Gr. 11 Media Arts (Open) – Hero Project Gallery

For our 2nd project of the semester, we will be focusing on creating digital art by way of portraiture that features our own personal heroes. By definition, a hero is a person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal. For this project, the students must seek this quality in someone who has persevered through all odds and continues to help society at large through their work. 

Justin Beiber

I describe Justin Bieber as my hero for many different reasons. First off, his music alone has helped me through so much. Justin’s song lyrics are extremely relatable and it really shows myself and other people that were not alone. Even people who are extremely rich and have everything going for them, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re happy. His songs make me feel okay about being down sometimes and how it’s normal to not always feel your best. Next, Justin has donated to over 28 different charities. Half of the proceeds he made from his 2011 Christmas album, was donated to a few charities. He has also supported over 30 different causes. Justin Biber is the second most Make-A-Wish dream out of any celebrity. He donated 100k to fans’ mental health charity, he’s done a promotion where he picks 1 lucky fan to get VIP tickets to his concert by picking someone who has donated to a charity, he cut his iconic swoopy hair for charity and made over 40,000 from it. Justin has a huge heart and continues to contribute to different charities and wants to make a difference in this world.

Mark Fischbach

For my hero project, I chose Mark Fischbach, aka, “Markiplier”, for a few reasons.  Firstly, he is my favourite YouTuber because he is a very genuine and cool person who can be both funny and serious. Secondly, the other person I thought of didn’t have any good pictures. Finally, I chose Mark because 2 years ago he and his friend Ethan ran a YouTube channel together named “Unus Annus” which translates to “one year”. This channel was only active for a year and was meant to teach people the importance of appreciating what you have when you have it and not letting the moment escape. The fourteenth of this November was the one-year anniversary of the deletion of Unus Annus from YouTube. Their motto was “memento mori” which translates to “remember death”. This is again reminding the viewer that our time is limited and our personal timer is always ticking and to remember death is something everyone and everything must traverse. The quote I chose for the background of the picture goes with this theme as a statement that, as our time slowly runs out it seems to start to drain quicker; the closer to death we are, the quicker it comes. This is another way of Mark reminding the viewer to never take life for granted. Mark has, and continues to do many charitable acts, for example for any purchase of merchandise he has created or helped to create, a varying amount of the proceeds always go towards a charity he believes in. A few of these are Cincinnati Children’s hospital, the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, Make-A-Wish, and the American Cancer Society. To date, he has raised almost 3 million USD in charity streams alone and as the amount raised from merchandise proceeds hasn’t been disclosed, it is probably much higher.

Ray Charles

The reason I chose Ray Charles for my hero project is that he was an inspiration to many and still is to me. Born in Albany, Georgia, in 1930, Ray Charles grew up in a small village with his brother and his mom. Ray was an extremely talented singer, songwriter, pianist, and musician. He wrote and performed original hits like “I’ve Got a Woman” and “Mess Around.” “Music to me is like breathing. I don’t get tired of breathing, I don’t get tired of music,” Ray Charles had been in love with music since a young age and he shared his talent and passion with the world which is one of the things I find so incredible about him. The reason I find him to be an inspiration is that since the age of 18, he had fallen onto a bad path riddled with drug and other substance abuse. However, at the height of his fame, after several tries in rehab, Ray ultimately got clean and sober. Not only did he redeem himself in the eyes of his friends, family, and fans, but he also got involved with a charity and political work. The Ray Charles Foundation is dedicated to providing aid and relief to young people with hearing disorders. Ray believed that “the inability to hear was a handicap, not the inability to see.” Additionally, Ray Charles helped to lift the segregation rules in Georgian venues so that people of every race could enjoy his music. After this, he was so beloved in Georgia that his hit record “Georgia on my Mind” became their official state song.  In conclusion, Ray Charles was more than a genius musician, he was a philanthropist.

Maya Angelou

I decided to choose this hero because I remember doing a project on her back in elementary school and when I found out more about her, I wanted to read her book. Maya Angelou was a poet, author, and activist. She used her writing skills to contribute to political activism and worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr in the 60s until his assassination. She fought for social and racial justice. The quote I chose for her spoke to me because I see myself as a different person from everyone else. II, I don’t share a lot of the same interests with the majority of people my age, but because of that, I’m finding my own unique talents.

Stevie Nicks

Stevie Nicks was a waitress before she joined Fleetwood Mac. She wrote the song, Rhiannon, after listening to Jonie Mitchell for three days, she left it for Buckingham with a note saying that they can produce it but they can’t change anything about it. (Buckingham was her boyfriend). They originally only wanted her ex-boyfriend but they said that they come as a package deal, you don’t get one without the other. When she joined the band she was described as the weakest in the group and compared to Christine McVie. Eventually, people fell in love with her different and unique voice and praised her. It was difficult to be a female rockstar then, it was mostly dominated by men. So for Stevie Nicks to be able to go far she needed to work hard. Now she is seen as the strongest member of Fleetwood Mac and rightfully so. Stevie Nicks put the house she owned since 1981 up for sale so that she could expand her charity. Her charity is to help hospitalized soldiers after they come home from Iraq and Afghanistan. She gives the soldiers Ipods of music she has been collecting since the 70s. She is trying to keep their minds happy and try to not have them focus on what is afflicting them. She is also getting prosthetic limbs for them. She accepts donations for the Ipods and the prosthetic limbs to get enough for the soldiers that are suffering. Her quote resonates with me because it doesn’t matter what situation you are in as long as you handle it with grace and you think of what you say carefully before you say it then you have done a good job. If you have really thought about what you want to say you can’t be mad at yourself. You can’t control how the other person feels or responds to you, all you can control is how you respond and react to them. As long as you stay true to who you are then you should never feel bad about anything that happened.

Pastor Emilio Gonzalez Jr.

The person I pick is Pastor Emilio Gonzalez jr. He’s a YouTuber who goes by “Grow in Faith, Grow in Christ”. Finding his YouTube channel changed my life and the way. I act almost a year ago, He helped me realize that I should change my ways, and accept Jesus as my saviour. I wasn’t really a religious person growing, or neither did I care about it growing. But I am grateful for finding his YouTube Channel, and I am grateful to him for helping me find Jesus.

Tom Brady

Tom Brady inspired me to be better. He inspired me to play football and win. I now have the winning meaning in my head daily thanks to Tom. He endorses charities like his own TB12 which helps upcoming or older athletes maximize their health and potential. The charity is great for someone like me who wants to do something with sports or in that industry.  His other charities include Best Buddies International, the Boys and Girls Club of America, the Entertainment Industry Foundation, and KaBOOM!, which builds creative things to do for kids. Tom Brady is not only a great football player but overall a great person.

DeMario DeWayne White Jr. aka Moneybagg Yo

Moneybagg is not just my hero, he is a lot of other people because he donates to people in need and half the money he makes he gives away. Moneybagg is my hero because when I’m having a bad day I go listen to him and the lyrics in his songs and just hear how meaningful they actually are. Moneybagg used to get in trouble with the law for doing bad things and he was in a gang before he realized how much his family and others around him actually care about him and he got out of the gang and helped his friends better themselves. He and his friends started a whole rap culture to try and better kids facing the law. I’d say he was very successful because he bettered teens and older people to stay out of trouble and from that he blew up and he is very well known for what he did and now he reflects back on the past and goes to schools and events to talk about how bad gangs can really be.

David Suzuki

I chose my hero to be David Suzuki. I chose him because he is an environmental activist that spreads awareness about the effects of climate change and what we can do to help reduce the effects. To me, he is essentially saving the world (literally). He created the David Suzuki Foundation, an organization dedicated to reducing the effects of climate change. I chose the quote ​​“We’re in a giant car heading towards a brick wall and everyone’s arguing over where they’re going to sit.” It resonates with me because he speaks the facts. We’re all here complaining about the wifi not working when there are much bigger and serious problems in the world. It’s nice to see him promoting change. To me, those who encourage others to make positive changes, while also contributing themselves, are heroes.

Ludwig Ahgren

The hero I chose for my project is Ludwig Ahgren, an online influencer that has made some of the biggest influences on social media such as twitch and youtube. One of his most notable achievements was a “subathon” he started on March 14th, 2021. Where Viewers could pay 5 dollars for a “sub” that would raise a timer on the screen, the timer symbolized how long Ludwig would stay streaming for. It lasted a full month and only ended because Ahgren set a cap on how long it would go for, I firmly believe the stream would still be going today if he had not. After it was over, he donated over 300 thousand dollars of the money he earned off the stream to various charities, such as  No Kid Hungry, St.Judes Hospital, and The Humane Society. Over the Years Ahgren has donated to various charities many times over and donates most of the profit he earns off of social media to them.

I chose this singer since is a person who gives very good energy, she is a girl who takes care of children with whom she has collaborated with Travis Scott trying to protect many children from the elite so that they speak in a video about trafficking. Minor simply that fact that she is one of the singers most loved by young people since she cares for her fans for me she is one of my favourite singers since I like to listen to the type of music that she sings is flamenco, bulerias lo modern mixes it with all kinds of generating and it really is something that I like plus such a beautiful voice that it does not need Auto-Tune.

Dwayne Johnson

Dwayne Johnson was born on May 2, 1972, and there was never any doubt that he would one day become a professional wrestler. Dwayne was a sophomore at Freedom High School when he decided he wanted to be a professional wrestler. He had been training with his father since the day he was born, and he had been seriously training since the age of 14. I chose Dwayne as my hero because when he was younger he used to get arrested really often but one day decided to change his life and follow his dreams and now he is the man that is known as Dwayne The Rock Johnson. The Rock channels his commitment to assisting children through the Dwayne Johnson Rock Foundation During its first year, the foundation worked to aid in the recovery and instil hope in the lives of children hospitalized for a variety of medical conditions. Its mission has since been expanded to include education and childhood obesity prevention programs. That quote specifically motivates me to try and be the best version of myself that could ever be.

I chose Pop Smoke because I really like his music and I know a lot of people looked up to him and supported him before he passed away. He had a really big influence on our generation and people that listened to his music and I really wanted to honour that with this project. I chose the quote “you only as real as the people you surround yourself with.” because that’s something that resonates with me and I deeply agree with. It’s so hard to tell who is a real genuine person these days and I think that if you are surrounding yourself with fake people, that reflects on the type of person you are. After he passed his mother started the Shoot For The Stars Foundation. 

“Shoot for the Stars” is the phrase that Bashar Barakah Jackson who became known to the world as Pop Smoke, lived by. He was shooting for the stars, but he was aiming for the moon. This mindset is the platform that sparked his mission to share his passion and determination with other young people in his community. He wanted to inspire them to work towards and manifest their dreams. As he began touring and performing around the nation and the globe, he began developing a plan for giving back. He reached out to local educators and administrators to donate computers and technological resources to community schools; creating a blueprint for community youth programming and educational assistance for all youth. He wanted to secure opportunities for those who were not enticed by the traditional school model. His goal was to make sure young people had access to resources, opportunities, and inspirational mentoring to achieve their full potential. In February 2020, Pop Smoke’s life was taken. Shoot for the Stars Foundation is that vehicle that will ensure his vision is realized and his legacy continues as a community builder and a steward for youth who dare to dream.

Dwayne Johnson

I chose Dwayne Johnson for my project. I chose Dwayne Johnson simply because he is one of the most successful people on earth. He started out as a kid who’d been arrested multiple times, but he was a gifted athlete. He went on to play football in Canada, went to WWE, and now he is the biggest actor in Hollywood. Aside from just being an actor now, he has his own brand of tequila, he is even running his own production company called Seven Bucks production (it is called that because that was how much money he had after he left football). Dwayne Johnson has been through a lot in his life, yet he just simply continued doing what he loved. He loved sports, so he continued a career that led him to be one of the most successful people today. He is also involved in lots of charity work, including starting his own organization called the Dwayne Johnson Rock Foundation back in 2007. The Foundation works with at-risk and terminally ill children.v A quote by The Rock that I really like is: “What’s the key to success? The key is, there is no key. Be humble, hungry, and the hardest worker in any room.” What I like is how he talks about the fact that there is no key to success, you just need to find something you’re talented at and work hard.

Robert Downey Jr.

The hero I choose to draw for this assignment is the actor Robert Downey Jr. Why did I choose this person? Robert Downey Jr has been one of my favorite actors for many years. He is a very accomplished and admirable figure. He has also been extremely charitable throughout his career. He continuously donates to organizations like Clothes Off Your Back, Orca Network, Cancer Research Institute and March Of Dimes to name a few. He also participated in the Make A Wish event in Singapore. This full quote I chose goes: “Remember that just because you hit bottom doesn’t mean you have to stay there.” This quote resonated with me because I have definitely felt like I’ve hit the bottom. It feels lonely, but knowing that it’s temporary and something everyone goes through is comforting.

CoryxKenshin

My hero, which I chose to do for this project, is CoryxKenshin. 29-year-old YouTuber who has been making videos for over 15 years. Cory is one of those YouTubers who keep his videos completely real. Not just making up a skit so people will love him. He is someone who checks in and puts effort into his channel because he deeply cares for his community. I have been subscribed to Cory for over 6 years, and I’ve seen him grow up and mature, but at the same time, he is still the same kind and funny YouTuber I remember when I first watched him. He is an amazing person and his channel has become my safe place which is why I chose him as my hero for this project. 

Cory helps spread positivity throughout his channel, truly an inspiring and influential person. He put on a three-hour Livestream so that he could donate enough money to those in need. He showed up to a fan’s birthday party and even showed kindness towards a YouTuber who has become mentally ill, only for him to be bashed for it. But even though he got hate for that, he still wishes only the best for that person. This quote was something he actually said on his Instagram story recently, but it just hit me hard. Not every day will be amazing as life isn’t a movie. I believe everyone can relate to this quote, and it’s good that everyone hears this. I have my bad days, Cory has his bad days, we all do. We just have to remember that this is reality. But we shouldn’t just dwell on those days, because we also have good days that we experience.

Leonardo DiCaprio

The hero that has always been in my heart is Jack Dawson in the movie Titanic played by Leonardo DiCaprio, which made me understand how looking back and pondering over the wrongs cannot change what has already happened. What can instead be changed is the things that are happening right now and the choices you make today. It’s useless to stay stuck in the past; you must instead focus on your present and future. There is no distinction between rich and poor people because life is priceless for all, so this is the reason for my choice.

Nelson Mandela

I chose Nelson Mandela purely because of his motives. He dedicated his life to fighting for equality and ultimately putting an end to South Africa’s racist system of apartheid once and for all. He was South Africa’s first black president from 1994 to 1999 and he strived for peace in South Africa. After 27 years in prison, he was freed and negotiated with F. W de Klerk and successfully managed to turn South Africa from an apartheid to a multiracial democracy. Racism sickens me to the guts and he was a key person when it comes to ending racism. I’m really proud of him for his accomplishments and if he was alive today, he would be doing so much more for not just his country, but for the rest of the world too. I chose the quote “A winner is a dreamer who never gives up”. It resonates with me because I do believe that dreams really do come to life with hard work and perseverance. And that you should never give up no matter what life throws at you. He was such an inspiring person and he could be doing so much more if he was alive today.