ILLUSTRATION AND VISUAL NARRATIVE / PROJECT 3 & FINAL PROJECT: ORIGINAL COMIC PLOT, COVER PAGE, AND ONE PAGE INTRODUCTION

Illustration and Visual Narrative

October 12, 2022

ILLUSTRATION AND VISUAL NARRATIVE / PROJECT 3 & FINAL PROJECT: ORIGINAL COMIC PLOT, COVER PAGE, AND ONE PAGE INTRODUCTION

12/10/2022–02/12/2022 / Week 7–Week 14

Jason Antony / 0356335

Illustration and Visual Narrative / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's Design School

Task 3 & Final Project: Original Comic Plot, Cover Page, and One Page Introduction

Instructions

Module Information Booklet

PROJECT 3 & FINAL PROJECT: ORIGINAL COMIC PLOT, COVER PAGE, AND ONE PAGE INTRODUCTION

Process of the Original Comic Plot

To begin my process, I wanted to note down the main aspects of my story along with the theme, characters, conflict and the three-act structure.

Theme

In a dystopian future, the government manipulates the media by spreading stories of historical events in order to control and manipulate humans to invade a friendly alien species for their planet's resources. In the fictional falsehoods circulated by the human media, the aliens are depicted to have slaughtered human ancestors, which incited illusionary anger in the people and led to the thirst to conquer despite misled goals.

Characters

Protagonist: Scarab. She is an assassin that works for the government. 

Deuteragonist: Exino. A sentient android in the planet halcyon that unveiled scarab secrets about earth's government

Antagonist: Emperor Fritz Dieterich. The emperor of earth and the mastermind behind all the brainwashing. 

Three-Act Structure

Act 1 - Setup: The resources of planet Halcyon are of interest to Emperor Fritz. A natural resource of Halcyon may hold the secret to intergalactic travel. This element holds the secret to a highly effective fuel source for the empire's Elysiums (huge spaceships that inhabit millions of people), which could finally allow Emperor Fritz's desires to transform mankind into an intergalactic civilization.

Scarab was given the mission to assassinate the Halcyonians' ruler and conquer the planet for earth.

Act 2 - Conflict: Scarab meets Exino inadvertently while on her quest. She didn't hesitate to kill  Exino right after meeting eyes with them. However, as Exino struggled to survive, they released an EMP pulse that destroyed the microchip that had changed the truth about Emperor Fritz. With her consciousness realtered, she aims to break the chain of brutal invasions that humankind has done throughout eons.

Act 3 - Resolution: During the final fight between Scarab and Exino with the Emperor, Exino used his EMP wave once again towards the Emperor. Mysteriously, The Emperor had the same reaction when Scarab was struck by Exino's wave. It turned out that the Emperor also had a microchip installed in his brain that altered his goals as an emperor. After realizing this the Emperor requested Scarab and Exino's help to find out who realtered his mind. 

Cover Page

References

https://pin.it/5C6zUli

https://pin.it/51fB2NI

https://pin.it/5yHiXjX

https://pin.it/74NOnbN

Sketches

Fig 1.1 sketch 1

Fig 1.2 sketch 2

Fig 1.3 sketch 3.1

Fig 1.4 sketch 3.2

Updated Sketch

Fig 1.5 Developed sketch 2

Ms. Anis suggested to add the emperors space ship infront of the planet to create a visual balance and an element of mystery to the cover page.

Digitization

Process

Out of the sketches, I chose Sketch 2 to be the base of the cover page.

Fig 2.1 Updated sketch in illustrator

I used pen tool to create all the elements in the illustration.

Fig 2.2 coloring progress 1

Here I used the pen tool to create all the parts that need to be colored and filled them all with gradients. 

Fig 2.3 coloring progress 2

I added more colors and highlights to the illustration, as well as other touch-ups including noise to make the cover page have a vintage aesthetic.

Fig 2.4 cover page before final touch-up and title

Final Cover Page

Fig 2.5 Final Cover Page

The Final touch-up was adjusting the colors and creating a title that fits the aesthetic. 

Animated Comic Page

References 

https://pin.it/7jCOhAw

https://pin.it/58a846K

https://pin.it/6ex4mgO

https://pin.it/1P0z4Hz

https://pin.it/1P0z4Hz

Sketches

Fig 3.1 First sketch

Mr. Hafiz asked me to revise the 4th panel because the angle of the shot is too boring. I changed the pose to be more dynamic and the shot to be placed on a more interesting angle

Fig 3.2 Improved sketch

Digitization

Process

Fig 4.1 all the vectors drawn using pen tool

I used a lot of layers and artboards to separate all the different parts and elements in the 6 panels. Each layer is dedicated for specific focuses, for example a first layer is dedicated to the background and a next layer is dedicated for the characters. 

Fig 4.2 Coloring all the vectors using consistent colors and color pallete

I used several boxes beside the artboards to create consistency of colors. I can always use the eyedropper tool to color in same elements in different panels. 

Fig 4.3 Animating first panel using after effects

I used after effects to make a wind animation loop gif. I wanted to animate the first panel because the first panel usually sets the course of the events in a page and acts as the introduction. I feel that the wind adds more depth and sets the environment better. 

Final one page introduction and animation

Fig 4.4 Final one page introduction

Fig 4.5 Animated GIF for first panel

Feedback

Week 9

Ms. Anis suggested adding the emperor's space ship in front of the planet to create a visual balance and an element of mystery to the cover page.

Week 10

Mr. Hafiz showed me some references for the color scheme of my cover page

Week 12

Mr. Hafiz asked me to revise the 4th panel because the angle of the shot is too boring. I changed the pose to be more dynamic and the shot to be placed on a more interesting angle

Reflections

This project has been a roller coaster ride for me. sometimes I am demotivated because we could only use illustrator to create everything for this project, but in the end, I pushed through and finally completed it. Using adobe illustrator definitely was hard and tedious, but over time I got used to it and could be more comfortable with it. However, I still feel that I am slow in using illustrator, and I hope that with a lot of practice I can use this powerful software for my future works.