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Ever since I was a kid I have always wanted to become an artist. I loved looking at the world full of colors, and opportunities to create something new. It started in elementary school when I would constantly sketch anything from people to objects in the margins of my notebooks, anything that was in my point of view. However, when I entered middle school, I realized the world didn’t necessarily revolve around passions but instead money. Coming from a low-income household and public school, I realized that for my future it would be best for me to strive to become something that made lots of money. My new dream was to become a mechanical engineer since in that field I would be able to create and make the money needed to live “comfortably”. But my love for the arts never left me, and in high school, my passion for it grew exponentially. Being in the Taft Theatre and the Communication Arts Video Production team is what really motivated me to continue to pursue scenic design in college.

My interest in scenic design came to be during my sophomore year of high school. In my technical theatre class, we had to make a scenic drawing of the interior of an apartment building. That's where I learned what scenic design really meant, and I fell in love with it. I had prior experience in perspective drawing so drawing scenic objects came naturally to me. My dad was also a great inspiration to me, ever since I could remember he would always draw ground plans for houses and even sketch the interiors. In fact, that same sketch of the apartment building was for the UIL Theatrical Design competition for the show Clybourne Park and Raisin in the Sun. Fortunately, I was able to make it all the way to state and I ended up getting first in my division and area. It was a truly eye-opening moment since that was when I realized I could go far with my passion and actually be able to pursue scenery design as a real profession. From then on I continued to make scenery designs for any shows and dance performances that were available to me at Taft Theatre.

For my future, I hope to make scenic designs for not only Theatre and Dance but also for Video productions like short films or tv shows. I want to be able to watch a movie and see my name in the rolling credits “ Production Designer: Melody Luna”. Since I am interested in the world of film, I hope to become more involved in both UT Theatre but also UT’s RTF program as well.

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For my designs, I like to grab inspiration from my daily life. If possible I like to go somewhere physically and observe the walls, how the furniture is arranged, whats colors are used and try to replicate that in my drawings. If it’s a location I can’t physically see and go to, I like to use accurate pictures of similar things I can find online either through digital libraries. My favorite online platform I like to use for architecture is Pinterest. I like how I could make a board full of inspiring photos, and then I can create something based on the palette I already made. I have done a Pinterest board for a recent show my friend made called Walking in Between, and I was able to grab bits and pieces from the furniture & incorporate them into my own design.

This year I have met so many new people, both students teachers, and TAs, that have inspired me to become a better designer! I see my teachers striving to become more involved in their community and to enhance their own art craft, and by surrounding myself with these artistic people I find myself also reaching further out to opportunities that I would have never thought of doing. Before meeting them I figured it was just a dream to become an artist with multiple purposes, but now that I have met people with similar aspirations as me and were able to make a career out of it, I feel more motivated to go towards my dream of being a scenic designer in multiple fields. In a way, my dream feels more tangible now than when I was in high school which I believe is a good thing. A person that has given me great inspiration this year was Chris Conrad, the scenic TA in the Techincal Theatre class. I love how he was able to combine all his artistic passions and make that into his career. This is something that I aspire to do myself since I want to be a part of the Theatre Dance scene while also being involved in the RTF field on campus.

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Recently in my PCP class, I have realized how useful collage boards can be! By combining ideas of different colors, images, and themes all into one space, it allows for the artist to realize the artistic direction of the upcoming piece they are working on. Which further aids in making a more cohesive design altogether. I have recently made one for a short music video I made for the song Borderline by Tame Impala. I wanted to show a journey of a struggling artist in the big city focusing on mental health. I haven’t made anything with such a serious topic at hand, but I wanted to challenge myself and I needed the inspiration to draw me in the right direction. The collage board definitely helped me with my artistic vision, and I can’t wait to make more for upcoming projects. Here’s a link to the whole board I made

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My personal motto is that the only way to get better at something is to practice practice practice but also reflect while doing so. That is why for my first year at UT Austin I have started a sketchbook (both a physical one and a digital one), and I make sure to sketch in it on a daily. I tend to draw any furniture objects that are in my viewing whether it be inside my house or when I am out and about in local shops. I believe that this sketchbook is essential for my improvement as a scenic designer since I am able to continue my practice in a way that makes sense to me. I made it a point to not erase in this sketchbook because I want to draw true to my perspective. Even if the pieces end up becoming more cartoonish than realistic, I still am able to learn from every stroke of my pencil. I didn’t start incorporating this rule in my sketchbook until recently when I learned of Christoff Nieman’s Sunday Sketches. I loved how he was able to draw inspiration from objects in his daily life and were able to transform them into something from a world of his own. I strive to create scenic designs that are reflective of my art style while being true to the scenery of that location and time period.

Besides sketching daily, I also like to reflect on my past scenic designs. I look at the ones that were actually used on stage for past performances I have been in, and asked the questions like what made it work? Was it the colors, the position, the ability to transition between scenes? I like to ask myself these questions because then I can fully grasp what is important when making new scenic designs for new shows. If I am able to I like to make new scenic designs for the same shows from my past with a new intention (like theme or approach) in mind. This is another activity that I find particularly useful to keep my creative brain running during this year.

For future practices, I hope to create scenic designs that are not only accurate to their location and time period but also reflective of the themes and values that are present in the show. For instance, if the show is that revolving around that of self-love, I would like to create an atmosphere that shows love comes in many ways through ways only a scenic design can achieve such as the projections shown, how the furniture is arranged on stage, or how the transformation on stage between scenes, etc. This practice would make my designs all the more cohesive and more likely to be used for upcoming shows and performances.

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Recently I have been trying to push myself to create more scenic designs on a digital platform. Right now I am currently working on programs like Vectorworks and Procreate. Though I have heard of these years before I have only started working on them and bought memberships for both to continue working on them during my college careers. I believe that today there are more benefits to sketching on online platforms since you can add dimensions, add lighting fixtures, and show realistic sketches to the directors and producers of the show you are pitching/working on. This is a current sketch I am working on Procreate that works for an outside set of a tourist street. It is based on a real photo my friend took while in Italy.

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It wasn’t until recently that I realized the true importance of Collaboration. All throughout high school, I had always preferred to make my designs solo and then present them to the director or producer and receive feedback or approval. It wasn’t until this year in UT that I had to make designs that were in collaboration with my peers. Now I love collaborating with people especially if they have the same drive as me. Actually, I would prefer if they had a different artistic viewpoint because then we can combine our artistic ideas/visions to create something even better than if it was just a group of people working separately.

In collaboration with my peers, the most important factor is communication. With words being verbally said ( and even actions that say something different) it allows for a free flow of ideas between the people involved as well as voicing concerns. With communication and cooperation, we can also establish an appropriate timeline to work on things together, essentially making a calendar to abide by.

Now that I look back at it, I have always been collaborating even if I did most of the design aspect independently. I would always express my ideas to my mentors and by speaking the ideas into existence I would able to grasp what needed to be done in order to make the ideas into reality. I think in my future of collaboration I would love to work with more people in the scenic design field, but I am not opposed to working with people outside my field of expertise as well. With different perspectives, it would ensure that the final product will work in terms of all the technical aspects of the product. After all with more people comes more ideas and more likely to produce something that hasn’t been seen before. That is why I collaborate.

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I have recently collaborated with an amazing team for a recent production called CTRL a journey to becoming for the Cohen’s New Works Festival earlier last month. Although my team was composed of three people, me, Jonathan from class, and a senior named Trinity, I would say this was the best team I have ever worked with. We just clicked together and that helped a lot since we were able to openly voice our ideas and concerns, bouncing ideas off each other on a daily. I learned that a good collaboration doesn’t necessarily equate to a lot of people working together towards a common goal, but rather it’s when a group of people is able to be comfortable with each other and combine their artistic vision that fits the final production. Here’s our final product that premiered at the festival, and I am so grateful for this experience.