Illustration and Visual Narrative Task 1

Illustration and Visual Narrative

Ng Jia Xien (0355062)

Task 1

-Exercise 1: Vormator challenge 1/04/2022-15/04/2022 (week1-3)

-Exercise 2: Vector illustration (week 4-5)

week 01

In our first lesson, Miss Noranis give us a briefing on our module information booklet and do some explanation on exercise 1. We were asked to create an e-portfolio to summit our assignment and also exercise for the entire semester. Apart from that, we are given an exercise called vormator challenge which is we have to camo out with a unique and creative character design with only 8 different shapes.

week 02

Week 2 lecture: Character Design Basics

In the second week, we learn about the character design basics, and we are asked to try to keep the design within the sphere of the stylized design. The three principles for a stylized design are iconic, simplicity, and unique. First, try to think of design in an iconic form, which means that people can instantly recognize your design even in black silhouettes. Next, the simplicity of the design allows the viewer to digest and understand the purpose of the characters easily. And the last one is unique, try to think of a unique design, something that makes them not only memorable but also makes an impact on the viewer. Do bear these three points in mind when designing your character.

Instruction

Week 2 Lecture report 01- visual study

Week 2 lecture: Character design basics

For the lecture report as a visual study, I have chosen an American cartoon character called Winnie the Pooh as my topic.

Winnie the Pooh is an animation movie produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and directed by Stephen J. Anderson and Don Hall in 2011. The story was based on the homonym stories by A. A. Milne.

The main character, Winnie-the-Pooh (sometimes called simply Pooh or Edward Bear) is a yellow-furred, loveable, and honey-loving bear who lives in the forest surrounding the Hundred Acre Wood.

Despite being naïve and slow-witted, he is a friendly, thoughtful, and sometimes insightful character who is always willing to help his friends and try his best. A prime motivation is his love for honey (sometimes milk and chocolate), which quite often leads to trouble.

Pooh’s bulky body shows its personality of calm, cute, and also a little lazy, those characteristics of appearance reflected Pooh’s personality as a confused dreamer. Other than that, one of the most important features of Winnie the Pooh is its body is fully covered with yellow fur, which made it look affable, friendly, and easy-going, it always makes others feel comfortable when being with it. Through the friendly image of the character, Pooh becomes popular amongst their peers and also audiences. In addition, the red clothes often worn by Winne the Pooh does a good contrast to the images of the character which make the audience able to emphasize on the main character Pooh is a curious creature, happily asking as many questions as possible as he brings all of his heart and plenty of comedy to the movies, making him the best character overall.

Week 3 Lecture report 02- Chiaroscuro

Week 3 lecture: Chiaroscuro

In the week 3 lecture, we learned about chiaroscuro, which means the use of light and dark to create the illusion of three-dimensional volume on a flat. The main application of chiaroscuro is to increase the scene’s dramatic tension by exaggerating the importance of the subject using color or light contrast. In other applications of chiaroscuro for visual artworks such as comics, film, and digital work, there is an artistic lighting choice in which the focus point or subject of a scene is brightly colored or contrasted with a dark background.

There are two types of chiaroscuro: "Tenebrism” and “Low-key lighting”, both have several applications and are suitable for different situations. Tenebrism is a certain type of painting method in which significant details such as faces and hands are illuminated by highlights which are contrasted with a predominantly dark setting. Likewise, low-key lighting is a style of lighting for photography, film, or television, it accentuates the contours of the subject by throwing areas into shade while a fill light or reflector may illuminate the shadow areas to control contrast.

Chiaroscuro is used in visual narrative because this method is an excellent lighting choice to differentiate between positive spaces (refer to subject matter or object of interest in a visual) and negative spaces (refer to the filled space or background that surrounds the subject matter or object of interest in visual).

In conclusion, the purpose of chiaroscuro is to increase dramatic tension, which gives thrilling emotive depth to the look and feel of the scene. Also, create a sensational effect that helps elevate the fantastical viewpoint to emphasize the narrative. Other than that, establish a visual hierarchy to the main point of the scene. Finally, the play on negative and positive spaces creates attractive scenes that create a tasteful composition.

The picture above shows a scene in the movie name "Capernaum", a 2018 Lebanese drama film directed by Nadine Labaki and produced by Khaled Mouzanar. This movie shows Zain El Hajj, a 12-year-old living in the slums of Beirut. Capernaum is told in flashback format, focusing on Zain's life, including his encounter with an Ethiopian immigrant Rahil and her infant san Yonas, and leading up to his attempt to sue his parent for child neglect.

In this scene, Zain's younger sibling is sitting over there and observing the behavior of the elders. Meanwhile, the elders are crushing the pills into powder and soaking them inro clothes, which his brother sells to drug addicts in prison, In the foreground is a darker image that shows the criminal, law-breaking schemes. On the contrary, the child with lighter shades in the background represents innocence, goodness, and purity. In this case, chiaroscuro does increase the dramatic tension by showing the contrast between two subjects. Also, the dark and light contrast made the viewpoint emphasize the children’s faces, creating a sensational effect. This scene does impact the narrative in this movie since it described the situation of Zain’s family, a family that makes their child commit a crime even though their younger child is on the back.

Week 4 Lecture report 03- Visual Types and Shots

Week 4 lecture: Composition 1-visual shot & compositions

Establishing

Bird's eye view

Frame within a frame

Frame within a frame

Close-up

worm's eye view

medium shot

Pear Exercise

Task 01

In task 1 we were asked to create a character using a limited shape, which calls a vormator challenge.

Below is the initial draft of my design, but Ms. Anis told me to increase the size of the head and the line on the body. And I also found that the flowers on the character's head are too many and are dazzling, so I decided to decrease the flower to make it more emphasis on the main subject.