IVN/TASK 3 - Graphic Novel and Final Project

IVN; TASK 3

21/10/2021 - 25/11/2021 (Week 9 - Week 14)
Diane Lim En Wei / 0345187 / B'Creative Media
Illustration and Visual Narrative

Task 3 / Graphic Novel and Final Project

LECTURES

Week 8 (14/10/2021) 3-Acts structure
Story telling basis
  • Central theme - What the story is really about. The main idea, or underlying meaning. A story may have both a major theme, and minor themes.
    • Major theme - An idea that is intertwined and repeated throughout the whole narrative.
    • Minor theme - An idea that appears more subtly, and doesn't necessarily repeat.
  • Conflict - What drives the story. Creates tension and builds suspense. The elements that make a story interesting. Conflict is what engages an audience. 
  • Characters - A story usually includes a number of characters, each with a different role or purpose. 
    • Central characters - Characters that are vital to the development of the story, where the plot revolves around them.
    • Protagonist - Main character of the story, has a clear goal to accomplish or conflict to overcome. Don't always have to be admirable, but must command an emotional involvement from the audience. 
    • Antagonist - Stands between the protagonist's ultimate goals. 

Three-acts structure
  • Setup - The world in which the protagonist exists prior to the journey. Setup usually ends with the conflict being revealed.
  • Rising tension - Series of obstacles the protagonist must overcome. 
  • Conflict - Point of highest tension, major decisive turning point for the protagonist.
  • Resolution - Conflict's conclusion. Where the protagonist finally overcomes the conflict, learns to accept it, or is defeated. This is where the journey ends. 

Week 9 (21/10/2021) How to make comics?
What inspires that little artist in you?
Good ideas come from looking at google Aimlessly. Trashy ideas are concocted at a whim with the last amount of effort and heart.

A way to jump start your clueless brain?
Start with a random word!

How to come up with ideas?
  • Brainstorming
    • What's cool?
    • What do I like?
  • Mind mapping
    • Organize your ideas
  • Build a mental library
    • Watch cartoons/movies
    • Play new games
    • Red new mangas/comics/etc.
    • Listen to different genre of music 
    • Try a new dish, stimulate the brain and jumpstart the cells.
The more you stress on finding ideas, the more it will stray you.

Execution
Pen it down! Aim for simple keywords! e.g;
  • Fooling around in the toystore
  • Causing orderly chaos with a friend
  • Pressing all the buttons in a lift
  • Toys sing! Toystore orchestra.
Great and meaningful ideas are born from the greatest, most influential inspirations and passions.

Week 10 (28/10/2021) Transitions 


Fig 1.1 ; Anatomy of a comic (28/10/2021)
Gutters - brings the sense of change to a scene.
  • Moment-to-moment 
    • The most common form of transition.
    • Used to indicate the change of time/narrative. 
    • Similar size panels with similar size gutters. 
  • Action-to-action
    • Similar as moment-to-moment
    • Shows a single subject progressing through a specific movement
    • Has more specific gutters.
  • Subject-to-subject
    • A cut between related moments, but focusing on a different subject in the same scene.
  • Scene-to-scene
    • Transitions that take place across significant distances within time and space.
  • Aspect-to-aspect
    • Imaginative exploration.
    • Interesting way to jump around a scene. 
    • Shows different aspects occurring simultaneously within one scene 
  • Symbolic
    • Showing time sequences through abstract means. 
    • Could also be how you utilize colors in your comics.

INSTRUCTIONS

Week 9 (21/10/2021) Writing the story.
2 weeks prior (over the course of independent learning week), we were tasked with first writing our story out, in which I did in Fig x.1. With this also includes my planning of what to include in each panel.

Fig 2.1 ; Script and layout planning of webcomic (24/10/2021)

After that, I began arranging the panels, and then started the sketch process. 

Week 11 (4/11/2021) Sketches and flow.
I organized all the panels and flow, and sketched out all of the panels; 

Fig 3.1 ; First sketches of the panels (14/11/2021)

Week 12 (11/11/2021)
I made changes to 1 page; 

Fig 4.1 ; Changes made on this page (14/11/2021)

I decided to make the change of adding sewer caps so as to line up with the story, and add in foreshadowing, though the reader may not realize until later into reading the story. 

On this week as well, I made cleaner versions of the gutters of each page, as the ones in the initial sketches were not consistent and aligned. I also began the line-art process on Adobe Illustrator.

Fig 4.2 ; Cleaner versions of the panels and gutters on one page (14/11/2021)

Fig 4.3 ; Line-art done on one panel (14/11/2021)

Week 13 (18/11/2021)
I made changes to two pages. I honestly could not understand what I was trying to achieve in the first sketches of both pages. 

Fig 5.1 ; Changes made on this page, again (17/11/2021)

Fig 5.2 ; Changes made on this page (20/11/2021)

I finished the line-art process in Adobe Illustrator and created the final (static) webcomic (Fig 5.3)

Fig 5.3 ; Final static webcomic (20/11/2021)

I then moved on to the editing process, where I wanted to line everything up according to the rhythm of the song. I edited certain audios to create the backing sound track of the motion comic. 

I describe what I did to the audio in the REFERENCES/LINKS section of this e-portfolio.


Fig 5.4 ; Final Motion comic (2/12/2021)

FEEDBACK

Week 9 (21/10/2021)
Upon reading my script, they asked; "Are you okay?" 
-and that was all I got which I will assume to be a good thing. 

Week 11 (4/11/2021)
A brief exchange between me and Ms. Anis.

Fig 6.1 ; An exchange between Ms. Anis and I on discord (4/11/2021)

Week 12 (11/11/2021)
When showing the sketches, they had said that there was great flow, and good composition, and that they had nothing bad to say about it. 

REFLECTION

Words cannot describe how long I've waited for someone to give me a situation in which my story (Fig 2.1) can finally be told. The theme of the webcomic being horror was too perfect, everything lined up. This assignment really put my knowledge of Adobe Illustrator to the test, and I can safely say that, unlike in the first few assignments, it was a lot easier to use this time around. The line work that came out of Illustrator was so satisfying, seeing everything so clean, though I will say I felt like I was cheating when using the line tool rather than the pen (but that's just a personal thing). Adobe Illustrator is definitely still not my favorite software to use but because of the quality of line work it produced, I'd say it's up there.  

Editing on Adobe After Effects was a pain! After Effects is one of the only editing softwares I have gotten down, and that I am used to, however, it sucks up all soul and life from my PC. I had so many rendering issues, it would be beyond me to even try and describe the very specific problem I had with it, but I manage to resolve it with the help of Mrs. Jennifer, who I'm super grateful for! She helped me figure out the problem. 

Overall, I am the most proud of how this assignment turned out. I loved every single outcome of every assignment, but this one had the most learning curves and I had the most fun with it as well. 

REFERENCES/LINKS

  • The main backing soundtrack in the motion comic, I slowed down it's speed to create the song you hear in the video (Fig 5.4).
  • The ending/climax soundtrack heard in the motion comic, slowed down and pitched down to create the sound you hear in the video (Fig 5.4). 
OUTDOOR NIGHT AMBIENCE SOUND EFFECT | HQ SOUND EFFECTS; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndBkAloByFg

Nights Ambience Neighborhood; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqS7f4eLHNM


Water Dripping Sound Effects; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVIJCHzWNkI

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