IVN Task 1 & 2

 25/09/2024 - 25/12/2024 (Week 1 - Week 14) 

Eric Chang / 0378298 / Bachelor of Design In Creative Media

illustration and visual narrative

Table Of Contents:

1. Lectures

2. Instructions

3. Process Work

1. Vormator Challenge
2. Composition

4. Self Reflection

5. Further Reading

Lecture 

Week 1: Character Design

A Character Design must be Stylized in order to become visually appealing 

and a stylized design includes 3 main points. Iconic, Simplicity and Unique

There are multiple principles of character design:

- Shapes: Used to identify a character from one another

- Colour: Different Colours give impressions of different emotions

- Emphasis & Contrast: A good design exaggerates on visual elements to make it stand out by using colours. 

- Harmony: All shapes, lines, colour, motifs, patterns must be put together in a tasteful manner.

- Expressions : Clear visualization of your characters personalities can make it easier to appeal to your viewers.

Week 2: Chiaroscuro

Chiaroscuro: The use of light and dark to create the illusion of three-dimensional volume on a flat

surface.

The purpose of chiaroscuro is to increase the scene’s dramatic tension by exaggerating the subject’s importance using color or light contrast.

Chiaroscuro is used in Visual narrative because it can

• Increase Dramatic Tension : Gives thrilling emotive depth on the look and feel in the scene
• Create Sensational Effects: Helps elevate fantastical viewpoints to emphasis on the narrative
• Attract Attention: Establish visual hierarchy, the main point of the scene
• Create Tasteful Composition: The play on negative VS positive spaces creates attractive scenes

Week 3: Composition Theory 1

Composition is the arrangement of the elements in our visual.

 

4 Basic Composition Visual Rules

• Visual Narrative is the visuals in the scene complements all aspect of the narative
• Visual Flow is the clear flow of visual that directs viewer's eyes
• Visual Balance arrangement to balance the composition in the scene
• Visual Hierarchy arrangement in such ways that directs viewer's eyes to a specific details first

Different Types of Shots 

• Establishing
• Bird's Eyeview
• Frame Within a Frame
• Medium Shot
• Close-up 
• Worm's Eyeview

Week 4: Composition Theory 2

Perspective is the art of representing three dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface so as to give the right impression of their height, width, depth and position in relation to each other.

Construct Perpectives:

Our Visual should capture these rules

• One Point Perspective: The simplest way to create a three-dimensional image is to draw objects that converge at a single point on the horizon.
• Two-Point Perspective: In a Scene, objects and buildings are drawn toward vanishing point on the on of both sides of the horizon
• Three Point Perspective: Consist of two vanishing points on the opposite sides of a horizon, but with the addition of another vanishing point high above below the horizon
• And Isometric Grid: This is used for creating detailed concepts of individual buildings.

Week 5: Composition theory 3

When composing a scene creating an effective sense of the space is very important, Together with other theories, illustrating elements of

1. Foreground: To pit the subject matter
2. Middle Ground: we can also put our subject focus on the middle-ground
3. Background: to put the furthest view of the visual

Design Flow

A good arrangement of visual focus, using foreground, middle-ground and background which indicate a sense of movement and rhythm in our design is called Design Flow. A design flow is the way that our eye move or led around a composition, a good design with a good flow will move the viewers eye throughout the layout.

Instructions:

1. Vormator Challenge

The goal of this task is to create a character using limited shapes, This will help us develop our skills in proportion, balance, color, and composition.

1.1 Reference Images

When i first saw the shapes for the vormator challenge (the Zerk), I immediately came up with the idea of creating a cute ghost for my character, this is because ghost has a simple design.

1.2 Sketches 

After looking at the reference image i made some simple sketches for my character 

1.3 Final Results

The reason I'm making my character with a very simple design is because i wanted to make this character easy to remember, and another benefit from something that is simple is that it's very easy to modify the character since there are less elements. A Simple character can also be adapted to various settings and stories

Task 2: Composition

Research: 

Before doing this task i decided to do some research on a simple ghost house and my ghost and i managed to find a few reference image that i will use during this task.

1.1 Reference Image

For this task we are asked to create the environment for our character (the vormator challenge), Mr. Hafiz told us that we can create new character that's not bound to the vormator shapes. In this task i initially planned to use my existing character.

For this task i decided to create a Ghost house, This is because my character is a ghost. so it would make more sense if i created a ghost house. At first i decided to create a house that's inspired from the "Gravity Falls" house, but after i consulted to Mr. Hafiz, he told me that it's not really a good fit to my character. Below are my reference image and initial sketches for this task. I Separated the reference image for this one from the one above to make it easier.

1.2 reference image

After i consulted to Mr. Hafiz, i gave my second thought about my sketches because, even if i added a dead tree or a lot of graveyard in that sketches, it's still not a good sketch. because the house is not spooky enough. So a decided to came up with  a second version (Using the 1.1 reference image)

The image above is the second sketch that i made, As you might be aware the second sketches are more simple compared to the first one, however the second sketches are more fitting to my character compared to the first one. Keep in mind that the image above is my hard-sketches, Since I'm not good at drawing.

Next comes the hard part, and that's putting the sketches into Adobe illustrator, this is the longest part of this task, the time it takes me to put my sketches into adobe illustrator takes more than 2 days. However before i explain my progress of putting the sketches to Adobe illustrator, here is the sketches for my new character. Below are the reference for my character.

Reference for new character, Src: Pinterest

Before creating my new character i need to pick the 4 ghost from the picture above, since we will put this character on a Pokémon card, i decided to pick the ghost with the witch hat But without the Broom (Since using a broom as a weapon isn't really a good idea).

Once again this is the hard sketches of my new character, so next up is putting the sketches of the Background and my new character into adobe illustrator. Starting from the character.

Character Backstory: Navy Ghost was once a young, adventurous witch who loved Halloween more than any other night. She had a knack for crafting spells and a heart full of mischief, always looking to bring joy and wonder to everyone around her. On one fateful Halloween night, Navy Ghost cast a spell to make the festivities last forever, but it went awry. Instead of eternal celebration, she transformed into a friendly ghost, bound to her witching hour charm.

Now, Navy Ghost roams the streets every Halloween, carrying her enchanted pumpkin basket filled with magical treats and holding a lollipop that never loses its sweetness. She brings delight to children and adults alike, her presence a reminder of the joy and magic of Halloween. Despite her ghostly form, Her spirit remains vibrant and playful, making her a beloved figure in her haunted town. Her name is never revealed. However many people called her Navy Ghost because of her dark blue color

This is the final design of my character, i decided to go with blue for the ghost color (because i like blue), and i decided to give my character some candy basket. Because i don't like the fact that the other hand is empty. Next Up the Spooky House 

The Image above is my first attempt of putting my sketches into Adobe illustrator, As you can see it is a huge mess, In fact after i failed my first attempt i decided to rage quit for 1 day. Before trying it again, however since i know that the submission date is on 1 November, the next day after i rage quitted i decided to give it my all. So below are the final results of the spooky house.

And finally after a lot of YouTube sessions on how to use illustrator properly, i managed to get that results, Which i think is really good. Next my character inside the environment. i improved the environment since i think that the previous one is too simple. the reason I'm changing how the ground looks is because the new and improved background highlights the house better, which is what I'm trying to do. Below are my renewed sketches And My Final Work.

However from that final results i felt like something was missing, So i decided to add a few trees.

  And Below is The Pokémon Card:

And Here is the reference PDF:

And Here's a timelapse:

Self Reflection:

Vormator Challenge

Before beginning this challenge, i thought that using Adobe illustrator will be a very hard task. however after watching a lot of YouTube tutorials and tracing the elements that were given, i quickly found out that using adobe illustrator isn't that hard as long as you're willing to practice.

Overall after completing this task i learned a lot of things, and also i became more efficient at using adobe illustrator. doing this task also helped me to build up muscle memory for adobe illustrator.

Composition:

For this task i learned a lot of things, firstly is that we need to use Adobe illustrator regularly so that we can still be efficient while using Adobe illustrator, The mistakes that i made during this task is that i completed this task only a few days before the submission date, And i realized that since i haven't use Adobe illustrator for a few days, i became less efficient at using the software compared to when i was doing the vormator challenge.