My name is Sylvia Lin. I am from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and I have been studying in the U.S. for around 8 years now. I grew up in a traditional Chinese family, in which my mom had always wanted me to be an artistic person – not necessarily an artist, but someone that possesses the elegant temperament of an artist. Unlike other strict parents, she never forced me into studying any instruments or arts. I showed my interest towards learning to play the piano at a very young age, so she hired  a teacher to teach me. Unfortunately, I could not stand sitting in front of the piano for hours to practice for a single song and I gave up soon after. Later, I turned my interest to traditional Chinese paintings, and I did pursue painting for multiple years. I no longer have photos of my paintings nor do I keep the original paintings with me, but here is an example of how traditional Chinese paintings look like. I actually have painted peony just like the picture below multiple times in the past.

Besides, I enjoy watching people dance and still would like to learn dancing some day; although I myself have a very inflexible body and limbs. 

Right now, although being a college student who majors in computer science, I don’t consider myself a software engineer. I do not enjoy hardcore technical coding as much. Instead, I enjoy doing research in human-computer interaction, user experience as well as data analytics. I find myself paying more attention to the designs, aesthetics and ease-of-use of software or applications. Having taken MU3611 (Topics in Interactive Programming) shifted my views about how music production and synthesis work in the modern world and also inspired me to take this class to get more taste of interactive and electronic arts. During my free time, I like to watch Youtube videos on the newest or weirdest technologies, gears and electronics. 

I also enjoyed my Computer-Aided Design class a lot. For the final project, I designed a prototype of a practical desk for students working in the Gordan Library to improve their working efficiency. Here are two short clips of my animated prototype.

In addition, I designed a tiny cute cup and printed it out using the 3D printer at school. Since I no longer have my photo taken with the cup, I am including a snapshot of the design here. It is super simplistic; yet, I still love it so much because it is my first ever 3D printed item.

Some artistic elements that creatively inspire me the most often are face painting (such as recreating a Bob Ross painting on the face using makeup) and special effects makeup tutorials posted on Youtube. I am super into cosmetics and every year around Halloween, I binge watch many Youtube tutorials on makeup looks and get amazed by people’s ingenious ideas of creation every time. My goal is to be able to put my own spin on the makeup look and create my special version one day.

Last year, I designed a mock-up mobile website prototype for my Human-Computer Interaction class. Although looking back at it now, it still needs to be polished with a less busy and cleaner touch. Despite that, I still appreciate it since this project sparked my interest in user experience.

Also from the same class, my team of four remixed a 3D model of a greyscale teahouse inspired by the movie Momento. 

After all, I may not have comparable amount of previous experience in animation, artwork or music as other classmates, I hope I will still be able to enjoy my time interacting and experimenting with electronic arts in this class (without failing it). 

Bonus content:

Here is a teaser video of an augmented reality game I designed for an IMGD class in freshman year. I definitely have improved my sense of aesthetics.

https://vimeo.com/355656399