30/10/2023 - 26/11/2023 / Week 6 - Week 9
Yong Zhen Xing | 0359473 | Section 04
Illustration and Visual Narrative | COM61304
Task 2 : Decisive Moment
Contents
Lectures
Week 6 :
Class Summary :
In
this class, Mr.Hafiz gave us a brief on the next assignment which was
Editorial Illustration. He talked about the timeline of the assignment,
what to be expected as the outcome and additional details of the
assignment such as needing to be in portrait and in an Art Deco Style.
Week 7/8 [ILW] :
Notes :
- Composition
refers to how your image is put together and if used in the right way
with some tricks, it can grab your audience's attention.
- Creating elements such as Foreground, Middleground and Background creates a sense of space that helps communicate your image better to a viewer.
- These elements can be further emphasized through size difference, colour contrast, light/shadow contrast and even shapes to help draw the attention to the main focus.
- Design flow
is drawing your eye to a main focus or around a composition. Good sense
of design flow would typically show a sense of movement or rhythm.
- Creating
these visuals should also influence how viewers should digest the
content. This is especially important in interface and information
design where you need to combine elements to create a form of synergy.
Class Summary :
In
this class, we first had a lecture about composition theory 3 which
teaches about the fore, mid and background. This included a short
animation which really highlights about the composition. Then we learned
how to create the art deco style by implementing a gradient effect
followed by a grain texture. We followed along as Mr.Hafiz teaches the
basics step by step. He also demonstrate on a new gradient effect called
freeform gradient.
Class Summary :
In
this week, Mr.Hafiz lectured about how to tackle our animation in
detail. He talks about how much we should animate, how long should our
animation be along with showing some examples of simple but good
editorial illustration. Mr.Hafiz highlight one important detail called
secondary which adds and creates a more seemless animation.
Exercises
Week 7 :
Exercise 1 :
For
this week's exercise, we were to take our understanding from the
tutorial which was the art deco style and applied it to a given
character template.
Firstly,
I used the newly learned freeform gradient and experiment with it on
the dress on the character. After, I got it about how I wanted it to be,
I added grain texture to it and also set the blending mode to overlay.
Fig 1.1, Freeform Gradient Experimenting (8/11/2023)
Fig 1.2, Dress With Gradient and Grain (8/11/2023)
Then I added the same effect to the arms as well.
Fig 1.3, Adding Gradient and Grain (8/11/2023)
Fig 1.4, Left Arm with Texture/Effect (8/11/2023)
Once again, I used freeform gradient for the bottom part of the dress, added grain and set the blending mode to overlay.
Fig 1.5, Dress with Freeform Gradient and Grain (8/11/2023)
Fig 1.6, Dress with Texture/Effect (8/11/2023)
Fig 1.7, Hair with Freeform Gradient (8/11/2023)
Fig 1.8, Hair with Texture/Effect (8/11/2023)
Fig 1.9, Jacket with Texture/Effect (8/11/2023)
Fig 1.10, Skin with Texture/Effect (8/11/2023)
Fig 1.11, Adding Gradient and Grain for the Ribbon (8/11/2023)
Fig 1.12, Adding Grain for the Dress' ends (8/11/2023)
Below is the final outcome of the exercise and a comparison between before and after.
Fig 1.13, Completed "Art Deco" Style Exercise (8/11/2023)
Decisive Moment IllustrationTask 2A
In this task, we needed to make an editorial Illustration based on an urban legend of our choice.
Planning :
Firstly I needed to come up with a rationale of my Urban Legend, a sketch and also a moodboard/reference. After doing a bit of researching, I have decided to go for a Japanese Urban Legend "Teke Teke". I chose this specific one because I recently watched someone played a game based of this urban legend and I thought it was really cool and scary. I then started analysing the urban legend and find the turning point of the story. Below shows my rationale, sketch and moodboard/references for said urban legend.
(Click to zoom in)
Fig 2.1, My Urban Legend Rationale (9/11/2023)
Fig 2.2, "Teke Teke" Idea Sketch (9/11/2023)
Fig 2.3, "Teke Teke" Moodboard (9/11/2023)
After showing Mr.Hafiz my sketch, he said it needed to be more in A4 paper ratio, Rules Of Third needed to be improved upon same as the fore, mid and background. The perspective was also a bit off and negative space is not used optimally.
After receiving these feedback, I looked back at the sketch and rethought some elements. Instead of replacing old elements, I decided to add more to the composition which readjusting some of the old elements. This helps create a more balanced composition overall.
Process :
Line Art
I started with the vanishing point and some rough estimation on where the buildings will be placed and drew on it.
Fig 3.1, Forming Perspective (13/11/2023)
The added train is to indicate the cause of the urban legend while the lamppost will be highlighting the main subject for the illustration.
Fig 3.2, Adding Lamppost and Train (13/11/2023)
Next will just be simply adding building details such as windows and doors.
Fig 3.3, Adding Building Details (15/11/2023)
Then I begin on a simple drawing of the protagonist. As per following the sketch, I wanted to make the protagonist have a startled look to it so making the mouth expression was key. 
Fig 3.4, Making the Protagonist (15/11/2023)
Fig 3.5, Making the Protagonist 2 (15/11/2023)
For the antagonist/"Teke Teke", I aimed for a scary looking ghost and played around with many expressions till I found one that suites the situation.Fig 3.6, Making "Teke Teke" (17/11/2023)
Fig 3.7, Making "Teke Teke" 2 (17/11/2023)
Then to fix a part of my composition, I decided to make a proper background in an urban area. The added moon and tree also adds to the environment of the composition while having this balance of perspective on both sides.
Fig 3.8, Making the background (17/11/2023)
Fig 3.9, Full Line Art (17/11/2023)
Colouring
For colouring the composition, I coloured each elements with flat colours. I used many colour pallets references as it aids with having a somewhat more realistic colour scheme for my illustration.
Fig 3.10, Flat Colouring 1 (17/11/2023)
Fig 3.11, Flat Colouring 2 (17/11/2023)
For "Teke Teke" I also added a school uniform as many references I saw was using it for this urban legend.
Fig 3.12, Flat Colouring 3 (17/11/2023)
Gradient / Texture / Refining
Finally the last and hardest part was adding gradient and grain effect to each elements. This is what will make the composition pop as a whole and gives that art deco texture. Many small adjustments were also made in this process such as background buildings placements and scythe positioning.
Fig 3.13, Adding Gradient and Grain 1 (17/11/2023)
Freeform gradient and grain were also used on the night's sky to give it a more natural ambience.
Fig 3.14, Adding Gradient and Grain 2 (17/11/2023)
In here, freeform gradient and grain was also used for the road to create the highlight of the lamppost.
Fig 3.15, Adding Gradient and Grain 3 (17/11/2023)
Fig 3.16, Adding Gradient and Grain 4 (17/11/2023)
Outcome 1
Below is the my "Teke Teke" Editorial Illustration outcome!
Fig 3.17, "Teke Teke" Editorial Illustration (17/11/2023)
Decisive Moment Animation
Task 2B
After completing the Editorial Illustration, we now were give a week to finish the second part of the task which was the animation. After the lecture, I was glad we would be animating something simple that doesn't require a lot of frames or lots of detail.
Process :
For my animation, I wanted to make a simple 2 phase of the animation where it shows the before and after of the turning point. For transitioning from 1 phase to the other, I decided to go for a quick lightning flash. Also another thing I considered was making a smooth looping gif, so adding a quick flash before the animation ends should create a seemless transition.
Since I'm making a before and after, the first thing I did was remodeled "Teke Teke".
Fig 4.1, Remodeling "Teke Teke" (26/11/2023)
Then I moved the position of the eyes to the direction she is walking to so it gives the sense of unawareness to the protagonist.
Fig 4.2, Adjusting the Eyes (26/11/2023)
Next key thing was the train which is what caused the urban legend to even happen in the first place. In my editorial Illustration artwork, the train was actually not completed and cut to save time. So I had to reform the train to its fullest form. I also added another carriage on the train.
Fig 4.3, Reforming the Train (26/11/2023)
Then I worked on animating both the protagonist and Teke Teke's Hair. Both hair animation has about 5 frames going from slow to fast movement so it creates a smooth movement as if it was getting blown by the wind. The animation was then duplicated in reversed.
Fig 4.4, Animating Teke Teke's Hair (26/11/2023)
Fig 4.5, Animating the Protagonist's Hair (26/11/2023)
Fig 4.6, Duplicating Frames (28/11/2023)
I decided to import the current animation to photoshop and quickly rendered it in gif format so I could see how the hair animation was. This was the results so far and I was quite happy with it.
Fig 4.7, Animation Test 1 (28/11/2023)
Next part of the animation was creating the movement of the train. Same as the hair, I created a slow to fast animation for the train. As I played around with the movement of the train, I decided to add more frames as it went by a bit too fast.
Fig 4.8, Animating Train's Movement (28/11/2023)
Then it came time for the lightning flash effect. I also played around with this effect as I didn't want the flash to look like it lasted for too long.
Fig 4.9, Adding Flash Effect (28/11/2023)
Fig 4.10, Animation Test 2 (28/11/2023)
Fig 4.11, Animation Test 3 (28/11/2023)
Last part was animating the phase 2 of Teke Teke's hair. To keep the hair animation consistent, I also used 5 frames for the hair. Then it was just a matter of duplicating the frames and adding the same flash animation at the end.
Fig 4.12, Animation Teke Teke's Hair 2 (28/11/2023)
Fig 4.13, Duplicating Frames (28/11/2023)
The image below shows all the frames in the animation which comes to 32 frames.
Fig 4.14, All Frames (28/11/2023)
The final step was simply importing the frames in Photoshop and rendering it in gif format.
Fig 4.15, Importing to Photoshop (28/11/2023)
Outcome 2
Below shows my gif/animation outcome for the "Teke Teke" Editorial Illustration!
Fig 4.16, "Teke Teke" Animated Editorial Illustration (17/11/2023)
Final Outcome
Fig 5.1, Final "Teke Teke" Editorial Illustration (17/11/2023)
Fig 5.2, Final "Teke Teke" Animated Editorial Illustration (17/11/2023)
Reflection
This second task was definitely more challenging than the first but still somewhat enjoyable. Finding which urban legend to illustrate about was fun task! Exploring so many different urban legends whether it was local or international was entertaining! There were so many different cultures with so many stories and how they would interpret it. When I started creating the illustration, I found it quite challenging as I needed to follow the perspective guidelines precisely, it was strict but doable. I also struggled with drawing the outlines as there were so many layers and sometimes I would get confused with certain layers but I still pulled through by grouping some elements together. When I begin colouring and adding textures to the Illustration, I thought it wouldn't take long but I was very wrong. In fact, it took about the same time as creating the artwork! This made me realize that I shouldn't assume simple things would be always easy. As for the animation, it was the hardest part about the assignment. Since I used Illustrator to animate, I couldn't really tell by eye the frames I was creating. In fact, I honestly thought the hair animation wouldn't look good but to my surprise, it turned out actually good! Even though I do have some understanding in animation, this thought me to trust the process even if it looks bad. Overall, it was a fun assignment to do and I really liked how my static and animated work turned out!
My Other Illustration and Visual Narrative Task :
Task 1 : Exercises
Task 2 : Decisive Moment (Current)
Task 3 : Digital Triptych
Task 4 : Self-Titled
Final Compilation & Reflection
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