Illustration and Visual Narrative - Final Project

July 21, 2024

GROUP:  4 

QIULIHUA/0365036

Illustration and Visual Narrative/Bachelor of Design (Honours)in Creative Media

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LECTURE

WEEK 12

Acts Structure

Central Theme

Definition:

• The theme is the main idea or underlying meaning of the story. Often, it represents the storyteller’s personal opinion on the subject matter.
• Major Theme: An idea intertwined and repeated throughout the whole narrative.
• Minor Theme: An idea that appears more subtly and doesn’t necessarily repeat.

Conflict

Definition:

The conflict drives the story, creating tension and building suspense, making the story interesting.
Without conflict, the audience will not care, and there will be no compelling story to tell.
Conflict engages the audience, keeping them on the edge of their seats, waiting to see if the protagonist will overcome the obstacle.

Storytelling Basics

Characters

Central Characters: Vital to the story's development; the plot revolves around them.

Protagonist: The main character with a clear goal or conflict to overcome. Must command an emotional involvement from the audience.

Antagonist: Opposes the protagonist, representing a significant obstacle.

Three-Acts Structure

1.Setup:

Introduces the protagonist's world before the journey begins, ending with the conflict's revelation.

2.Rising Tension:

Series of obstacles the protagonist must overcome, each more difficult and with higher stakes.

3.Conflict:

The point of highest tension and the major decisive turning point for the protagonist.

4.Resolution:

Conclusion of the conflict. The protagonist overcomes, accepts, or is defeated by the conflict, ending the journey.

Traditional Three-Acts Structure Chart :

Figure 1.0 Traditional Three-Acts Structure Chart

Short Narrative Exercise

Format:

"Once upon a time, there was ____. Every day ____. One day, ____. Because of that, ____. Because of that too, ____. Until finally, ____!"

Example

•  Act 1 Setup: Two princesses, one with secret magic powers, live in a faraway land.
• Act 2 Conflict: Eldest princess loses control of her magic, people accuse her of witchcraft, she abandons her throne.
•  Act 3 Resolution: Younger sister saves her, magic bond protects them, eldest embraces her powers and becomes a good ruler.

3-Act Structure

Recap from Last Week

- Brief review of the three-act structure covered previously.

Hieronymus Bosch

- Overview of the artist and his contributions to visual storytelling.

Continuity in Visual Storytelling

Key Elements:

- Frames: How frames are used to maintain continuity.

- Background: Importance of consistent background elements.

- Characters: Maintaining character consistency across frames.

- Closure: Ensuring narrative closure within scenes.

Gestalt Law of Closure

- Explanation of how this psychological principle applies to visual continuity and storytelling.

Notes on Visual Layouts

- The layout of visual elements affects how the story is perceived and understood.

- Examples from graphic novels and children's books illustrate how page layouts and transitions influence reader experience.

Fig.1.1 Example

Participation of the Reader

 Reader involvement is crucial for interpreting and finding meaning in visual transitions.

Scott McCloud’s Transitions

Six types of transitions identified by Scott McCloud:

1.Moment to Moment: Very little closure required.

Fig.1.2 Moment to Moment

2.Action to Action: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Fig.1.3 Action to Action

3.Subject to Subject: Requires reader involvement to be meaningful.

Fig.1.4 Subject to Subject

4.Scene to Scene: Deductive reasoning needed; transports readers across time and space

Fig.1.7 Scene to Scene

5.Aspect to Aspect: Bypasses time and location, building mood and allowing imagination to wander.

Fig.1.6 Aspect to Aspect

6.Non Sequitur: No logical relationship between the panels.

Point of View in Storytelling

•  The importance of selecting the right point of view for telling a story.
•  Emphasizing specific threads of the narrative or the most noticeable points.

Examples and Applications

- Practical examples from various media, including:

"The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!"

"Madeline's Rescue"

"Clover vol. 1"

Conclusion :

Fig.1.7 Conclusion

Effective use of visual transitions enhances storytelling, engages readers, and ensures continuity and coherence in visual narratives.

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INTRO

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EXERCISE

Final Project: Comic cover and Animated One Page intro

A motion comic (or animated comic) is a form of animation combining elements of print comic books and animation. Individual panels are expanded into a full shot while sound effects, voice acting, and animation are added to the original artwork. (wikipedia)

To complete

1. Comic Cover Page

2. Animated One Page Intro

Animated scope:

1. Parallax (to create depth)

2. Secondary Action

3. Animated Background

Chapter 1 - The Setting (Exhibition, Inciting Incident)

I came home from an infested part of the town, drunk, and I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. I caught him; and when he was frightened at my violence, he inflicted a slight wound on my hand with his teeth.

Act 2 - The Clash (Rising Action, Midpoint)

My original soul seemed to fly out of my body immediately; a malice that was more than demonic, gin-nourished, thrilled every fibre of my body. I pulled a pen knife from my waistcoat pocket

Act 3 - Resolution (Pre-Climax, Climax)

choking the poor beast, deliberately cutting one of its eyes from its socket! I blush, I burn, I tremble, while I write of the atrocity.

Sketch

I chose The Black Cat. The story is about a man who claims to be gentle and an animal lover, who gradually becomes gripped by alcohol and a violent temper, becoming brutal and crazy.

I chose one of the paragraphs

Fig 1.8 Sketch

For the cartoon cover, I drew a cat in the centre of the image to better highlight the plot of The Black Cat where the main character kills a cat, while the main character is shadowed with a knife.

The red eye then represents the eye gouged out by the main character

Fig 1.9 Final cover

After discussing this cover with Mr Hafiz, I chose to remove the shadow of the woman because the content of the first edition cover didn't match the content of my comics

Fig 2.0 First cover 

Comic

Fig 2.1 Final comic

Final Animated One-Page Introduction

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Feedback

Week 10.

This week I looked online for inspiration and found some clips of Black Cat comics drawn by the author.

Week 11.

Mr. hafiz The draft comic looks good and the subplot is clearly expressed. Ready for the next part

Week 12

I started colouring and animating. You can decide on the style of drawing and how to perform this operation, the animation needs to be short and looping.

Week 13-14.

Great, it looks good.

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Reflections:

The last task tested my skills in Adobe illustration and Adobe after effects. I needed to be proficient in using the pen tool, cut box tool and other skills to complete my cartoon and I also had to separate out the layers for the parts I wanted to move in Adobe after affects as this made it better for me to make the subject matter move. During the making of the cartoon I felt that the colouring process did not satisfy me, but after many revisions I ended up with the first version. I also encountered a lot of difficulties during the animation process, once again I hadn't even used Adobe After Effects software before so I was very unfamiliar with him, but luckily, after my continuous attempts, I was able to make the final animation very smoothly.

Mr. hafiz's feedback helped me a lot to further modify my cartoon and I am happy to improve my work in this mode.

Last but not least, I am glad to have learnt the skills and knowledge about Adobe illustration and Adobe after effects, and I can't thank Mr. hafiz enough for helping me in this process.