Illustration and Visual Narrative Final Project

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1st July 2023 (Week 9) - 26th July 2023 (Week 12)

Insha Thahirah Rajab - 0360671

Illustration and Visual Narrative - Section 01

Bachelor's Degree  in Creative Media (Honors) - Taylors University

Final Project


CONTENTS

Lecture

Instructions

Final Project

Reflection


LECTURE




INSTRUCTIONS



PROJECT

Final Project - Comic Cover and Animated One Page Intro


Select one of Edgar Aleen Poe's short stories and create:

1. Comic Cover Page
2. Animated One Page Intro

Animated scope:
1. Parallax (to create depth)
2. Secondary Action
3. Animated Background

Edgar Allen Poe Stories: https://poestories.com/stories.php


Figure 1.0 Sample Animated comic page

:research

Before starting on my sketches i needed to figure out inspiration to extract an art syle and pallete. I checked out some of the files sent by Mr Hafiz and used a variety of sources to begin.


Figure 1.0 Inspiration #1

Figure 1.1 Inspiration #2


Figure 1.2 Inspiration #3

Figure 1.3 Inspiration #3


I decided to go for a sketchy, doodly art style. Capturing the hatching inked look to make the comic feel both graphic yet horrific. I took inspo from various artists and comic companies;

Inspiration: 


I read many of Edgar Allen Poe's stories and picked a few favourites. I started out developing the idea and sketches for the story "The Black Cat", but later changed it to "The Masque of the Red Death". I watched some video analysis on the deeper meaning of the stories. 

:drafting
I started off drafting cover pages for "The Black Cat" before deciding it was too cliche.

Figure 1.4 Cover Page Design 1

Figure 1.5 Cover Page Design 2

Figure 1.6  Cover Page Design 3


I changed my story completely as I wanted something with more characters so I dove deep into the comic design for the "Masque of the Red Death. I used Chat GPT to aid me with guidelines on the rising action of the story. 


Figure 1.7 Screenshot of Chat GPT prompt   

Figure 1.8 Second screenshot of Chat GPT prompt   


After getting a grasp of the story, I made my first sketches of the first comic page with the rising action. I made it based on the appearance of the mysterious figure and the main conflict of the story. I made it character-based, focusing every ounce of attention on the antagonist, Death. 

Figure 1.8 First Sketch of Comic Page

After getting the sketch down, I blocked in the colours for the palette and overall feel of the final product to be achieved. 

Figure 1.9 Final Detailed sketch and colour blocking


This sketch was more refined and detailed to set the tone for the final digitzation. After finalizing this design and concept, I adopted a similar style and palette for the cover page. 

Figure 2.0 The Masque of the Red Death Cover Page Draft 1

Figure 2.1 The Masque of the Red Death Cover Page Draft 2

Similar to my comic design, I needed the main subject to be of the Antagonist, Death. I wanted the cover to feel more finished than the sketchy comic, and have a similar look, yet a different feel to it. I wanted it to feel classy and royal. I picked the 2nd sketch as I found no issue with it and found the composition and style perfect to what i was looking for. 

:digitizing

Due to the brief, I had to digitze my final work through Adobe Illustrator. I focused on the pencil and pen tool to achieve this look. 


Figure 2.2 Cover Page Digitzation

Basing it off my sketch, I drew it as similarly as possible, keeping every detail the same, yet more polished up. I used an art brush to keep things more authentic and feel hand-drawn and sketchy, which was my overall art style. Once satisfied, I began colour blocking.

Figure 2.3 Colour Blocking with no Line Art

I started working on  my comic page design afterwards. This was a smooth and enjoyable process and the cover page turned out perfect.


Figure 2.4 Final Digitized Comic Cover

Figure 2.5 Final Digitized Comic 


:animation

I used After Effects for the animation. I divided the layers into separate PNG frames so I could import them into After Effects for animation. 

For certain frames, I drew individual layer frames and added them onto the timeline.


Figure 2.6 Example of Individual Frame Layers

Working with After Effects was both tedious and fun. It was nice seeing the animation come together. I made some changes to the layers on the digitization so that the animation is more smooth and the layers are easier to divide. It was interesting animating each comic frame separately and adding them together at the end. 

Figure 2.7 Screenshot of working with After Effects

:final product

Here's the final product: 


Figure 2.8 Final Comic Cover


Figure 2.9 Final Animated Comic

Absolutely pushed my limits and taught me a lot, the comic page was slightly different from the final digitized version, but nevertheless, came together exactly as envisioned.

REFLECTION

My Final Project was by far my favourite. Although I say this for many projects I work on, IVN gave me many projects that I genuinely enjoy working on. I enjoy illustration and animation, and putting these together with apps I haven't used previously proves to be incredibly enjoyable. Making a comic cover was something new to me, and it took me the least amount of time. Easily the smoothest process. It took me around 15 minutes and I believe it was my strength in this assignment. I struggled the most with animating, I procrastinated this a lot and dividing each layer and importing to after effects was a lot of work. Moreover, My Illustrator crashed numerous times when syncing between iPad and laptop, which wasted lots of time, effort and energy. The end was definitely worth it. Research was also interesting; Edgar Allen Poe was an author and poet I had heard of many times and wanted to get into, but never found the time. This assignment unlocked the literature nerd in me and I found it a lot of fun to go through his short stories and some of his poems too. I ended up picking a more popular work, however, due to the drama and action that can be well illustrated into a comic page.



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