8/6/2017 (Week 10)
Liam Yue Wei (0327686)
Illustration and Visual Narrative
Final project : Parallax
In this project, we need to do the usual thing which is breaking down the stories given to us into three-act-structure or five-act-structure . For tunnel book, we should have 3 to 5 layers while for parallax, we should have 3 to 5 scenes. It is important for us to have foreground, mid ground and background in this project as they create depth in the composition. Note that comics should not be flat. The minimum is 3 layers/scenes and we are allowed to do more than that too. The another way to make the composition look less flat is to change the angle, or adding the angle in the drawing so that it looks more interesting. Also, never draw objects or people in align, because it will only make the drawing flat, pay more attention to the horizon, we can always adjust the horizon when we do the drawings. Imagine cameras moving from left to right or right to left if we are going to do parallax, also we are told to use AdobeAnimate to do the parallax.
Duration of Assignment:
5 Weeks (Briefing on Week 10)
Deadline:
Week 14
Instructions:
An undertaking of a series of Illustrations to illuminate narrative spaces and transitions that allow to demonstrate technical and conceptual abilities.
Narratives can be conveyed in many ways. Some narratives follow a traditional linear arc. Other narratives loop in time, flash forward and back, restructure sequence or employ aspect-to-aspect transitions. Some view the same incident from different perspectives. Multiple narratives can be spliced together. Events can be placed in random order. Panels can be subverted. And several narrative threads can be simultaneously told. Narratives can be poetic. They can explore internal emotions instead of external action. They can investigate a central theme. Narratives can be shaped around predetermined rules. They can be reversed, labyrinthine in nature, and involve multiple readings with ambiguous beginnings and endings.
Outcome
Based on the given narrative you are to create a series of illustration to demonstrate the passage of time that leads to the one piece or concludes it. Referring to your submitted rational, you will formulate a narrative for this passage of time and produce one out of the two following outcomes:
All outcomes must utilize at least 3 layers and identify 3 transitional types (Scott McCloud). The outcome may include more than one perspective point, meaning it can be viewed from back to front, right to left vice versa.
Research keywords:
Webcomic, Scott McCloud, Pop up book, hand made book, tunnel book, Webtoon
Weightage
Portfolio totals 40% of the final grades. There will be checkpoints and marks shall be awarded at the checkpoint. The total weight of this assignment is 40% of the final marks.
10 Marks for show of progress on week 10 - 11 Storytelling and storyboarding. Composition and Layers
LO1 Identify and undertake research into specific design problems or issues, and demonstrate an awareness of historical, cultural and contemporary issues.
10 Marks for show of progress on week 11 - 12 Transitions
LO5 Display evidence of creative thinking through the exploration and communication of design concepts.
20 Marks for show of progress on week 12 - 14 Creative Direction and Technical Direction.
Suitability of finishing
LO2 Illustrate proficiency in the appropriate use of drawing, or other visual communication techniques in physical and/or digital environments.
LO3 Effectively use tacit making skills and/or traditional media techniques in an appropriate manner.
Note:
Though assignments may differ in category, ultimately marking criteria is based on the learning outcomes of the module. To cross reference the relationship refer to the following:
Research and Development
LO1 Identify and undertake research into specific design problems or issues, and demonstrate an awareness of historical, cultural and contemporary issues.
Creative Direction
LO5 Display evidence of creative thinking through the exploration and communication of design concepts.
Technical Direction
LO2 Illustrate proficiency in the appropriate use of drawing, or other visual communication techniques in physical and/or digital environments.
LO3 Effectively use tacit making skills and/or traditional media techniques in an appropriate manner.
Final Outcome
LO4 Demonstrate the ability to initiate and manage their own learning, evaluate their own progress, exercise reflective and critical self-analysis.
Parallax
For our final assignment, I've chosen to use the story given to us which was 'The Story of Heaven And Hell As Told By An Ancient Samurai'. First, I read the story written in the link : http://thespiritscience.net/2015/12/02/. Then, I made a short synopsis for the story.
Title : The Story of Heaven and Hell
Genre : Philosophy
Summary :
There lives a little monk named Jamyang in monastery, and a samurai without master approached him to learn about heaven and hell from the monk. However, the monk refused to teach him, he provoked the samurai instead. Getting furious, the samurai waved his sword at the monk. The wise monk though, risked his life to teach the samurai about heaven and hell. The samurai felt very grateful to the monk as tears welling in his eyes.
Three-Act-Structure and Five-Act-Structure
Three-act-structure
 |
| 3-act-structure and 5-act-structure |
-Introduction : A ronin asked a little monk to teach him about heaven and hell.
-Confrontation : Monk refused to teach the ronin, he provoked him instead.
-Resolution : Ronin got angry and attacked the monk, the monk then risked his life to teach him about it.
Five-act-structure
-Exposition : There lives a monk named Jam Yang, and a ronin traveled a long distance to approach him.
-Rising action : Jam Yang refused when the ronin asked to learn about heaven and hell.
-Climax : Jam Yang provoked the ronin, getting him furious.
-Falling action : Ronin waved his swords at Jam Yang, Jam Yang whispered his answers to the ronin while risking his life.
-Denouement : Tears welling in the ronin's eyes as he learned.
I then used Pinterest to look for inspiration, I searched for samurai, monk, temples, ancient elements and more Japanese-related illustration too as I thought that it will fit the story of samurai perfectly. Next, I try to imagine and create a scenario for the story.
Researches are all in the pinterest board.
Researches are all in the pinterest board.
Pinterest board : https://www.pinterest.com/bliam0636/
Initial Sketches
I have done some brainstorming for how the characters look like, the scenery and also what object/element I can include into the parallax. Some of these sketches are just things that I took reference from the Internet.
Composition of Parallax
 |
| The ronin. |
 |
| Some ideas about how the place looks like. |
 |
| The little monk and also where he can stay for meditating. |
Composition of Parallax
Panels from left to right.
 |
| Scene 1 to 6 |
 |
| Scene 7 to 11 |
Since Mr.Hafiz told us to sketch out 3 main scenes for the parallax, I have done the composition in 3 main scenes. However, I would like to improvise it again and plan the complete parallax before I start drawing them in softwares.
 |
| 3 main scenes (composition) |
After having my 3 main scenes, I started improving the scenes and composition for this story. I considered changing the angle and changing the positions of some objects such as the monastery and adding the bonsai, japanese cloud and more into my parallax so that it create atmosphere and make the whole thing look more interesting. Sometimes, I do additional sketches just so that I might get some inspiration. I also got some ideas of the scenery from my Hokkaido trip this week.
 |
| New composition (layer) part 1 |
 |
| New composition (layer) part 2 |
 |
| Japanese cloud and mountain |
 |
| Bonsai tree to add into the layer. |
 |
| Some ideas to add into the layer and additional sketches. |
When digitalizing the parallax, I used 1366 x 768 px size for each pages. Then I sketched in Adobe Photoshop before draw them properly. At first, I tried using smudge to colour my drawings in Photoshop, hoping that they look like watercolour. It doesn't look that bad but I was not satisfied, therefore I made several new brushes in Photohsop to create the watercolour effect. It worked well.
 |
| Brush presets that I have done. |
 |
| Work presented in Final Presentation.(Drawn in Adobe Photoshop) |
 |
| HTML outcome failed due to technical problem ( After publishing from the Adobe Animate CC) |
The technical issue after publishing my work before the final presentation was that the images get stretched and of course the composition and arrangements of most of the things become wrong too. And as I clicked on the buttons, the pages moved inaccurately as well. According to Mr.Hafiz, the highest possibility is that the resolution of my drawings/ PNG images are too high. However, I did not know the way to solve it except to redraw the whole thing, which I did not do so as well.
Feedback
Feedback during planning phrase :
After consulting Mr.Hafiz, it is decided that I will be using pencil sketching as my art style, and use watercolour effect for the background.
After I started digitalizing and looking for the best way to paint my drawings. I realized something was wrong with my drawings and Mr.Hafiz too pointed out that the background of my parallax are too detailed that they steal the attention of the audience.
Feedback after presentation :
Overall feedback The drawings are very good, especially the watercolour texture. However, it would be a waste if the composition is not good, and also the technical issue after publishing the work. Sometimes, the depth difference between the foreground and midground needs to be clearer (also the timing of the background moving). Also, the whole parallax was further perspective till the last scene, it was like suddenly zoom in which can be a bit too sudden.
Specific feedback -
In scene 2, the ronin may be too small, with the rock on the right side stealing the focus as it is too big. Also, the rock is kind of hiding the monk, unless it is done intentionally. Or, it is okay if the rock is for transition.
In scene 3, the ronin is still too small, and the composition around the monk needs to be fixed. As when photographer take pictures, they don't cut off people at the knee, and such.
In scene 4, when the ronin got furious and took out his katana. I can change the scene to a close-up side view, with the monk (side face) as the main, and the point/edge of the katana pointing at his face. Also, make sure the ronin is angry and the monk has relaxing expression on his face.
In scene 5, same thing, the difference between the foreground, midground, and background needs to be clearer. Also, the background moves too sudden in this one.
Reflection
After getting the feedback from Mr.Hafiz, I somehow imagined my art style to be similar to Chinese or Japanese ink painting for the background. It is obvious that the colour of the background will be lighter than foreground. What I need to combine the watercolour effect with is my pencil sketching for foreground. I have done some research on pencil sketching (updated my pinterest baord), but I have decided that I should just go with my way of sketching. Also, I need to think about whether to use colour or just black and white for the watercolour effect, both of them look good in their own way too. Now, it would be better for me to plan out a complete composition, layering and animation for my parallax too.
Reflection after presentation :
I had realized before that the ronin in scene 2 is too small for someone near the camera view, I sort of fixed it, but maybe it is still not big enough. Also, the reason why the rock in scene 2 was slightly blocking the monk is because of the timing of the animation in Adobe Animate CC. Besides, while I was animating the parallax, I did notice that it would be better if the background was shorter than the midground and foreground, just so that it is more convenient to animate them. I did not think this through when I was planning.
In conclusion, before the final submission which is on 20/7/2017 (Thursday), I would like to focus on fixing the composition including adding more close-up views in between, the size of the ronin, the difference between the foreground and midground, also the length of the background, last but not least, the technical problem. Fixing this may mean redrawing some parts of my parallax, I do not mind but I am only worried if I can maintain the quality of the drawings.
After the feedback I have received from Mr.Hafiz, I started working it out by deciding on how I am going to fix my parallax. I started off by sketching the new composition and changing the transition of my parallax.
My sketches :
 |
| Sketches of fixing scene 3 |
 |
| Sketches of fixing scene 3 and 4 |
One of the most frustrating part of fixing the parallax is to eliminate some of the drawings that I have completed before. Such as the transitions that I thought I can use it for my new scenes, but they just don't look good in there. When I had problem with deciding on a new transition to put in, such as tree, rock and such. I have gotten an advice or a suggestion from lecturer to put a tree silhouette, so I did some research to choose something that is suitable to put in.
Final work after fixing :
 |
| Foreground |
 |
| Midground |
 |
| Clouds |
 |
| Mountains |
 |
| Background |
 |
| Before animating. (Drawn in Adobe Photoshop) |
 |
| Page 1 |
 |
| Page 2 |
 |
| Page 3 |
 |
| Page 4 |
 |
| Page 5 |
The pictures above are screenshots of my parallax, from Page 1 to Page 5.
Link to the parallax : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/
 |
| Technical issue solved by converting the file to SWF |
Not sure if anyone noticed it the colours of the buttons. The buttons are not the main thing in the parallax, but still, I do think that the colours do affect how our parallax looks. As this story is an ancient story that talks about samurai and monk, meaning that it is strongly related to Japanese traditional. Therefore, I have chosen a colour scheme that is suitable for the theme of Japanese traditional.
Additional research on colors for buttons :
Reflection (Final)
Experience
During the planning of the parallax, I had fun imagining the way the characters act, the emotions within them and also the environment they were in. I did research on Japanese ancient elements that I could include in just to create the atmosphere. Redoing the digital painting in Adobe Photoshop over and over again was kind off tough, but I did it because I was not satisfied with the previous works. The most frustrating part of this assignment was the technical issue I had after publishing my parallax from Adobe Animate CC, I got so upset, not because marks that may be deducted, but to see the work that I have worked so hard on becomes stretched and unpleasant to see as an outcome. After the final presentation, when we were given chance to fix our parallax, I was worried about whether or not I am able to increase the quality of my work, this caused me to procrastinate a bit but I was able to fix the composition and the technical problem.
Observation
Not being satisfied with my own work and redoing over and over again, spending 50 plus hours on an assignment might sound silly to most of the people but I am satisfied with my work now and I think that it is a good thing. However, I do think that I overthink a lot, which tend me make me procrastinate sometimes, or even losing the mood to do the work anymore. Also, I have decided to improve my digital art simply because I want to do it. One of the reasons of me having fun with this assignment was most probably because that I was drawing my parallax using my art style, I am not skilled in watercolour, but sketchy, kind of messy art style is my favorite art style. Doing the parallax was the first time of me doing digital art in Adobe Photoshop but I had fun with it. Last but not least, I would really like to improve my compositions and some technical things I have realized that I am not good at them.
Findings
In conclusion, self-discipline, time management and skills are important to avoid several problems. I have still much to learn, from anything and from anyone. I don't see all the problems I have faced in this assignment as my weakness, but as an opportunity and space for me to improve myself. I will be looking for something that I want to improve and to be skilled, and work on it.
Additional research on colors for buttons :
 |
| Research on Japanese traditional color scheme |
 |
| Research on Japanese traditional color scheme 2 (My preferred one) |
Reflection (Final)
Experience
During the planning of the parallax, I had fun imagining the way the characters act, the emotions within them and also the environment they were in. I did research on Japanese ancient elements that I could include in just to create the atmosphere. Redoing the digital painting in Adobe Photoshop over and over again was kind off tough, but I did it because I was not satisfied with the previous works. The most frustrating part of this assignment was the technical issue I had after publishing my parallax from Adobe Animate CC, I got so upset, not because marks that may be deducted, but to see the work that I have worked so hard on becomes stretched and unpleasant to see as an outcome. After the final presentation, when we were given chance to fix our parallax, I was worried about whether or not I am able to increase the quality of my work, this caused me to procrastinate a bit but I was able to fix the composition and the technical problem.
Observation
Not being satisfied with my own work and redoing over and over again, spending 50 plus hours on an assignment might sound silly to most of the people but I am satisfied with my work now and I think that it is a good thing. However, I do think that I overthink a lot, which tend me make me procrastinate sometimes, or even losing the mood to do the work anymore. Also, I have decided to improve my digital art simply because I want to do it. One of the reasons of me having fun with this assignment was most probably because that I was drawing my parallax using my art style, I am not skilled in watercolour, but sketchy, kind of messy art style is my favorite art style. Doing the parallax was the first time of me doing digital art in Adobe Photoshop but I had fun with it. Last but not least, I would really like to improve my compositions and some technical things I have realized that I am not good at them.
Findings
In conclusion, self-discipline, time management and skills are important to avoid several problems. I have still much to learn, from anything and from anyone. I don't see all the problems I have faced in this assignment as my weakness, but as an opportunity and space for me to improve myself. I will be looking for something that I want to improve and to be skilled, and work on it.
Comments
Post a Comment