken if I rearranged the layout too much. Though I believe the original layout is very comfortable with the player so they don't get a feeling that's too overwhelming.

MOTIVATION

My personal motivation was to show the honest truth about world hunger. I feel like too many people get annoyed at those commercials and think that if they can afford a commercial, then why ask people to donate? In truth, the thousands of dollars they used to fund that commercial can be worth millions if everyone who viewed the commercial to donate a dollar or two. It is true, the commercial is worth a valuable amount of money but that money can only feed a small portion of the entire world. Throughout the world, there are people starving. Even in Walkerton, sadly we would never know. Playing my game realizes how hard it is to feed everyone. Through my classmates that have played my game, have ended in 3 ways: 1) Could only feed the poor before running out of lives, 2) Could only feed the rich before running out of lives, and 3) Couldn't even feed everyone. Sadly, those three results are how the starvation situation is in reality.

CRITICAL ASSESSMENT

I feel like the most successful part of the video game are my background changes. I feel very proud of it because most people only have one background throughout their entire game, and I miraculously managed to have a different background for each different frame/section of the game.

The entire production surprised me because I realized that I am terrible at navigating through unknown programs on my own. I felt like I was on an isolated island and had to survive for 100 days- and I unsurprisingly died within the first hour. The most difficult thing about the video game was learning the program.

If I had additional time, I think I would research more about the program and watch several YouTube videos on it. I think it would have been better if we had gotten a better introduction to the program from Ms. George-Easton, because she seemed fairly confident in our capabilities to recreate a video game. I think that if I knew what my goals were more confidently, then I would be able to create a better video game.

Facebook Timeline Assignment

Toy Hack Reflection

TOY HACK REFLECTION

A. If I were to sell and re-purpose this toy, I would call it a 'The Throwback.' The reason I would call this the throwback is because the toy is supposed to take bits and pieces of a person's life, and create a 'toy' that would represent the entity of a person's childhood. When the buyer purchases the toy, it turns into a toy that embodies their childhood.

B. What I really like about this new toy is that it resembles a part of someones childhood. Not necessarily mine, but I do believe that the concept of buying a toy that would resemble a part of your childhood would be very creative. I think that the concept of the toy is very creative and it would be really cool if it existed one day.

C. What I don't really like about this new toy is that the new parts of it aren't necessarily seamlessly attached together. I did my very best to try a sew the pieces together with matching thread or at least white thread, it was really hard to hide the inside or make it look like those parts were meant to be together. I really struggled with using the hot glue gun and any other materials to weld them together.

D. If I were genuinely gonna redo this assignment, I would try harder and research more ways for the toy to be more creative. I genuinely believe that if I looked up more about toy hacking and mechanics, I would be able to use toys with voice boxes and switch them around. I also think that if I went to a garage sale, I could purchase more toys for a cheap amount of money.

Art Video Game

ART VIDEO GAME

Ideas that I think I can show in an art video game are:
- World Hunger. I think I can show this by showing a child trying to work or searching through scraps for food, or taking any desperate measures to satisfy their stomach, (i.e. an apple or piece of spread). An image or an object that I can use to demonstrate this theme are pictures of sick children from lack of nutrition, or maybe a bowl of rice or a piece of bread. I think that money is genuinely the #1 cause of a majority of global issues around the world, and the children who die every day- whether from hunger or disease- and that people with a lot of money exploit it and don't put it to good use.

- Stigma. I think I can show this by using prejudice and stereotypes, with images of people/actions and matching them up with the stigmatized words, like emo and attention-whore. I think that this can work with the memory game by allowing the player to unconsciously match the words but then at the end realize how they have been affected by stigma. I think this theme works with the flappy bird game because it can be an image of a person and having to pass through life obstacles, like the stigma, by the pipes resembling words like dyke and etc.

- Racial slurs. I think I can show this by using stereotypes. Using images of people of diversity and matching them up with different racial slurs. I think this works best with the memory game because the player is able to match up the racial slur with the person that they believe fits the racial slur. This shows how accustomed people are to being racist without being fully conscious about it.

My favourite theme from all three of these ideas is the world hunger one. I believe that I can modify the game so that it shows the reality of being able to give children food and ending the concept of world hunger. I will choose the memory game to show the concept of world hunger.

I will change the instruction screen background by showing a background that is created to illustrate the countries with highly-concentrated starvation. I will change the main game background into a modified picture of starving people. The question side and picture side of the cards will depend on the concept. The question side with show food, (i.e. apples, water, etc.) and the answer side will show a starving person or a middle-class/high-class person. I plan to show how easy it will appear to be feeding children but in reality, the player understands that people must try harder to feed children. I intend to change the game descriptions to several sentences, explaining how feeding children is important on both winning and losing screens.

Art Movie Reflection

Sofia Tiu - Art Movie - Adobe Premiere Pro - April 9 2015

TECHNICAL
When it comes to technical steps for my art film, I mainly used the tutorials that Mrs. George-Easton taught us during class. One of the most common technical steps I used was the fading between the clips. I used the video transitions > dissolve > film dissolve or flash dissolve. There are different points in the movie where I wanted the clips to fade into each other smoothly and different parts where I wanted them to 'flash' to the next, to insert the principle of timing and add more suspense towards the film.

I also used many of the Noise&Grain presets to make the 'Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid' clips to look more grainy and old, like Potemkin and Metropolis. In video effects > noise and grain > dust and scratches; and noise. I used the dust and scratches to make the clip look slightly blurry, but not so much that it's completely blurry that no one can understand what's going on, but enough so the clip looks like it was made in the early 1900's. Using the noise, it adds a 'dust' effect like Metropolis and Potemkin have because they've aged, and by using both dust&scratches and noise, it made Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid appear to have aged as well.

The last thing I learned to do was how to do 'layer blends' on Adobe Premiere Pro. Technically, the correct term is 'clip blending,' however it was the exact same as Photoshop CC. Even though they use the same layer blends and opacity settings, it was still difficult to function through Premiere Pro and change the layer blends of the clips.

IDEA OR CONCEPT
The main concept that I wanted to incorporate the most in my art movie was that the man in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid appears to be loitering, somehow, and gradually through the movie gives an untrustworthy vibe throughout. Also, I wanted the ending to be somewhat ambiguous, but made clear that the man has the baby, and the viewers are left determining why the man wanted the baby, who is the baby, who is the man, and what will happen to them both.

My main concepts stated above were definitely my priority to make happen. I knew that if I had other ideas come along, that I would want those main concepts to appear in the film. The one idea that I had that did not make the final product was a whole different concept for the film. My original idea was to create a funny, amusing and entertaining film that would make the viewers laugh. If you have seen my art movie, that idea went completely out of the window.

INFLUENCES
I got my influence from this one movie that I have recently watched online. To be completely honest, I don't remember the title of the movie, or any of the actors in it because it was an indie film and something that I have never heard of before. However the entire movie took place by two perspectives and they would weave into each other. I.e. 5 minutes about POV 1, cut into 5 minutes about POV 2,  and it would continue for the whole film. Not only was it really mind-boggling, but also confusing because it was hard to differentiate whose perspective belonged to which character. By this 'weaving' I incorporated it into my art film, by showing seconds of the man, then seconds of what's going on 'outside.' And if you noticed, the weaving occurs throughout the entire film.

COMPOSITION
In my art movie, there's not very much symmetry or asymmetry. I could say that I intended for it to be asymmetric, but that would be lying. I'm not sure if this counts as composition, but I wanted the 'weaving' to be a contrast. The clips of the man were fast-paced, as if he were on the run. However the clips of Metropolis and Potemkin, were all slowed down to 20-50%, to emphasize the trauma occurring on the 'outside' and allowing the viewers to have time to 'try to' comprehend what's going on in the outside and why this is happening.

I didn't necessarily intend for any movement in my film, but I did intend for the eye to catch certain things and certain subjects of the clips to become the centre of attention. I know for my Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid clips, I intended for the man to be the centre of attention in every clip. The baby was the focus, the lighter, the word, "MOLOCH!", etc. There were many different times I wanted the audience to be intrigued and become appalled as to why 'this' happened, and what 'this' necessarily is.

MOTIVATION
Beyond fulfilling the requirements for the art movie, my personal motivation was to try and push myself out of my comfort level. I'm not necessarily a happy person, in my opinion, and sometimes I don't realize I look extremely angry/rude, but I'm not a morbid person. I hate horror movies and I couldn't bear to watch Paranormal Activity without being pressured into it by family. Even though I'm okay with blood and gore, I like happy things. I don't like watching a girl die because a chainsaw ripped her body, or listening to the suspenseful music of Jaws- they scare me. I like cute things. I like pink fluffy unicorns dancing on rainbows, I'm that person. So for this art movie, I decided it was time to take things to a next level and push myself further. I knew that I could accomplish mediocracy, but I knew with this art movie I could do better than that. Honestly, I hope I did.

CRITICAL ASSESSMENT
The most successful part of my art movie was my main concept. I believe it was original enough throughout the years this project that existed and that I successfully left my little comfort zone. I think that knowing myself and my personality,  I wouldn't have expected myself to create an ominous film like this, perhaps three months ago. Even though the most successful part isn't really something technical, I'm really proud of myself for being able to achieve something that I wouldn't have dreamt possible, especially for a first-time user in Premiere Pro.

None of the parts of the process really surprised me. I didn't think that Premiere Pro was too hard to learn, or that creating the art movie itself was really difficult. Even though the concept of it was hard for me to grasp, I didn't really struggle to create the movie itself. I found that this assignment wasn't necessarily 'easy.' However, it wasn't a huge mountain to climb like that Photoshop montage. In my opinion, the difficulty level of this assignment was what surprised me the most.

With more additional time, I think I would have found a better audio track. Don't get me wrong, I love the suspenseful and eerie music that I found, but I honestly believe that I could have found a better one that suited the movie a little more. Many people would disagree, but I believe the only reason that music works is because it's very ominous, suspenseful and little too scary for my liking. I think that there are tons of audio clips out there that I could have used, and with search restrictions with the wifi, I think I could have only listened to about 20.

Art Movie :)

Art Film Brainstorming

BRAINSTORMING

My Favourite Parts
My favourite part of Battle Potemkin are the several scenes of the horrified man's face. He appears several times, looking as if he is peering around a corner. He wears rounded glasses. You can truly see the pain and agony through his emotions.
My favourite part of Metropolis is the building exploding because I like the use of special effects, back in the day.
My favourite part of Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is when the man boards the train, there is toilet paper stuck to the bottom of his shoe. It's very amusing because it's a satire.

My Loose Story
For my movie, I would like to show the feet leaving the train from Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. Then the man will enter and look at the documents. After I will show scenes from Potemkin of people struggling outside and the runaway baby. I will show the man with the documents once more and then the man with the newspaper. From Metropolis, I will use the man who screams, "MOLOCH!" The runaway baby is there and from Metropolis and Potemkin, I will use the men who runs towards the camera. Then the man with the documents will leave and then the building will explode. Then he will sit down and using a stock footage of a man with a child.

My Art Story
For my art movie, I will show a man who looks like he is plotting. Looking at documents and reading the newspaper, as if he's trying to blend in. Overlayed on the document scene, there will be a faded layer of a person flipping through a book, as if he's trying to 'look' for something. All the scenes are going to be weaved between inside and outside, so one scene is the man and the next is what's happening outside. There will be glimpses of a lighter, but it's not being lit. Then you will see the havoc with the people and the beginning of the runaway baby. The man inside is started to walk away, searching for something. Outside, there are several men who are reaching out in despair for the child. Inside, the man with the news paper is following, and overlayed on top will be the subtitle, "MOLOCH!" (This will leave the viewers wondering what Moloch is, a name, a label, etc). Then the man will pleasantly board the train. There will be a stock footage of the lighter being lit and the building outside will explode. Then we use the stock footage of a man holding a baby, as if 'Moloch' has taken the runaway child. The timing between the man and the explosion will be differentiated, the man will be fast and the havoc outside will be slow, thus emphasizing both parts.

Lighter stock footage: http://www.videvo.net/video/lighter-being-lit/2675

How is Hero an Art Movie?

How is Hero an Art Movie?

1. By looking at the explanation of an art movie above, please describe at least three ways (three sentences) that you think Hero could be considered, at least in part, an art movie.

Hero could be considered, partly, an art movie because the movie does not have an obvious, blatant, definitive meaning. Thus, making the viewer focus on the movie and interpret the movie in their own opinion. Hero is also an art movie because the movie does not follow a very clear order. As the movie casually progresses, the movie becomes quite abstracted and confusing if the viewer is not paying full attention. Lastly, Hero is an art movie because the movie has a serious 'plot' and is clearly focusing on the thoughts/ideas of characters.

2. How does the director also make this a movie for everybody, so that it’s not too artistic or alienating for the average viewer? Please explain in at least three sentences.

The director made this movie for a wider audience, so it's not too artistic or alienating for the average viewer, by applying a story-line and the martial arts. Most art movies do not have a clear, well-presented story-line, but the director added a story-line to the movie. The story-line is quite obvious, however he still adds an artistic component by allowing the viewer to think about the story. The director also added martial arts for the film to become a wuxia film, which involves martial arts and swordplay. By adding the martial arts, adds the element of action which will entice the average viewer in their seats. Therefore, Hero is not a far left art movie or a far right blockbuster film. The director added key elements from both film genres, to create an artistic, yet entertaining movie.

3. Did you like this movie? Why or why not? Please explain in at least four sentences.

Yes, I liked this movie. The reason I liked this movie was because it's not an everyday movie that you would stumble upon on Netflix. The movie is also not mindless entertainment you would again, find on Netflix. The movie was a refreshing view on my taste of film genres. One of my close friends refers to me as, 'The Movie Buff,' because my past-time is watching movies from any genre. To watch an art movie, and watching it for the first time and being aware that it's an art movie, really helps you focus on the artistic elements. I'm so used to watching movies and having no idea of what the purpose was, or exiting the movie on Netflix without an opinion. Thus, making me quite glad to have paid attention to the film because I can interpret my own opinion of what the different artistic elements are supposed to represent. Overall, Hero was a great movie which can be breathtakingly beautiful and still enticing a viewer to sit on the edge of their seat.

4. Sequences in the film are ‘colour coded’, enabling Zhang Yimou to offer his
audience ravishing and memorable images which enhance his action sequences. Write
three sentences about how Zhang Yimou has used colour to emphasize or enhance
aspects of the narrative.
Select one of these sequences
• the fight in the rain
• the Golden Forest
• the attack on the calligraphy school at Zhao
• the Library
• the combat at the lake
• Broken Sword and Flying Snow’s attack on the King

Throughout different sequences of the movie, the director- Zhang Yimou uses colour as an artistic element which enhance the action scenes. The sequence that I have chose were the library sequences. The three sequences of the library had red, blue and white. I believe that Zhang Yimou had used the three different colours to represent different point of views or 'ideas' of the story. The red sequence showed Nameless presenting to Flying Snow and Broken Sword the sword of Sky and said that he would need one of them to meet him at the Qin army encampment next morning. I believe that the red was used to describe Nameless' faux description of the story. The blue colour was used to depict the King of Qin's retelling of the story. Lastly, the white colour was used to depict the truth/the reality of the story.

STEM Logo

Light Painting

Photography Photos

Colour Pop

Black and White

Black and White

Black and White

Black and White

Black and White

Colour Corrected

Photography Contact Sheets

Photoshop Montage & Reflection

Through Elijah's Eyes by Sofia Tiu

Photoshop CC - February 20 2015

TECHNICAL
I used many technical steps during my photoshop montage experience. One of the most common technicalities I faced the variety of size of all my images. Using the transform tool and adjusting the size of my images was simple, but challenging for my mind-set. I also experimented frequently with a variety of layer blends, my images layer blends range from darken to vivid light. I also fiddled around with the opacity/fill settings, deciding how transparent and opaque I wished the image would be.

I also learned how to use the cloning stamp, patch, and content aware tools. The cloning tool allows you to pick a certain distance and will copy whatever is within distance. The patch allows you to select a patch of the image and drag it onto the surface of what you wish for it to blend into. The content aware tool allows you the have the background to be programmed into what it is around it, which can be very useful for large grass or greenery backgrounds.

One last thing that I learned to do was free transforming images and warping them a certain way. Experimenting with certain filters in class, I was able to warp my images so they can be transformed to look a certain way. I warped the footprints, shadow, skateboard and swing set in my montage. All images were very flat and I warped them to look like they were at a certain angle or position, i.e. I warped the shadow so it looked like the shadow was truly on the ground, not as a shadow directly behind the people.

IDEA OR CONCEPT
The ideas that I eventually used in my montage were: the focus on the people and all the images were related to Elijah's likes and dislikes, as a warped perspective of a child's eyes. Even though I tossed away some of my previous ideas, I knew for certain that I wanted to keep the idea that the montage is centred around Elijah's likes.

As I said previously, many of my ideas were tossed away and I thought of some more, but they never made it to the final product. One of my ideas that I didn't use was the background was supposed to be a swing and as it stretched through the canvas, it disintegrated into my many objects which I was going to place on the other side of the canvas, opposite swing. I decided to not to pursue this idea because I wasn't sure how I would have accomplished it and I assumed that it was much too complicated for my skill level in Photoshop CC.

INFLUENCES
In all honesty, I was not influenced by any professional artists. I did not take influence of famous montage work, however the idea seems very appealing now! If it counts, I did take inspiration from my fellow classmates who are amateur media artists, where they did help inspire me to put continuous effort into my montage.

COMPOSITION
The type of composition I intended to have was asymmetrical. On the left side, there is one to three images, meanwhile on the right there are many more images. About nine to ten images are on the right side. I intended to have an asymmetrical composition because I wanted to emphasize the people on the left and make the images seem like they're what the child sees as he walks by.

My intention for my eyes to move was more like a square or a rounded movement. My focus is the people and the blue swirls lead the eye movement upwards. Once the eye hits the bright green eye, the crayon border and the subtle white birds in the background will lead the movement towards the right. Once headed towards the right, there are images of child's doodles which will continue moving the eyes towards the right. Once reaching the very right, the crayons begin to fully form and the tips of the crayons lead downwards. Once going downwards, it leads towards a swing set. On every swing, I connected a separate image as if the swing were like ropes that attached the image to the movement. I also added a layer blended white outline of a car, which faces downwards which also helps with the downward movement. Once following the line of books, sports balls, hands, it leads to a skateboard and footprints. Following the skateboard and footprints, it leads back to the main focus of the people.

MOTIVATION
My personal motivation for the work was to reflect upon the summer-time experiences. On a very personal note, I'm an extremely sensitive person. I believe the Chinese folklore of the, 'red string of fate,' not to the exact literal sense. The red string of fate is a folklore where people believed that you were attached to your soulmate by an invisible red string. The red string could not be broken, but simply stretched or tangled. In a sense, I believe that Elijah and I were connected by fate. By no means do I mean that Elijah and I are soulmates, but I do believe we were destined to have encountered one another. By reflecting on how much of an impact he's made of my life, it definitely helps believe that our fate always surprises us to no end.

CRITICAL ASSESSMENT
The most successful part of my montage that I believe are my technical abilities for each of the image. I believe that I successfully blended all of them into my background with a sense of unity and smoothness. I also believe that I have a great colour scheme as well. As I emphasized the blue sky, I also added some orange texture at the foreground because they're complementary colours. This way, the orange and the blue can emphasize each other which also unites the montage.

The one thing that surprised me the most was how difficult this assignment was going to be. I'm not a completely artsy student, but I have learned some artistic abilities in Grade 9 Visual Arts last year. I didn't expect myself to struggle a lot with this assignment, but I genuinely did. I also find that it's extremely difficult to alter the sizes of the images to your own personal liking, but also blending it into the montage. I found that I automatically made the images generally the same size, which greatly affected my montage.

With additional time, I would have greatly changed my work. Also, I believe that with additional time and more experience with Photoshop CC, I would have had a more quality montage. I believe with more experience and more time, I think I would have accomplished more of my ideas that I wished to pursue. I also believe that I couldn't find the ideal images that I wished to have used. Many of my images were the most ideal out of the image search, however they were not the ones I would imagine to have used.

BRAINSTORM - Memories In My Skin

Brainstorm List:

• Week in Florida
• Month in Philippines
• Volunteering at Summer camp with Elijah (represents green)
• Volunteering at Summer camp with Nick (represents blue)
• School in general
• Beach trips during the summer
• Bike rides in the trails
• Disney World
• Universal Studios
• Struggling with self-image

My Buddy, Elijah

His eyes. His eyes became my kryptonite. To this day, I will never see another pair of gorgeous with the mesmerizing glint I saw in him. His eyes were a kaleidoscope of green shades that pierced deep into your heart. Shadowing his eyes were long, protruding eyelashes, which framed his eyes like a doll. From the moment I first introduced myself to this young, six-year old boy, I knew I was gone.

Annually, I dedicate 2-4 weeks of my life to volunteering at the local playground summer camp. Living right across the street, my heart felt obligated to assist and frolic through the green trees. Volunteering at playground came with two options: playground assistant or one-on-one buddy. for two years, I have been a buddy for kids with developmental disabilities, but none have caught my heart like Elijah.

My first impression of Elijah, was that kid is a charmer. Whether or not he aware of it himself, he could sweep anyone off their feet. Knowing that I was fortunate enough to spend two full weeks of summer camp with Elijah, I was immediately overjoyed. My buddy himself, Elijah- was a bundle of joy himself. He wasn't like any other I've ever met. He interacted with other children. He charmed his way through playground leaders. He co-operated fully with every ounce of effort he could muster with his tiny body. He enjoyed swimming and looked forward to spending an hour in the recreational pool every day. Elijah was a gleaming ray of sunshine- lighting up everyone's day with his cheerful eyes.

The problem with Elijah did not occur to me, seemingly harmless and minor enough that I was not alerted about it. My assumption of Elijah's developmental disability was mild ADHD due to his low attention span and his extreme levels of energy. Soon enough, it was a gloomy, rainy day. The rain drenched everyone who stood outside. Elijah's mood was drenched as well. The abrupt change in the environment and plans of the day affected Elijah, too much for him to bare. His actions become abrasive and violent, while his screams pierced through the thick cement walls of the recreational centre. After soothing Elijah to regain his composure, comfortingly wiping his tears- it became clear to me. My sweet, little Elijah has autism.

After consulting with playground leaders due to their withdrawing of information, I was told the purpose. Their reasoning was so that I would not give Elijah any special treatment which would make him aware of having a developmental disability. My heart shattered for the boy and I immediately realized the intentions of the camp leaders. Autism does not define who Elijah is, or the person he is growing to become.

My love and compassion for Elijah grew throughout the two weeks I spent as his buddy. My awareness of developmental disability has expanded beyond its previous horizons. Whether or not someone I know has been diagnosed with autism or ADHD; they are a human being. They are not autistic, they are a person with autism. Developmental disabilities does not define who someone is and it's inconsiderate to refer as someone by the developmental disability.

Through Elijah's sparkling green eyes is a symbolic meaning through his own view of the world. Children that have autism are not mentally retarded, they simply view the world in a different perspective than those who don't. With Elijah's glistening green eyes, he takes on the world, one blink at a time. One step at a time. My little friend Elijah has inspired me to believe that everyone views the world in a different view. Elijah's eyes have changed me for the better- imagining the world through the perspective of innocent green eyes.

Nine of Me

Photoshop Layer Blends

Photoshop Brush Scene