Colby Wygal Sophomore Review
Introduction
I'm Colby Wygal (she/they)
I'm a sophomore arts technology major with a double concentration in
audio engineering and visual media. While I initially attended Millikin to focus on audio, I've become deeply invested in visual media and graphic design as well, and I hope to find ways that I can implement both of these skills into a career. Currently, I have goals to become a recording studio engineer after college, while still continuing my independent art career on the side.
Outside of class, I'm a musician, a songwriter, a poet, an LGBTQ+ activist, and an active member of the greater Millikin community. I post some of my art--mainly music--on social media and streaming services, which has introduced me to the business skills of marketing myself to an audience.
My art is my life. I grew up being taught that expressing emotions was a sign of weakness; that certain parts of me--my gender, my sexuality, my disabilities--should be hidden from everyone; that I could only be successful by being what others decided I should be. Art became my escape from these societal pressures, and when I realized that I could take my deepest emotions and turn them into something beautiful, I understood that this is what I am meant to do with my life. I'm making this a career because I want to enable others to express themselves through art in the way that I have. I want to realize creative visions and make a difference in the world. All of my favorite art that I have created is raw in emotion and refined in presentation. It represents everything I stand for, and as long as I stand for something, I will continue to develop and grow my art.
Digital Illustrations
Album Poster
This poster was my first project in my Intro to Digital Media course, and thus was the first piece of digital art that I made for a college class. For this assignment, I took inspiration from the work of New Wave artist April Greiman. The purpose of this piece was to both represent my personal identity and build interest in my upcoming album, Colby <3.
Stylized Bird Stamps
I have become more skilled and confident with Adobe Illustrator throughout my time at Millikin, and this growth is displayed in my recent stamp collection that I made for my Computer Art & Design course. These bird illustrations required great attention to detail and complex techniques, and my hard work was rewarded when this piece was selected as the best in the class critique. I feel that this was the point where I found an illustration style and technique that works the best for me.
Branding: Benevolent Sin
With my growth as an artist over the past few years, I felt that I had outgrown the brand that I had created for my previously lighthearted and amateurish music. To address these feelings, I've been recently working to migrate most of my art to a new brand--Benevolent Sin--which is more representative of my identity as an artist and as a person, and is more adaptable to the changes that will inevitably occur in my art style in the future. The vision of Benevolent Sin is to capture life's beauty in tandem with the chaos and suffering that it entails, and be a place where my life experiences are given value and meaning for the world to see.
While my music is not currently commercially viable, being an independent artist is still in many ways a form of entrepreneurship. With this new branding that I will continue to develop, I am marketing myself to the world, and I have made deliberate design choices to seem appealing to my target audience.
Photo Manipulation
Various Single & Album covers
From left to right:
January 2022 | 18
October 2022 | DOG EAT DOG!
January 2023 | Colby <3
October 2023 | I'm Scared, You Win
Creating compelling cover art for my music is a skill that I've spent years developing. Cover art is the first thing that my listeners will see, and it can often determine whether or not a person will choose to listen to a song or an album, making it a vital form of branding and marketing. My process for making my recent cover art involves using complex blending and layering of different photos using Photoshop.
Short Film Poster & Cast Photos
This film project was the main focus of my Essentials of Lighting, Photo, & Video course. In addition to creating a short film, I also needed to create marketing materials for it. This included a poster as well as three promotional cast photos, one of which is displayed above. I worked hard to create a brand image for this film, focusing on color motifs and using specific fonts to share the specific vision of this project. The film is deeply emotional and disturbing, but is done so in a way that is profound and beautiful--feelings which I aimed to capture with my photography and photo editing.
Audio Engineering
Image Soundscape
This was an assignment for my Intro to Audio course during my first semester at Millikin. I was tasked with creating a soundscape that would give life to a static image of my choice. I selected an unsettling image of an abandoned water park, and used layers of sound effects and custom music to tell a story of exploring a long forgotten place and discovering the danger that lurks within.
Music
This is my most recent song that I've recorded. I made it for the Halloween season, and I wanted to create a powerful, somewhat distorted sound in order to create a dark energy fit for the Halloween theme. I worked hard to include many interacting elements both in the vocals and the instrumental, and I implemented some of the mixing techniques that I've learned in Recording Studio Techniques I and Millitrax Open Labs in order to create one of my best produced songs to date.
Film
BLOOD
This film project was by far the most rigorous and challenging project that I've completed at Millikin, and it is a culmination of all the artistic skills that I have developed over the years. The project tested my skills of storytelling, directing, videography, photography, video editing, audio engineering, and time management.
I had a very bold and meaningful vision for my film, and it was a significant challenge to meet my personal expectations. Every shot was thought out in advance. Every prop and costume decision had a purpose. Every song that accompanied the film was custom-made by me to perfectly achieve the feeling that I wanted from each scene. This was by far the most intricately planned project that I have ever completed, and it needed to be, because I was creating something highly sensitive and meaningful to everyone involved, and I couldn't allow this project to be a failure.
Comprehensive shot list for the filming of BLOOD
The film itself is very dark and emotionally intense. It discusses themes of dying love, depression, self-harm, and suicide over its 5 minute runtime. As a content warning, I'd like to disclose that the scene I will be previewing today includes a depiction of self-harm.
