Illustration & Visual Narrative - Exercise 1 & 2

5/4/2023 - 17/5/2023 (Week 1 - Week 7)
Katelyn Tan Kye Ling (0354148)
Bachelor Of Design In Creative Media (Illustration & Visual Narrative)
Task 1 / Exercise 1 & 2

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LECTURES

WEEK 1 - Lecture 1 (5/4/2023)

In our first Illustration & Visual Narrative lecture, it was mostly introductions and briefings about the module. Mr. Hafiz first shared the main platform that will be used in the class which is Microsoft Teams. The main tool used in this module is the Adobe Illustrator app. Next, he briefed us on the module information which talked about what the upcoming assignments are about. Mr. Hafiz then proceeded to give us our first task and asked us to play "The Bezier Game" which helped us familiarize with the pen tool in the Adobe Illustrator app. Lastly, Mr. Hafiz patiently gave us a tutorial on how to start with the Adobe Illustrator app and also how to trace shapes on it as we needed to use it in our first task.

Fig. 1.1 The Bezier Game Score (5/4/2023)

WEEK 2 - Lecture 2 (12/4/2023)

At the start of our class, Mr. Hafiz jumped right into teaching us tips and tricks on how to trace the shapes on the Adobe Illustrator app that we need for our assignment. He introduced a few tools to us to make things easier for us as well. After that, Mr. Hafiz then asked us to play around with the app so that we could familiarize ourselves with it. Lastly, the students started creating their vormator which was the task for the week.

WEEK 3 - Lecture 3 (19/4/2023)

For our lecture this week, we had it online as it was Hari Raya. Mr. Hafiz started off the class by demonstrating colour to us in the Adobe Illustrator app. We learnt about shadow, gradient, and recolour. Mr. Hafiz first demonstrated to us how to do shadow and then gave us some time to try it out ourselves. Same goes for the time he demonstrated gradient and recolour. 

Here was my take on the 3 different colour methods.

Fig. 2.1 My take on the 3 colour methods (19/4/2023)

WEEK 4 - Lecture 4 (26/4/2023)

This week Ms. Anis started off the class instead of Mr. Hafiz. She introduced our second part of project one and also our second project. After that, we were given time to research a bit on our second project (SDG). Lastly, Mr. Hafiz introduced some tools in the Adobe Illustrator app. The tools were: Type Tool, Pencil Tool, Shaper Tool, and Width Tool.

WEEK 5 - Lecture 5 (3/5/2023)

In today's class, Mr. Hafiz started off the class with a 3D rainbow tutorial using the Adobe Illustrator app. We watched a YouTube video tutorial and Mr. Hafiz also demonstrated it. After that, we also learned 3D fonts and intertwine. I struggled slightly one the intertwining part which made my work look a bit messy.

3D Rainbow

Fig. 3.1 3D Rainbow (3/5/2023)

3D Font + Intertwine

Fig. 3.2 3D Font + Intertwine (3/5/2023)

WEEK 6 - Lecture 6 (10/5/2023)

This week we have 1 to 1 consultation sessions with Mr. Hafiz. After that we could leave right away. (Feedbacks/consultation context are in the Feedback part of the blog)

WEEK 7 - Lecture 7 (17/5/2023)

Class was cancelled.

Fig. Proof Of Class Cancelled

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INSTRUCTIONS

TASK 1: Exercise 1 - Vormator Challenge

    For our first task, we were asked to design and create one unique character with the shapes shown

    below by using the Adobe Illustrator app.  

Fig. 4.1 Shapes to use for the Vormator Challenge

RULES:

1. Can rotate, flip and duplicate the shapes

2. Not obliged to use all the shapes

3. Can scale size, but only proportionally

4. No skewing or free transform

5. No altering the original shapes

6. Can add, subtract, intersect and group elements as you see fit

7. Unlimited colour use

8. Can use gradients and texture

9. NO OUTLINE STROKES!

10. No background

1. Progress

    These were a few progress pictures from the making of my vormator. However, there are some

    slight changes at the end of the making as some alterations were made. 

Fig. 4.2 Monster's Body Parts (16/4/2023)

Fig. 4.3 Monster's Belly (17/4/2023)

Fig. 4.4 Octopus That Monster Is Holding (Before) (17/4/2023)

Fig. 4.5 Octopus (After) (17/4/2023)

Fig. 4.6 Monster Before Corrections (20/4/2023)

2. Final Vormator

Fig. 4.7 Outline Of Vormator (20/4/2023)

Fig. 4.8 Final Vormator (20/4/2023)

Thought process: A small story/thought process about how I created this formator. At first, I thought of just creating a normal monster. However, I thought that it was too simple. Therefore, I decided to add an octopus and make it seem like the monster is about to eat it. Then I thought that I could make the monster's tail look like the octopus' tentacles, where the monster actually collects the tentacles and makes it his tail.

TASK 1: Exercise 2 - Illustrated Type

For this assignment, we were asked to use a Pictionary generator and get 2 random words to create our  illustrated type. All illustrated type is to be done in the Adobe Illustrator App.

Fig. 5.1 Pictionary Generator

The challenges are:

1. The illustrations and words complement each other

2. The design makes sense

3. Use non-decorative fonts as the base of the design

First Word: PIE

1. Sketch

I decided to make the word and the actual pie as 1, so I made the word become the filling of the pie.

Fig. 5.2 Sketch For "PIE" (28/4/2023)

2. Digitalisation

1st Attempt

At first I did a normal 2D picture of the pie. I decided to added many more words for the filling as it looked better. After learning how to create 3D images, I applied it to the 2D picture and liked it way better. I also added a plate to it.

Fig. 5.3 2D Illustrated Type For "PIE" (30/4/2023)

Fig. 5.4 Illustrated Type For "PIE" (4/5/2023)

2nd Attempt

After the consultation, Mr. Hafiz suggested I switch from putting the word "pie" many times, to just 1 large word. 

Fig 5.5 Final Illustrated Type For "PIE" (10/5/2023)

Second Word: Ribbon

1. Sketch

I did pretty much the same thing for this word which was making the word part of the object. I decided to make the word ribbon, as the strings of the ribbon.

Fig. 5.6 Sketch For "RIBBON" (28/4/2023)

2. Digitalisation

I followed a tutorial online to make the top part of the ribbon. And for the strings, I just put them in a line and used the mesh function to make it like a flowy ribbon line.

Fig. 5.7 Top of Ribbon (7/5/2023)

Fig. 5.8 Ribbon Strings (8/5/2023)

Fig. 5.9 Final Illustrated Type For "RIBBON" (8/5/2023)

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FEEDBACK

Week 3:

Vormator Challenge - "Vormator looks good, outlines can be removed."

Week 5: 

Illustrated Type - "This is not bad. The words and the image is almost mixing in together well. This pushes the letters to be the shape of the meaning of the word."

Week 6 (Consultation Session):

Illustrated typeface pie - better to have 1 word as the filling instead of many many words
Illustrated typeface ribbon - Can sketch first and make own font later on

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REFLECTION

Experience

Overall, both exercises (Vormator & Illustrated Type) were a struggle for me. I was a complete amateur to the Adobe Illustrator app. Fortunately with Mr. Hafiz's tutorials and much practice, I was able to pull through. The first exercise, I struggled with the pen tool first. After playing the Bezier game, I got more familiar with it. We only had a limited choice of shapes which was a challenge as well. I spent quite some time on this exercise because I made multiple mistakes, which caused me to redo parts of the vormator. As for the second exercise, it was slightly easier starting as I was more familiar with the Adobe Illustrator App. However, creating an idea for the illustrated type took me a while.

Observations

I first noticed that colour makes a huge difference. Solid colours, shadows, gradients etc. plays a huge role in expressing the drawing. I also now know that the sketching part of the progress is equally as important as the digitalisation part. Without your sketch, it is hard to bring something to the artboard. 

Findings 

I started to appreciate the different shapes and design creations around me, as simple as shapes like a drop, square, circle can create so many different things as long as one is creative. I also notice how smart people can be at doing illustrated type. All the logos people design shows how much work and effort they have put in.