Illustration and Visual Narrative Project 3

 7/4/2023 - 7/7/2023 Week 1 - Week 16

Wong Kai Xin / 0353027

Illustration and Visual Narrative / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media / The Design School

Project 3 Digital Triptych & Animated Visual Novel

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LECTURES

Week 9 :

Today in class, we learned about light and shadow. Shadows give weight. Ways to add shadows include using the pen tool, knife tool, and pencil tool.

We looked at some artists' work and I was impressed at the way they included the light and shadow elements in their work. This technique is also known as chiaroscuro ( technique employed in visual arts to represent light and shadow as they define 3D objects )

click on pictures for artists' info

Fig 1.1 Light and shadow demonstration 

Fig 1.2 Light and shadow

Different ways to add shadow to object. Left shadow formed using pen tool and right is formed using knife tool 

Week 10 :

This week, we learned how to make patterns using illustrator

Fig 1.3 video tutorial by Mr Hafiz

Fig 1.4 patterns

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INSTRUCTIONS

Choose a story from the linked website. Break down the narrative of the chosen story into 3-act structures of Introduction - Climax - Epilogue. Then create 3 panels digital triptych illustrating each of the act. 

Consider the interesting twists in the plots of each act, and include these into the design.

Or you can highlight the notable icons or symbolisms that occur in these acts.

Think of creating a premise preview for the story to make readers intrigued.

Submission format:

Technical file: Final *.ai

Design file: Final *.png

900px x 600px

assignment brief on project 3

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PROJECT 3

Story chosen: Berenice

• Central characters: Egaseus, Berenice
• Major theme: Horror 
• Minor theme: Obsession

Summary :

Once upon a time, there was a man, Egaseus, who lived with his cousin, Berenice in a huge mansion. They both suffered from different conditions, Egaseus was having an obsessive disorder, making him fixate on things, whilst Berenice suffered from an unidentified illness, which could lead to catalepsy. Both were due to marriage. One fine day, while Egaseus saw Berenice in the library, her teeth had caught his eyes while she was smiling and that eventually made him obsessed with them. Her teeth had such a strong grip on him that he started to think about them, day and night, imagining all the possible ways to hold them. It was till when a day came and Berenice was pronounced dead by the servant. All Egaseus could think about were the teeth. While he was sitting in the library pondering, he saw a familiar looking box and had a sudden recall of a woman’s shriek, wondering to himself if he had done something. A trembling servant then walked in to inform him of a violated grave, and that a shrouded disfigured body was found. The servant then quietly pointed to his garments, covered in mud and blood, then guided him to a shovel on the wall. Looking back at the oddly familiar box he had in front him, he decides to open it. What was unveiled was dental instruments and Bernice’s teeth.

Digital triptych

Fig 2.1 sketch

Fig 2.2 first draft

Feedback: cute design, but try to make the tooth the main character, now it's kind of messy

Fig 2.3 second draft

As seen in the second draft, I tried using all techniques I have learned throughout my illustration and visual narrative journey. 

Even though this was what I first submitted, I was not satisfied as I rushed to complete this as I mixed up the deadlines. I decided to resubmit another one when I had more time to add more details to my work. 

Judging from my second draft, it looked very non cohesive overall but also too simple at the same time. For my second draft, I tried to keep things more constant, and also add more details to my elements.

Feedback: 

it is smart of you to simplify the design. the narrative flow is comedic and clear, try to make the animation express the same dark comedy feel

Submission:

Fig 2.4 screenshot of artwork's outline view in Adobe Illustrator (JPEG)

Fig 2.5 Final Digital triptych artwork of 3 Acts together (JPEG)

 act 1

 act 2

 act 3

Fig 2.6 Final individual triptych artwork for Act 1, Act 2 and Act 3 (JPEG)

Animated visual novel

Fig 3.1 screenshot of the visual novel page outline view in Adobe Illustrator (JPEG)

Fig 3.2 Page of final visual novel (JPEG)

Google Slide link of visual novel compilation with static and animated panels

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REFLECTION

Out of all projects, I found this being the most challenging one to complete. Having no tutorials on making a animated visual novel, I watched countless of youtube videos on tutorials. It was indeed stressful whenever I encountered a problem and I didn't know how to solve it but with this I got a lot more independent on doing my work. Even though it was the most challenging, I also found this one the most interesting as it was completely new to me. I always wondered the process behind the making of comics as I personally like to read webtoons during my free time. It indeed has a lot of thought being put into it. With this being my last project, I utilized everything I have learned in this module to come up with my final project. There were lots of downs in this project, but I am still satisfied with the final outcome.