Illustration and Visual Narrative Project 1 /Exercises

5/4/2023 - 10/5/2023 (Week 1 - Week 6)

Tong Min Xuan / 0362744

Illustration and Visual Narrative / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media

Project 1 / Exercises 01 & 02

LECTURES

Week 1 

-Intro Vormator Tracing

Mr. Zamri had us play "The Bezier Game" after briefing us on the first semester's course material. I had never drawn with a mouse before, and the game was excellent for novices. However, even if drawing was challenging, it was fun, and the game's difficulty was increased by the various strange curves. After that, Mr. Zamri demonstrated how to make Vormator forms using Adobe Illustrator's pen tool, but several people—including myself—had not yet activated their accounts, so we were unable to use Ai. The following lesson, when we can finally employ AI, excites me.

Fig 1.1 Exercise in class

Week 2

-The fundamentals of character design and how to develop an iconic figure were explained to us. A "stylized design" is a new concept I learned about.  A character's bodily proportions and facial features can have a significant impact on how the audience perceives them. For instance, protagonists frequently have rounder eyes and a smaller size than villains, who typically have strong, pointed features like foxy eyes and a larger build. The many techniques for using the tools in Adobe Illustrator to trace and cut out an item were demonstrated to us by our tutor. Instead of using the pen tool, which takes a lot longer, we could utilise the "shape" tool to make the procedure simpler.

Fig 1.2 Lecturer video 

                                                                Fig 1.3 Lecturer video 

-Before the class, I watched the lecturer's teaching introduction movie beforehand, and also had a basic understanding as well as knowledge of these.

Week 3

-In this session, which focused about colours, we learned how to use Adobe Colour to construct our own colour palettes or, for greater convenience, how to use the eyedropper tool. This tutorial taught me how to create gradients, how to modify them, and how to regulate their orientation. 

Fig 1.4 Reference Video about colour

Week 4

-In this class , we learned about the illustrated type using Type (outlined), Pencil Tool, Shaper Tool, Width Tool and how to utilise it to create custom typefaces of our own. 

We can draw forms by using the pencil tool, which is the most adaptable method because you can simply modify the points as you like but isn't the most precise. 

Fig 1.5 Reference Video illustrated

Week 5 

- For week 5 ,we learned about how to create 3D effect using adobe illustrator.

FIg 1.6 3D Sushi Tutorial Video

                                                       Fig 1.7 Work based on tutorial video

                                                            Fig 1.8 3D Rainbow tutorial video

Fig 1.9 Work based on tutorial video

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INSTRUCTIONS

 

<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mA-iQTyn-nXrbyot2Yn4odaUJQW7OXO3/preview" width="640" height="480" allow="autoplay"></iframe>

-As part of task 1, we had to use elements from the vormator to invent a character using our imaginations. We were only permitted to utilise these particular shapes, and distortion was not permitted.

EXERCISES

Task 1 

Fig 2.0 Tracing Process

First, we need to illustrate the same patterns based on the provided graphics and create a character of our own using these patterns.

Fig 2.1 Working Process

                                                            Fig 2.2 Working Process (Draft)

-After drawing these shapes, I began to use them to try to make my own characters, combining them together.But I wasn't really happy with the character, I thought the composition was a bit cluttered, so I started working on another character.

Fig 2.3  Working Process

I made this new character and thought this was better than the last one, so I took this as my final piece.

SUBMISSION

Fig2.4 screenshot of the character's outline view in Adobe Illustrator (JPEG)

                                                    Fig 2.5 Final Character Design (JPEG)

Task 2 -

In order to complete task 2, we had to get two random words from the Pictionary website and illustrate them both. The word i get are 'snow' and 'notepad'.

Fig 2.6 Draft(snow)

                                                                        Fig 2.7 Draft (snow)

Fig 2.8 Draft (notepad)

                                                 Fig 2.9  Final Typography Design (JPEG)

   

                                                        Fig 3.0  Final Typography Design (PDF)

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REFLECTIONS

This was my first exposure to these software as well as the field, and I realized that a lot of thought as well as tedious process went behind each piece. Being the first task of this module, I found it to be a beneficial task which helped me learn the basics of characterization using the most basic shapes. This was pretty much my first time using Adobe Illustrator, and it was really challenging and unfamiliar to me, but I had a lot of fun learning more about the application through this module. As for the second task, I'm not quite satisfied with what I did, but next time I hope I can improve and be flexible with these skills