Illustration & Visual Narrative Assignment 1: Editorial Illustration (Decisive Moment)

06.11.2023 - 29.11.2023 | Week 7 - Week 10

Maisarah binti Mohd Sufian | 0358458

Illustration & Visual Narrative | Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Assignment 1: Editorial Illustration (Decisive Moment)

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LECTURES

Week 8

In this lecture we learned about grain effects, and using linear, radial and freeform gradients to add depth and textures to vector shapes. Mr Hafiz gave us 4 characters to practice with.

Fig. 1.1 The given 4 characters.

Then I chose one of the characters and added gradient and grain to her hair and clothes.

Fig. 1.2 After adding gradient and grain to one of the characters.

Week 9

Mr Hafiz briefed us on starting the illustrated gif animation, and gave us pointers on what to think about when creating our animation. As animation is not the main part of the animation, they should not be too complicated and the scene should not change. He gave us examples and references such as Thunderpaw and works from Rebecca Mock. He told us to focus on the secondary actions, which are movements added to enrich the main action and add dimension to the animation. He showed us a video from Disney demonstrating the secondary actions and included tutorials on how to add subtle animations to our gif.

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Assignment 1 Editorial Illustration (Decisive Moment)

Instructions

We're required to find an article or story that discusses urban legends, either local or international and we must create an illustration derived form Art Deco. We are then required to make a short animation from our illustration.

1. Research

I was intrigued by the Japanese urban legend of Ghost Passengers, it tells a story of seemingly ordinary passengers calling for a taxi but once they reach their destination, they disappear leaving behind wet puddles or occasionally, a fare. I researched based on this website: https://japaninsider.com/japanese-taxi-drivers-frequently-report-ghostly-encounters/ 

I first started by researching what taxis looked like in Japan and referenced the appearance of the vehicle in my sketch based on these images:

Fig. 2.1 Taxis in Japan.

What's unique about japanese taxis is that they have led signs on the dashboard to show if a taxi is vacant, reserved or on their way to a destination. I referenced this image for the writing on the signs: 

Fig. 2.2 Japanese taxi signs.

To determine a suitable colour palette for the taxi, I went with a classic yellow vehicle. As for the background, I chose colours reminiscent of Japanese night life.

Fig. 2.3 Yellow taxi colour pallete.

Fig. 2.4 Japanese street.

For composition and lighting, I referenced the book 'Framed Ink' which I will explain further onwards. I created the sketch in Procreate on my iPad.

Fig. 2.5 My first sketch. (8/11/2023)

I roughly followed the golden ratio.

2. Illustrating

First I loaded my sketch into Adobe Illustrator without the ratio.

Fig. 2.6 Loading my sketch into AI. (9/11/23)

Then, I started blocking out the main shapes and used the unite and shape builder tool to create individual shapes.

Fig. 2.7 Basic shapes outlined. (9/11/23)

Fig. 2.8 Base colours. (9/11/23)

I added minor details such as windshield wipers, and signs at this stage.

Then, I added in a blue background as a night sky and began using the gradient tool to add shading to the individual shapes, as well as add text as needed. I used a halftone for the led sign to make it look more like a digital sign. I also used gaussian blur and another layer using inner glow for the writing on the sign to make it look like it's glowing.

Fig. 2.9 Adding shading with gradient tool. (10/11/23)

The, I added some abstract shapes of neon colours to the background to mimic brightly lit buildings and also added the Japanese characters meaning 'Ghost Passenger'.

Fig. 2.10 Adding details to the background. (11/11/23)

Then, to make the composition more interesting, I added layers of black and white shapes on top of the whole illustration which I applied Soft Light blending mode to add lighting from a light source. I referenced Frame Ink, which mentioned having the brightest area focus on the character suggests them having better and more positive intentions. In relation to this I focused it on the driver.

Fig. 2.11 Adding lighting layers with blend mode. (11/11/23)

Finally, I added the grain effect to the whole illustration.

Fig. 2.12 Final illustration. (12/11/23)

3. Animating

First I planned what movements I wanted there to be in my animation, and I roughly counted how many frames the whole thing would be. I did not want to exceed 50 frames because that would be a large file, and my laptop would probably not be able to handle it. The idea is to have the car stop at it's destination, and the ghost to disappear.

Fig. 2.13 My early notes. (20/11/23)

Then, I copy and pasted my illustration into multiple artboards and organised my layers by frames. This way I was clearly able to see my work. I worked on the animation for each movement separately, and tested it in Photoshop so I did not get confused and not have to start from scratch if there was a mistake in one of the movements.

Fig. 2.14 Organising the layers for easy reference. ( 20/11/23)

Each time I tested the animations in Photoshop, I would make notes on improvements and corrections.

Fig. 2.15 Corrections and improvement notes. (23/11/23)

I first worked on the main movement, which is the car. The final animation has 29 frames, and the car and background movements are from frame 1 to 19, where the car comes to a stop. The title fades in from frame 1 to 1o and the last 10 frames are of the ghost disappearing and the led lights on the sign flickering.

Fig. 2.16 Overview of frame structure 1. (26/11/23)

Fig. 2.17 Overview of frame structure 2. (26/11/23)

 

I initially wanted a more detailed movements, but I found that my laptop could not handle so many frames, so I did it as minimally as I could while still being able to tell what is going on.

At this stage I tried to apply grain to each artboard, but I found that once the grain is applied and the animation is exported into a gif, the quality becomes a bit weird, so I decided to export it without the gif. I exported all the artboards in Photoshop to make final adjustments.

Fig. 2.18 Photoshop animation timeline. (28/11/23)

I felt like the animation was a bit too fast, so I slowed it down by delaying the frames by 0.1 seconds. For the 19th frame when the car stops, I slowed it down to 0.7 seconds. For the final frame, I slowed it down by 0.5 seconds.

Fig. 2.19 Final animation. (28/11/23)

The buildings move slowly in the background as the car is moving, but become more erratic as the car comes to a stop. Then, after a while, the ghost vanishes without a trace, leaving the led sign flickering. 

I made some minor adjustments to the illustration, as I saw things that I didn't notice before when looking at it again after a while.

Artist Statement

Art deco is not an art style that I am familiar with, but i do enjoy the simplicity of creating something out of basic shapes and minimal details. My illustration is to depict the feeling of driving alone at night, unaware of what might be more sinister lurking. I was inspired by pictures of taxis driving through busy cities, where you would usually pick up a normal passenger. I used gradient effects and grain to add layers of depth within my artwork, and set the overall ambience with the use of blending modes to create lighting.