Illustration and Visual Narrative Task 1: Exercises

27/08/2021 - 24/09/2021 (Week 1 - Week 5)

Evaleez Voo Lian Yun / 0350275
Illustration & Visual Narrative/ Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Task 1/ Exercises

---

Lectures

Week 2 - Character Design Basics

What Makes a Character Design Unique?

• Iconic
• Created easily
• Profitable

Principles of Character Design

1. Shapes

• Shapes define a character's silhoutte - which sets the iconic look!
• Stable shapes i.e. shapes with a fuller base, tend to beinterpreted as the good guy. 
• Unstable shapes i.e. shapes with a smaller base, tend to be interpreted as the bad guy. 

Fig 1.0 Silhoutte (03/09/21)
Source: Lecture

2. Colour

• Different choices of colours give an impression on a character i.e. who protagonist vs antagonist
• Colours can arise certain emotions in people.

3. Emphasis & Contrast

• Pick one visual element in a character and exaggerate it.
• Using a cultural elements can make it authentic.
• Eg. Some characters have really pointy chins/ noses. 

Fig 1.1 Maleficent (03/09/21)
Source: Google

4. Harmony

• All shapes, lines, colour, motifs and patterns must be put together in a tasteful manner. 
• A balance of visual elements with visual hierarchy.

5. Expressions/ Poses 

• Visually show the character's behaviour/ quirks/ personalities (let audience interpret them).

Fig 1.2 Poses/ Expression (03/09/21)
Source: Lecture

Colour Study

• Complimentary
• Analogous
• Split
• Triadic
• Rectangle

  

  Fig 1.3 Colours (03/09/21)
  Source: Lecture

Week 3 - Composition

Compositions Rule 1

1. Rule 1

• A balanced distribution of positive vs negative spaces.
• Visual Hierarchy
• Train your eyes to see positive vs negative value tones.
• There is no right/ wrong in composition just bad/ tasteful composition.
• Observation is key!

Fig 1.4 Value Tones (10/09/21)
Source: Lecture

Fig 1.5 Balance and Hierarchy (10/09/21)
Source: Lecture

Composition Notes

Week 4 - Perspectives

Perspectives

1. What is perspective?

• Used to create depth.
• A representation of objects (from 2D to create a 3D optical illusion).

2. Type of Perspectives 

• How to tell how many points?
• Number of vanishing points
• 1 point
• 2 point
• 2 point
• 4-5 points (fisheye)

Fig 1.6 Perspective Points (17/09/21)
Source: Art Rocket

• Layers can be used to depicit depth.
• As long as they mimic 3 dimensions, a sense of depth is created.

Fig 1.7 Layering (17/09/21)
Source: Lecture

Perspective Notes

---

Instructions

Module Information Booklet

Exercise 1 - Vormator Challenge Character

Visual Research

Fig 1.8 Vormator Elements (04/09/21)
Source: Lecture

Fig 1.9 Vormator References (04/09/21)
Source: Pinterest

Description:

For references, I mainly went to Pinterest for ideas and realized how creative people are, considering tthe limitation of only 8 shapes to be used. 

Idea Exploration and Description

1. Lideman (Lion + Deer + Woman)

Moodboard:

Fig 2.0 Lion Deer Woman References (04/09/21)
Source: Pinterest

I really like to illustrate humans, especially with their expressions. Hence, I wanted to create a hybrid creature by adding horns into an girl with wild hair. 

Outcome:

Fig 2.1 Lideman (04/09/21)

Description:

It looks nice, although the hair makes it look a tad messy, especially the right side. (Spoiler: I ended up not using this because the hair looked way too messy in illustrator. 

2. Angel 

There wasn't really a moodboard here, I just wanted to create an angel-like person with their wings being the main focus.

Fig 2.2 Angel

Description:

The person is landing on the ground with their wings slowly folding in. While sketching this, I notices it was going to be quite hard to use vormator shapes on it + the way it's shaped will incur future problems with the layout of the card design because of how much vertical space it takes. 

3. Bot Knight Man

Fig 2.3 Bot Knight Man References (07/09/21)

Description:

I wanted to go into something with cyberpunk elements and attempted to add these two characters together. The robot on the left is a character from Hob an RPG game I started playing recently. I really enjoyed the overall feel of the game and decided to add some elements into my design.

Process:

Fig 2.4 Bot Knight Man Process 1 (07/09/21)

i. Creating the head with inspiration from the vampire head:

Fig 2.5 Bot Knight Man Process 2 (07/09/21)

ii. Trying out colours + creating the body. I tried red, but it looked too overbearing for the composition (Spoiler: I changed it to black in the end):

Outcome:

Fig 2.6 Bot Knight Man Outcome (08/09/21)

Description:

After some experimentation with how the shapes will create the angles, I finalized Bot Knight Man to make it look like he is floating. In relation to that, I added clouds and mountains for the background with some vormator elements to showcase the "floating" feeling. I didn't manage to create the cybepunk feel I was aiming for, which was kinda sad (Spoiler: I changed the design AGAIN).

4. Bot Knight Man but BETTER aka. Dairy Queen.

Fig 2.7 Dairy Queen References (20/09/21)
Source: Pinterest

Description:

After further contemplation I felt that my design was pretty basic and boring, so I decided to add a weapon for them and promote them from a knight to a queen! So, I went to Pinterest to gain some inspiraation on what weapon I wanted to give her and also her outfit. 

Process:

Fig 2.8 Dairy Queen Process 1 (21/09/21)

Description:

Playing around with the previous model and recreating it to look more vibrant and interesting. I made her skirt super huge as her personal attribute. 

Fig 2.9 Dairy Queen Process 2 (21/09/21)

Description:

I decided to give her a weapon because she is a fighter type character. Since she is the Dairy Queen, I designed her weaponn based off an ice lolly. 

Final Outcome

Description:

Fig 3.0 Vormator Challenge Final (24/09/21)

I used a dark background to accentuate the colours of my character, especially since her skintone is nearing to white. After receving feedback on Week 5, I switch her skirt colour to a bright red tone instead of blue to provide more impact, since most of her colours are on the pastel or soft side. 

Exercise 2 - Game Card

Visual Research

Fig 3.1 Card References - Front (20/09/21)
Source: Pinterest

Fig 3.2 Card References - Back (20/09/21)
Source: Pinterest

Description:

I am an avid fan of Carfight!! Vanguard, an internationally popular Trading Card Game published by Bushiroad in 2011, originally conceived by the manga author Akira Itou. Hence, I used it as a reference for my card design. Besides that, I searched for more colourful references like the first and second reference, to make my card look interesting. I was also quite impressed by the layout of the "90s Themed Poster" and used that as a reference for my final card layout. 

Idea Exploration and Description

Process:

Fig. 3.3 Card Process 1 (20/09/21)

Description

I started off by adding some layouts on the background with reference from the 90s Themed Poster. I also used the main colours in that design as it pairs really well with my character. When placing Dairy Queen in the frame, I wanted to play arounf with the space and ended up making her weapon go over the borders, which I think suits welll and makes the weapon seem more powerful. It's also placed in the intersection points in the Rule of Thirds, making it the focus (even with all the shapes going on in the background).

Fig 3.4 Card Process 2 (21/09/21)

Description:

I used the same colour scheme from the front of the card for the back. The title "Forefront" is actually a synonym for vanguard, which is the trading card game in my references. The title is also placed on the lines according to the Rule of Thirds and coloured white so the viewers eyes will naturally settle there and it won't be a strain. The smiley faces were brought in from the front part i.e the colouds under "Element" have the same expression. 

Fig 3.5 Card Process 3 (23/09/21)

Fig 3.6 Card Process 4 (24/09/21)

Description: 

After receiving feedback on our week 5 class, I followed the advice from the lecturers and added extra elements into the card to make Dairy Queen stand out more (her colours were too blended with the background). I added cream onto her skirt with reference from dress lacings, and more elements onto the background to accentuate the dessert factor of my character. 

Final Outcome

Fig 3.7 Game Card Final - Front (24/09/21)

Fig 3.8 Game Card Final - Back (24/09/21)

Description:

For the finalized card design, I added more elements onto the card i.e. the dripping moon, sprinkles and frosting trees. The trees were supposed to be gumdrops but the ended up looking more like christmas cream trees instead with yellow and white hills at the back. I kept this change because it made Dairy Queen look huge in comparison with everything else. 

---

Feedback

Week 2

• Lecturers liked how flowy the hair looks, advised me to choose that one instead of the angel person.

Week 3

• The overall characcter design is good, however the colour scheme needs to be edited, especially the legs sinces it's not relaly visible with the background. 

Week 4

Malaysia Day!

Week 5

• The final character works but it's colours are quite blended in the background, maybe add some sprinkles/ cream in her skirt. 
• Play around with it since you are doing a 90s anime style. 

Reflection

Week 1

On week 1 we were briefed on the module information booklet and how the semester is going to work out. I was grateful at the amount of freedom we had for each design and also for the two lecturers who are friendly and open to ideas. 

Week 2

This week, I presented my sketch to the lecturers for feedback. I realized I have a knack for making things too complicated, e.g how messy the hair went. 

Week 3

On week 3, I presented a new character design with a more simplistic approach. I also looked at some of my classmates' designs and they were all so amazing. I am grateful to be in a group of people who equally enjoy working with their right brain and thinking outside of the box. 

Week 4

This week we didn't have class due to Malaysia Day. At this point I was resketching my character for God knows how many times and realized I should really improve my decision making skills. 

Further Reading

1. Digital Art Online - 14 Character Art Tips 

Alfonso De Anda

• Try to understand your characters i.e.how would they talk, how would they walk etc.

Anima Boutique

• How the eyesare drawn expresses a number of emotions.
• Bigger eyes tend to give a sense of childishness or childlike wonder
• Smaller ones a sense of seriousness and depth
• Wide-set eyes gives a sense of oddity
• Close-set eyes are often comic

Docvek

• Start with a flat simple abstract shape for a head
• Add simple shapes on top to create eyes and other features.
• Using Illustrator to ‘shave’ or ‘etch’ into the main shape, as if you’re cutting lino or sculpting clay.
• Gives characters an organic, handmade feel where the boundary between positive and negative space becomes blurred

Motomichi Nakamura

• Start off by drawing eyes.
• Imagine yourself standing right in front of the creature and start drawing the rest.

Jorfe

• Start with simple shapes

• Squares are good for a strong and bold character

• Triangles are perfect if you need it to be scary.

• Smooth curves can be used o make a friendly character.

• Exaggerate the expressions
• Use any part of the face to give life to your character, such as dishevelled hair or teeth with gaps between them.
• Draw gesture sequences and experiment with movement.

2. Movie Comics: Page to Screen/ Screen to Page

Davis, B. (2017) Movie Comics: Page to Screen/Screen to Page.
Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick & New Jersey.