Illustration and Visual Narrative

25/9/2023 - 5/11/2023 / Week 1 - Week 6
Yong Zhen Xing | 0359473 | Section 04
Illustration and Visual Narrative | COM61304
Task 1 : Exercises

Contents

1. Lectures

        Week 1
       Week 2
       Week 3
       Week 4
       Week 5

2. Instructions

3. Exercises
        Week 1
            Exercise 1

       Week 2
            Exercise 2
           Character Progression 1

       Week 3
            Exercise 3A
           Exercise 3B
           Character Progression 2

       Week 4
            Exercise 4
           Character Progression 3

4. Vormator Challenge (Milestone Exercise) [Week 5]

5. Final Outcome

6. Reflection

Lectures

Week 1
Class Summary :
For our first class, we were introduced on what illustration and visual narrative is all about and what work is to be expected from it. The lecturer, Mr.Hafiz showed us some samples of past students' work and briefly explained on what are some works to be expected by us. We also set up an e-portfolio site using blogger and also a google drive folder for us to upload our work there. We also had to fill up some of our details to request adobe access from the ICT team. We were also given a simple task from a website to help us through the pen tool since we didn't have access to illustrator yet.

Week 2

Notes :

When designing a character, think of it being iconic where it can be recognized by a silhouette, simplicity where shapes or even objects shows the character or even uniqueness where it is special enough to be memorable.
Colours play an important role in character design too, such as differentiating from protagonist to antagonist or even to show expression/emotions.
Good character design also exaggerates on emphasis and contrasting element to make the character stand out.

Class Summary :
Using the pen tool practice from last week, we were to now to apply that on illustrator. We were to trace 8 shapes based on the "Vormator Challenge". Mr.Hafiz guided us on drawing each shapes and show some shortcuts we can use to make tracing easier and faster too! He also gave a lecture on character design which I found fascinating.

Week 3

Notes :

Chiaroscuro means using light and shadows to create an illusion of a 3-Dimensional volume on a flat surface
The main purpose of Chiaroscuro is to increase a scene's dramatic tension by exaggerating the subject's important using colour or light contrast.
Tenebrism is a certain type of painting method in which significant details such as faces and hands are illuminated by highlights which are contrasted with a redominantly dark setting.
In visual narrative, Chiaroscuro is used because it increase dramatic tension, create sensation effect, attract attention and make for tasteful composition.

Class Summary :

In this week's class we learned about light and shadows where Mr.Hafiz showed us how to cast a simple shadow on a pear. He then also showed us how to slice the pear into multiple pieces and changed it into a completely different colour while maintaining the same colour space. A few handy tool were also taught for illustrator such as pathfinder, shape builder and knife tool which was applied throughout the making of the pear. Then, he also gave a lecture about Chiaroscuro which could be useful for our work.

Week 4
Class Summary :
In this week's class, we learned about colour blending and also adding textures. We also learned a few useful tools/shortcuts such as shape builder, selecting specific objects, locking objects, as well as grouping objects into 1. Using these tools/shortcuts, Mr.Hafiz guided us to making a simple but interesting artwork!

Week 5
Class Summary :
On week 5, we had no class as Mr.Hafiz fell ill. However in the following week, we were given a task to submit related with our vormator's character.

Instructions

Exercises
Week 1 :

Exercise 1 :
As a way to start getting used to illustrator, we were to practice using the pen tool through a really interesting website called The Bézier Game.

This helps with improving our stroke accurate and challenges us with using with the least strokes/nodes as possible.

Our main goal was this car (picture below) where we were to draw it in 9 strokes. After a bit of trial and error, I managed to reached the goal.

fig 1.1, Car in 14 nodes (28/9/2023)

fig 1.2, Car in 12 nodes (28/9/2023)

fig 1.3, Car in 9 nodes (28/9/2023)

Just for fun, I also played around with a few more levels.

fig 1.4, Wrench in 8 nodes (28/9/2023)

fig 1.5, Cloud in 5 nodes (28/9/2023)

fig 1.6, Head in 10 nodes (28/9/2023)

Week 2 :

Exercise 2 :
In this week's exercise we were to do what is called "Vormator Challenge" where we have to trace 8 different shapes and then turn it into a character of our own. I had fun playing around with different shapes to form a character. It was also a fun way to test our creativity with the limited shapes! Below are the traced shapes and also my very own character!

fig 2.1, My tracing of the Vormator's shapes (4/10/2023)

Character Progression 1 :
For my character, my rough idea was to create a friendly little ghost. So I started with the base of the character which includes the face and also the colour of the overall character. I made sure to keep in mind about simplicity in both the character and also the colour scheme.

fig 2.2, Character Design Process 1 (7/10/2023)

I then tinker around with the ghost's tail ensuring it looks continuous and clean. I also added eyebrows above the eye to make its happy expression pop out more. I also change the colour to black to see the character's silhouette. Unfortunately it still didn't seem that unique and looked fairly simple so I decided to add more to it.

fig 2.3, Character Design Process 2 (7/10/2023)

fig 2.4, Character Design Process 2 (Silhouette) (7/10/2023)

I gave my character arms and horns which gave it more personality. Now when making it as a silhouette, it looks more recognizable as its own character.

fig 2.5, Character Design Process 3 (with Silhouette) (7/10/2023)

While I already like my character design overall, I thought having a role for a character would make it stand out more, and so I gave it a crown. I ensure that the crown didn't look too complicated and matched the simplicity of my character. The hardest part of making the crown was definitely the gem since colouring it was a bit more complex.

fig 2.6, Character Design Process 4 (Crown Design) (7/10/2023)

fig 2.7, Character Design Process 4 (with Silhouette) (7/10/2023)

Below is my character's final design with an outline of the shapes I used from the previous tracing.

fig 2.8, My Character Design (7/10/2023)

Week 3 :

Exercise 3A :
The exercise was to recreate the pear following Mr.Hafiz way of making it. It is a good exercise to get the hang with illustrator more and also learn more interesting techniques that can be applied to the artwork.

First step was to trace a rough shape of the pear as well as the shadow of the pear.

fig 3.1, Pear Tracing (11/10/2023)

Then I split the pear into 4 different sections. The split is round because we were to create the insides of the pear.

fig 3.2, Pear Splitting (11/10/2023)

After splitting the pear into 4 parts, I angled the pear so that the split looks more interesting. I then create volume of the sliced pear by drawing around each cut I did.

fig 3.3, Creating Volume (11/10/2023)

Next I created shadows on the inner pear by simply splitting the round with the pen tool and changing the colour.

fig 3.4, Casting Inner Shadows (11/10/2023)

Final step was to change the slices colours while still maintaining the same colour space. The image below is the final pear exercise.

fig 3.5, Final Pear Exercise (11/10/2023)

Exercise 3B :

After creating the pear, we were also tasked to apply a skull face on the previously made pear which really helps with tracing accuracy for our pen tool.

I first started with layering the skull over the pear and lowering the opacity of the image. I then traced around the base of the skull.

fig 3.6, Tracing Skull (11/10/2023)

I then traced the eyes and nose of the skull. Next was tracing some details/shadows around the skull to make it look more realistic. I tried my best to capture as most detail as I could.

fig 3.7, Tracing details of the skull (11/10/2023)

After finishing the tracing, I removed the skull image and changed the colour of the traced skull follow the previous exercise.

fig 3.8, Colouring the skull (11/10/2023)

Finally I added a stem just to show a better representation of the pear. The image below is the final pear with the skull tracing.

fig 3.9, Final Pear With Skull Tracing (11/10/2023)

Character Progression 2 :
We were to also add in lights and shadow from our character design last week. I had a hard time understanding how should my character's shadow should cast but after doing a bit of referencing, I think it turned out pretty good!

I started with a simple shade below the body for the tail.

fig 3.10, Shadows below body (14/10/2023)

After that I struggled with understanding on lighting and shadows. So I did some referencing.

fig 3.11, Lights and Shadow reference (14/10/2023)

After slowly getting the grasp of lighting and shadows, I proceeded with casting a shadow on the side of my character.

fig 3.12, Casting shadow on the right (14/10/2023)

I added a darker tone on the horns, right arm and eyebrow.

fig 3.13, Right arm and horns getting darker (14/10/2023)

On the left side, I created a simple shadow from the left arm onto the body and also a small shadow on the horn to the head (it is barely noticeable).

fig 3.14, Light shadow on left arm and horn (14/10/2023)

The final attention to detail is just making a part of the right arm darker.

fig 3.15, Right arm gets darker (14/10/2023)

The image below shows a comparison between my character with and without shadows!

fig 3.16, My character with shadows (14/10/2023)

Week 4 :

Exercise 4 :
We were to make an artwork following Mr.Hafiz. Firstly I masked, then trace an image provided as shown below. This one definitely took more time as there were many details to capture. I also followed the tutor and went for a sharp finish on the artwork.

fig 4.1,Tracing the figure (18/10/2023)

Then I coloured the shadow parts to a solid colour to really bring the artwork to life as shown below. I also select the same background colour as the silhouette ensuring the colour selected looks aesthetically pleasing and not too much for the eye.

fig 4.2, Adding flat colours to the figure (18/10/2023)

After that, I needed to add a texture to the silhouette of the figure. This was where we learned how to group multiple objects into one and it was really useful for this case! The texture was a simple watercolour texture taken from google. After applying the texture, I changed the background to a simple 2 colour gradient from the colour of the texture. I played around with the gradient colour to ensure it doesn't look too out of place. Below is the outcome of the artwork!

fig 4.3,Trying different gradients (18/10/2023)

fig 4.4, Adding texture and gradient to the figure (18/10/2023)

Character Progression 3 :
Next we were to add textures to our character design too! I didn't want to add texture to everything since that would mean a chaotic mess, so I added to only texture to parts that would make sense. One of that was the crown, I experimented different textures but only remembered that the simple one always work the best.

fig 4.5, Experimenting Texture on the crown (25/10/2023)

fig 4.6, Final Crown Choice (25/10/2023)

I also added texture to the horns. I used a blue fabric texture as it seem quite fitting.

fig 4.7, Horns Texturing (25/10/2023)

Since the original artwork look a bit too bland, I added depth by making the lower body the same as the shadow from my previous character's progress.

fig 4.8, Adding shade to the tail (25/10/2023)

Finally, I added a simple background gradient to make the artwork look more interesting. I experimented with many colours and gradient position.

fig 4.9, Experimenting Different Background Gradients (25/10/2023)

Below shows my character design after adding textures, shade and a simple background!

fig 4.10, My Textured Character (25/10/2023)

Week 5

Milestone 1 Exercise (Vormator) :

In this exercise we were to take our Vormator Character that we have been making for the past few weeks and turning them into Pokémon cards. As a Pokémon fan, I was so happy!

The first thing I did was to look up some reference for cards. I also found out that Pokémon cards uses Gill Sans and Futura as their fonts, so I chose those fonts. When adding the title and hp, I ensured that the size and spacing on the card is close to the original as possible.

Fig 5.1, Forming the Title (2/11/2023)

After that, I added texts on the bottom of the card such as Pokémon stats, attacks, damage, additional description about the character and also weakness, resistance & retreat cost. Just for fun I also added the illustrator of the card, the number of Pokémon in that series and also the 1st Edition sticker which means cards that are printed in the first print run of the set.

Fig 5.2, Adding Descriptions (2/11/2023)

Next, I needed to make a custom background for my character. My idea is to make a 1 point perspective hallway that is eerie. So I started with making the simple layout of the hallway first.

Fig 5.3, Forming the Background (2/11/2023)

Then I made a chandelier to put on the ceiling as I would light to cast a simple downwards light to my character.

Fig 5.4, Making a Chandelier (2/11/2023)

I coloured the chandelier and also duplicated one at the back of the hallway.

Fig 5.5, Colouring and Positioning Chandelier (2/11/2023)

I then added colours/gradient to the floor and also the ceiling.

Fig 5.6, Adding Floor/Ceiling Colour (2/11/2023)

I also added colours/gradient to the walls. The colours slowly shifting to black helps create perspective and also the eerie atmosphere I am going for.

Fig 5.7, Adding Walls Colour (2/11/2023)

Of course, it wouldn't feel eerie without some objects on the hallway, so I added a simple painting on the left side and a door on the right side following perspective guidelines.

Fig 5.8, Making a Guideline (2/11/2023)

In this part, I also enhanced the gradient for the floor and added one for the painting, door and chandelier too.

Fig 5.9, Making a Painting (2/11/2023)

Fig 5.10, Adding a Door (2/11/2023)

For the final touch of the background, I added simple cracks on the wall to enhance on the eerie atmosphere.

Fig 5.11, Adding Cracks (2/11/2023)

Moving on to the character, I certainly needed to tweak the character to match the environment, so I first changed the body's gradient to match it's lighting.

Fig 5.12, Adding Gradient/Shadows for Body (2/11/2023)

Then I also added a gradient to the hands.

Fig 5.13, Adding Gradient/Shadows for Hands (2/11/2023)

Finally, I added a form shadow on the character's eyebrow.

Fig 5.14, Adding Eyebrow Shadow (2/11/2023)

Final Outcome
Below is my final character card design!

Fig 5.15, Final Pokémon Card Design (2/11/2023)

Reflection
Throughout all these exercises leading to a final milestone exercise, I had fun learning so much about adobe Illustrator! As first I thought it was going to be complicated to create simple illustration but after a few weeks in, I was very into it! Of course with learning new things there would be a huge learning curve especially at the beginning. I admit that I did struggle with the first few exercises such as the tracing and the pear exercise, but after getting the hang of the tools, it was certainly easier! I enjoyed the weekly character progression too since it correlates with what exercise we learned in that week. It was fun to see your character gets slowly more developed as the weeks go by. As for the final milestone exercise, it just puts a smile on my face knowing it was something that I love. I remember just being fully invested in making it look to my best of my abilities. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed doing these weekly exercises as well as the the final milestone exercise!

My Other Illustration and Visual Narrative Task :

Task 1 : Exercises (Current)

Task 2 : Decisive Moment

Task 3 : Digital Triptych

Task 4 : Self-Titled

Final Compilation & Reflection

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YONG ZHEN XING (0359473)

Illustration and Visual Narrative | Task 1 : Exercises

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