Plunge into the Ocean
Almost a year ago I had gone sailing with a few friends of mine. We almost always visit North Carolina whenever we want to go on a vacation. We booked our sailing trip through Nor’ Banks Sailing & Watersports. I remember the weather on that day was pristine and ideal for taking a trip out into the ocean. We reached the meeting place and were given the sailboat and precautionary instructions and rules. It was early in the morning so we had a full day ahead of us.
We ventured our way out to the sea, singing along to music and trying to soak up the sun. After a few moments we found a decent spot to just put down the anchor and rest. One of my friends opened up the cooler and passed around fruits and drinks. The topic of what our futures will look like popped up. Getting lost in the conversation we failed to realize that there was a sudden flip in the weather. Out of nowhere the sky got dark and it started to storm. We all sat frozen in confusion as the weather was predicted to be sunny with clear skies.
Reality set in and we knew we had to make our way back to land. Sam, one of my friends did his best to pull up the anchor as fast as he could. My other friend Maggie, was waiting by the engine to start it as soon as the anchor was unlatched. The rest of us sat in anticipation as we waited for our return to safety. As Maggie turned the boat around, it collided with the wind and tilted. Next thing I knew I was plunged into the ocean and couldn’t see the surface. It felt as though I was transported into a different dimension.
I was suddenly face to face with a bunch of jellyfish. Each of them a different variation of blue tones. They were everywhere and all had a glowing effect. Instantaneously, they all circled around me and seemed to try and engulf me. I started to panic and reached out to push them away when something grabbed me and pulled me up to the surface. I gasped for air as my friends pulled me up into the sailboat. I was in full on panic mode while they were all relived to see I was ok. Hysterically, I asked them if they saw the jellyfish and each of them had a puzzled expression on their face. One of them explained that I was only under water for 3 seconds.
Ever since then I haven’t stepped foot anywhere near a deep body of water. I am still not entirely sure if what I experienced was real or not as none of my friends saw what happened.
Funny thing is since that day, I always seem to come across images, objects or random stuff that resemble a jellyfish.
Background Information
I created the image shown above of the jellyfish as an assignment for my digital storytelling class. This assignment, 256 Points, asks people to create an image using a 16×16 pixels. This was somewhat of a challenge for me as I am in no way an artistic person. I wasn’t sure how to approach this assignment. I used the website Pixilart to create the image of the jellyfish. I started by drawing a half circle to resemble the top of a jellyfish. I didn’t like how it looked so I had to adjust how many pixels I could use and where I should place them to get a more rounded appearance. I then added tentacles but also didn’t enjoy how it looked initially. I realized that the problem may have been the fact that I was only using one color. I started to focus on using different shades of the same blue to create a more visually complex image. I did my best to add highlights and shadows to give more details to the jellyfish. Looking at the image now, I am pretty fond of this pixel art especially since it is the first time I have worked with pixels as an art medium.
When coming up with this digital story, my main focus was the point of view. I wanted to create something that would be easy to digest yet entertaining. I tried my best to convey a fictional trip sailboating and included a dramatic event to hook readers. I also included audio of a storm that I found from Soundcloud to help viewers grasp what I was going for.