Illustration and Visual Narrative : [ Lectures and Practice ]

 27.08.2021~ 20.09.2021 ( Week 01 ~ Week 04 )

Lum Qian Tong 0344309 Bachelor of Design in Creative  Media

Illustration and Visual Narrative

Task 1/Exercise

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Lecture

Introduction & Briefing

Week 1 

We were introduced to Ms. Anis and Ms. Jennifer. We get our announcement and class works through the TIMeS. The purpose of this module is to introduce students to the process of developing visual concepts from thoughts and communicating them to an audience through illustrations. Throughout the 14 weeks, we had a briefing on all of the projects. Lastly ,  we have a small task to design a character using the given shape to gain tacit production skills, digital skills, and similar abilities.

Week 2

We were introduced about the design basic of  character design .The first method we learn about character design is shape. It is used to distinguish a character and unique shapes help create an iconic character that is easy to remember such as Aladdin' s character design.

Figure 1 Aladdin' s Character (03/9/2021)

The second is color, it can help to convey the personality of the character .Different choices of colors also give an impression on a character. Color have the qualities that can cause certain emotions in people. The third one is emphasis and contrast .A good character design is when you pick one visual element in a character and exaggerate it, making the character outstanding and memorable. Sometimes picking a cultural element and adding it to design makes it uniquely authentic such as Disney's Hercules.

Figure 2 Disney' s Hercules & Hades (03/9/2021)

The fourth is harmony .All of the elements (shapes, colours, and contrast) should complement and work together to form a visual hierarchy. The most crucial aspects of the characters should be highlighted first like wall-e ,they only can express with their eyes.

Figure 3 Wall -E (03/9/2021)

The fifth is expressions / poses that the characters' actions and expressions should visually reflect their personalities. This are visually shown are the keys to win your audience heart!

Figure 4 Character Expression (03/9/2021)

Week 3

 Ms. Anis was talking about composition today. We discussed how the rule of grids, various movement of lines, contrast, the play of light, and other factors contribute to the visual appeal of some photographs. We learned about various photo types and compositions.

Figure 5 Types of shots (10/9/21)

First is to have a balanced distribution of positive and negative spaces. This develops a visual hierarchy and ensures that the values accurately reflect the mood. Drawing a scene in black and white might help to focus on specific issues or emphasis key elements in the scene. If your image appears well in black and white, it will likely look nice in color as well. In terms of composition, there are no right or incorrect answers.

Figure 6  Positives and negatives (10/9/21)

Week 4

Today Ms Anis taught us more about composition, more specifically, perspectives. In art, perspective is used to create an illusion and depict objects as they are, ranging from a 2D surface to a 3D optical illusion. Perspectives come in a variety of shapes and sizes .For examples,1 point,2 point,3 point,4-5 points (fisheye) and isometric grid.

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Practical

Week 2

Ms Jennifer showed us the fundamentals of Adobe Illustrator today. Ms Jennifer created a cute chameleon-like character and explained how to use Illustrator to complete the vormator challenge with our own character. She demonstrated how to lock layers and use the pen tool to make the vector shapes for the vormator challenge. 

Figure 7 Chameleon

Week 3

Ms Jennifer experimented with gradients to make our character show out more. She also told us how to use Illustrator to make our card design and guided us through the process step by step. To add extra details to a shape, use the knife tool to make  cuts within it.

Week 4

We can enhance the card design by adding different textures and gradients to make it more attractive after it has been created. Ms. Jennifer demonstrated how to make more beautiful cards by improvising. Finally, the texture and gradient effect is very stunning.

Figure 7 The Beautiful Outcome