Illustration & Visual Narrative: Final Project
26/6/2023 - 14/7/2023 (Week 13 - Week 15)
Seh Zi Qi/ 0355872/ Bachelor of Design(Honours) in Creative Media
Module Name: Illustration and Visual Narrative
Final Project
LIST
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LECTURES
INSTRUCTIONS
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Final Project: Animated 1-Page Visual Novel
"Continuing from Project 3, based on the selected story, create a ONE PAGE introduction of your visual novel or comic to your readers… with at least ONE animated panel."
The challenges are:
- Continue with the same story and design aesthetics from Project 2
- Work only from one paragraph of the story for the 1st page.
Submission format:
- Technical files: Final *.ai & *.psd
- Design files: Final *.png & *.gif compiled in Google slides
Project 3 & Final compilation: Google slides [21 x 30 cm]
- One selected Act from the Digital triptych
- Animated page
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Research
Prior to ideation, I went ahead with choosing 1 out of the 3 acts from the 3-Act Structure I made for Project 3. I chose Act 2 as the main objective of this story was to solve a problem before it's too late and it portrays Napoleon's downfall but ultimately his saving grace to wear glasses.
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| Fig 1.1, 3-Act Structure |
After that, I went ahead and searched for references on Pinterest to understand what type of composition I need to create a good comic page. The multiple references here come from mainstream manga, examples like Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, One Piece and many more.
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| Fig 1.2, Manga references |
I've chosen these specific pages as I want to create a page where I want to highlight the most important aspect, so using lesser panels but still being able to tell a story in a fluent motion is key.
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Sketches
Based on my digital triptych and 3-act structure, I sketched out a simple comic with 5 panels that show Napoleon's depression and his meeting with Eugene Lalande which sets in motion the actual conflict of the story. I've used this specific sentence to create the comic needed.
- "Because of that, Napoleon loses his appreciation for art and beauty, this is when he meets a seemingly young woman named Eugene Lalande, described by his companion Talbot. He became enamoured by her beauty and innocence"
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| Fig 2.1, Sketch of Visual Novel |
After sketching out the rough line art, I went ahead with doing a coloured sketch to give myself a better look for the final digitised version. I've changed up some of the colours to signify something else.
- The great-great grandma, Eugene, was given a pink dress to simulate Madam Stephanie's dress, this helps with Napoleon's delusions of thinking of Eugene as a 'seemingly young woman'.
- This was also the first encounter between Napoleon and Eugene so having a wedding dress wouldn't make a lot of sense within this timeline.
- The star in Napoleon's eye, as well as the wavering light behind the glasses and Eugene, signifies a false image of what he is actually seeing.
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| Fig 2.2, Colourised Sketch of Visual Novel |
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Digitisation
Using the sketch I created, I first laid out the boxes for the panels. I figured that the bottom right needed to be separated from the main focal point of the story to create a more coherent story. I've also applied the zig-zag method, used in most comics, into my own composition for better flow when reading.
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| Fig 3.1, Digitisation process of visual novel |
After making the panels, I went ahead and used the Brush, Pen, Shape and Shape Builder Tools to make the art needed for the comic. Since I'm following the art style of the previous project which is Genshin Impact, I'll be having a line art and colour base instead of the usual vector art. Unlike last time, I shaded the art this time for a more finer and polished look.
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| Fig 3.2, Digitisation process of visual novel |
Just like my digital triptych, I added the shine to show who's the focal point of this comic, this also helps fill the empty space as well as contrasting the comic panels and show the most important part of the art.
Fig 3.3, Digitisation process of visual novel
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Animation Process
Before I started animating, I separated the layers for easier use when using the Puppet Pin Tool in Adobe After Effects. This also helps me get better control of the movement of each limb.
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| Fig 4.1, Animation process of visual novel |
The animation would last around 10 seconds before it loops again, and within those 10 seconds, I did my best to animate Eugene to look as friendly as possible when meeting someone for the first time. I do regret not cutting up more parts of the art as I would get a better range of motion with Eugene. After I was done with the animation, I exported it as a gif in Adobe Media Encoder.
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| Fig 4.2, Animation process of visual novel |
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FINAL Still & Animated Visual Novel
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| Fig 6.1, Final 1-Page Visual Novel |
Fig 6.2, Final 1-Page Visual Novel PDF
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| Fig 6.3, Final Animated 1-Page Visual Novel |
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| Fig 6.4, Final 1-Page Visual Novel outline |
REFLECTION
This particular assignment was quite intriguing because the amount of time to finish this project was insanely little and the fact that we didn't get a good explanation of what to do made it even worse. We misunderstood the assignment given and thought that we had to animate the triptych that we had made from Project 3 but we actually had to make a whole new comic and then animate the comic panels. Thankfully, Mrs Anis was kind enough to extend the deadline further for everyone after requesting it as most of the students I've asked about the assignment had also done it wrong.
With my limited amount of knowledge and skills, I did the best I could and the results weren't terrible but I knew I could do better. The 14 weeks of this module have built me up for this moment and I hope that I was able to deliver my work to their liking, even though it wasn't the normal vector art that they were used to. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience to make my own comic using the tools I've learnt throughout the weeks.
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