Illustrator and Visual Narrative Task 2 Exercise

Posted by JIE XUAN

Illustrator and Visual Narrative Task 2 Exercise

6/11/2023-24/11/2023 (Week 7- Week 9)

Jie Xuan/ 0356515

Illustrator and Visual Narrative / Bachelor of Creative Media/Taylor's University

Task 2

1. Lectures

2. Instructions

3. Tutorial

4. Reflections

5. Feedback

LECTURES

Lectures Week 7:

Mr. Hafiz introduced us that the composition theory. Composition is mainly composed of three factors, which is foreground, midground, and background. Then he showed us a video name 'The Soloists' help us have a better understanding.

Fig 7.1 The Midground and Background

In this scene I think it strongly expresses the midground and background. The three sister in midground and the background is wood planks. It use the three sister and the wood planks to create a clearly contrast.

Fig 7.2 The Midground

In this scene, it shows the middle ground. The three sisters sit down evenly as a concave shape and the background is not too cluttered or blank, these allowing my eyes to focus on the middle. And there is a good use of lighting.

Fig 7.3 The Focus Point

The light in this secene guide my eyes focus on the three characters. The light create a focus point in the middle to highlight the characters and weaken the background. This shows that a good use of light and shadow is very important.

Lectures Week 8: Pencil Tool, Editorial Illustration Progress

Lectures Week 9: Limited Animation - Secondary action | Overlapping

INSTRUCTION

Task 2 Exercise (20%)- Assignment 1

Exercise and Marking Criteria:

Concept and interpretation of the urban legend (20%)
Design quality and minimalist style (30%)
Effective use of color, typography, and layout (20%)
Integration of minor animations (15%)
Artist statement and process documentation (15%)

Learning Goals:

Editorial illustrations are produced for newspapers, magazines and websites to add a visual dimension to a piece of writing. This serves two main functions – it helps to grab the attention of the reader as they browse the publication, but can also help to add a new perspective to the article.

For this assignment, you must find a related article/story that discuss Urban Legends. The legends maybe local or international. The artstyle must be derived from Art Deco.

Weight: 20% of the final grade
Duration: 3 weeks

In this assignment, you will create a minimalist editorial illustration based on an urban legend of your choice using Adobe Illustrator. Your illustration will be designed for a digital media publication and should include minor animations to enhance engagement.

Choose an urban legend that interests you and aligns with the editorial theme.
Research the chosen legend thoroughly and gather visual references.
Create a concept mood board to explore the style, color scheme, and overall visual direction.
Write a brief description of your chosen urban legend and how you plan to interpret it in a minimalist style.
Begin sketching your editorial illustration. Focus on creating a clear and compelling composition.
Develop your illustration in Adobe Illustrator. Pay attention to clean lines, simple shapes, and minimalism.
Experiment with the use of color and typography, keeping the editorial context in mind.
Start planning the minor animations you intend to incorporate.
Refine your illustration, paying close attention to details, balance, and visual impact.
Add animations to your design using Adobe Illustrator or other animation software.
Test the animations to ensure they enhance the overall narrative without being distracting.
Write a short artist statement explaining your design choices, including how your illustration reflects the chosen urban legend and the editorial context.
Submit your completed editorial illustration as a high-resolution digital file (preferably vector format).
Include a link to a presentation or video demonstrating the animations.
Submit your artist statement and any process documentation.

Time Frame: Week 7- Week 9

TUTORIAL

Week 7:

This week, we were introduced to a new assignment, wherein we were tasked with illustrating a specific turning point in our chosen urban legend. Mr. Hafiz emphasized that our illustrations should exclusively adhere to the art deco style.

For my project, I selected a United States urban legend known as "The Heceta Head Lighthouse." To prepare for the illustration, I engaged in brainstorming sessions to identify key elements that could enhance the visual narrative. Additionally, I created mood boards as part of my research process. Employing the art deco style, I depicted the setting described in the assignment brief to bring the story to life.

Story:

The Heceta Head Lighthouse, located on the rugged Oregon coast, is surrounded by its share of mysterious stories and local urban legends. One popular story involves the ghost of a woman named Rue, who is said to haunt the lighthouse keeper's house. According to the legend, Rue was the wife of a head lighthouse keeper, and tragedy struck when their young daughter died. Distraught, Rue fell from a cliff to her death. Visitors and staff at the lighthouse have reported various paranormal occurrences, such as unexplained the sound of a woman weeping and as long as girls walk that street that beside the head lighthouse late night alone will meet her. While these stories contribute by visitors to the lighthouse, adding to the mystique surrounding this iconic coastal landmark.

Fig 7.1 Urban Legend Mood board References

In week 7 tutorial class, we learn transparency gradient and noise. We have to create a textures by adding shadow to our illustrations with Grain Effect. Mr. Hafiz showed us the tutorial videos of how to create a transparent gradient mask with illustrator and how to create texture gradients. After that we need to apply them in an exercise.

Fig 7.2 Texture Design Exercise, Week7 (6/11/23)

We had to show our sketches to Mr. Hafiz. I design the composition like this is because let the whole composition got fore background, mid background and background.

Fig 7.3 Urban Legend Compositions Sketches Week7 (6/11/23)

Week 8: Pencil tool

In week 8 we have to illustrate the specific turning point that we chose from our urban legend.

Fig 8.2 Composition Week 8(15/11/2023)

Week 9:

This week we still focus on the animation part, we finalize our assignment.

I make 13 layers and adjust the layers.

I pull every layer to the timeline I want.

Final Result

Final gif

REFLECTION

In this assignment, I feel a bit stress because the duration time is so rush than the previous assignment. We need to do our sketch and illustration composition in two weeks. Besides that I still have other assignment are the same due date with IVN editorial illustration. But this few week I have learn many many things. For example: like how I design the composition in deco style and I go research what is deco style and learn new things. In addition, I also design a composition that have fore background, mid background and background which I learn from Mr. Hafiz lecture class.

FEEDBACK