Illustration & Visual Narrative - Project 1: Exercise 1 & 2

28.3.2022 - 1.5.2022 (Week 1 - Week 5)
Tan Yi-Tyng (0353327)
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Illustration and Visual Narrative
Task 1: Exercise 1 & 2

QUICK LINKS

Task 1 – Vormator Challenge

Task 2 – Decisive Moment

Task 3 & Final Project – Webtoon and Motion Comic

Final Compilation

LECTURE

Week 2 - Character Design Basics

What makes a character look appealing?

Iconic - can immediately recognize them even in black silhouettes
Simplicity - allows viewers to digest and understand the purpose of the characters easily
Unique - which in return makes them unique characters that are not only memorable, but makes an impact on the viewers

Principles of Character Design

Shapes

used to identify a character from one another
use your character's persona as the basis of the shapes for your design
when created character always start of thinking the overall shape

Colour

Play an important role at determining who are the heroes/protagonists or villains/antagonists
Different choices of colours also give an impression on a character
Have qualities that can cause certain emotions in people (Colour Psychology)

Emphasis & Contrast

Picking one visual element in a character and exaggerate it makes a character outstanding & memorable.
Occasionally, using cultural elements and adding it to a design makes it uniquely authentic

Harmony

All shapes, lines, colour, motifs, patterns must be put together in a tasteful manner
Every element used in the design must work together like they complement each other
A balance of visual elements that has a visual hierarchy

Expression - Poses

The character should be able to express themselves through facial expressions and poses as it is how they communicate with the audience.

Week 3 - Chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro - The use of light and dark to create the illusion of three-dimensional volume on a flat surface.
An Italian term which means 'lightdark'.
In paintings the technique refers to clear tonal contrast to suggest three dimensional volume and modelling of objects and figures.
The purpose of chiaroscuro is to increase the scene’s dramatic tension by exaggerating the subject’s importance using color or light contrast.

In other application of chiaroscuro for visual artworks such as comic, film, digital works - this is an artistic lighting choice which the focus point or subject of a scene is brightly colored or contrasted with a dark background.

Chiaroscuro is used in visual narrative because this method is an excellent lighting choice to differentiate positive vs negative spaces.
Positive Space refers to subject matter or object of interest in a visual
Negative Space refers to the filled space or background that surround subject matter or object of interest in visual.

Week 4 - Composition 1: Visual shot & compositions

Basic composition visual rules

Visual Narrative - The visuals in the scene complements all aspect of the narrative
Visual Flow - The scene has clear flow of visual that directs viewer's eyes
Visual Balance - The visuals in arrange to balance the composition in the scene
Visual Hierarchy - The visuals are arrange in such ways that directs viewer's eyes to specific details first

Different type of shots

Establishing

Wide shots were often used to establish not just the setting, but to portray spectacle and give audiences the chance to take in all the splendor and grandeur of a location, while still giving them enough information to process what's going on.

Bird's eyeview

Also known as overhead shots, is when the POV is placed directly above the subject. It's somewhere around a 90-degree angle above the scene taking place.

Frame within a frame

A well-composed frame within a frame can fracture screen space, add depth, and create visual interest in your cinematic compositions.

Medium Shot

The shot is also called a three-quarters shot which, obviously, frames three-quarters of the character.

This is one of the standard camera angles used to frame a character. It’s the shot in between a close-up and a long shot.

Close-up

The close-up is an intimate moment, a look into a character’s mind. It cause us to “catch” emotions, so as the rest of the scene plays out, we’re already invested in the characters’ well-being. Therefore, this

type of shots the should emphasize emotions and thoughts within a grander context.

Worm's eye view

A worm's-eye view is a view of an object from below, as though the observer were a worm; the opposite of a bird's-eye view. It can be used to look up to something to make an object look tall, strong, and mighty while the viewer feels childlike or powerless.

LECTURE REPORT

Lecture Report 1 - Visual Study

Fig 2.1 Lecture Report 2

Fig 2.2 - Blossom

'Blossom' is one of the main characters in the animated television series "Powerpuff Girls". It's one of the memorable character for me as this is my favourite childhood animated cartoon. The show was mostly centers on the character: Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, three kindergarten-aged girls with superpowers. Mainly, the Powerpuff Girls dedicated their lives to fighting crime and the forces of evil in the city and saving the world using their powers.

Fig 2.3 - The Powerpuff Girls

The appearance of each main character has a lot of similar design elements. For example, they are drawn almost completely out of round and soft shapes, which contrasts to the primarily blocky and angular locations. They have large eyes, oval-shaped heads, stubby arms and legs. With all the rounded and softer edges in these characters give a sense of cuteness, harmless and also make the audience feel more approachable. These similarities have clearly shown the three characters' inseparableness and visually harmonies. However, the only differences are that each of their hairstyles is different, and each of them has a symbolic colour that represents their own personality.

The character 'Blossom' is the most attracted me because of her own personality and appearance. She has long orange hair, pink eyes and usually wears a pink dress with a black belt and a big red bow on the top of her head. She is the leader of the Powerpuff Girls and is also best known for being the smartest one and having determination. She is the most mature and often tries to play a peacemaker between her two sisters if they yell at each other. The main colour palette for Blossom is mainly emphasized on red, highlighting of her daring, determined, energetic, and powerful personality in the team.

Furthermore, the use of the design element for this character, such as the attractive red colour palette, makes her stand out from the main character. Besides the use of the exaggerated shape of the big rounded ribbon and the long hair also make the character itself more recognizable, even if it's designed with silhouette, we still can easily identify. Overall the perfect combination of the design element and yet simple design and attractive personality of the character is why it's my favourite character!

Fig 2.4 - Different angles and poses

Lecture Report 2 - Chiaroscuro Visual Study

Fig 2.5 - Lecture Report 2

Fig 2.6 - "The Call" Movie Poster

Fig 2.7 - Chiaroscuro cinematography scene

The Call is a South Korean thriller film directed by Lee Chung-Hyun. A movie belongs to the time travel genre with a horror mystery that will take you on the edge of your seat. The Call begins with a young woman named Kim Seo-yeon getting back to her childhood home at an ornate countryside house with creepy gothic vibes. After getting situated, she hears the rings of a decades-old cordless phone. She picks it up and hears the pleading cries of another young woman named Oh Young-sook, who insists that her shaman mother tries to kill her. Eventually, Seo Yeon realizes that Yeong Sook lives in the same house as her, but not in the present. She lives in a time 20 years back from the present and the landline somehow allows the two women to connect across time. In spite of Young-sook's abusive shaman mother, Seo-yeon and Young-sook begin to form a bond. However, when a warning from Seo-yeon leads Young-sook to kill her mother and embark on a murder spree, Seo-yeon realizes that she may have opened a time-traversing Pandora's Box with bloody and personal consequences.

Director Lee Chung-hyun uses every tool at his disposal to create the foreboding atmosphere that the movie resides in. As expected for a horror-tinged thriller, dark colours dominate the movie's palette, and much of the action takes place using artificial lighting or in low light. From the music to the lighting to the way he transforms the interior and exterior of the house as events shift and slide around these two lives. There is darkness lurking around every corner, but he is smart to lull you into a false sense of security by undercutting that tension with occasional moments of sweetness and sentimentality.

Fig 2.8 - The chosen scene for chiaroscuro study

The scene that I choose for my chiaroscuro study is from one of the suspenseful part and also the climax part of the movie. The moment Young-sook killed her shaman mother, she freed herself and even became a serial killer. Young-sook even kills Seo-yeon's father as a punishment that Seo-yeon didn't pick up the phone to tell how the police would arrest her. As a result, Seo-yeon feeds Young-sook false info about sending her to a location where a gas explosion should happen and retroactively kill her that way. And here is what the scene comes to when Seo-yeon anxiously waits and hopes that the phone will never ring again (means that Young-sook has died and she will not be threatened by Young-sook anymore).

The overall scene is in a low-key lighting setup that creates dramatic tension and contrasts to capture viewers' attention and give an emotional response. The mainly light source coming from the rooftop and the window has seemingly given a focus on the character's expression, showing how she felt so anxious with waiting for the phone. It can be observed that the scene uses a critical component in chiaroscuro, which uses the sole light source lighting her back so we can only see half of the character's face. And somehow, the character's eye is looking toward the phone. With all of the arrangement, the director cleverly uses the guideline of 45 degrees, which leads the viewer to see the scene from the rooftop light source, the character's facial expression, and then the black cordless phone on the floor. Generally, the dark scene with bright highlights can evoke feelings of fear or unease without the need for dialogue or sound effects. The scene utilized chiaroscuro to generate a suspense chilling atmosphere and even added mystery tones of dramatic effects. This indicates that chiaroscuro, also labelled a cinematic lighting technique, is critical used in film and can help create a dynamic and effective storytelling effect.

Lecture Report 3 - Visual Types and Shots

Fig 2.9 - Lecture Report 3

1. Establishing

Fig 2.4 - in Langkawi, Malaysia

Fig 2.5 - in Paris, France

2. Bird's eyeview

Fig 2.6 - in Zermatt, Switzerland

3. Frame within a frame

Fig 2.7 - in Europe

Fig 2.8 - in Paris, France

4. Medium Shot

Fig 2.9 - in Venice, Italy

Fig 2.10 - in Amsterdam, Netherlands

5. Close-up

Fig 2.11 - in Paris, France

6. Worm's eye view

Fig 2.13 - in Paris, France

Fig 2.14 - in Milan, Italy

PRACTICAL

Week 4 Chiaroscuro (pera)

Fig 3.1 - Progress

Fig 3.2 - Final Outcome

Week 5 Chiaroscuro (people)

Fig 3.3 Tracing the poeple

Fig 3.4 Apply the texture

Fig 3.5 Final Outcome (different background colour)

Fig 3.6 Final Outcome (different texture)

INSTRUCTION

EXERCISE 1 - Vormator Challenge Character

Visual Research

For our first exercise, we were assigned to create our own monster character by only using the 8 given vormator shapes. We are not allowed to skew or alter the original shapes, but we can rotate, flip, and duplicate the shapes. We were required to start rough sketches to explore more possibilities of the character design and then use Adobe Illustrator to create the final design.

Fig 4.1 Template of vormator shapes

I started by searching inspirations online, mainly on Pinterest and Google, to get some ideas, this made me realize how creative people are using the limitation of only 8 shapes to create unique monsters. I have also gotten more good insight into what is this project about and how I can execute it creatively.

Fig 4.2 Inspiration board

Idea Exploration

Truth to be told, I had no idea what I wanted to sketch by just looking at the shapes. I decided to try directly working on illustrator by randomly combining the shapes. By doing that, I started by creating some monster silhouettes that can be look unique and instantly recognizable.

Fig 4.3 Attempt to create different monsters silhouette

However, I ended up did’t choosing one of them as I had a new idea on creating a monster that could look cute and somehow let the viewer think of an animal when looking at it. This can make the character more memorable with a creative and not so directable design. With all of that in mind, I started to develop my character and sketched out my ideas.

Fig 4.4 Character sketches

Fig 4.5 Info of the Character

After I got a rough idea, I started to digitalize the character in illustrator by using the shapes provided. Firstly, I decided to start with creating the overall body shape. I used the Zerk as the body shape as the rounded edges give a sense of harmlessness and cuteness to evoke a warm and welcoming feeling. Next, I combined multiple Wurst and adjusted them at different angles to create the legs. Besides, I used the badge as the fins(diving shoe) to look like she is diving undersea. As for the hand, I used Cobra as the arm and Wurst as her fingers.

Fig 4.5 Process

After that, I mainly used multiple Wurst to create the braided pigtail hairstyle, and I combined the Wurst and the badge to create a ribbon as a cute hair accessory. As the Squishy living under the sea, I intentionally design a google as her main identity.

Fig 4.5 Process

Moving to the next part, I wanted the character to have a girly visual looking, so I created a skirt with a floating design. As I mentioned at the top, Squishy is an octopus. Based on my research, an octopus has six arms and two legs, which means eight tentacles. The combination of the two legs and the design of the pleated skirt into six parts can clearly show her characteristic. For the upper part design of the skirt, I used multiple the Bar to create the chain and duplicate the Badge and arranged them in a circular way to create a flower.

Fig 4.6 Process

Fig 4.7 close up detail of making the chain and flower

After finishing creating the outline of Squishy, I’m moving to the colouring part. I decided to use the adobe colour website by searching the keywords to help me find a suitable colour palette for my character. Here are some of my favourite colour palettes that were saved in my library.

Fig 4.8 my library in adobe colour

Fig 4.9 The chosen colour palette

Fig 4.10 the 2nd colour palette that I create my own

After I found my desired colour palette, I apply them in my character design, I adjusted some colour values a bit.

Fig 4.11 Coloured Squishy

Then I create some shadow and used gradient on my character.

Fig 4.12 Coloured Squishy

When designing the tentacles, the 1st design is the first idea based on my sketches. However, I came up with a new idea which is the 2nd one that looks more similar to an octopus tentacle. So I ended up choosing the 2nd design.

Fig 4.13 the design of tentacles

Finally, This is the final version of my Vormator character design

Fig 4.14 Final Version

Fig 4.15 SQUISHY on different background colour

Short description of the Character:

SQUISHY is an undersea explorer who is always ready to dive into action to explore new underwater worlds, rescue amazing sea creatures, and protect the ocean. She is kind and optimistic, she will always spread happiness to anyone around her. She is an octopus; she has the power to complete tasks speedily and can do multiple tasks all at once as she has eight tentacles.

EXERCISE 2: Vector Illustration

Before starting designing the landscape for my character, I searched for references to seek inspiration. Then from these pictures, I made a colour palette to help me with the design.

Fig 4.15 Mood board

Fig 4.16 Reference of card layout

Getting all of the idea, I decided to choose the middle bottom part of the game card as my template.

Fig 4.17 Tracing the game card

Fig 4.18 Colouring the game card

Fig 4.19 Trying different game card colour

FINAL OUTCOME

Fig 4.20 Final Submission for Exercise 1 (JPEG)

Fig 4.21 Final Submission for Exercise 2 (JPEG)

Fig 4.22 Final Submission for Exercise 1 (PDF)

Fig 4.23 Final Submission for Exercise 2 (PDF)

REFLECTION

This exercise was quite challenging and exciting for me. At first, I was so worried that I couldn’t manage to do well as I’m not familiar with using Adobe illustrator. However, I’m grateful that Miss Anis and Mr Hafiz have provided us with very clear explanations, which help me gain more knowledge on designing a character and learning how to create a good composition for a game card. And of course, this exercise has definitely taught me to familiarize myself with using Illustrator, especially knowing the shortcut key and the tools that have made the process more effective.

TAN YI-TYNG (0353327)