1. WHO is your audience: Students who have started over after great loss
2. WHAT is the purpose of your story? To explore an unlikely relationship with an animal that had a great effect on my creative output
3. WHY is the story or its subject important to you? It involves the relationship between humans and animals, which is my primary motivation as an artist
4. WHAT do you want your audience to THINK, FEEL or DO after hearing your story? To take pride in their relationships, not accomplishments.
5. WHAT is the HOOK?—that special something that makes your audience want to explore the story or its subject matter further: It's about a hedgehog's ability to positively influence an artist. I don't believe thats a frequently told story.
6. WHERE are the DRAMATIC ELEMENTS in your story? Look for points that have unexpected twists, turns and bumps in your story that help to create some dramatic tension or surprise for both you, the storyteller and your audience: The hedgehog's illness and subsequent death, just as my relationship with her becomes cemented.
7. HOW will you tell your story? What STYLISTIC elements will it possess. For our purposes it will be told in the first person to keep the stories personal but in other circumstances, say, in creating a documentary, you may choose to use a third person form of narration. You may also decide on the VISUAL STYLE of the content (illustration vs. photography) as well as the THEME (these are canned formats available to you within the storytelling software). Photographs, voice over, simple illustrations
8. WHAT is the TONE? This relates to the tone of voice in the narration—how you speak to your audience - Conversational and wistful
9. WHAT is the MOOD? This relates to TONE and the feelings you wish to invoke in your audience and it is often underscored by the soundtrack chosen - sincere, sweet, sad, ultimately hopeful
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PAST:
Who/What were your earliest creative influences and why were they so important to you? Family - inundated by the art we created and collected.
What was your earliest memory of a creative accomplishment that you were proud of? Making puppets of a cartoon called “the visionaries”
Who/What stood in the way of your creativity and how did you prevail against them/it? Learning disabilities and constantly not meeting others set expectations of me. Prevailed by learning to trust my own opinions/values above the areas of others.
What was your area of interest and why? Animals and the natural world. Probably a mix of genetics, early imprinting and a cat-filled enbvironment.
Which experiences, interests or knowledge from your earlier life prepared you for pursuit of your current area of interest? My parents took me to the zoo, aquarium or natural history muesum or art museum almost every weekend.
Which singular event in your past most affected your decision to pursue your area of interest? The implosion of my jounralistic/media/blogging career, which in itself was a compromise because I didn’t think I could hack it as a “real” creative writer, so I wrote blog essays instead.
Who influenced or assisted you in pursuing your career ambitions, interests, or skill in this area? My tattoo artist Nikki Balls - her distiintive style and sensibility is what imspired me to try and draw like her.
PRESENT:
How have your interests affected your life as a whole (family, friends, where you live)? I live in an apartment covered in plants and fish tanks. I have a neighborhood-wise repuration as an animal whisperer, which has been a great sideline source of income for those who need their dogs walked or their cats sat. I live in an apartment two blocks from lake ontario so I can sit at it’s shores when I need to decompress. I don't have any friends who don't love animals.
How would you sum up your creative, artistic or design philosophy (ie. what is the role of creativity in your own life and in the life of humanity in general?)? Nature is a force that is far bigger than any human achievement - the sooner we can remember that, the sooner we can stop killing ourselves as a species.
How does your creative work speak to or represent your personal creative, artistic or design philosophy? Art should convey vitality, and living/organic elements in a piece will grab the viewer in a way that many other mediums can not. Especially plants, as they grow and change with time.
How has your time at school challenged you creatively? To stop being messy and improvosational and to start following a series of steps, to take things slowly and to plan out my art. These are not my strong suits.
Share a time when you enjoyed an epic win in an assignment at school and explain its importance. After my hedgehog passed away, I drew her for Sheeraz’ dingbat assignment. It was dynamic, vital and very “me” - but also clean, crisp and design-y. I considered it a major step forward.
Share a time when you had an epic fail in an assignment at school and share what you learned from that experience. I chose a very high concept composition for a self portrait assignment meant to show off our skill at density-controlled ink. I have no skills in this area, so I should’ve focused on a simpler composition/depiction to learn my fundamentals. Be Ok walking before I can run.
Share a piece of work that you are exceedingly proud of and explain why you are so proud of it.
The piece from my figure drawing class at the end of this text box- it was my most successful attempt to reconcile my riotous taste in colour and line with the technical aspects of shading and modelling that make a figure drawing successful. I consider this both a decent technical execution and a creative expression of how I see the world.
What has been the biggest highlight in the current pursuit of your interests?
The satisfaction that comes from living through the intense fear and loneliness of starting over and getting yourself out of a hole - even the simplest accomplishments (making dinner, completing a color wheel) can often feel like miracles.
FUTURE:
Where do you see yourself five years from now? Living in canada with a working permit or PR, working in a satisfying, creative or creative-adjacent job that genuinely can use my skill set for problem solving and goal advancement.
What are your next steps after finishing the foundation program? Waiting to hear back from an “Acting for Media” Course I applied to at GBC - I’ve long wanted to translate my loud voice and comfort on camera towards some kind of career.
What is the important lesson have you learned as a student so far this year? You don’t know what you don’t know!
What advice would you give to someone considering entering a program aimed at a career in a creative field?
If you could make a wish come true, what would it be? Eventually have a house in Toronto that I can fill with plants, terrariums, aquariums, cats and dogs, and a big enough yard for a DIY koi pond. 
