Illustration and Visual Narrative - Project 1

7/4/2023 - 12/5/2023 : (Week 1- Week 6)
Ting Wen Yi / 0361799
Illustration and Visual Narrative/Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Project 1 / Exercise 1 & 2

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CONTENT

1. Lectures
2. Practical
3. Instructions
4. Research & Inspiration
5. Project 1: Exercise 1
6. Project 1: Exercise 2
7. Feedbacks
8. Reflections

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LECTURES

Week 1: Subject Outline & Expectations

During the lecture, Mr Hafiz Zamri provided an introductory overview of the subject and highlighted the breakdown of exercises and projects. He emphasized the importance of Adobe Illustrator for designers and proceeded to guide us through the Illustrator workspace. Additionally, he demonstrated how to use the pen tool effectively. Mr Hafiz briefed us on Exercise 1, which involved creating a Vormator character using Illustrator. He gave us a step-by-step tutorial on how to trace shapes in Illustrator to develop the character. To enhance our proficiency in using the pen tool, we had a small session of playing The Bézier Game.

Week 2: Character Design Basic

Video Link: https://youtu.be/19QiKCyEpnA

Stylized Design

• Iconic: Stylised designed character are often iconic that you can immediately recognise them even in black silhouettes. 
• Simplicity: Simplicity of the design allows viewers to digest and understand the purpose of the character easily. 
• Unique: There's not character looks like your character, Doraemon etc, and what is the purpose of your character (a storyline), something is memorable and make impact on the viewers.

Principle of character design

• Shapes: used to identify a character from one another. Example monster inc. Mike has round body with round big eye. Sully has big rectangle body. Randall Boggs has a triangle body. Bad guys tend to have inverted triangle body shape because, the shape is to provoke a sense of uneasiness. Shapes also add some weight to their personality.
• Colours: plays an important role in determining and separate the basic characteristics of heroes, villains and even background characters. Colours give impressions of different emotions and is easily relatable by viewers. example, Inside Out. 
• Emphasis, Contrast: A good character exaggerates on the emphasis and contrasting visual elements to make the design stand out by using colours. For exapmle, Joy is dominated by yellow but she has blue hair(contrast), Sadness emphasise on blue tone. Anger has large expressive eyes and mouth to exaggerate emotions, fiery hair to match with Anger's temper and contrast with short stocky body.
• Harmony: All shapes, lines, colour, motifs, patterns must be put together in a tasteful manner. Every elements in your design should complement each other and how it reflects with the narrative of the characters. Riley's parents' emotions have the same features with their own feature.
• Expression and Poses: Expressive emotive characters, win the audience. Clear visualisation of your characters behaviours, quirks, personalities make it easier to appeal to your viewers. Example, Disgust has long eyelashes exaggerate the disgust display emotions to a vain-like quality.

Week 3: Colors

Figure 1.1 Adobe Color

Mr. Hafiz Zamri gave instructions on how to use different techniques to recolor an image of a monster made with Vormator shapes. The techniques include using the shape builder tool, assigning flat colors, blending modes, importing swatches, gradients, and adjusting colors dynamically. Mr. Hafiz suggests using a website called Adobe Color to explore color themes and create colors that balance with each other. He also demonstrates how to select objects, delete parts, change colors, and adjust shadows using various tools such as the direct selection tool. Mr. Hafiz encourages us to try out the techniques themselves while following the demonstration.

Week 4: My TIGER Competition & Pencil Tool 

Miss Anis provided instructions and a briefing about the My TIGER competition during class. She also explained Exercise 2, which involves generating two words for Pictionary. In addition, Mr. Hafiz taught us how to use the pencil tool in Illustrator. The pencil tool is a quick and efficient way to draw organic shapes and objects. The pencil tool is also useful in exercise 2 that involve adding illustrations and changing the typeface.

Figure 2.1 Pencil Tool

Video Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ows4mzaD0hY

Week 5: 3D

This week, Mr. Hafiz taught us how to use the 3D effect and intertwine tools in Illustrator. During the lesson, we also followed tutorials to create designs for sushi, a rainbow, and a flora font. Refer to week 5 practical.

1. Select the object.

2.Click Effect > 3D (Classic) > Extrude & Bevel (Classic).

3.Click More Options to view the complete list of options, or Fewer Options to hide the extra options.

4.Select Preview to preview the effect in the document window.

5.Specify options:

• Position

Sets how the object is rotated and the perspective from which you view it. (See Set 3D rotation position options.)

• Extrude & Bevel

Determines the object’s depth and the extent of any bevel added to or cut from it. (See Extrude & Bevel options.)

• Surface

Creates a wide variety of surfaces, from dull and unshaded matte surfaces to glossy and highlighted surfaces that look like plastic. (See Surface shading options.)

• Lighting

Adds one or more lights, varies the light intensity, changes the object’s shading color, and moves lights around the object, for dramatic effects. (See Lighting options.)

• Map

Maps artwork onto the surfaces of a 3D object. (See Map artwork to a 3D object.)

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PRACTICAL

Week 1: Bézier Game & Tracing with Pen Tool

Figure 2.1 The Bézier Game

We played the Bézier Game during class, and Mr. Hafiz Zamri said that it is an interactive way to learn about Bézier curves and their application in design. He still plays the game sometimes before using Adobe Illustrator.

Figure 2.2 Tracing with Pen Tool

After playing the Bézier Game, Mr. Hafiz Zamri demonstrated how to create a workspace in Adobe Illustrator and taught us how to import images, adjust their opacity, and create new layers for tracing shapes. During the practical class, we then traced these shapes using the techniques he had shown us.

Week 2: Illustrator Tutorial

1.Start making artwork

Draw simple shapes

Press and hold the Rectangle tool to view all the Shape tools, and then select the Rectangle tool. Drag on the artboard to draw a rectangle. As you drag, look for a diagonal magenta guide that shows a perfect square.

Figure 3.1 Simple Shapes

Draw any type of polygon

Press and hold the Rectangle tool in the Toolbar and select the Polygon tool. Click the artboard, and in the dialog box that opens, type the number of sides for your shape — for example, type 6 to create a hexagon.

Figure 3.2 Polygon Shapes

Adjust shapes with the shape tools

• To move a shape, drag its center point.
• To resize, drag any of the bounding box handles, or press Shift while dragging to constrain proportions.
• To change proportions — for example, to create a tall, skinny triangle — drag a corner handle in any direction, adjust height with the top or bottom handles, and transform width with the side handles.
• If you move your cursor away from any handle, you’ll see the rotate icon. Drag to rotate the shape freely.

Figure 3.3 Adjust Shapes

Combine shapes creatively

Draw some overlapping shapes. Switch to the Selection tool and drag a selection marquee around all the shapes to select them. Select the Shape Builder tool and drag a line through all the shapes you want to unite into one shape.

Figure 3.4 Shape Builder Tool

Break apart shapes

Select all the shapes. With the Shape Builder tool, click any part you want to punch out as with a cookie cutter. Press Option (MacOS) or Alt (Windows) and click or drag across any section to delete it.

 

Figure 3.5 Splitting Shapes

Have fun with color

To color an object, you assign it a fill color, a stroke color, or both. Similar to working in a coloring book, a fill adds color to the area inside a path or shape, while a stroke outlines it.

Use the Fill and Stroke color boxes in the Toolbar — you edit them one at a time and the highlight shows which box is active. Select an object and double-click the Fill or Stroke color box.

Select Hue (H). Move the rainbow slider (1) up or down to pick a color range, and then move the round marker on the left (2) to adjust the brightness and intensity. When you’re happy with the way it looks, click OK.

Figure 3.6 Coloring Shapes

2. Create and edit shapes

Draw simple shapes

Figure 3.7 Creating Simple Shapes in Illustrator

• Shape tools are located in the Tools panel.
• To show other shape tools, click and hold the Rectangle tool in the Tools panel.
• When you draw shapes, Smart Guides (View > Smart Guides) help by showing the shape size in a measurement label, snapping to other objects, and indicating when an ellipse is a perfect circle or when a rectangle is a perfect square.

Create lines

Figure 3.8 Creating Simple Shapes in Illustrator

• Draw lines using the Line Segment tool in the Tools panel. Select the Line Segment tool by clicking and holding the Rectangle tool in the Tools panel.
• Lines you draw are Live, which means you can edit the length, direction, and angle after drawing them without switching from the Line Segment tool.
• Rotate a line by moving the pointer off an end and dragging.

Combine Shapes

Figure 3.9 Combining Shapes in Illustrator

• Select the shapes you want to combine with the Selection tool in the Tools panel.
• Select the Shape Builder tool in the Tools panel. Either drag across the shapes you’d like to combine or press Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and drag across or click parts of shapes to remove them.
• To move shapes with no fill color, use the Selection tool to drag them by their stroke.

Trace to make shapes

Figure 3.10 Tracing Image in Illustrator

• Add raster images to your Illustrator projects by choosing File > Place.
• Select an image with the Selection tool.
• Click Image Trace in the Properties panel to the right of the document and choose a trace preset to set trace options. Click Expand in the Properties panel to commit to the tracing and convert to editable vector artwork.
• Click and hold the Direct Selection tool, and select the Lasso tool in the Tools panel. Drag around the traced artwork to select it. After you choose Edit > Copy, choose Edit > Paste to paste the artwork.
• Click the Group button near the bottom of the Properties panel to group the artwork, treating it as a single object.
• Click the color fill in the Properties panel to the right of the document to change its color.

Week 4: 

Pencil Tool

Figure 4.1 Pencil Tool Exercise - Ship

• Click and hold the Paintbrush tool in the Tools panel and select the Pencil tool in the menu that appears. 
• Double-click the Pencil tool to set tool options. 
• Drag in the document to create a path with the Pencil tool.
• As you draw, return to the beginning of the path to close it and make a shape. 
• Position the Pencil tool on the path to redraw part of it. Drag to redraw, ending back on the path.
• To draw a straight path with the Pencil tool, Alt-drag (Windows) or Option-drag (macOS).

Figure 4.2 Pencil Tool Exercise - Words

Week 5: 3D Basics

Figure 5.1 3D Sushi & Rainbow

Figure 5.2 Flora Typography

Tutorial Link: https://helpx.adobe.com/my_en/illustrator/using/create-3d-graphics.html

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INSTRUCTIONS

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RESEARCH & INSPIRATION

Exercise 1 - Character Design

1. Epic Disney

Figure 6.1 Epic Disney Movie

My character design is inspired by Disney Epic, specifically the  forests and the creatures. I wanted to create a character that would fit in the forest theme. 

Figure 6.2 & 6.3 Nim Galuu from Epic Disney

2. Maleficent

I particularly like the caterpillar character in Disney Epic named Nim Galuu. His features are exaggerated, with small eyes and a large nose. He has a large body but tiny fingers. His body is well-shaped, making him approachable to the audience. His manner of speech is also intriguing to me, with his large mouth and tiny teeth. I found it simple to understand his emotions. His white strand hair gives him the feeling of being old and having a lot of life experience. All of these design decisions contribute to Nim Galuu feeling like a fully realised character rather than a generic caterpillar. 

Figure 6.4 Maleficent Disney Movie

I also get inspiration from the movie Maleficent, I want to create a character like a forest gradian/fairy who protects the plants. Maleficent is about a powerful fairy who, after experiencing betrayal and heartbreak, decides to protect her magical land and its inhabitants. The movie portrays the importance of preserving nature and the consequences of exploiting its resources. I hope to create a character that embodies these values.

Figure 6.5 Pinto & Mushroom Cap Fairy 

I love Pinto and Mushroom Cap Fairy from Maleficent because they are both adorable, and their voices are calm and cute. They both have tiny bodies but big head features, and I appreciate this art style because it gives off a very cute and harmless impression. Despite they are kind and helpful, Pinto and Mushroom Cap Fairy  also possess a playful and mischievous side, which adds to their charm.

Exercise 2 - Illustrated Typography

1. Marshmallow

Figure 7.1 Marshmallow Font by BB Type Studios

I really like the 'Marshmallow Font' by BB Type Studios because it perfectly captures the look and feel of a marshmallow - it's chubby, puffy, and just looks soft and squishy. This font could be a great way to enhance the visual appeal of any design that relates to marshmallows or other soft and fluffy items.

Figure 7.2 Picture of Marshmallow

Looking at marshmallow pictures can be helpful to me when designing an illustrated marshmallow typography because it can provide inspiration and guidance on how to accurately represent the physical characteristics of a marshmallow in the design.

Characteristics of marshmallow: 

• white / pastel color
• fluffy
• soft and squishy texture
• sweet

Figure 7.3 Jet-Puffed Logo

Jet-Puffed is a brand of marshmallows owned by Kraft Foods. The Jet-Puffed logo uses a simple color palette consisting of white and blue. The white color reinforces the visual connection to marshmallows, while the blue provides a subtle contrast and adds a touch of playfulness to the design. The logo also includes an iconic representation of a marshmallow in the center of the text. 

2. Sunflower

Figure 7.4 Picture of Sunflower

As mention above, the picture can give guidance and physical characteristics of the sunflower.

Sunflower Characteristics:

• Bright and Vibrant - bright yellow, green 
• Organic and Natural
• Large and Bold - petals

Figure 7.5 Sunflower Font by xFont

Sunflower Light Font by xFonts is a font that is inspired by the characteristics of sunflowers. The font is designed to have a light and airy appearance, with thin lines and delicate curves that resemble the stems of a sunflower.

Figure 7.6 Letter E Sunflower by Danoeng

The letter "E" is designed to resemble the shape of a sunflower, with a round shape and petal-like curves. The design also incorporates a stem and leaves that extend from the bottom of the letter, to enhance the sunflower theme. The color scheme of the design is primarily yellow and green, which are the colors commonly associated with sunflowers. 

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PROJECT 1: EXERCISE 1- VORMATOR CHALLENGE CHARACTER

1. Sketches

Figure 8.1 Sketch of Character Design in Procreate - Week 1 (7/4/2023)

I attempted to draw my sketch using some of the Vormator shapes, but it was quite challenging to achieve the look I had envisioned for my character. Therefore, I decided to sketch the character without restricting myself too much. The character is a fairy-like creature, and I aimed to create a nature-inspired design by adding deer-like horns wrapped in vines and leaves. The character also has big, rounded eyes, making it more approachable to the audience. Additionally, the character has fairy wings and is depicted lifting a gem, showcasing its ability and power. It can fly, lift objects with its mind, and make wilt plants to bloom again.

Colored Sketch

Figure 8.2 Colored Sketch  - Week 1 (9/4/2023)

I colored the sketch to get an overall idea of the character with colors. The main colors I used are green and brown, as they are natural tones that represent nature. The character looks fluffy and furry which adds to its cuteness. The gem is in blue and it glows. I chose a black background to highlight the texture of the wings. 

2. Digitalization Progress

First Attempt 

Figure 8.3 First Attempt with Illustrator  - Week 1 (10/4/2023)

I made my first attempt in Illustrator to see how it would look. I used basic shapes and the pen tool, experimenting with sizes and angles.

Second Attempt

Figure 8.4 Second Attempt with Illustrator  - Week 2 (16/4/2023)

Based on the feedback I received last week, I have created my character using Vormator shapes as my base. I have listed out the number of times I used each shape, and I used tools like shape builder and pathfinder to edit the shapes and create my character design.

Figure 8.5 Silhouette - Week 2 (16/4/2023)

Before starting the coloring process, I put my character in silhouette to see whether my character has strong overall shape, posture, and pose. 

Third Attempt 

Figure 8.6 Revised Character Design - Week 2 (19/4/2023)

I have decided to make some changes to my design, specifically the hand gesture and the wings. Even after trying two different colors, I'm still not satisfied with the overall look. By changing the design of the wings to be more feathery and increasing their size, the character's appearance is now more complex. I believe this is necessary because his horn is quite large and in order to carry his own weight, his wings must be strong enough. I also added some features on the character's forehead and  feathers on its chest.

3. Color Studies

Figure 8.7 Color Attempt with Illustrator - Week 2 (16/4/2023)

For my first color attempt, I used a lighter shade of green to achieve a more cartoony and cute look. The wings were designed with a gradient of blue, purple, pink, and beige to resemble fairy wings. The character's horns were painted in neutral colors similar to trees and plants to emphasize that he is the guardian of the forest. In my second attempt, I decided to make the green color darker to match the initial sketch and to create a more realistic appearance. I reverted the wings' gradient color and adjusted the color of the character's ears to match his head and body. This creates a more cohesive look overall.

Figure 8.8 Color Attempt with Illustrator - Week 2 (19/4/2023)

After making some changes to my character, I also tried experimenting with different color options. In the second attempt, I added an orange gradient chest feather and a matching head feature. However, upon observation, I realized that the colors should be part of a cohesive palette to achieve harmony. For the fourth attempt, I used blue and green colors and changed the ruby to red. In the fifth attempt, I went with orange and green colors and changed the ruby to pink. 

4. Final Vormator Character

Figure 8.9 Final Vormator Character (Aqua & Flame) - Week 3 (22/4/2023)

I removed the lines on the leaves as there shouldn't be any line art, and I have switched the red ruby to the left side so that it looks like they are partnering.

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PROJECT 1: EXERCISE 2 - ILLUSTRATED TYPOGRAPHY

1. Generating Words

Figure 9.1 Pictionary Generator Words - Week 4 (28/4/2023)

We were assigned to use Pictionary Generator to generate two words for Exercise 2, and the two words I have received are "marshmallow" and "sunflower."

2. Sketches

Figure 9.2 Marshmallow Sketch in Procreate - Week 4 (28/4/2023)

The first word I received was 'marshmallow', which gives me the impression of something fluffy and squishy. Therefore, I designed the letters to be chubby in both designs, using pastel colors such as pink, blue, yellow, and white. In the first design, I used rope-like marshmallow designs, and in the second, I created a simple chubby font, replacing the letter "o" with a marshmallow.

Figure 9.3 Marshmallow Sketch in Procreate - Week 4 (28/4/2023)

The first design I draw a sun and place in front to represent " sun" in sunflower, and I use orange color for the words. The word "flower" I use yellow as the petal of sunflower is yellow. I added green leaves at the bottom and above the letter "E", and used a sunflower to represent the letter "o". In the second design, I used multiple sunflowers and vines to represent the word "sunflower", using yellow, green, and brown colors as they are the colors of sunflowers.

Figure 9.4 Joining Together - Week 4 (28/4/2023) 

I attempted to combine the words together by adding a background of yellow and pink, blending them with the sunflower background. I also changed the black outline of the marshmallow to blue.

3. Digitalization Progress

Figure 9.5 First Attempt in Illustrator - Week 4 (28/4/2023) 

I'm attempting to digitize the word 'marshmallow' in Illustrator. I'm mainly using the pencil tool for the fonts, and I've added colors just like in my sketch.

Figure 9.6 Second Attempt in Illustrator - Week 5 (7/5/2023) 

After the tutorial lecture on using 3D effects, I tried applying them to the word "marshmallow" to give it a plump and chubby appearance. I also made it matte to accurately reflect the texture of a real marshmallow.

Figure 9.7 Sunflower 3D Effect - Week 5 (7/5/2023) 

For the sunflower I attempt design 1, I use the 3D effect again but I feel like it does present well enough to the word. Therefore, I want to try design 2, where I place sunflowers around the word, but use colors that can match with the marshmallow.

Figure 9.8 Progression - Week 5 (8/5/2023) 

To create my sunflower typography, I used multiple layers of colors and drop shadows to create depth. I then used the Pathfinder tool to clip out the font from the shape. To enhance the design, I added small sunflowers around the words, but I found that it looked too plain, so I also included small shapes and some leaves.

Figure 9.9 Marshmallow Sunflower - Week 5 (8/5/2023) 

Based on Mr. Hafiz's feedback, I made some changes to the sunflower design. Specifically, I removed the drop shadow and made slight adjustments to the colors to help unify the word and the image.

4. Final Illustrated Typography

Figure 9.10 Final Illustrated Typography - Week 5 (10/5/2023)

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FEEDBACKS

Week 2: Use vormator shapes to build your character, you may use shape builder, pathfinder etc. Be careful of the proportion of your character. 

Week 3: Attempt 4 and 5 are quite appealing, perhaps because of the color selection. Maybe we can use both as partners, representing water and fire. The blue and green tones from attempt 4 could represent water, while the orange and red tones from attempt 5 could represent fire. 

Week 5: The marshmallow seems fine, and perhaps it could be used to make s'mores or be roasted on a stick. Regarding the sunflower, the image and the word appear somewhat disjointed. 

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REFLECTIONS

Experience

I found this exercise to be quite challenging as we were only supposed to build our character based on the 8 Vormator shapes. However, I decided to let go of this restriction and sketch first. This approach helped me to come up with ideas for the character before I even thought about the shapes. When I started building the character in Illustrator, I found that it didn't quite represent what I wanted to achieve. I also struggle a lot with this because I'm a perfectionist and tend to find imperfections. I wanted to create the best character possible, so I constantly critiqued and amended my own work. I changed some features, wings, and other details to make myself feel better. Overall, this exercise was a good challenge because the 8 shapes can bring about thousands of different designs, testing my imagination and creativity. For the second task, I struggled more even though it was "just" designing typography compared to the first task. I felt like I had the idea of what I wanted to create, but I lacked the skills to produce it. However, thanks to the newly introduced 3D effect, I found it very useful.

Observation

I observed that when the shapes overlap, they create complexity and depth in the design. Similarly, when a single shape is repeated and stacked together, it creates a very neat and pleasing visual effect. By following these techniques, I can create visually appealing and engaging compositions. The use of repetition and layering can also help to create a sense of harmony and balance in the overall design,  especially with the wings. I observed that using the 3D effect can be both easy and difficult at the same time. The final result is greatly affected by how you adjust the settings, but it can also be frustrating because every time you make a single change, it may cause lag.

Findings

 

Throughout the exercise, I found that there were a number of rules to follow. Not only were we required to use the Vormator shapes, but we were also not allowed to skew or use free transform, alter the original shapes, use outline strokes, or include a background.