Illustration & Visual Narrative: Project 1

7/4/2023 - 12/5/2023 (Week 1 - Week 6)

Seh Zi Qi/ 0355872/ Bachelor of Design(Honours) in Creative Media

Module Name: Illustration and Visual Narrative

Task 1: Exercises

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LIST

Lectures

Exercise 1:

• Research
• Digitisation
• Final Vormator Character

Exercise 2:

• Sketches
• Digitisation
• Final Illustrated Typography

Reflection

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LECTURES

[Click on this to get to the lectures]

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INSTRUCTIONS

<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eddN3ES-mpOPvnYzgr5I4PQ5qYRapl3s/preview" width="640" height="480" allow="autoplay"></iframe>

Task 1: Exercise 1 - Vormator Character

This exercise requires us to design and create ONE unique character using the given sets of shapes with Adobe Illustrator (AI).

The challenges are:

1. Can rotate, flip and duplicate the shapes
2. Not obliged to use all the shapes
3. Can scale size, but only proportionally
4. No skewing or free transform
5. No altering the original shapes
6. Can add, subtract, intersect and group elements as you see fit
7. Unlimited colour use
8. Can use gradients and texture
9. NO OUTLINE STROKES!
10. No background

Submission format:

• Technical file: Final *.ai
• Design file: Final *.png
• 600px x 600px

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Research

Before digitising, I went ahead and researched on Pinterest to get myself some inspiration. Since I couldn't do outlines, I had to find artworks that use shapes as their main way to portray a character instead of lines.

I was and still am in my Genshin Impact phase so I wanted to make a character with similar features like the character named Arataki Itto. So I used him as my base inspiration.

Fig 1.1, Research inspiration

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Digitisation

Using the image of the vormator shapes that we were given, I started by tracing the image to test our skills in using the Pen Tool. It was quite hard for a first-timer like me to create the shapes but I managed to do it and went on with creating the silhouette. 

Fig 1.2, Vormator shapes

When I tried creating the character inspiration I talked about during the research phase, I had a really hard time trying to image the character since I didn't sketch out the character before digitising which is something I'll have to practice on in future assignments. 

Fig 1.3, Silhouette process

I tried my best with the current skills I had to recreate the imagery of my inspiration but gave up soon after with how I wasn't able to move past the head and how the silhouette required altering current shapes to gain what I desire.

After that, I had the idea of making a space monster that threatens any spacecraft that goes near it and went ahead with the idea. 

Fig 1.4, Final silhouette of space monster

Complete Silhouette Process:

Fig 1.5, Complete silhouette Process

After creating the silhouette, I went ahead with colouring the space monster. I went ahead and used the website Adobe Colour to find a colour palette that I liked. Using the Shape Builder Tool as a way to subtract the excess shadow colours.

Fig 1.6, Colouring process of space monster

I had so much fun with the colouring process that I completely forgot about the rules of not having a background which reduced my marks.

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FINAL Vormator Character

The character I chose to make is a space monster who attacks any spacecraft that comes near it. It's a horrendous creature where it may seem friendly but its fangs tell a different story. It looks like it's already caught prey and is hanging on to it tight, let's hope the spacecraft escapes before it gets devoured whole.

Fig 1.7, Final Vormator Character

Fig 1.8, Final Vormator Character PDF

Fig 1.9, Final Vormator Character outline

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Exercise 2 - Illustrated Typography

This exercise requires us to continue our AI tools mastery, we need to design and create an aesthetically pleasing illustrated typography by using words generated from the Pictionary Generator.

Pictionary rules are:

• Number of words: 2
• Game: Pictionary
• Category: Medium

The challenges are:

1. The illustrations and words complement each other
2. The design makes sense
3. Use non-decorative fonts as the base of the design

Submission format:

• Technical file: Final *.ai
• Design file: Final *.png
• 800px x 600px

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Sketches

I started off by going to the Pictionary Generator and I got the words 'Bat' and 'Match'. 

Fig 2.1, Pictionary generator

This immediately gave me the idea of 2 bats facing off each other in a baseball match, I thought it was a fun idea as it gives into the wordplay of a baseball bat being held by an animal bat. In the case that it wasn't accepted, I drew another one for backup.

Fig 2.2, Sketch #1 of Bat Match

Fig 2.3, Sketch #2 of Bat Match

Sketch #1 was the main idea I described while Sketch #2 follows more of the current logos baseball clubs have. The logos have a slight slant or curve to signify the ball's speed when hit, I also gave the letter 'B' a baseball cap and the letter 'T' was changed to a baseball bat to show more of the baseball element I was going for.

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Digitisation

After getting feedback from Mr Hafiz, he said that Sketch #1 had the graphical elements carry 'more of the heavy lifting than the actual words' so I had to either redesign it to be less graphical or have the graphics fit into the words more. I decided to go with my Sketch #2 as it was my backup.

I went into Adobe Illustrator to start. I started by choosing a font I liked, ITC Garamond Std [Ultra Condensed Italic], and redid the placement of the words to make it look nicer. Initial design using Pinterest as my main source of inspiration, trying to turn the ‘T’s as the bat but it didn’t look right, so I decided to get rid of it.

Fig 3.1, Digitisation Process

This is the finished design that I ended up with, I haven’t coloured it as I wanted to find a composition that felt nice.

Fig 3.2, Digitisation Process

The initial colours before changing because the black and white didn’t look bad but felt too minimalistic and bland.

Fig 3.3, Digitisation Process

I changed the black to a dark blue to add more colour towards the whole design and changed the hat to a white and red combination to add contrast.

Fig 3.4, Digitisation Process

I made the word ‘Match’ and the wooden baseball bat into 3D versions to add more effects and dimension towards the very basic words that I’ve designed.

Fig 3.5, Digitisation Process

I added more shadow toward the ‘MATCH’ and ‘BAT’ to create more dimension with the plain background. I also added a gradient using the Gradient tool to make the whole design stand out even more which finished my final design of the illustrated typography.

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FINAL Illustrated Typography

Fig 4.1, Final Illustrated Typography

Fig 4.2, Final Illustrated Typography PDF

Fig 4.3, Final Illustrated Typography outline

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REFLECTION

These few weeks were hard because I didn't know what I was doing half of the time and I was just mostly following the lecturer's, Mr Hafiz, instructions when it comes to the lectures. Even though I was confused, I was still able to have fun during the classes because Mr Haifz was a really chill lecturer to have. This assignment was really fun because I was able to explore more of the software with the freedom the lecturers gave, it was also really hard since we were given so much freedom. I was also able to learn the fundamentals of what I needed throughout the whole term within these few weeks and using those basics, I was able to make these types of works.