Chung Jia Xuan (0346630)

September 09, 2021

ILLUSTRATION AND VISUAL NARRATIVE: TASK 01

26.08.2021 - 16.09.2021 (Week 01 - Week 04)
Chung Jia Xuan / 0346630 / Bachelor of Design(Honours) in Creative Media
Illustration and Visual Narrative
Task 1

Lectures

Week 01 (26.08.2021)

In our first online class, Ms Noranis and Ms Jennifer gave an introduction of themselves and welcomed us. Ms Noranis showed us where to get all the module references and brief us the method for us to pass up the exercises and assignments. We were asked to create a blog for this module as it will be the platform to keep track on our work progressions.

Then, Ms Noranis introduced the main softwares we will be using: Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Animate. She said that it is very important for us to get ourselves familiar with these softwares as we will be using them for a lifetime in the design field. Ms Noranis then briefed us on the tasks we will be doing in this module especially our first exercise which we will be doing it next week.

Week 02 (02.09.2021)

Character

Before the class started, Ms Noranis asked us about our favourite characters and why do we like the characters. For me, I chose Wall-E without second thought as it is my childhood favourite character since then. On whole, it was actually its friendly demeanor in the movie that caused me to like it this much. Other than that, I love Wall-E's distinctive downturned eyes which makes it look more innocent and adorable.

Figure 1.1 Wall-E

Attractive qualities of a character, and what makes it stand out:

Iconic
Easily created
Profitable

What makes Wall-E iconic? Definitely the pair of downturned eyes of it. Below figure is one of my sketch of Wall-E, as you can see that even with much simpler design of it, just by adding its pair of downturned eyes, you will straight away think of Wall-E. Also, it is quite a easily created character, the body combination is just simply a brown-orange cube and a retractable neck unlike some other complex robot designs. Wall-E has took the Academy Award for Best Animated Picture in 2009, which also offered a darker look at Earth's Future. People sell Wall-E toys and made several version of games inspired by this character.

Figure 1.2 Iconic downturned eyes of Wall-E drawn by me

Figure1.3 Wall-E toy

Figure 1.4 Wall-E XBOX Games

Principles of Character Design

1. Shapes

Exploration of different shapes bring out character with different feelings and impressions.

Figure 1.5 Shape design of Patrick in Sponge-bob
and Gru in Despicable Me

2. Colours

Determine the emotions of the character, a hero and a protagonist have huge differences when comes to colour design. Bright colours bring out a more friendly and approachable characters while dark colours often indicate the insidious and evil.

Figure 1.6 Characters in the Lion King

3. Emphasis and Contrast

Emphasise a character by exaggerating its human-like facial feature or adding unique elements to strengthen the contrast.

Figure 1.7 Mike's single-eyed design and
bright green body colour

4. Harmony

Shapes, lines, colours, motifs, patterns have to be put together in a tasteful manner.

Figure 1.8 Mario and Luigi

5. Expressions

The behaviour, facial expressions and human-like poses of characters to sympathise and interact with the audiences.

Figure 1.9 Edna as Fashion Designer in The Incredibles

Week 03 (09.09.2021)

Composition

Today, Ms Noranis started the online lecture with a question — why do some visuals look better than others? It has something to do with a combination of good Composition and design principles. Composition includes design principles like contrast, hierarchy, & balance created by the placement of design subjects.

Mr Noranis then introduced the 6 type of compositions.

Establishing — shows something the first time
Bird's eye view — shows scale
Framing — shows something secretive
Medium — shows the character, and introduces them
Close-up — shows a subject to create emotion
Worm's eye view — shows drama

Figure 2.1 Types of composition, 09.09.2021

Positive & Negatives (B/W composition arrangement)

Positive — bright parts a composition
Negative — dark parts of a composition

Commonly used in industry as a drafting medium by focusing on the visual hierarchy that tells the story best. The B/W associations with Negative/Positive can be inverted as well.

Fore/Mid/Back-ground

They are very useful in setting up a scene with a character. A character in the foreground automatically creates hierarchy through the perceived depth that drives the viewer's eyes.

Figure 2.2 Examples of spaces, 09.09.2021

Week 04 (16.09.2021)

Perspective

Perspective is an illusion that creates depth through the representation of 3D objects on a 2D frame. There are 4 types of perspectives:

1 point
2 point
3 point
4-5 point (fisheye)

To recognise which type of perspective one frame is using, we shall look at the total amount of vanishing points included.

Figure 3.1 1-point perspective example, 18.09.2021

Figure 3.2 2-point perspective example, 18.09.2021

Figure 3.3 Fish eye perspective example, 18.09.2021

Instructions

Part 1 : Vormator Challenge

Create a character using the shapes from the 8 shape set provided, duplicating and transforming, without distorting or altering the shapes themselves.

Sketches

Although we were required to used the 8 shapes that were given to us, I started the exercise by some free sketching as I think most shapes shall be achieved by duplicating and transforming the given shapes.

Whether it is referring to real life person or a fictional character, I've always think that the most important and interactive part is the eye. Connections are formed through the eyes with the audiences. The eyes can express so much feelings and expressions compared to the other parts of the body. In character design, the different expressions of eye is also an important factor to make a good animation.

Figure 4.1 Different eye expressions, 31.08.2021

Figure 4.2 Effect of different eye designs, 31.08.2021

Figure 4.3 Initial sketches of character, 01.09.2021

Figure 4.4 Initial sketches of character(2), 01.09.2021

Figure 4.5 Initial sketches of character(3), 01.09.2021

I've gotten some feedbacks from the lecturers regarding my sketches. I asked about the opinions whether the monster looks better with or without hand and they said both are okay. So I had to make the decision myself. Other than that, the second most important factor I care most about is the colour of the character. I wanted to create a cheerful looking character so I decided to used bright colours.

Figure 4.6 Character colour tryouts, 01.09.2021

Figure 4.7 Character colour tryouts, 01.09.2021

Finally, I've made the decision to go on with the monster with hands because I thought they'd look cuter. I started things out by trying to get to know the given 8 shapes we're told to use.

Figure 4.8 Given shapes set for Vormator challenge, 01.09.2021

To achieve the round eye I wanted to create, I had a long time exploring how do I combine the given shapes to create a circle. I tried out different shapes that were given to see which comes out with the best result. I made a time lapse for the process of creating the round eyes.

Time Lapse of creating rounded eyes

This took way too long for me to finally get the shape I want, but I had a really fun time exploring. The main thing I learned the most is getting more and more familiar with the tools in Adobe Illustrator, so it was definitely worth all the tries and errors!

Besides shaping things up and choosing colours for my characters, I also worked really hard on creating textures and effects for my character. Especially for the background, I overlayed many layers such as the initial drawings and all the effects applied.

Time Lapse of creating character

Figure 4.9 Final Character design, 11.09.2021

Final Character design in PDF, 11.09.2021

Part 2 : Card Layout Design

Continuing on Task 1, we are to create the game card for the character we created.

I designed a dark background and a bright one. Also, I added an extra glowing effect to my character and some blinking sprinkles around the hand. Then I had ideas for the name of the character, Lucy. Lucy is a monster with space power, it has the superpower to switch day to night and vice versa. It is also able to hide itself in the vast galaxy. For comedic purpose, I also added the 'super annoying mode' as Lucy looks humorous with her mouth opens and showing her unconnected teeth all the time.

During Practical session, I asked Ms Noranis and Ms Jennifer for their opinions and preferences. They both chose the one with the dark background.

Figure 5.0 Dark and Bright Backgrounds, 19.09.2021

For the back card design, I design something that reflects movement in it to capture the viewers' attention and to create a more eye-catching effect.

Figure 5.1 Exploring movement design, 24.09.2021

Other than creating a sense of movement, I also work on the texture of the back design. I added a tougher surface effect to the dark colour background and also created some patterns to the lines to strengthen the texture. Lastly, I added the rainbow lighting effect to make it look more attracting.

Figure 5.2 Texture design of back card, 24.09.2021

Figure 5.3 Final Outcome of Card Design(Front), 24.09.2021

Figure 5.4 Final Outcome of Card Design(Back), 24.09.2021

Reflection

Before this exercise, I had no idea it was a huge process to design an character by myself. I had to say that learning by doing is immensely helpful for me to practice better for the tools in Adobe Illustraror. Throughout the process of designing the character, I have developed more ideas and thoughts for illustrations. After all the studies and researches, I’ve gained more interests in achieving the outcomes I initially desired. Surprisingly, the most challenging port for me at the first stage where I had to think of a character which is unique and easy to remember. Above all, although there are some limitations in the shapes we can used, I think it is a very good and interesting experience for me to learn how to design a character.

One of a few observations I’ve gotten along the way is no doubt the improvement of usage of tools in Adobe Illustrator. In my opinion, it is a basic to know and practice how to use the tools before we want to design something whether it is digitally or traditionally to better convey our ideas. I will continue practicing and get more familiar with the tools.