1/Apr/2022 - 29/Apr/2022 (Week 1 - Week 5)
Kim MinJoon (0353248)
Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / COM61304 / Taylor's
University
Task 1: Exercise
LECTURES
Week 1
In the first week, the lecturer didn't give us any assignments to do but instead got on with what to expect for this module. She had given us a briefing about the module information, the requirements of the work, usage of the blogger website for composing our e-portfolios, and so on. The lecturers then gave us an exercise to start practicing for the program, 'Adobe Illustrator' to design our characters.
Week 2
The lecturer gave us our first tasks and handout to start with our
projects. She gave us a video/slide to follow through to guide us on how to
design our own character and imitate shapes, colors onto the
design.
The character should be iconic and simple where many people will remember
the character easily. simplicity gives the viewers a chance to remember all
the details that the character has, since it isn't all that complicated with
shapes and different sizes. Then, the finalized version should be unique, so
that it is differentiable between many characters.
There are many ways to start creating designs for a character. There are
simple principles and use all of them to follow up with a setup for a sketch
of a character. there is shapes, color, emphasis, contrast, harmony and
expressions. As in animation, shapes are usually visible within the
character but with the help of different principles, an expression starts to
materialize. clear visualization of emotions are also very important to make
the characters more appealing and unique.
Evil villains tends to have a odd shape formation where it harmonizes
itself within the formation. they take on the shape of a triangle, or a
inverted triangle to show sharp, imbalance in their appearance.
Colors are important as well. The animated movie 'Inside Out' shows great
representation towards the usage of colors to interpret feelings.
Expressions are also indicated very well and it compensates that with the
colors that is given by the characters.
Exaggerating and minimizing something is as important when it comes to
making a unique character. Having harmony between the shapes of different
sizes and colors becomes eminent.
A lecture report was assigned to us after, to study about the type of
character that we want to illustrate.
VISUAL STUDY REPORT
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| Figure 1.1: Monkey D. Luffy (08.04.2022) |
This character from the anime world of One Piece, is an iconic figure
in the anime industry and there is a reason to why it is.
His expressions are endless with joy, anger, and sadness throughout
the show, and is an excellent mood changer following the circumstances
of the situation. The colors on his clothes are iconic, red
emphasizing courage, braveness and daring, yellow bringing joyfulness
and warmth, then blue to overall match up with subtleness. These are
the 3 main colors that Luffy has, and are the main colors in the
spectrum to make the eye feel more natural and more appealing.
He always brings smiles to everyone’s faces with his idiotic behavior and his ability to bend and stretch like a rubber is very unpredicted for, as he is the main character and a lot of main characters have over powered abilities in other anime or cartoons. His personality is very straight forward, saying whatever he wants and doing whatever he wants whenever he feels like it. But with this behavior he gathers around the smartest, reliable crewmates and called themselves the straw hat pirates, which is also pretty ironic.
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| Figure 1.2: Luffy's face (08.04.2022) |
With the will to go the furthest and become the pirate king, Luffy
doesn’t get scared of any other enemies but can be when his crewmates’
lives are on the line. He respects them all equally and believes that
they all have their unique powers that becomes handy when fighting,
traveling and cooking.
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| Figure 1.3: Straw Hat Pirates (08.04.2022) |
He doesn’t have any piece of armor so it is just his pants and his
shirt mostly throughout the show, but in some cases, he does change
according to the scenario. His facial features are also very iconic
where he has a scratch mark right below his left eye, round pupils to
match with any type of expressions he makes and simple lines for his
mouth and eyebrows.
Week 3
The lecturer shared a pre recorded lecture to watch with us.
Chiaroscuro is to have the use of light and dark to make the object or subject a 3- dimensional volume. It means directly 'light-dark' and it is an Italian term.
Many famous artists and painters uses contrast on objects to show its 3 dimensional shape. The purpose can be to increase dramatic tension in that form of motion, by using color and contrast.
Another technique of 'Tenebrism' is used but unlike chiaroscuro, it uses a dark setting to make the scene dramatic.
Chiaroscuro makes the lighting of the higher contrast, the main focal point of a scene. This can also work with 'LOW-KEY lighting' it is used not in a total dark background, but on a slightly darker background, but the subject is illuminated slightly, to make the scene tense and to bring the object to the eye.
By using night and dark;
- it creates tension
- sensational effect
- attracts attention
- create tasteful composition
VISUAL STUDY REPORT
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| Figure 2.1: Les Misérables (15.04.2022) |
This is a scene from the 2012 movie, 'Les Misérables'. It is a movie about the French revolution back in the 17th century. It is a musical, and it is a great one at that. This scene is during a song 'One day More', and it uses subtle contrast on the embodiment of this inspector who was played by Russell Crowe. The song is about getting ready for war, just the day before, and although war is supposed to scare the people, the scene shows that the people of France were enraged and was ready to do whatever it took to bring freedom.
This plays excellent visual contrast on this scene in my opinion because it isn't a very vibrant atmosphere, and indicates that the inspector is a very serious man who is willing to do his job as a soldier to take down the revolution. The slight lighting just on the side of his face is enough to show his facial details and is comparable to the dark atmosphere and background behind him.
Moreover, the fact that the contrast and the dark lighting makes the character more vibrant than the surroundings, makes him the main focal point of the scene.
In this scene, the inspector seems to be in some sort of church and this does imply that he is loyal to his form of god, and thinks that this is the righteous choice to take. The very subtle texture that the light softly shines his skin makes the mood very calm, but the also very sinister.
In the scene, Russell Crowe is shown as the close-up shot and is the main focus on the current shot. This is visible as he is shown closely to the scene while the background is distant with the character. This pays great attention to the viewer as not only is he in the picture but is the main foal point during the entire scene. This plays excellently with his role and that is why I love this scene.
Week 4
As a designer, we need to always consider making the photography or the design make tasteful and creative. It is only me who can decide what goes in and out of a photograph or a design.
The challenging part of composition is arranging and presenting the elements in the visual design. There are always color crash between the characters and the background and between the characters as well. There also needs to be balance to make the composition not so strong in an element.
Visual Rules include;
- Visual Narrative
- Visual Flow
- Visual Balance
- Visual Hierarchy
Visual Narrative - The composition you work on should complement the character and should be able to reflect a narrative.
Visual Flow - This makes the composition have a path of visualization through the viewer's eye.
Visual Balance - This makes balance to the composition, which can make the viewer's eye lay on both the sides of opposites but is a subtle element.
Visual Hierarchy - This makes the subject of the design/composition be focused and this can make immense effect on the composition as a whole.
To use all of the Visual Rules into a composition, there is need to understand the different type of shots;
- Establishing - Wide Shots
- Bird's Eye view - Directly above the subject (overhead shots)
- Frame within a frame - the ability to add depth to the scene and the subject is shown within a frame.
- Medium Shot - Usually shown to show the viewers what they are looking at, when the subject is talking or to show what they are doing in the scene.
- Close-up - To catch the emotion of the subject and to emphasize the emotions that are being shown and reflected.
- Worm's Eye View - An Intimate moment to capture both emotions and the physical well-being of the subject from the bottom to up perspective.
VISUAL STUDY REPORT
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| Figure 3.1: Establishing (22.04.2022) |
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| Figure 3.2: Bird's Eye view (22.04.2022) |
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| Figure 3.3: Frame Within a Frame (22.04.2022) |
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| Figure 3.4: Medium Shot (22.04.2022) |
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| Figure 3.5: Close-up shot (22.04.2022) |
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| Figure 3.6: Worm's Eye View (22.04.2022) |
Week 5
Composition Theory 3
Fore, Mid And Background
Composition essentially refers to how your image is put together. With tricks, used in the right way, can take the art to a next level and make it grab the audience's attention.
Foreground - Close to the viewer
Middle-ground - sandwiched layer between foreground and background
background - far away
This gives a 3-dimensional view on the composition.
Finn and Jake
This sort of arrangement can be seen in this scene / title card, and Finn & Jake are indefinitely in the foreground as they are seen to be closer to the viewer and the contrast can be seen being lighter. While the cloud in the background is shown further away, indicating that it is the Middle-ground and the background.
Middle-ground is also a place for the secondary subject, where the audience's view shifts from the main foreground subject to the middle-ground.
By Using shapes and light/shadow contrast to highlight main focus.
Design Flow
Design flow is the way that your eye moves or is led round a composition. It is somehow seen as an invisible guide to have the subject be seen in a composition with elements going towards the main focus. This concept applies not only in animation or posters, but also in designs such as applications, UI, and etc.
Example
The YouTube video of 'the Soloists' was shown to have a visualization of the making of a scene and composition.
VISUAL STUDY REPORT
For this Visual Study report, I decided to go with the animation work from Netflix and Riot Games, ARCANE. Arcane is an animated series and a very good one to say the least.
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| Figure 4.1: Ekko in 'ARCANE' (29.04.2022) |
The first figure, shows the first layer, the foreground. The character 'Ekko' is standing in the front layer holding out his stopwatch and the light in shining on him from behind. This shows that the character is the main focus, as the light cancels out most of the background and the character is the only main focus in this scene. The bridge, is the second layer, the Middle-ground, as it have this sort of foundation ground to the character, and the light shining can be considered the background as it sort of gives an element that really defines the main focal point.
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| Figure 4.2: Jinx in 'ARCANE' (29.04.2022) |
The character 'Jinx', shown in this figure, is shown as the middle-ground I believe. She is standing there as she fired her signature gun and recoil of that gun has her hand up in the air. The fire in front of her is shown as the first layer, the foreground as it gives this subtle entrance to the character, and the vibrant lighting of it reflects off of her skin. Then the boat is the background to have a sense of where she is.
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| Figure 4.3: VI in 'ARCANE' (29.04.2022) |
In this scene, not really visible, but a character named 'VI' is shown jumping over the dark silhouetted town, over the artwork in the background. This is really fascinating since it seems like she is the main focal point , but in this scene, contrast and the brightness on the layers plays a big role to sense which is the main focal point. The background is in focus because it is seen that the character jumping, is the first layer, the foreground, the town, which gives definition to the character, the middle-ground, then the graffiti artwork in the background which is the most vibrant among all the other layers.
INSTRUCTIONS
Week 1
We started off with the Bezier game, which was provided by the lecturers in google classroom to get familiar with the pen tool in illustrator.
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| Figure 5.1: Bezier Game (01.04.2022) |
The Bezier game tutorial was shown by Mr. Hafiz, the other tutorial lecturer, and told us to complete this by next week and upload it on the google classroom page.
Week 2
Exercise 1 : Vormator Challenge
We were tasked a an exercise called a vormator challenge. It was a challenge to create a unique character, by only using the given 8 shapes that the lecturer gave us. We couldn't warp it however, we could add more shapes onto even more shapes to give that design.
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| Figure 6.1: Shapes given (01.04.2022) |
On the top, is the shapes that has been traced out, so that we can get a better handling of the pen tool, and the other tools that are needed for the exercise.
Mr. Hafiz has shown us the functions of the divider in the pathfinder window, which lets us divide the shapes that overlaps with each other to create a separate shape that can be used for the design. This helped us make our character have depth and add colors and texture to the character design.
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| Figure 6.2: First design (10.04.2022) |
I started off with a simple design of a weird looking monster, and I wanted to make it look sinister as much as possible. Following the lectures, it was said that usually, a villain or a character who is inscribed as 'bad' has a sharp triangular face, so I tried to implement that on the design.
Of course, with the usage of the other shapes, I tried to make the face for it, and the closest shape it had to the circle was the drop shape. So I added that in and got to work with the body, the legs / the floating tail, and the arms. I was still very new to the program and was having a hard time dealing with layers and such since it wasn't like photoshop where I was a lot more fluent in.
I tried to use as much shapes as I could but without the advanced knowledge of illustrator, I couldn't quite get it how I wanted it to be.
Week 3
Almost the same as week 2's tutorial, Mr. Hafiz demonstrated the usage of the divider tool and the color scheme embedded into illustrator.
I first got into the duplication method of the shapes to give them depth, or textur on a certain point of where it is placed, and I made the outer layers dark, then as it went more inwards, it became lighter. This made an impression of a indent to the character, and I was not sure if I was okay with that sort of design.
It was difficult to try to implement that sort of duplication with the colors of the outer body of the character if those layers were just black to light grey, indicating sort of a mountain inside of the character.
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| Figure 6.3: Design failure (18.04.2022) |
The figure above was kind of what I had and I did not really like that. So I tried on the color variations that Mr. Hafiz has taught us, and tried out different colors.
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| Figure 6.4: Color #1 (18.04.2022) |
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| Figure 6.5: Color #2 (18.04.2022) |
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| Figure 6.6: Color #3 (18.04.2022) |
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| Figure 6.7: Color #4 (18.04.2022) |
As I tried different color combinations, I stumbled upon the color #4 variation and it felt most natural than the other colors. Of course, the character itself wasn't a natural being at all, but was to me the most fitting colors for the character.
After, I added in more details to the artwork and a few touches on the body and the shadow, and my vormator was done. It wasn't that impressive but it was something to be proud of, knowing that this was my first character design in illustrator.
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| Figure 6.8: Final Outcome (18.04.2022) |
Week 4
For the second last week before the week of submission, we were needed to create a card for our vormator. Miss Noranis, our lecturer stated that even thought there were restrictions for the creation of the vormator (example; tools and shapes that can be used), for the design of the card, we could use any type of tools, pen, colors, etc. This was a limitless design exercise for the character we made.
I went onto Google for this particular exercise to get some inspiration perhaps, and searched up a lot of cards that had unique character designs to them. Of course, Pokemon was there, so I tried to make that sort of concept to my Vormator (It didn't go well).
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| Figure 7.1: Card Research #1 (26.04.2022) |
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| Figure 7.2: Card Research #2 (26.04.2022) |
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| Figure 7.3: Concept #1 (26.04.2022) |
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| Figure 7.4: Concept #2 (26.04.2022) |
The added border on the character's canvas looked like a good idea, but it felt way too plain to be a border for a card.
The concept #1 had a promising design to work on, but having a non-matching font or a design to the border was not an ideal choice in my opinion.
So I researched upon a different type of card, a more digitalized as per se. I got into the category of those card rpg games in the search and they were sort of perfect for what kind of character I had.
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| Figure 7.5: Card Research #3 (26.04.2022) |
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| Figure 7.6: Card Research #4 (26.04.2022) |
From the references of the cards, I created another sheet to start of with the design. I created a simple card layout witha dark blue aesthetic, to give it a night theme. Then roughed out the edges so that it looked a lot more like a playing card.
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| Figure 7.7: Card layout Process (26.04.2022) |
For the backside of the card, I created a new canvas by placing it down by copying it and putting it next to each other, then I selected only the few parts of the card and reflected it to have that sense of looking the back of it. I fiddled around with the layers to look like some parts were sticking to the front side of the card and not the back, and it came out pretty decently.
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| Figure 7.8: Card layout Process (26.04.2022) |
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| Figure 7.9: Final Outcome / Front and Back (26.04.2022) |
FEEDBACK
Week 1
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Week 2
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Week 3
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Week 4
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REFLECTION
Experience
From this class, it was my first ever time using the program Adobe Illustrator. This was very nerve racking as I needed to get used to everything in the class to finish the exercise. But with step by step tutorials by both the lecturers and the mindset of being relatively positive, it was a pretty good class to be in. I never really got that tired in their class as they were open to us in the classes.
Observations
I have found myself stuck in a lot of situations in the classes where I was following and just lost myself completely even though the lecturer was going on with their class smoothly. But with the help of the replay of the lectures, I got through the steps quite well after reviewing it whole. Adobe Illustrator was not my best software, but i know that I will have to get used to it as soon as possible because this software is the bridge or the foundation to be a graphics designer / animator.
Findings
By using a lot of the tools that is shown in the lectures, I was scared that I might mess something up. But As we go through the classes every week, I know that there is only way to keep moving forward as the class won't slow down just for me. But I think that this Vormator challenge has given me a clear insight to how it will be in the future and I am all for it.
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