Illustration and Visual Narrative - Final Project

 Illustration and Visual Narrative

NAME:  FENG SHIWEN

I.D:  0374595

COURSE: Bachelor  of Design in Creative Media

GROUP:  4 

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LECTURE

A motion comic (or animated comic) is a form of animation combining elements of print comic books and animation. Individual panels are expanded into a full shot while sound effects, voice acting, and animation are added to the original artwork. (wikipedia)

To complete

1. Comic Cover Page

2. Animated One Page Intro

Animated scope:

1. Parallax (to create depth)

2. Secondary Action

3. Animated Background

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Acts Structure

Central Theme

- Definition:

The theme is the main idea or underlying meaning of the story. Often, it represents the storyteller’s personal opinion on the subject matter.

Major Theme: An idea intertwined and repeated throughout the whole narrative.

Minor Theme: An idea that appears more subtly and doesn’t necessarily repeat.

Conflict

- Definition:

The conflict drives the story, creating tension and building suspense, making the story interesting.

Without conflict, the audience will not care, and there will be no compelling story to tell.

Conflict engages the audience, keeping them on the edge of their seats, waiting to see if the protagonist will overcome the obstacle.

Storytelling Basics

Characters

Central Characters: Vital to the story's development; the plot revolves around them.

Protagonist: The main character with a clear goal or conflict to overcome. Must command an emotional involvement from the audience.

Antagonist: Opposes the protagonist, representing a significant obstacle.

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Three-Acts Structure

1.Setup:

Introduces the protagonist's world before the journey begins, ending with the conflict's revelation.

2.Rising Tension:

Series of obstacles the protagonist must overcome, each more difficult and with higher stakes.

3.Conflict:

The point of highest tension and the major decisive turning point for the protagonist.

4.Resolution:

Conclusion of the conflict. The protagonist overcomes, accepts, or is defeated by the conflict, ending the journey.

Traditional Three-Acts Structure Chart :

Figure 1.1 Traditional Three-Acts Structure Chart

Short Narrative Exercise

Format:

"Once upon a time, there was ____. Every day ____. One day, ____. Because of that, ____. Because of that too, ____. Until finally, ____!"

Example

- Act 1 Setup: Two princesses, one with secret magic powers, live in a faraway land.

- Act 2 Conflict: Eldest princess loses control of her magic, people accuse her of witchcraft, she abandons her throne.

- Act 3 Resolution: Younger sister saves her, magic bond protects them, eldest embraces her powers and becomes a good ruler.

3-Act Structure

Recap from Last Week

- Brief review of the three-act structure covered previously.

Hieronymus Bosch

- Overview of the artist and his contributions to visual storytelling.

Continuity in Visual Storytelling

Key Elements:

- Frames: How frames are used to maintain continuity.

- Background: Importance of consistent background elements.

- Characters: Maintaining character consistency across frames.

- Closure: Ensuring narrative closure within scenes.

Gestalt Law of Closure

- Explanation of how this psychological principle applies to visual continuity and storytelling.

Notes on Visual Layouts

- The layout of visual elements affects how the story is perceived and understood.

- Examples from graphic novels and children's books illustrate how page layouts and transitions influence reader experience.

Participation of the Reader

- Reader involvement is crucial for interpreting and finding meaning in visual transitions.

Scott McCloud’s Transitions

- Six types of transitions identified by Scott McCloud:

1.Moment to Moment: Very little closure required.

2.Action to Action: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

3.Subject to Subject: Requires reader involvement to be meaningful.

4.Scene to Scene: Deductive reasoning needed; transports readers across time and space.

5.Aspect to Aspect: Bypasses time and location, building mood and allowing imagination to wander.

6.Non Sequitur: No logical relationship between the panels.

Point of View in Storytelling

- The importance of selecting the right point of view for telling a story.

- Emphasizing specific threads of the narrative or the most noticeable points.

Examples and Applications

- Practical examples from various media, including:

"The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!"

"Madeline's Rescue"

"Clover vol. 1"

Conclusion :

Effective use of visual transitions enhances storytelling, engages readers, and ensures continuity and coherence in visual narratives.

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EXERCISE

Final Project: Comic cover and Animated One Page intro

A motion comic (or animated comic) is a form of animation combining elements of print comic books and animation. Individual panels are expanded into a full shot while sound effects, voice acting, and animation are added to the original artwork. (wikipedia).

To complete

1. Comic Cover Page

2. Animated One Page Intro

Animated scope:

1. Parallax (to create depth)

2. Secondary Action

3. Animated Background

Act 1 - Setup  (Exposition, Inciting Incident)

The waters of the river have a saffron and sickly hue, palpitate forever and forever beneath the red eye of the sun with a tumultuous and convulsive motion.For many miles on either side of the river's oozy bed is a pale desert of gigantic water-lilies. They sigh one unto the other in that solitude, and stretch towards the heaven their long ghastly necks, and nod to and fro their everlasting heads. And there is an indistinct murmur which cometh out from among them like the rushing of subterrene water. And they sigh one unto the other.

Act 2 - Conflict ( Rising Action, Midpoint )

At the roots strange poisonous flowers lie writhing in perturbed slumber. And overhead, with a rustling and loud noise, the grey clouds rush westwardly forever, until they roll, a cataract, over the fiery wall of the horizon. I stood in the morass among the tall lilies, and the lilies sighed one unto the other in the solemnity of their desolation.

Act 3 - Resolution ( Pre climax, Climax )

And, all at once, the moon arose through the thin ghastly mist, and was crimson in color. And mine eyes fell upon a huge grey rock which stood by the shore of the river, and was litten by the light of the moon.

Sketches

I chose the Silence - A Fable  story. It tells of a mysterious and bizarre dream, full of absurd scenes and rich intentions. Since there are many changes in the scenes in the novel, I chose several scenes with memory points to make the cartoon, such as the banks of the water lily river with the saffron color river, the tall lily bushes, and the boulders under the red moon.

As for the cover of the cartoon, I designed the more symbolic red sun, red moon and lily in the cartoon as the content, and the dark sky color in the story as the background, which can better reflect the artistic conception of the story.

However, after discussing this cover with Mr. hafiz, I decided to make a new one. Because the features and visual effects of the first edition were not strong enough, I tried several effects and finally finished the comic cover.The cover uses saffron river water and lilies as the main elements, and red as the theme color, which echoes the content of the novel.

After that, I switched the order of the last two scenes according to my understanding of the story, and made some adjustments to the size of the red moon, so that the picture looked more balanced.

-Comic cover-

-Comic-

-Animated One Page intro-

I used Photoshop and Adobe After Effects to animate my comic

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REFLECTION

The production of the final task allowed me to learn a lot of knowledge about manga and animation production, and I could use Photoshop and adobe after effects more skillfully to present my own ideas through my works. Thanks to Mr. Hafiz's teaching, my work has improved from the beginning of the semester. I like this course very much, it has greatly improved my ability to master software and my divergent imagination. I will continue to study this course, which will be of great help to my design ability