PORTFOLIO

Singing Redwood is a a virtual reality project made in Unity for the Windows Mixed Reality headset. As part of a VR/AR Academic Pilot Program Tester, we were sponsored for academic research in an art restoration and photogrammetry. After researching the art history behind Sargent Johnson's redwood leaf panels for the California School for the Deaf and Blind, I oversaw communication with the curator of the Huntington Library to incorporate the appropriate Disability Rights movement information into the VR educational experience. As project manager, I also designated all duties and set the pipeline deadlines and check-ins for an 8-person team.

Sleepless Dreamers is my movie poster entry for Adobe Student’s MakeIt contest, results pending. My design and idea allude to Robert Frost’s famous “The Road Not Taken” and Percy B. Shelley’s “Ozymandias.” Made with Adobe Spark.  

Another Earth, VR Experience is a hackathon project made for social good and education. Jennifer Hansson and I designed this interactive experience for the Windows Mixed Reality headset to show the frightening rate of deforestation in the what period scientists are calling the “Sixth Extinction.” In Unity, I did the code scripting, game writing, and design layout.  Background: This was my first project porting to Virtual Reality! During the hackathon, I worked till 5am debugging code. It was a challenging but rewarding experience educationally. Since there were was a lack of tutorials for this developmental kit headset, I’m proud that I was resourceful and made something together with my partner’s help and motivation. 

High Tide: Marina's Adventure is a two-week game jam project created by a six-person team. Our awesome artist for the game scene above is Anastasia Ricoy. I made 4 original soundtracks and several iterations/remixes of each piece to better fit the game’s atmosphere.  Background: My team was adorable. Despite us living all across the world (thank you, Australia), we had late night Discord calls when we screenshared as we worked. We joked around but worked hard, and I made really good friends with my teammates. Eventually, two of my teammates reached out to me after the game jam to extend invitations to work with each of them in future projects, including Gundalf!

Symbiotic is an animated short made by our team of 5 from UC Berkeley. New to Maya, we touched every part of the pipeline together. As project manager, I oversaw progress and delegated duties. I contributed to modeling, material assigning, and shading, and I also did all post-production in Sony Vegas 12.  Background: We learned Maya in a single, very stressful semester to deliver a quality product. I was extremely happy because our group worked together so cohesively, despite all the stress. The director and my teammates really valued my contributions and made me feel like I was a good leader, boosting my self-confidence. We even shared popcorn chicken and boba together as friends. 

Witch’s House is a collaborative project with Mikaila Blackburn, the artist who  designed the room and did the modelling in Maya. With Pixar Renderman, I splashed color into the scene with shaders, materials, and lighting.  Background: To help my friend improve her portfolio before her internship applications, I volunteered to collaborate and turned this project over in 48 hours. Originally a fan of her editing and motion graphics on Youtube, I have a lot of respect for her as an artist, so the honor to do collaborative work with her was a blast!

Ode to Sleepless is a one-week game jam project created in collaboration with Mikaila Blackburn, the artist and animator. I coded the game with the engine Clickteam Fusion 2.0, and I composed all the game soundtracks with FL Studio 12.   Background: This was one of my first game jams ever. It was a tough time since I had no experience with this game engine before, but I learned a lot and quickly! Working under pressure puts stress on friendships, but I like to think I’m better at communicating now because of it. 

Desiderium was an indie video game project headed by artist and story writer Avacii. I made 14 soundtracks for the game and several iterations of each based on my team’s constructive criticism. Background: Ultimately, this game was cancelled because people were dragged away by their other obligations to continue working on this noncommercial project. Despite the disappointment, I think this experience taught me a lot about what type of leader I’d like to become and how to manage a project so that my team doesn’t fall apart again. 

Words that are Hard to Swallow is a textography art project. In the piece, the largest lines are often the loudest and most jarring. On closer inspection, one realizes the subtleties of other lines that would be happy or motivational but are still “hard to swallow.” When our heads can echo with hurtful words, some may find it difficult to accept the words “I’m proud of you” even when it means so much. Ultimately, our minds dwell not only on hurtful memories but also on the wisest words imparted to us.  Background: This art piece is very personal, but I am proud of its design origins. Even if all the words are hard to swallow, what I’ve heard and experienced make me who I am and that’s someone I’m proud of. When you’re eating a meal, you can choose what you digest. In a similar manner, I hope to continue believing in people who love and support me and leave all the rest. 

Background: This was my first serious attempt making a game, and I poured all my heart and soul into it. Over the summer, I averaged 4.677 game development hours for 62 consecutive days of work, even when I was in vacation in Las Vegas (lol). This game is my pride and joy because I don’t think I’ve ever worked for anything harder. I remember these game design days very fondly because I worked on the game for its own sake, not as a means to an end. 

The Monarch - Tribute to the Editors is a video made for the departing seniors of our school newspaper.  As an editor of the Opinions section, I worked with the people in the video closely. A few of my fellow editors and I worked together to organize a surprise farewell party, my main contribution being this video which was streamed across every classroom in the school during announcements. You can watch the HD full video I uploaded to YouTube here. 

The Scratch Notebook is a writing and creative arts forum that I co-founded with Lunar Gryffon. Awarded “Forum of the Month” by Proboards, it grew from 2 members to 90 under our leadership together. Together, we worked on the HTML/CSS for the website, organized community events like writing contests, and promoted the forum with outreach campaigns.  Background: This community was my first love. I learned so much about leading and communicating while working with my staff members and doing graphic design to promote the website on other forums. While it has been several years since its creation and closing, I hold many fond memories of this place and still keep in touch with my fellow writers. 

Background: I was a mod on a Digimon rpg forum with over 1000 members. We used to hand-calculate damage and had an entire stat system. It was impressively complex! Back then, I opened up free art requests to the forum members. Till this day, I remain proud of this piece. I still keep in touch with this friend after 10 years.