ILLUSTRATION & VISUAL NARRATIVE — FINAL PROJECT
Week 7 to Week 14 :
12/ 10/ 2022- 30/ 11/ 2022
Name: Joan Chiam Zi Woei
Student ID: 0350211
Illustration & Visual Narrative
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Instructions
Lectures
Week 7:
On this week we were given brief about the Final Project. We start to think about ideas on the comic using the three-act structure and finding comic page references. The project must be have 3 requirements which are:
- Story must be interesting
- Must have 3-acts structure flow
- Content must be PG-13 and safe for work
Week 9:
Feedback on initial sketches and story ideas.
Week 10:
Progress check on the cover page with more feedback.
Week 11:
Progress check on the comic page with more feedback. Lecture on visual transitions.
Week 12-14:
Consultation, progress check and completion.
Task
Part 1: 3 Acts Structure The first task requires us to write a plot for our comic based on the 3 Acts Structure.
Part 2: Cover Page The second task requires us to design a cover for our comic based on the story that we've written.
Cover Page Sketch This is the the sketch I came out with after going through Pinterest and looking for references. With these references in mind, I started working on the sketch of the cover page.
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| Fig 1.1 Visual References |
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| Fig 1.2 Visual References |
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| Fig 1.3 Sketches of Ideas for the Cover Page |
I like the idea of a bird view looking down at the ducks to know they're heading towards one direction showing that they have a destination in mind that they are aiming to reach.
Digitalizing Progress
After completing the sketch, I started working on rendering the cover page using Adobe Illustrator. I also added the base colours while working on the leaves.
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| Fig 2.1 Work in progress of the cover page on Adobe Illustrator |
With regards to feedback in Week 10, I removed the black outlines for the leaves and added in the title as well as a simple gradient background. I also added in the two main characters of the story which is the ducks in.
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| Fig 2.2 Work in progress of the cover page on Adobe Illustrator |
After the composition idea finalized, I brought the sketch back into Adobe Illustrator and drew over the sketch, filling in the base colours as well as add in any necessary changes and details.
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| Fig 2.3 Final cover page |
Finally, my cover page was complete.
For the next part of the project, we needed to create a one page introduction to our comic based on the story and the cover page design. At least one panel is required to be animated. We also had to arrange the panels in a visual sequence. The panels must be created range from 3-15 panels.
I started off with a sketch introducing the main problem of the story which is the ducks living in a polluted lake and they are trying to leave. After that the other panels are showing different things that encounter while they're on thier journey looking for a new habitat.
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| Fig 3.1 Initial sketch for my introductory page |
After receiving the feedbacks in Week 11, I adjusted my sketch panels by adding in some more details to make the story make sense as well as added in a new sketch idea to show the ducks leaving the polluted lake.
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| Fig 3.2: Adjustments made to the sketch of the comic page |
After giving some thoughts, I decided to adjust the sketch by removing unnecessary panels as I realized it would be hard for me to digitalize as well as come out with more ideas for the extra panels which would ended up making the comic look cramped. But I couldn't come out with a good way to arrange the panels.
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| Fig 3.3: Work in progress of my comic page |
After researching and experimenting with the arrangement of panels, I came out with a good idea to stack my panels together to make it look more interesting while balancing out the tight space.
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| Fig 3.4 Adjustments made to the panels of the comic page |
After receiving further feedbacks, I exchanged the first two panels of the comic so that it would make more sense that the ducks are looking back doing their final goodbyes to the place they used to call home then head towards the opposite direction to find a new habitat. After adjustment were made, I proceed to finish up and finalizing my comic page.
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| Fig 3.5: The still version of the complete comic page |
Animation Progress
I exported the assets for the animation which is the butterfly in 6th panel. I wanted to make it fly towards and land on one of the duck's head. After that I put them together into Adobe Photoshop. I used Photoshop is because it will be easier for me to animate the butterfly since it's actually made out of four individual figures to show the movement of it flapping it's wings towards the duck. I tried to create a dynamic and interesting movement for the butterflies therefore I made it flap its wings downward and forward at the same time.
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| Fig 4.1 Timeline of the butterflies in Adobe Photoshop |
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| Fig 4.2 Moving butterfly on still comic |
Afterwards, I exported it as a GIF and my animated cover page was complete.
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| Fig 4.3 The final animated GIF of the comic page |
Reflections
This was by far my one of my favorite task to work on for this module. I enjoyed making the story as well as coming up with ideas for it and I love watching them come to life. Although it was a challenging task for me to work on most of the drawings in Illustrator rather than on a regular drawing software, I still enjoyed the process of learning and making my comic. I was able to gain a lot of help by getting feedback from my lecturers and I really appreciate that. Overall, it was a very nice experience and I value all of the skills I've learnt in this class.
Feedbacks
Week 10:
The sketch looks good but it would be nice if the ducks are swimming upwards instead of down. Would be good to consider placing the title on the top of the cover instead of below.
Week 11:
The first panel of the ducks does not make a lot of sense since they are just looking back but does not show what were they looking. It would be great if I could add in details such as the ducks looking back at the polluted lake and showing a panel of them leaving the lake.
Week 12:
Overall the progress I've made is a bit slow but the finished panel looks good as well as it will improve the visual better if the first two panels exchange places to show the ducks looking back on the lake then on the third panel to show that they are leaving on the opposite direction from the lake.
Week 13:
Everything looks great just keep up with it by adding in more details and start the animating process.
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