Illustration and Visual Narrative / Task 3 - Graphic Novel
21/10/2021 - 5/12/2021 ( Week 09- Week 15 )
Sasilvia Cheong Pei Hoong / 0345031 / Bachelors of Design in Creative Media
Illustration and Visual Narrative
Task 3- Graphic Novel (Webtoon) and Motion Comic
Lectures
Week 9- How to make comics!
Comics are created by frame-to-frame storytelling, where it is shown visually through pictures. Ideas comes from our experiences like what inspires the artist in us. Good ideas does not come from browsing google erratically. The way to come up with ideas is the brainstorm, creating a mind map like "how does my character look like", " their traits" and so on. Answering the "4 Wives, 1 Husband" which is what, who, when, where and how will help out with the concept.
5 Assignment Practice
1. Watch cartoons/movies
2. Play new games!
3. Read new mangas/comics/graphic novels
4. Listen to different genres of music (ambient/cultural)
5. Try a new dish! Trying something new will stimulate the brain, and to jumpstart the cells
Week 10- Transitions
Moment-to-Moment
It is used to slow down and draw out action of the story, but using too much of it will make your comics dull and laborious to draw and read.
Fig.1.1 Moment-to-Moment
Action-to-Action
It focuses on significant events, or movement from panel to panel, and over larger intervals of time between moments.
Fig.1.2 Action-to-Action
Subject-to-Subject
A cut between to related moments, but focusing on a different subject in the same scene.
Fig.1.3 Subject-to-Subject
A scene is a series of events that happen in one location, and continuous period of time. A change of location or significant jump in time between panels is considered the end of a scene and the start of a new one.
Fig.1.4 Scene-to-Scene
Aspect-to-Aspect
A way to jump around the scene, taking in the key details or letting the characters focus wonder.
Fig.1.5 Aspect-to-Aspect
Various forms, partial montages depicting the contents of a flashback or inner dialog.
Fig.1.6 Symbolic
Rolling Transitions
A form of transition from one 'panel' or idea to the next.
Fig.1.7 Rolling transitions
Non Sequitur
Outside of weird abstract or humor comics, these are quite uncommon. Partly because we're prone to inferring meaning even when none is intended, and as a result, readers view them as Aspect to Aspect transitions.
Fig.1.8 Non Sequitur
Gutters
It acts as an invisible messenger within the comics in that they pass information but are simple an empty space.
Fig.1.9 Gutters
INSTRUCTION
TASK 3: GRAPHIC NOVEL
Story Plot
Before we start with illustrating our webtoon we were task to write a 300 words story plot.
1- Setup
One day, a girl suddenly ended up in this mysterious place. She was
confused about where she was, she walked to a nearby river to wash her
face and noticed bandages on her neck. She was a bit confused as to
why they were there. Suddenly she heard this rustling sound coming
from behind. “Hi” she heard, and she fell to the ground frightened. A
person appeared, this person had blonde hair and pale skin with red
spider lilies placed on the side of her hair. She apologized for
scaring her and helped the girl up. The person helped her out and said
that they will find a way out of this place.
2- Rising action
As the person was humming cheerfully the air got thicker and there
were weird noises coming from the woods. Then suddenly a bunch of lost
spirits started attacking. The person started defending the girl and
scared the spirits away. Few hours later, they found this old house
and the other person smiled at her and said “this is the way out”. The
girl grabbed the doorknob and opened the door and she saw a light at
the end of the room, she then stepped in the house. She looked around
and suddenly a screech sound could be heard then everything turned
dark and the room was empty. The girl got scared and they both reached
out their hands, the ground rumbled and the room expanded, the girl
was confused. The door slams and closes, the girl sees things
that were indescribable and screams, she is then grabbed from above by
a bunch of unknown beings.
3- Conflict and resolution
Bells can be heard ringing while red spider lilies sway and “GAME OVER” this word popped up on a screen. Lights shining from a screen in a dark room. The girl who was attacked by unknown beings was found hanging in her bedroom.
Scene planning
Before going into sketching the panels I planned out my scenes for each panels and I may have came up with too much of them and had to cut them down little by little while I did the sketching so that I know which part will be necessary to cut down. I also searched up of some scene references.
Fig.1.1 Scene planning
Fig.1.2 Blonde girl reference
Fig.1.3 Hand reference
Fig.1.4 Red spider lilies reference
Fig.1.5 Forest reference
Fig.1.6 Lost spirits reference
Character Design
My main character design was planned to look like she is tired very beat up while my side character will look angelic and very cheerful.
Main Character
Name: Unknown
Traits:
1. Messy brown hair with green deep dye
2. Dead Eyes with eyebags
3. Wounds and bandages everywhere on her body
4. Wearing a black dress
Fig.2.1 & 2.2 Main character sketch and colour palette
Side Character
Name: Unknown
Traits:
1. Blonde wavy hair
2. Green big eyes
3. Pale skin with blush on her cheeks
4. Wearing a red spider lily on her head
5. White dress
Fig.2.3 & 2.4 Side character first sketch and colour palette
Fig.2.5 & 2.6 Side character new design and colour palette
Fig.2.7 Lost spirits
Story meaning and symbolism
(Please read the Webtoon and watch the motion comic before reading this as it contains multiple spoilers and theories)
The part where the girl ends up in a mysterious place, the place is actually the border to the afterlife and the girl had already died and woke up there. She went to wash her face in the river to clear her mind and to see if she was dreaming. As she saw here reflection in the river she noticed bandages around her neck and she was a bit confused. Those bandages actually shows the way she died. The person who suddenly appeared might look and feel angelic and cheerful but in reality she is actually a grim reaper in charge of taking the girl to the after life, her appearance is just to cover up her true intentions. There is also this red spider lily flower on here hair, this flower actually symbolizes death and are normally shown when someone has died. The person who is wanting to help the girl find the way out, this way out is actually the afterlife.
The part where they got attacked by a bunch of lost spirits are actually human souls who were not able to make it to the afterlife. The power the person used to defend the girl from the spirits is unknown but traces of red spider lily petals can be found after. They made it to this house which, and the entrance to the house is the border to the afterlife. The light that they see at the end of the room in the house is just something to lure the human souls in so that they can go to the afterlife. The loud screech was heard when the girl stepped into the house which is sounds of the spirits in charge of taking the girl's soul to the afterlife. The part where the person wanted to help the girl and reach out her hand was a fake action she did to deceive the girl but it was just a sign that she was offering her to the house of afterlife. The ground rumbling and the room expanded to distance the person and the girl. As the door shuts means the ritual that the person did was complete and it was time for the girl to go to the afterlife. Hands of spirits can be seen grabbing the girl and pulling her up. The way they pulled her up showed how she died in her previous life.
As the girl disappears and red spider lily can be seen and bells started ringing to show that the process has been complete and she has successfully made it to the afterlife. The word "Game Over" popped up and it can be shown on the screen in a bedroom, beside there you can see someone hanging, which is the girl who got taken to the afterlife. She died by hanging herself which explains the bandages on her neck and the spirits pulling her up. The "Game Over" on the screen is just a game she played and lost before she decided to kill herself.
Panel Sketches
For my panel sketches I did them in Procreate since I have better control on working on an iPad rather than on a digital drawing tablet.
Fig.3.1 Panel sketches
Illustrating
Fig.4.1 Main character hair colour
I used the gradient function to colour my main character hair as she has a green deep dye on her ends.
Fig.4.2 Grass
I struggled a bit with the grass as Illustrator does not provide decent brushes for me to use. In the end I went with the charcoal feather brush as it has rough finishes to it.
Fig.4.3 Lost spirits
For the lost spirits since I wanted them to look a bit rough I drew the hair and the two back spirits with the brush tool.
Fig.4.4 Text
To add the impact and effect to some text I had to use text warp to distort the text.
Fig.4.5 Silhouette
For this scene I wanted to make the characters look like they are frozen in time so I gave them a thick white outline and black colour fill.
Fig.4.6 Silhouette
To create a somewhat dark yet mysterious lighting I used the gradient option and overlay it onto the illustration the pull down the opacity.
Fig.4.7 Ending scene
Ms. Anis recommended me to place a bunch of red spider lily flowers together for the ending scene.
Fig.4.8 Digitalized panels in Illustrator
Fig.4.9 Digitalized panels in Illustrator (Selected
objects)
Fig.4.10-4.11 Layers in Illustrator
Animating
I actually struggled a lot with this part, I exported my Illustration file to After Effects but only one panel appeared and the rest was not there. I then found out that after effects can only take in one artboard so I had to make a new file in Illustrator and set it as HDV, where I did the composition and group some of the objects together so that it will be easier to animate in After Effects.
Fig.5.1 Compositing in HDV
Fig.5.2 Doing the water ripple animation by scaling the size and readjusting the rotation
Fig.5.3 Using wave warp for water animation
Fig.5.4 Repeating the music notes animation for looping
Fig.5.5 Adjusting the position for the door creak
Fig.5.6 Adding wave warp for the tremble animation
Fig.5.7 Composition files in After Effects
Fig.5.8 Sound effects
I searched up a bunch of sound effects and scary music which suits the theme to later put it in the motion comic later in Premiere Pro.
Fig.5.9 Merging the videos and sounds together in Premiere Pro
Final Outcome
Webtoon Link:
Fig.6.1 Final Webtoon comic PDF (3/12/2021)
Fig.6.2 Final motion comic animation (5/12/2021)
FEEDBACK
Week 9 (21/10/2021)
Make sure to make your story PG and visually showing head exploding is a bit too much, try to show it in a less graphical manner.
Week 10 (28/11/2021)
The character design is nice love the art style. For the story plot, the part where she is pulled down to abyss change it to she is pulled up instead which signifies how she killed herself by hanging.
Week 11 (4/11/2021)
The story is so much better now and nice planning.
Week 12 (11/11/2021)
Overall sketches looks good, try working faster and start working on Illustrator.
Week 13 (18/11/2021)
The sketches are good and there is a great flow to the panels. For the ending panel maybe try to place the red spider lily all around it.
Week 14 (25/11/2021)
The illustration looks very nice and detailed, very quality art. Great work of the title font, try adding one red spider lily there to show that when they see the person in the story having it on her head they will know that this person is rather mysterious and dangerous which they have to watch out.
REFLECTION
This projects gave me a bunch of mix feelings it was enjoyable yet a tiring progress at the same time both mentally and physically. There were times where I just break down and my mind goes blank where I don't know what to do. Illustrator was definitely a pain to work on, the limit in brushes was devastating, sure there were some brushes that we could download and use there but it did not work well for me. After Effects was pretty fun I could say, but the progress that we had to do before exporting our Illustrator file there was a headache for me as I had to find out why it did not exported properly and literally had multiple breakdowns because there was not much time left :D. When compiling all the composition and sounds together in Premiere Pro I had so much fun with it. I even scared myself multiple times when I was picking the sounds TT . This project has made me learn more about the functions of Illustrator and After Effects. I won't say much on Premiere Pro since I worked on a video editing software before so it gave me a base on how to use it.
I am very happy and satisfied of my outcome, my goal to make the Illustrations detailed was definitely achieved, well it was in replace of my sleep time. The final motion comic was something I am proud of as someone who struggles to use After Effects all the time. I am looking forward to this kind of projects again in the future where I can improve myself and apply new skills I achieved.
REFERENCE
Lectures
Fig.1.1-1.8
http://makingcomics.spiltink.org/tag/transitions/
Fig.1.9 Gutters
https://times.taylors.edu.my/pluginfile.php/3744543/mod_resource/content/1/Transition%20and%20Gutters%20_%20Understanding%20Comics.pdf
Project
Fig.1.2 Blonde girl reference
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/858780222701089808/
Fig.1.3 Hand reference
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/858780222701650212/
Fig.1.4 Red spider lilies reference
https://www.clipartmax.com/middle/m2i8m2A0H7i8H7H7_red-spider-lily-illustration/
Fig.1.5 Forest reference
https://www.behance.net/turjobiswas11233?tracking_source=search_projects_recommended%7CCampfire
Fig.1.6 Lost spirits reference
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/858780222701321856/
Music and sound effects used:
Scary screamer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ax1pqOqFZQ&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=32
Anime girl laugh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvdgJwsQROI&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=34
Scary door open and close
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbggbaofJEQ&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=35
Build up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6MZ-wNxVhM&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=40
Door close
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDh7aMPp6N8&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=36
Earth rumble
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfcAGablk-I&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=37
Game over
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bug1b0fQS8Y&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=15
Girl humming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzhm0qb0MOU&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=20
Horror screech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ0m-Tamtfc&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=38
Leaves rustling
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaig4tvgciA&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=18
Long female gasp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twYcZkVqOpY&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=25
River
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWoe9HGjKhE&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=28&t=1s
Scary jumpscare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUgpueoMTjk&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=19
Scary laugh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDy_NTqphlg&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=30
Scream
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSgpamx0gq4&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=31
Silence Japanese bells
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7HZeHJHt1Q&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=14&t=13s
Splash
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8TlzCemyvI&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=21&t=7s
Spooky forest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y6IgSFQsGc&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=26&t=1s
Suspense
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPSLeWZGpNY&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=39
The rustle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wfg4h6CVqo&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=17&t=2s
Fall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYMiwwXJrxc&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=22
Walking in forest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfHYhi9It0E&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=27
Water drop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hq2T-VcLV4&list=PL3LSmkSDSkELN5wMf3T7LGWChT9aSB8yG&index=24
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