Illustration and Visual Narrative | TASK 4 : WEBCOMIC
Illustration and Visual Narrative
Jesslyn Octavia Tjong ( 0374562 )
Illustration and Visual Narrative / Bachelor of Design (Honors) in Creative Media
Task 3 : Webcomic
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Instructions
II. Process Work
III. Reflection
I. INSTRUCTIONS
- Design an illustrated masthead for the comic cover in Illustrator while applying Scott McCloud's comic transition type and reference from frame ink.
- You may use Photoshop to manipulate images, adding textures and effects to create more surreal, atmospheric style.
- After that, create animations for at least 3 panels.
- Read through the story of The Monkey's Paw and choose a section to work with.
|| PROCESS WORK
RESEARCH
The Monkey's Paw tells a tale of a mummified paw granting wishes through the horrific exchange ( spoilers: taking a life ) that happened to the White family. Originally, the paw came from India from one of Sergeant-Major Morris's travels due to his job. He explains that the paw will grant any three wishes. However, both Morris and the owner before him regret using the paw. Mr. White wishes for money to pay off the mortgage. The next day, his son dies, and the Whites are awarded the exact amount of their mortgage as compensation.
In this task, we need to read the short story and take a section from it to animate 5-10 panels into a webcomic. It is important to focus on the transitions between the panels and illustrate it with a surreal feeling. Hence, this is the section I decided to illustrate :
IDEATION
This is the mood board I submitted in Google Classroom.
My original sketch was up to 11 panels over the limit. I asked for feedback in a physical classroom with Mr. Hafiz, who emphasized focusing on the specific parts; not every detail needs to be animated but instead told through the story. The next sketch, which was updated, only had 7-8 panels, which was accepted. This sketch included transitions of action to action on the first row while aspect to aspect on the other panels.
The moldboard also included the surrealism references I found on Pinterest. Overall, I wanted it to have a bold color palette but still exude a surreal feeling through possible complimentary colors.
FRAME INK
After the sketch, we would also need to provide framed ink. In my panels, one of them is a close-up look at their lower face which made me find references on how to color and do the frame ink precisely to show the smirk on the lower face. I tried to recreate and follow the example on the top right picture. This is shown through the frame ink sketch version below :
PROCESS
IN ILLUSTRATOR
I used some photo of poses from Pinterest as well as some of mine also to be able to draw the correct body postures.
I overlayed the canvas with the revised sketch so I could trace the lines of the outline. This is the outcome of the outline.
I continued on by coloring the base colors using the brush tool and providing the color to the background. In most panels, there's a dark gradient blue background which I chose to emphasize the tension in the room. There's only one light background to depict the chosen moment when Mr. White makes a wish.
I also tried adding details of the colors using several blending modes as well as using shapes to make a gradient color from light blue to black which happens a lot in this panel.
I finalized the webcomic with highlights and accentuating details mainly on the hands, chins, or skin area. Not to mention, I believe having a dark light provide the basis of a surreal yet dark crippling feeling happening throughout the story.
Using several transitions of music notes, lighting, and movement of the monkey's paw jittering, I moved the elements of duplicated artboards of the webcomic. I made up to 8 frames which were ready to be exported to Photoshop. The text had effects on them too using distort options.
There's still more that has to be done in Illustrator. The cover was something I did on a sudden inspiration idea. Once again, the reference I used came from Dave McKean Sandman.
There's still more that has to be done in Illustrator. The cover was something I did on a sudden inspiration idea. Once again, the reference I used came from Dave McKean Sandman.
I initially had drawn a monkey's paw on another illustrator file. Having come to understand the story, it's obvious how important the monkey's paw is which made it to the center point of the cover.
Using references from above, I used a brown color palette and made use of the eyes I had used from the comic. There are two sets of eyes which can be anyone's that's up to people's assumptions. ( Father & Son, Distressed Wife & Husband, etc. )
I added the final details where there's also the use of blending modes that will be shown in the final result section.
IN PHOTOSHOP
My time in Photoshop is short but I learned the best way to do this is through frame animation. To do this, I paste different consecutive artboards onto the layers and change which layers to be seen in the animation.
FINAL RESULTS
III. REFLECTION
Overall I had a wonderful experience in putting my creative skills into this work. I think it's important I've learned the ways to illustrate and create characters from a book alone and be able to provide the surrealistic touch needed in this assignment. Throughout this whole process, I realized how far I come to be able to do this task within a month's time. Using several skills taught by Sir Hafiz, I was able to provide a sufficient work that I hope can come across to readers as a an efficient and decorative reading material.
Comments
Post a Comment