Illustration and Visual Narrative // Task 1- Exercises

29.03.2022- 01.05.2022 (Week 1- Week 5 ) 
Emelyne How Sok Hing (0352938)
Bachelor of Design (Hons) Creative Media
Illustration & Visual Narrative // Task 1- Exercises  

LECTURES

Week 1:
We were welcomed by Miss. Anis and Mr. Hafiz, who made a brief introduction on our syllabus which consisted mostly of our upcoming exercises and projects.

Afterwards, Mr. Hafiz brought up the Vormator challenge and shortly explained the concept to us. Directly after that, we had a little 'gaming session' which compromised of playing The Bezier Game and he had for goal to make us feel more acquainted with the pen tool. The latter is an important tool used in apps like Adobe Illustrator. At first, I found it a bit hard to control the pen but then with more practice I was able to utilize it.

Week 2: 
We started the class with Mr. Hafiz tutorial on how to use some basic tools on Adobe Illustrator such as the pen tool, the curvature tool, how to use different layers and he also gave us some tips on how to outline some shapes.

Figure 1.0 Adobe Illustrator First Practical, 5th April 2022

Next, Miss. Anis made us watch a lecture video on the Basics & Principles of Character Design.

For a character to be remembered or recognized, the latter needs to have an iconic and unique design which will make it stand out from the others. Moreover, there is no need for it to have a lot of complicated details. As the more simple it looks, the more it becomes easier to understand the concept and ideas behind the character.

The Principles of Character Design:

1. Shapes - Used to differentiate and identify each character.

2. Colour - Makes it easy to figure out the role that they play in the animation/movie/series. It can also define their personality or represent different emotions which helps to connect the viewer to the character.

3. Emphasis & Contrast - Makes a character stand out by its unique or strong features which make the latter easy to recognize.

4. Harmony - Provides a good flow to the story.

5. Expressions & Poses - Makes it easy for viewers to like or empathize the character if the latter has distinct manners or way of expressing itself.

Week 3:
Mr. Hafiz started with the practical class by showing us how to use tools like the shape builder tool and how it could be used to merge objects together. He also demonstrated how to use the pathfinder in order to add shadows to the shapes that we created. Additionally, he talked about colours and saturation and how we could find and use different palette of colours on a site called 'color.adobe.com'. Then, Miss. Anis also started her lecture where she introduced us to Chiaroscuro. Chiaroscuro is the use of light and dark to create the illusion of three-dimensional volume on a flat surface.

Aim of Chiaroscuro: To increase the scene's dramatic tension.

Chiaroscuro can be shown through tenebrism technique. Another way is to cast light on a focus point and the latter is contrasted with a dark background. It can also be shown through low-key lighting.

It is also used in visual narrative. Not only do chiaroscuro creates dramatic tension in a specific scene but it also creates fascination and attraction towards the viewer.
 
Week 4:
Mr. Hafiz demonstrated to the class how to trace an object using the pen tool and also how to use the knife tool and how to repeat objects by using shortcut tools. This week lecture consisted of learning about how to create a composition. When arranging elements in a composition these are the rules that are to be followed:
  1. Visual narrative
  2. Visual flow
  3. Visual balance
  4. Visual hierarchy 
After the lecture, we were given a task to take different photographs from multiple point of views.

INSTRUCTIONS


EXERCISES

Week 2: Lecture Report Task 1

Visual Study 
We were tasked to write a short report about the design elements on one of our favorite character based on what we learnt on the character design basics. 
Figure 1.1 Izuku Midoriya also known as Deku from My Hero Academia, 5th April 2022
source :https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0410/1053/files/midoriya-characterart_large.jpg?v=1504831946


In a world where mankind developed superpowers also known as quirks and are now considered as the new normal, there also exists those who did not have the chance to be gifted and are known as the 'quirkless'. Those people are often looked down on and Deku was also one of them. Deku who has been a superhero-loving fan since day 1, always watched his superheroes on TV and always wanted to be like them and do the same. He wanted to protect people from danger. However, without a quirk his dreams seemed to be unattainable. But on one day, his fate changed, and he was able to receive a superpower from his Number 1 hero ' All Might' and from this day his journey to become a hero started.

Deku is by nature a sensitive, shy and mostly reserved person. Normally, these traits are not what you would expect in a hero's profile which I think also makes him stand out from other normal heroes. We can also see these traits through his soft facial features. His baby face like consisting of big doe-eyes, a small nose and the freckles on his cheeks, tends to give him an innocent, childlike appearance to his character. Moreover, his slightly built body shows that he's still in this transition process of becoming a hero, but it also shows that he is still young. The colours of his superhero's costume are quite muted, and I think it matches with his gentle temperament. Also, I think that the colour green in this context could represent his altruism and it also has a relaxing effect which makes you feel safe. He also has distinctive features such as his iconic short mess of fluffy green hair and his signature red shoes. Concerning his mannerisms, he often gets teary-eyed and also gets flustered easily which in my opinion makes it easy for the viewers to relate to him, mostly for people who are shy and awkward like him.

Task 1- Exercise 1: The Vormator Challenge
This task requires us to create our own unique character by using a set of given shapes. There's also a list of rules that we have to respect. Some of them are:
  • We don't have the right to alter the original shapes.
  • We cannot use strokes.
  • We are allowed to rotate, flip, duplicate, group, subtract and add the set of shapes provided.
To start this exercise we were asked to sketch out as many ideas as we could that is different composition for the eyes, head or body and so on. Then, after doing this we were asked to design it on Adobe Illustrator.

Figure 1.2 Image of the Vormator shapes, 11th April 2022

Visual Research

Figure 1.3 Boo from Monsters Inc

Illustration of my characters

Figure 1.3  Initial idea 1 for my character design, 11th April 2022

Figure 1.4 Initial idea 2 for my character design, 11th April 2022

The first idea that came into my mind when we were asked to create our own character, was to make a character based on the theme of Halloween. Based on this, I wanted to create my own monsters.

Idea 1- Based from the movie Monsters Inc, I created my own monster my inspiring myself of the character 'Boo' and tried to create a monsterized version of her. 

Idea 2 - This idea originated from the scarecrows that are often seen in Halloween movies. Since scarecrow are supposed to be scary, I wanted my character to give off some kind of the same vibe.

However, after some more thoughts on both of my characters, I felt that something was off and did not really liked how both of them turned out. I thought that they were not interesting enough and since I was remaining stagnant on those two ideas and did not know how to improve them, I decided to change my theme. 

For my second trial, I tried to keep the same kind of theme but chose one specifically which was a bit more precise and less vague. Definitely this helped me as the ideas in my mind were clearer and I knew in which direction I wanted to go. 

I choose to do my new characters based on the theme of 'Candies'. For this theme, I instantly thought of the movie 'Wreck it Ralph' and decided to do some visual research in order to help me design my work.

Visual Research

Figure 1.5 Princess Vanellope, 18th
Source: https://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/37300000/Wreck-It-Ralph-2-Post-production-2-vanellope-von-schweetz-37342226-1920-808.png


Figure 1.6 Characters in 'Wreck it Ralph'
Source: https://www.deviantart.com/xelku9/art/Wreck-It-Ralph-Sugar-Rush-Speedway-characters-329563328

Figure 1.7 King Candy
Source: https://www.pngegg.com/en/png-yhhhr

From those research, I started to sketch out my ideas.

Sketches


Figure 1.8 Sketches for my character A , 17th April 2022 

Character A - Inspired by King Candy's clothes from 'Wreck it Raph', I had the idea to create a character whose background story consisted of someone who would work in a circus. For the overall appearance of my character, I was influenced by the 'Jack in the box' toys and also the clowns which are present in a circus. I sketched my ideas manually and then scanned the image.

Figure 1.9 Sketches for my character B, 17th April 2022

Character B - Since the characters in 'Wreck it Ralph' are mostly based around a specific candy, I wanted to design one of my own. I choose the jawbreaker candy as my first source of inspiration. From this idea, I started to create multiple versions of my character and see how I could arrange her differently and also incorporate other candies so that it would be less monotonous.

Illustration of my characters

Character A
Figure 2.0 Digitization of my character A, 19th April 2022

1. This is the digitized sketch of my idea using the Vormator elements. I mostly duplicated the shapes in order to create new ones and I also overlapped them. I also created 'weapons' like a harpoon, rock candy sticks and a cauldron full of poisonous candies. Her hair came from the same shape that I used to do the rock candies. Weirdly, I also think that her looks could easily pass as a charlatan as she has the impression of someone that would like to rob or be involved into funny businesses.

2. My first colour scheme was based on the Nerds candy where the packaging of the candies are purple and pink. After that, I mostly chose colours which I thought were harmonious with these two colours. Additionally, I chose a pale yellow for her outfit as I knew that the complementary colour of purple is yellow so I thought that it would be more appealing to the eyes. 

3. For this idea, I used the sugar coated almonds as my muse. These are two options which I designed. I decided to go with the second one as I believed that the first one made my character look too cramped.

4. Colour scheme - Consists mostly of pastel colours except for the harpoon gun. Since the spring season is often associated with pastel colours, I think that the outcome makes her look like someone who is friendly and fun. Additionally, since it is more often to see children in a circus so I think that by using these colours it also matches the theme and gives off a welcoming message.

5. I tried to restrict my colour palette only to mostly red and black colours except for the weapons and some details. This time, I wanted to go completely into the idea of doing a half-half coloured character. I wanted my character to look very festive and extravagant just like the artists that work in a circus. I think that these colours made her look like someone who has an explosive personality and can also be mistaken for someone who is sneaky.

Figure 2.1 Using Gradient effects practice, 19th April 2022

I wanted to give it a try on using gradient for my character. As for now, I'm still discovering the different aspects of the gradient tool, like how the different angles play an important role in order to make the character look more realistic. It's indeed quite challenging and even tiring since it was my first time using this tool.

Character B 
Figure 2.2 Illustration of character B, 26th April 2022

1. Digitalization of my character using the Vormator elements. The toughest part was when I had to think about how I would make her weapon that is a lollipop. I found it quite tricky not too get confused with all the overlapping of lines before adding the colours. The most tiring design was when I had to do the jawbreaker as I had to create a lot of layers and resize it and it demanded a lot of time.

4. This is my final proposition for my second idea, I tried to implement the jawbreaker as much as I could. I saw that if I used too much of these elements, it did not have a nice outcome as their visual weight were quite heavy due to the amount of colours and details in it. Additionally, I chose white for her hair since the outside of a jawbreaker candy is white. The shape that I used for her hair and her pompom originated from a candy called 'Konpeito'. I implemented candy canes, rock candies, sprinkles and a lollipop which is also referred to as her 'one handed-mace'. I used complementary colours blue and a reddish orange for her outfit as I thought that they worked well not only together but also with the jawbreakers since they are very colorful. I wanted her to look eccentric as I thought it would be much more fun than if she looked 'normal'. 

For my final character, I chose to do my character B as I thought she was more interesting and had a more concrete concept.

Figure 2.3 Wigs/Hair experimentation,  29th April 2022

For the hair of my character, I wanted to use the gradient effect and I found out multiple things. Using a warm colour like orange or red does not go so well with white. Additionally, using a light colour for the darker part of the gradient also does not work. Not only there is not enough contrast but it also hurts the eyes and is unpleasant to see. I think that the ones which work the most are the pink and beige coloured one as there is enough contrast and goes pretty well with the candy canes.

Figure 2,4 Process during the illustration of my character design, 29th April 2022

Process during which I was adding more details like the shadows, highlights and was trying to refine my character by adding more details. 

Final Character Design
Figure 2.5 Final Character Design, 30th April 2022

Background story
This is Josie the Jawbreaker. She's a humanoid crusader. She is the candy kingdom's top crusader. Although she can be quite explosive with her jawbreaker, she is always filled with joy and laughter when she is not too busy protecting the kingdom from the saltan outside. Her favorite catchphrases are 
' Do you even candy?' and ' My jawbreaker is so sweet, it'll blow your heads off '. As for her weapons, she uses her jawbreakers as explosives and her lollipop as a one-handed mace. Do not worry! Even though her outfit might look as if it's not fitted to fight in it, it actually has an undercover protection which cannot be revealed due to confidential matters. 

In order to create Josie the Jawbreaker, I used mostly all of the shapes given to us. For her hair, I duplicated the drop shapes until it made a circle. I did the same for the jawbreaker and her eyes and part of her clothes. Additionally, I used the zerk to make her clothes and the candy canes and the chevron to make the rock candies. The wurst was used to make the lollipop and the sprinkles. The tentacle also helped in creating her shoes but also her shoulders. My colour palette consists mostly of pastel colours but also of complementary ones like blue and orange or red and green. Using the gradient, I believe added more texture to her hair and more volume to her clothes. Definitely, adding the shadows and highlights made the work looks more realistic and visually appealing. I also like how on the outside she might look crazy and out of place with all of the candies in her hair and the smudged chocolate on her face. At first sight, people would think that she is someone who is a lunatic or even childish when actually she is someone who is witty, courageous and most of all a fighter. 

Task 1- Exercise 2: Vector Illustration 

For exercise 2, we were required to create a trading/game card for our character. We were given the green light for our card as we could use any shapes that we wanted to. So, I started by sketching our some layouts for my card and also wrote her background story in order to help me in the creation of my character.

Sketches


Figure 2.6 Sketches for my trading card, 30th April 2022

Sketch 1 - For the frame of my card I thought about doing one using the pattern of a peppermint or a candy cane. I also tried to use candies as garlands and another frame. I wanted to create a card with a festive atmosphere and which would be delightful to look at. My colour scheme for this one would be to use mostly red, pink and some other pastel colours.

Sketch 2 - I tried to make a card using a different kind of frame which was inspired from the shape of a round candy. In this scenery, I imagined my character in a forest made of candy canes where she would be fighting off the saltan. For my colour palette, I thought of using dark tones like red, blue and brown to make it look somber.

Sketch 3 - I had the idea of designing a house just like in the movie 'Hansel and Gretel', where the house would be made from candies. The concept for this card is about cuteness. I was considering to use a lot of pastel and soft colours for this card if I were to choose it.

Sketch 4 - This concept is just like in those gaming cards where the character would have weapons behind her and be ready to fight. The two lollipops crisscrossing each other represent her 'swords' and she would be standing on a bridge of candies. 

Sketch 5 - I sketched out a little composition consisting of a candy tree and some other candy flowers. For this card, I mostly wanted it to look like a paysage and the colour scheme would be around summer/spring colours.

Illustration of my sketch 

I chose my sketch number 1 as this was the idea that I preferred and I think matched pretty much with the background story of my character.


Figure 2.7 Layout 1, 1st May 2022


Figure 2.8 Layout 2, 1st May 2022


Figure 2.9 Layout 3, 1st May 2022

Figure 3.0 Layout 4, 1st May 2022

These are the different layouts that I tried to create for the trading card exercise. I wanted the overall atmosphere to be festive and have a cheerful ambiance just like Josie the Jawbreaker who is also explosive in her everyday life. The background consists of a peppermint candy pattern and I also arranged the candies that I used on my character to make a frame. Additionally, I added some other elements like the ice creams and chocolate dripping. I think I was able to achieve the cheerful ambience that I wanted. Coincidentally, I think that my card also looks like the posters often used to promote fun fairs. Still, I believe that it matches the 'candy kingdom vibes' and background story of my character. I used mostly warm colours but also complementary colours which I also think helped the card to look more harmonious. In general, I'm satisfied of what I have done despite the challenges faced and for a first time it could have been worst.

Final Vector Illustration 


Figure 3.1 Final Vector Illustration, 1st May 2022

I picked this layout as my final one as for me it was the one that looked more balance on the overall and looked more appealing to the eyes.

Week 3: Lecture Report Task 2

Figure 1.3 Scene that I chose for the Chiaroscuro exercise, 11th April 2022

I chose this scene from the movie ‘Parasite’ which is a movie consisting of many thought-provoking themes and a lot of comedy. The summary of the plot takes place around the story of a family who struggles with money and are considered as the lower class in the society. We can see that the director of this movie made use of low-key lighting technique which normally a lot of people would avoid when shooting a scene. But I think that in this case, using this technique was an ingenious move from him which was also able to invoke a powerful visual storytelling. It is a compelling scene which made me have the chills. From knowing the character’s background, I think it represented in the most ‘beautiful’ way how poor they are and how miserable are their life. This scene looks very shadowy and dark with a minimum lighting where I think they might have used warm fluorescent light bulbs or even reflectors to be the source of light. In this scene, I think we can see how impoverished they are as the dark tones gives off a feeling of filthiness which emphasize on the fact of their low social class. Additionally, I think that by using the chiaroscuro technique the director set up a mood and atmosphere where normally a standard setup wouldn’t have had the same effect. This low-key lighting makes the scene look more dramatic. Moreover, we can also see that the key light is situated near the character which I think creates a lot of contrast since there is little to no lighting on her body. I believe it can suggest how normally in real life the poor people go unnoticed and are often ignored by the society itself. Furthermore, the composition of the scene also encapsulates their misery as not only is she in a cramped space, but she also needs to crouch herself which accentuates the fact that she is poor and does not have much choice. Also, in this scene where we can see that the family’s house is getting flooded, the water level and the ceiling almost looks like a reflection and makes as if she is trapped in a box. This type of low-key lighting I believe also gives a more emotive depth to the scene as we can feel the kind of constant unease and instability that they go through every day. The lighting is also quite hard, and I believe this helps in creating more intensity and drama.

Week 4: Lecture Report Task 3

1. Establishing

Figure 1.4 Wide shot, 1st May 2022

2. Bird's eye view

Figure 1.5 Bird's eye view, 1st May 2022

3. Frame within a frame

Figure 1.6 Frame within a frame, 1st May 2022

4. Medium shot

Figure 1.7 Medium Shot, 1st May 2022

5. Close-up 

Figure 1.8 Close-up, 1st May 2022

6. Worm's eye view

Figure 1.9 Worm's eye view

Chiaroscuro exercise part 1

Figure 2.0 Pear Chiaroscuro exercise, 22th April 2022

Week 5: Chiaroscuro exercise part 2

Figure 2.1 Chiaroscuro people , 22th April 2022

FEEDBACKS

Week 1:
General feedback: We were told to continue on practicing with the pen tool so as to be more comfortable for our next classes.

Week 2:
General feedback: Mr. Hafiz showed us some shortcuts on how to use Adobe Illustrator and its tools. After that, Mrs. Noranis taught us the basic of character designs.

Week 3:
Specific feedback: After showing my character design to Miss. Anis, I continued on my work and tried to improve them.

Week 5:
Specific feedback: After proposing my Character A & B to Miss. Anis, she had a preference for character B and told me that adding the candies to her hair was a nice idea as it added a touch of craziness to my character.

Week 6: 
Overall feedback: Miss. Anis gave us a mid-semester feedback. She said that I had a nice chops on technical and design. I also made a mistake when choosing my fonts for my card design. She told me that my typeface selection could be better on account of readability as I chose a cursive, curly typeface which is normally most suitable for titles only. She advised me to stick to normal fonts when it comes to text. Moreover, I also presented my idea for the task 2 to Miss. Anis and she said that I should not use symbols which are too general but mostly create a new one myself which also looks simple. 

REFLECTIONS

Week 1:
I really liked the atmosphere of the class as it did not feel like we were there only for the academic studies but that we were also here to learn and improve ourselves. I was a bit sceptic at first because I had no experience with digital animation or any design programs but after having more explanation from our teachers, I felt like I would be able to do it. During The Bezier Game, I had some difficulties when it came to doing curves. I found out that I need more patience and practice in order to be able to do it. I found out that using the pen tool was not as hard as I thought it would be. It might be tricky at some point but on the overall it is doable.

Week 2:
I liked learning how to use Adobe Illustrator since I have never used it before. It was at some point quite tricky and since it was new, it also felt overwhelming and frustrating at times. But after learning some tricks, it did feel easier to use. I still do have some difficulties when using the pen tool and the curvature tool. When I tried to outline the shapes, it was not as clean as I wanted it to be. I need more practice when it comes in doing the curves and outlines of circular shapes.

Week 3:
Learning how to add on a shadow to an object was quite difficult to understand at first as there was quite a lot of steps so I struggled a bit. I also tried our some sketching for the vormator challenge. However, at first I felt lost and did not know much what to draw or do as we were restricted by using some specific shapes. The challenge was mostly to find a way to be able to create the shape that I wanted with the shapes given to us. So, as a solution I found that instead of trying to create a shape and see what I can do with the vormator element, I switched by starting to sketch my character then see how I could manipulate the elements to create the shapes that I wanted.

Week 4:
Doing the pear exercise was pretty fun and easy to do for once. I felt like as the weeks passed by, I was improving and getting more used to Illustrator. Learning how to duplicate objects was a very interesting lesson as since I was still in the process of creating my characters, I thought that it would be nice to use this tool.

Week 5: 
Finally, I was able to complete the Task 1 exercise. I have to say that even though the task was very challenging at first and doing the digitalization part was exhausting, I had fun during some part this exercise. I liked how after being able to sketch my characters and use the Vormator elements, I felt more free as I really liked the part of adding details and distinct features to my character. Using Illustrator now is not as hard like it was in the first week. I learned how to use the gradient tool, pathfinder, the shape tool and so on through this journey. Concerning the trading card, I did not have much difficulty to find ideas of what I wanted to do. Also, since we were able to use any shapes that we wanted, it made the task more easier and quick to be done. On the overall, I felt like I grew up and learned more about what works for me and does not. 


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