Illustration and Visual Narrative / Project 2: Editorial Illustration (Decisive Moment)

 30/10/2023 - 20/11/2023 / Week 6 - Week 9

Lim En Yu / 0354452

Illustration and Visual Narrative / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor’s University 

Project 2: Editorial Illustration (Decisive Moment)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Lectures

2. Instructions

3. Project 2: Editorial Illustration (Decisive Moment)

4. Feedback

5. Reflection

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LECTURES

Week 6

Lecture Slides about Assignment Brief:

Fig 1.1 Lecture Slides about assignment brief

On week 6, Mr Hafiz introduced the following project to us which is  editorial illustration about the decisive moment. We are required to interpret the narrative's decisive moment or the climax of the narrative about the urban legends that we have to choose and do research. After we have created assets we have to make minor animation using Adobe Photoshop.

Week 7

Lecture Slides about Composition Theory:

Fig 1.2 Lecture Slides about Composition Theory

For this week's lecture, we have learnt about composition theory which we can apply on our editorial illustration. There are different types of planes including foreground, middle-ground and background.

Foreground: Objects that are nearest to the viewer

Middle-ground: Objects in between foreground and background

Background: Objects that are the furthest away from the viewer

To highlight the main focus, we can do it by using the size differences, colour contrast, light/shadow contrast or shapes.

Effective organization of visual elements, utilizing foreground, middle-ground, and background, can establish a design flow. This arrangement has the potential to convey a sense of motion and rhythm in your design.

In order to study more about the arrangement related to the use of foreground, middle-ground, and background and combine the sense of flow in the animation, Mr Hafiz has shown us a video called "The Soloist" which is a dark comedy animation short. We have to observe about the composition, camera angle, foreground, middle-ground and background.

Link of short: The Soloists

Fig 1.3 The Soloists

Fig 1.4 Application of background

Fig 1.5 Application of foreground

Fig 1.6 Application of colour contrast

Fig 1.7 Application of light and shadow contrast

Practical Class

During practical class, we have also done transparency gradient and noise exercise. We are required to create textures by adding shading to your illustrations by using the Grain Effect combined with linear, radial and freeform gradients. Mr Hafiz has explained demonstrated the detailed steps to us, he also provided some videos to us as references and guides.

Video link: 

• How To Create A Transparent Gradient Mask with Illustrator
• How To Create Texture Gradients - Illustrator Tutorial

Fig 1.8 Illustration people to add texture, Week 7 (6/11/2023)

Fig 1.9 Gradient and texture "grain" added, Week 7 (6/11/2023)

Fig 1.10 Mutiply blending mode, Week 7 (6/11/2023)

Fig 1.8 Final result, Week 7 (6/11/2023)

Week 9

Lecture Slides about Limited Animation:

Fig 1.9 Lecture Slides about Limited Animation, Week 9 (20/11/2023)

On this week, Mr Hafiz has introduced us about example of limited animation which is secondary animation. Secondary animation often contributes to and enhances the primary movement, providing additional depth to the character animation and complementing or strengthening the central action.

A quick and efficient method to increase the appeal of the animation involves introducing a realistic complexity. This is achieved by visually revealing a sequence of interconnected actions that underscore the impact of a particular action. However, these are typically smaller actions that support a central, main action.

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INSTRUCTIONS

Fig 2.1 Module Information

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Project 2: Editorial Illustration (Decisive Moment)

Research and References

After exploring lots of different types of urban legends, I have chosen "Bloody Mary" as my idea of editorial illustration. Bloody Mary is a mythical entity believed to be summoned for fortune-telling purposes through a ritual involving the repeated chanting of her name in front of a mirror in a dimly lit or candle-lit room. The prescribed number of utterances is typically 13. According to the legend, participants in this ritual may experience the apparition manifesting in various menacing ways, including screaming, cursing, strangling, soul theft, blood-drinking, or eye scratching.

I have explored a lot of designs related to bloody mary through pinterest in order to get more ideas to sketch it out.

Fig 3.1 Explorations, Week 6 (1/11/2023)

After explorations, I have chosen several designs as my references and I have made colour palettes based on the design for my illustration.

Fig 3.2 Moodboard, Week 6 (1/11/2023)

Sketches

After completing with the explorations, I proceeded to digitally sketch the concept. This resulted in four pages of sketches, including the visual representation of how I envisioned animating the project.

Fig 3.3 Sketches #1, Week 6 (4/11/2023)                              Fig 3.4 Sketches #2, Week 6 (4/11/2023)

Fig 3.5 Sketches #3, Week 6 (4/11/2023)                             Fig 3.6 Sketches #4, Week 6 (4/11/2023)

During the consultation session, I have asked for Mr Hafiz's opinion and feedback. He adviced me that the foreground which is the shoulder angle should be bigger, the lightning can just show the brightness of light only which is outside of the frame. Therefore, when the moment of lightning, the ghost can appear behind of the girl in the mirror. For mirror table, Mr Hafiz suggested that I should change it to how it looks like in my house instead of vintage style.

I have made another sketch according to Mr Hafiz's feedback. Here is the new sketch and reference for mirror table in my house:

Fig 3.7 New Sketch, Week 7 (8/11/2023)                     Fig 3.8 Reference for mirror table, Week 7 (8/11/2023)

Digitalization

Once I finished the final sketch, I transitioned to the digitalization phase using Adobe Illustrator. Initially, I utilized the pen tool to outline and sketch all the elements.

Fig 3.9 Progression on sketching the outlines, Week 7 (12/11/2023)

Fig 3.10 Final version of outline, Week 8 (13/11/2023)

Thus, I progressed with colouring after completing the outline part. Here are the progressions of my colouring process.

Fig 3.11 Progression of colouring #1, Week 8 (13/11/2023)

Fig 3.12 Progression of colouring #2, Week 8 (13/11/2023)

While coloring, I have applied the gradient tool to enhance the visual appeal of the colors and add depth to the illustration.

Fig 3.13 Gradient of candle stand, Week 8 (13/11/2023)

Fig 3.14 Gradient of handle of mirror table, Week 8 (13/11/2023)

I attempted to achieve a metallic and realistic effect in both of the  gradient above. Radial gradient is applied to candle stand while linear gradient is applied to the handle as they have different shapes.

Fig 3.15 Gradient of  eyes, Week 8 (13/11/2023)

Fig 3.16 Gradient of  candle light, Week 8 (13/11/2023)

Fig 3.17 First version of digitalization, Week 8 (13/11/2023)

Before I continue with the improvement of colouring, I have asked for Mr Hafiz's feedback on my first version of digitalization. Mr. Hafiz provided recommendations regarding adjustments to the brightness and lighting. Besides that, I have also made some minor changes on the ghost and also added bloody handprints on the mirror to emphasize on the topic "Bloody Mary".

Fig 3.18 Progression of improvement, Week 8 (15/11/2023)

Fig 3.19 Bloody handprints, Week 8 (15/11/2023)

Other than that, I have also applied different types of texture on the curtain and also mirror table, texturizer effect for curtain while craquelure effect for mirror table.

Fig 3.20 Texture applied, Week 8 (15/11/2023)

Fig 3.21 Final version of digitalization, Week 8 (15/11/2023)

Animation

After finishing the illustration, I progress with the animations using Adobe Photoshop. I have used video timeline tool to complete the animations which required me to separate the layers with different animations first.

Fig 3.22 Separate layers, Week 8 (19/11/2023)

Next, I then export all the layers from Adobe Illustrator to Photoshop and create video timeline from timeline options. It will separate each of the layers so that I can animate each of them based on transform option or opacity.

Fig 3.23 Video Timeline, Week 8 (19/11/2023)

Initially, I started with the hand movements of both hands, adjusting their positions from bottom to top. This conveyed a gradual motion, capturing the protagonist's sense of astonishment.

Fig 3.24 Hand movement, Week 8 (19/11/2023)

Fig 3.25 Hand movement (GIF), Week 8 (19/11/2023)

Thus, I progressed with the facial expression that invovles the movement of eyeball and mouth. At first, the eyes of protagonist was looking at the right but it change to left when the ghost appeared. The size of the opening mouth has also slowly become bigger as she felt shocked during that moment.

Fig 3.26 Eyes motion, Week 8 (19/11/2023)

Below are the full transformation point of each part of the ghost which I have separate the ghost's body and hair into several layers for me to animate. Each layer of hair will have different movement so that it looked more lively. I have added mutiple points for each of them while every point it has slightly different position and size which lead to a motion during every second.

Fig 3.27 Ghost Transformation, Week 8 (19/11/2023)

On the other hand, for the three bloody handprints I did not transform them. Instead, I just adjust the opacity to make an effect that it appeared smoothly as it has a transition.

Fig 3.28 Motion of bloody handprints, Week 8 (19/11/2023)

For the hair part, as I wanted to show the slightly movement of hair, I have slightly transformed it which only has four points of transformation.

Fig 3.29 Movement of hair, Week 8 (19/11/2023)

Moreover, in order to indicate that the candle light will move due to the air movement, I have also transformed it with several points. both tall candle and short candle lights' movement are at the same moment as both of them should experienced same airflow.

Fig 3.30 Movement of candle light, Week 8 (19/11/2023)

Both of the pictures below show the difference with and without lightning. When there is lightning, I have decreased the darkness of room as well so that it shows that the room is illuminated by the lightning.

Fig 3.31 Difference inside the room while lightning, Week 8 (19/11/2023)

Fig 3.31 Difference inside the room while lightning (GIF), Week 8 (19/11/2023)

When the opacity of lightning increase, the opacity of darkness will decrease which is the same as the transformation points that I have made.

Fig 3.32 Lightning transformation, Week 8 (19/11/2023)

Here is the title that I have illustrate using Adobe Illustrator.

Fig 3.33 Title "Bloody Mary", Week 8 (19/11/2023)

Other than that, I have also added the title "Bloody Mary" at the back with a transition of black coloured background. Animation of the bloods slowly coming down are made at the letter "B" and "Y" and some bloodstains are also added beside.

Fig 3.34 Transition of "Bloody Mary", Week 8 (19/11/2023)

Fig 3.35 Transition of "Bloody Mary" (GIF), Week 8 (19/11/2023)

Fig 3.36 "Bloody Mary" transformation, Week 8 (19/11/2023)

Final outcome of animation

Fig 3.37 Final outcome of animation (GIF), Week 8 (19/11/2023)

Artist Statement

The reason I chose to create a narrative around the urban legend of "Bloody Mary" is because I have heard of this urban legend lots of times and I am always wondering about the authenticity of it. It only requires minimal conditions, just a person, a mirror, and candles, making it tempting to test, yet the associated risks deter me. Consequently, I've incorporated this urban legend into my story, allowing the character I've created to undergo the experience.

In fact, the conclusion I've devised remains open-ended, refraining from definitively revealing whether the ghost will harm the girl or let her survive. Given the absence of a predetermined ending to this urban legend, I have chosen to maintain that ambiguity for the audience.

Moreover, I've depicted the setting of the story to closely resemble the layout of my own house. This deliberate choice aims to enhance the immersive experience for both myself and the audience, creating a sense of realism that mirrors common household designs. Additionally, in order to prevent the ghostly figure from overshadowing the main character, I've opted to portray it as a dark shadow rather than providing intricate details. The atmospheric lightning serves as an indication of unfavourable weather, contributing to the overall ambiance of the narrative. In summary, my design captures the portrayal of a young girl engaging in the "Bloody Mary" ritual alone at her home on a rainy day—a scenario that is both familiar and unsettling.

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FEEDBACK

Week 7: I have drawn two sketches of different ideas of urban legends and I asked for Mr Hafiz's opinion. Mr Hafiz chose the concept of bloody mary and he has gave me some suggestions to improve on it. He suggested that I should enlarge the size of shoulder view which is at foreground. He also give me feedback on the style of the mirror table. Instead of vintage style of mirror table he think I should change it to what it looked like in my house so that people can empathize with the situation.

Week 8: After I have done with my illustration, I have shown it to Mr Hafiz for feedback. Mr Hafiz give me suggestions on the adjustment of brightness and the lightning.

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REFLECTION

I find this assignment fascinating since urban legends are an uncommon topic of assignment, and it allows us the freedom to select what we want to illustrate and animate. I thoroughly enjoyed the process of sketching and illustrating, gaining valuable insights from various perspectives in the process.

On the other hand, I have also learned the way to create an animation and the ways to handle it so that it looks smoother. Although the process required a lot of efforts and time, I was glad that the outcome was same as what I thought in mind. Through out the progression, I learnt a lot of things from every mistakes I have made. This assignment was really helpful for me to familiarize myself with Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.