IVN - Task 4

25.11.2024 -  10.1.2024 / Week 10 - Week 15
Aw Wen Chia / 0368828
Illustration & Visual Narrative / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media

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INSTRUCTION

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PROJECT

Task 4:

Week 11:

For this task, we had to make a webcomic and a cover for the story "The Monkey's Paw". I first started by reading the story and deciding on which part of the story to depict. 

I choose the third part where Mr and Mrs White are making their second wish.

Fig 1, Chosen text from "The Monkey's Paw"

Translation:

“WISH!” she cried in a strong voice.

“It is foolish and wicked,” he faltered.

“WISH!” repeated the wife.

He raised his hand. “I wish my son alive again.”

The talisman fell to the floor. and he regarded it fearfully. Then he sank trembling into a chair as the old woman, with burning eyes, walked to the window and raised the blinds.

Week 12:

I started looking for inspiration on Pinterest and Google, I wanted it to be black in white as the story takes a dark turn.

Fig 2, Inspiration

I then started with the sketch of the webcomic.

Fig 3, Sketch

I based the last panel from Framed Ink.

Fig 4, Inspiration

I wanted to highlight the woman screaming at the man as she is the turning point of the story, the monkey's paw is also highlighted to give off an eerie effect.

My tutor approved of it so I moved on to digitizing in Illustrator.

Week 13:

I got sick-

Week 14:

I am still not fully recovered but oh well

I started digitizing my sketch

Fig 5, Progress

I started by outlining my sketch and panels using the Pen Tool. Then I fill in the shapes in either black or white, for the highlights, I use the pen tool to block some parts of the shape to give it more dimension.

I also used Pathfinder to merge shapes together to make it easier to digitize and animate.

I then added in the dialogue.

Fig 6, Progress

After I added the dialogue, I was done with the still image webcomic.

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Webcomic:

Fig 7, Webcomic

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I then started animating in Adobe After Effects.

Fig 8, Progress

I animated the tears of Mrs. White in the first and third panels. I also animated the words "WISH!" said by Mrs White, and "alive again." said by Mr White.

I used Position to animate them.

I then made the animation into a GIF.

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Webcomic GIF:

Fig 9, Webcomic GIF

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I then worked on the cover.

I first started with finding inspiration.

Fig 10, Inspiration

I wanted the monkey's paw to look like it is a puppeteer.

Fig 11, Inspiration

I want the background to have a eerie feeling, but in cel shadings.

After that, I started with the sketch.

Fig 12, Sketch

After I finished sketching, I started digitizing it in Adobe Illustrator.

Fig 13, Progress

I started by using the pen tool to make the background.

Fig 14, Progress

Then I made the paw.

Fig 15, Progress

Followed by the signs.

Fig 16, Progress

Lastly, I place the title and the author's name.

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Comic Cover:

Fig 17, Comic Cover

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I then worked on the animations for the front cover in After Effects.

Fig 18, Progress

I made the paw move the title and author's name around.

I used positions to animate it.

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Comic Cover GIF:

Fig 19, Comic Cover GIF

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REFLECTION

This assignment was the hardest due to the amount of things we had to do for the task. However, it was a lot of fun as I always wanted to make a webcomic. Although this was not the most ideal story for me as "The Monkey's Paw" is not a story I would read on my own time. It was quite fun making the story with my friends and seeing their progress with their different art styles and depictions of the story.

I definitely find it tough to figure out how to make the art styles work in Illustrator. I was way too used to working with drawing apps like Iblis Paint X, so using Illustrator was a hard switch. However, using it for over a year made me way better at it. So I hope I could use them in the future.