Illustration and Visual Narrative

 September 27, 2023

2023.09.27 - 2024.01.03

Ryoma Kato / 0365874

Illustration and Visual Narrative / Bachelors of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University

LECTURES

Week 1: Information

Online class. We did "The Bezier Game" for practicing adobe Illustrator. We need to draw the shape of car up to 14 nodes.

Week 2: Vormator Shapes

 

Online class. We learn how to copy the shape from the picture by using Adobe Illustrator. We use the pen tool to trace the perimeter of the shape. 

Week 3:  Shapes

Online class. Teacher teach us how to put the shadow to item and how to edit items like separating them and adding something, in Illustrator. And teacher explained 

 Putting the shadow - We need to use the pen tool to trace the outer circumference of the item you want to add a shadow to. And then trace the area where you want to add a shadow with the pencil tool. At this time, it is important that the beginning and end of the trace are outside the outer periphery that you traced earlier.

After trace the shape and shadow line, choose those two and then "Divided". Window→Pathfinder→Pathfinders→Divide, It can do "divide" with this flow.

(Image drawn while watching the lecture)

Change the color of the side you want to make a shadow.

(Image drawn while watching the lecture)

 Edit the item (Cutting) - Use Knife tool. Knife tool is in eraser box. And then select all of the products and slide the cursor to where you want to insert the cut line.

(Image drawn while watching the lecture)

 Edit the item (Add a shadow to the inside of the fruit) - Use pen tool and write inside of fruit. After that put shadow to inside too.

(Image drawn while watching the lecture)

Week4: Colours and blending mode

Online class. Learned how to use Chiaroscuro technique on human silhouette. And teacher introduced technique of using mask.

Week6: Composition and Depth

a

Week7: 

Online class. We learned how to make "" and, teacher teach us how to make gradient, how to use Grain, at the illustrator.

Week9:

Online class. Lecture explain us about the animation and teach how to make Gif animation.

Week10:

Online class. Lecture teach us 

Week11:

Offline class. Teacher tell us about final assignment in offline. And corrected students' work upon request.

Week12:

Online class. The lecture taught techniques that could be used to create the final assignment.

Week13:

Online class. Continuing from last week, the lecture taught techniques that could be used to create the final assignment.

Work (Week 1)

Draw the shape of car in the "The Bezier Game" up to 14 nodes.

My Work

Work (Week 2)

Draw and color the character by using the shapes that teacher give us. And you must to color your character.

My Work

I used something shaped like a guitar pick for the fox's face and ears, and I used a drop-shaped figure with a rounded bottom half for the body to give it a loose character feel. I especially put a lot of effort into creating the autumn leaves, which the fox uses as a fan. No matter how I tried, I couldn't come up with this shape at first, but I spent about three hours trying to come up with this shape.

Work (Week 3)

Put skull shadow to the fruit. And then put shadow to your character that you made last week.

My Work

(put skull shadow to fruit)

Work (Week4)

The male silhouette was traced and shadows were created using the Pathfinder tool. Next, the Clipping Mask tool was used to insert the desired texture into the selected area.

( Chiaroscuro people, week 4 )

Work (Week 6/7)

Add shadows to the characters you created in the second week of class and create a background using the 8 shapes you used to create the characters. And finally, use the Pokémon card frame to create a single Pokémon card.

(Working view)

(Completed Works)

(Back Ground)

(The shapes and shadow line)

I added shadows while being aware of where the sun's rays were. I also combined the shapes in various patterns, referring to images I researched on the Internet to express the randomness of the leaves on the tree.

(Final Pokemon Card)

Work (Week7〜11) : Editorial Illustration (Decisive Moment)

For this assignment, you must find a related article/story that discuss Urban Legends.

・Urban Legends that I choose

I chose "Hanako in the toilet". This Urban Legend is very popular in Japan. Hanako is the name of the girl who appears in this ghost story. Details vary depending on the region, but she looks like an elementary school student and is said to be wearing a white shirt and a red hanging skirt. She is said to be in the toilet on the third floor of the elementary school, and is said to manifest herself by knocking on the third toilet on the third floor and asking, "Is Hanako-san there?" Hanako is a monster that drags anyone who calls her into the toilet.

・The work below

(The sketch of work)

(The character who called the Hanako)

(Left two are I drawed and Right one is the image from google)

(The girl named Hanako)

(Left two are I drawed and Right one is the image from google)

(The design that I made)

I mainly used dark colors based on gray to create a spooky atmosphere. The structure of the toilet was inspired by the toilet at the elementary school I used to attend. Just adding a door would have lacked the spookiness, so I placed amulets paper, which are used in Japan and elsewhere to confine monsters, on the inside of the door.

・Created Gif and steps to create it

(Editing screen)

First, I created a total of 30 scenes from start to finish. Next, I imported those 30 images into Photoshop, played around with the number of seconds, etc. to create an animation, and created a GIF. The The completed GIF is below.

(The Gif I made)

The area I was particular about was the toilet door, and I adjusted it so that it opened slowly in order to arouse fear.

Work (Week10-11) : Aspect to Aspect

Work (Week11-14) : Final Task

Integrate knowledge and skills gained from three different modules. And make design.

(The picture i used)

First, I converted the above photo to a pixel image.

(Photo converted to pixel image)

Combine the original image and the pixel image half and half.

Apply effects to the entire image and half of the image, and add text.

Finally, use colored brushes to brightly color the design.

(Completed image)

The most difficult part of creating the final task was turning the original photo into pixel art. If you make the pixel size too large, you won't be able to tell what kind of photo it is, and if you make it too small, it won't look like pixel art, so it was difficult to get the size just right.

RFLECTION

(Week 1〜6)

Through this class, I was able to learn how to use Illustrator to the fullest. Of course, I know that I did not learn all the functions of Illustrator, but I learned how to use the pen tool, knife tool, masks, and how to express shadows, etc., which was a great learning experience for me, because I did not know how to use Illustrator at all. I am not used to using Illustrator, and I feel that my own works are not as good as my friends' works, but I will learn to use Illustrator more and create more amazing works.

(Week 7〜10)

In this class, I learned how to create animated GIFs of a few seconds using Illustrator's various functions, as well as the knowledge of animation composition. Based on this learning, I would like to further deepen my knowledge of animation.

(Week11〜14)

Throughout the classes from week 11 to week 14, I created a design by integrating the techniques learned in Typo, DPI, and IVN classes.