Vostrejs 1

Julia Vostrejs

Mrs. Layton

English IV

23 April 2019

Reflection

Throughout this project, I have researched aspects of all sorts in not only the illustration

business, but in the animation industry, as they share a lot of the same skills needed. I got a big

chance to expand my skills at character design, especially since that is one of the most important

parts of creating characters, especially those that are going to be seen by children. Making

memorable characters is a must. I also learned about past developments in the media industry,

including that which is made for children, and some of the challenges I might have to face when

producing my vision for an audience through a larger company. It can also not be understated

how much practice I got to have with watercolors, which is one of my favorite mediums to use in

illustration. My speed at making illustrations has improved drastically over the course of the

year. This project has definitely helped me in that way, as it helped me to prepare myself for my

departure to art school in a completely new town, Kansas City. As far as helping the community,

this is more of a long-term goal. If I can improve my art skills to a professional level, I hope to

create stories that people will find comfort in, children and adults alike. I even explored these

benefits in my research paper, so I hope that this is what my future holds for me. Overall, I’m

glad I did this for my senior project, and it gave me a lot of valuable experience that will come in

handy later.
 Vostrejs 2

As for my mentor, I have enjoyed working with them as much as I could. The author’s

night back in first semester was very informative, and I even got to network with people in the

indie author industry, one of whom had just finished publishing a children’s book. That’s not

even counting the advice that Shelly gave me during the night, especially regarding the process

of writing with your audience in mind, but not pandering to them. After that, we kept in contact

through email, and she was the one to urge me through changing my storyline to something more

feasible, and something I was more inspired to draw/write. She’s looked over my concept

sketches and approved them in various emails. I am currently unable to keep in contact with her

to officially affirm our work together, however, since she has been going through some sudden

major life events that are putting us on hold. Mainly, she had brain surgery done on March 12th

to control her epilepsy, and an invasive surgery (especially a neurological one) such as that needs

a long recovery period. I will provide as much proof as I can of my fieldwork to make up for this

absence.