Illustration and Visual Narrative - Exercise 1: Vormator Challenge

2023.09.25 - 2023.10.30 / Week 1 - Week 6

Teo Mei Hui / 0358315

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

Exercise 1: Vormator Challenge

LECTURES

Week 1: Introduction

• The module overview was introduced by Mr. Hafiz.
• He tasked us to play the Bezier Game. It is a tutorial that can help us get familiarized with the pen tool, which is crucial for us to learn in order to use Adobe Illustrator skillfully.

The Pen Tool

Figure 1.1 The Bezier game, week 1 (25/9/2023)

Week 2: Vormator Shapes

Lecture 1: Character Design

Stylized Design

Appeal helps audience connect to the character, helps stimulate empathy in audience.

Iconic

• Immediately recognizable
• Silhouette

Simplicity

• Not over-complicated
• Purpose

Unique

• Makes an impact
• Memorable

Principles of Character Design

Shapes

• Think iconic
• Explore the possibilities of combining different interesting shapes for your design
• Add some weight to their personality

Color

• Establish the basic roles of the character.
• Different colors give impressions of different emotions and is easily relatable by the viewers.

Emphasis / Contrast

• Exaggerate to memorrate.
• A good character exaggerates on the emphasis and contrasting visual elements to make the design stand out.

Harmony

• All shapes, lines, color, motifs, patterns must be put together in a tasteful manner.
• Think about visual hierarchy.

Expression, Poses

• Clear visualization of your characters behaviors, quirks, personalities make it easier to appeal to your viewers.

Week 3: Chiarascuro - Light and Shadows

Lecture 2: Chiarascuro

Chiarascuro

• Italian term 'light-dark'.
• The use of light and dark to create the illusion of three-dimensional volume on a flat surface refers to a "clear tonal contrast technique".
• The purpose of the technique is to increase the scene's dramatic tension by exaggearating the use of colour or light contrast.
• It also highlights illuminated parts with predominantly dark settings and the focus point or subject of a scene is brightly coloured.

Chiarascuro is used in visual narratives because...

• excellent lighting choice to differentiate positive vs negative spaces
• positive face ( subject matter or object of interest in a visual )
• negative face ( filled space or background that surrounds subject matter or object of interest in visual )
• increase dramatic tension and thrilling emotive depth on visual
• create sensational effects that elevate fantastical viewpoints
• attract attention that establishes a hierarchy
• make tasteful composition 

Week 4: Chiarascuro - Colour and Blending Modes

• Learned how to use Chiarascuro technique on human silhouette.
• Introduced to clipping mask technique in Adobe illustrator to add texture to shapes.

INSTRUCTIONS

PRACTICAL

Week 2 - 6: Vormator Challenge

The vormator challenge is an activity that lets us showcase our ability and creativity while having limited resources. While following the set rules, we have to create a unique character using 8 basic shapes that are given.

1. First, we have to trace out the 8 shapes that will be used to build our character using pen tool.

Figure 2.1 Tracing vormator shapes, week 2 (2/10/2023)

Figure 2.2 Tracing vormator shapes, week 2 (2/10/2023)

2. Then, I attempted to create my character using the shapes. It was pretty fun, but the limited shapes made it a little challenging. To be honest, I wanted to make a fox, but it was difficult to make a body I was satisfied with, so I ended making a dragon.

Figure 2.3 Vormator character design, week 2 (2/10/2023)

3. After being taught how to apply color and texture through the chiarascuro exercises, I applied it on my character.

Figure 2.4 Vormator character - colored and textured, week 4 (16/10/2023)

4. I made some changes to the colour and some minor details. The previous color was nice but it was too light which made it a bit hard to be seen.

Figure 2.5 Final vormator character, week 5 (23/10/2023)

5. Moving on, I created the background for my character. The challenge I face was that my character's colour was too light and I had to make sure the background could contrast with it so my character can stand out.

Figure 2.6 Background for vormator character, week 5 (23/10/2023)

Figure 2.7 Final vormator character with background, week 5 (23/10/2023)

6. Lastly, I put my character onto a Pokemon card. Naming and creating the characteristics of this character was a really fun experience. I named it Aurelius, which means 'the golden one' in Roman, then gave it powers relating to gold. I'm quite satisfied with how it turned out.

Figure 2.8 Final Pokemon card, week 6 (23/10/2023)

Week 3: Chiarascuro Pear Exercise

In this exercise, we learn how to use the pathfinder tool. First, we traced out the pear using the picture provided. then, we utilise the tool to divide the pear and create shadows by changing the colour, giving it a 3-dimensional look. 

Figure 3.1 Chiarascuro pear, week 3 (9/10/2023)

I also used to pathfinder tool to create the shadow of the skull on the pear.

Figure 3.2 Chiarascuro pear, week 3 (9/10/2023)

Week 4: Chiarascuro People Exercise

In this exercise, we learn how to use the clipping mask tool. First, we traced out the silhouette of the man and used the pathfinder tool to create the shadows. Then, we used the clipping mask tool to insert the texture we wanted into the selected area.

Figure 4.1 Chiarascuro people, week 4 (16/10/2021)

REFLECTIONS

Throughout this exercise, I was able to explore and learn a lot of interesting new things. Firstly, I got to learn how to use Adobe Illustrator, and realized it was not as difficult as I initially thought. It was a fun learning experience as we got introduced to the different commands and tools that can help us create amazing artwork. Besides that, I certainly enjoyed designing a character of my own and letting my creativity take over, although the limitations made it a tad bit challenging. Lastly, I would say I feel quite satisfied with what i was able to achieve through this exercise.