Illustration and Visual Narrative - Task 1-Task 2: Exercises

  June 30,2024

GROUP 4

QIULIHUA/0365036

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

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LECTURES

week 1:

Mr Hafiz started us off by giving us access to Google Classroom and learning resources. He also introduced us to the Adobe Illustrator workspace and toolbar. Mr Hafiz showed us about illustration and visual narrative and gave us some module information.The aim of the module was to introduce students to the process of creating visual concepts from ideas and communicating the images to an audience in the form of illustrations. Finally and showed us our assignment for the semester.

WEEK 2:

Mr Hafiz introduced the game 'The bezier game' during the lesson and asked us all to participate in it to better understand how to use the pen tool.

FIG 1.0  'The bezier game' 

Afterwards, Mr Hafiz introduced us to the Vormator Challenge

FIG 1.1 

We will recreate these shapes using the Pen tool.

WEEK3:

This week we learnt more about Adobeillustration and Mr Hafiz showed us how to create graphics using the pen tool.

Fig 1.2 Shape Tool

FIG1.3 Pen Tool

FIG 1.4 Pen Tool

WEEK4：

CHIAROSCURO

• CHIAROSCURO

The use of light and dark tocreate the illusion of three-dimensional volume on a flat

surface.

The purpose of chiaroscuro is to increase the scene’s dramatic tension by exaggerating the subject’s importance using color or light contrast.

Fig 1.5 The Calling of St Matthew (Caravaggio, 1599 - 1600)

• LOW-KEY LIGHTING

A style of lighting for photography, film or television.It accentuates the contours of the

subject by throwing areas into shade while a fill light or reflector may illuminate the shadow areas to control contrast.

Fig 1.6 Barry Lyndon (Kubrick, 1975)

CHIAROSCURO IS USED IN VISUALNARRATIVE BECAUSE

This method is an excellent lighting choice to differentiate positive vs negative spaces

--NCREASE DRAMATIC TENSION :Gives thrilling emotive depth on the look and feel in the scene

--CREATE SENSATIONAL  EFFECT:Helps elevate fantasticalviewpoints to emphasis on the narrative

--ATTRACT ATTENTION: Establish visual hierarchy, the main point of the scene

--MAKE TASTEFUL COMPOSITION:The play on negative VS positive spaces creates

attractive scenes

WEEK 5-WEEK 6:

Due to public holidays and teachers not feeling well, there were no lectures for a fortnight.

WEEK7:

Mr Hafiz Zamri explained to us how we were going to do the next task, and we were going to do some animation based on the album cover.

Composition Theory 3

Fore, Mid, and Background

1. Composition: Composition refers to the way an image is laid out and organised.

2. Techniques: There are a number of techniques that can help you to better organise your compositions and, if used correctly, can take a work of art to a higher level.

3. Attracting the audience's attention: By using these techniques appropriately, you can make the artwork more able to attract the audience's attention and make it more noticeable.

 INTRO

1. Scene Composition: When composing a scene, it is important to effectively convey a sense of space.

2. Spatial hierarchy: By including a foreground (close to the viewer), a midground, and a background (away from the viewer) in the image, a sense of scale is immediately conveyed to the viewer.

3. Sense of Scale: This method of composition helps the viewer to immediately perceive the size and distance relationships of the objects in the image.

Fig 1.7 foreground,middle-ground, and background

Arranging Subject Matter

Fig 1.8 DIFFERENT TYPES OF PLANES

Foreground Focus:

1. Foreground Arrangement: You can arrange your subject in the foreground.

2. Example: Highlight the foreground as the main focus by using size differences and colour contrasts.

Middle-ground Focus：

1. Mid-range arrangement: You can arrange the focal point in the mid-range.

2. Example: Highlight the main focal point by using size differences and contrasting light and shadow.

Background Focus:

1. Background Arrangement: You can arrange the focal point at the furthest point of vision, i.e. the background.

2. Example: Highlight the main focal point by using shapes and contrasting light and shadow.

Design Flow

A good arrangement of visual focal points in the foreground, midground and background should be able to show a sense of movement and rhythm in the design. This is referred to as the Design Flow

Definition

Design flow is the way your eye moves or is guided through a composition. A design with good flow smoothly guides the viewer's eye as it moves through the layout, from one element to another.

Fig1.9 Design Flow

Importance

• Your visual design should be able to influence the way your audience digests your content.
• This is especially important in the interface design and information design genres, as you need to combine text, lines, contrast, colour and imagery

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INSTRUCTIONS

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TASK

Task 1: 

Vormator Challenge

I was inspired by the Devil's Owl, and because I love ice and flowers, I designed the Vormator in blue and pink.  

Fig 1.7Vormator Challenge

Chiaroscuro

Mr Hafiz showed me how to use the hobby knife tool to cut shapes and change the colours of shapes during the class.

Fig 1.8 Exercise 1

EXERCISE : LIGHT AND SHADOW

Mr Hafiz demonstrated the use of clipping masks and composite paths

Fig 1.9chiaroscuro people.

Fig 2.0 final result

illustrated type

• Pencil Tool
• Envelope Distort
• Blend
• Intwine

Fig 2.1 exercise

Task 2:

 Pokemon Card  Composition

We were asked to design a composition that made effective use of the foreground, middle ground and background to tell a softer narrative about the characters.

Firstly，I gave my Pokemon a shadow.

Fig 2.1 My Pokemon with shadows

Next I designed the background, but as the background was similar in colour to my Pokemon, it didn't reflect the main visual, so I toned down the image as a whole.

Fig 2.2 process 

And added snowflakes around it to make the subject stand out from the rest.

Fig 2.3  final process

Eventually I got the image as a whole to have a distinct front, centre and back composition.

Then I started designing the functions and skills of my Pokemon. The end result is as follows.

Fig 2.4 Pokemon Card

Assignment 1 

Fly Me To The Moon

1. sketch

Fig 2.5 Fly Me To The Moon

I referenced the astronaut material and outlined the general shape with the pen tool

Fig 2.6Reference Photos

Fig 2.7 astronauts

I added orbs around them to make the image look richer, and added ribbons around the big planet to make the visual neutralisation more pronounced

Fig 2.8 after coloring

animation production

After much tweaking and tweaking, I've worked hard to make it look smoother

Fig 2.9 Animation 1

Fig 3.0 Animation 2

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Reflections:

Throughout this assignment I learnt about the basic tools and techniques in Illustrator. The fun part was that we could create any object or design we wanted and put them together, add effects to them and so on. Apart from some difficulty in creating animations, it has made me very fluent in the use of the software.