ILLUSTRATION AND VISUAL NARRATIVE - PROJECT 3 : DIGITAL TRIPTYCH AND FINAL PROJECT

1/6/2023 - 30/6/2023 / Week 9 - Week 13
Thanaphorn Daensaad / 035093
Illustration and Visual Narrative / Bachelor of Design (Hons) In Creative Media
Project 3 Digital Triptych

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List:

1. Lectures

2. Instructions

3. Task

4. Reflection

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Lectures:

Week 9

Today's tutorial we learnt about doing shades and light.

Week 10

We learnt how to make our own pattern using the pattern option and also ornaments.

WEEK 12

We had a consultation on our digital triptych progress with Mr. Hafiz this week.

WEEK 13

Week 13 was a public holiday and we watched a recording of our final project briefing on the one-page animated visual comic.

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Instructions

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Project 3 : Digital Triptych

In Project 3, we were required to pick a story from the website https://poestories.com/stories.php, which contains short stories by Edgar Allen Poe. Then, we were required to break the story down into a 3-act structure and coming up with 3 panels digital triptych about the 3 acts.

Fig. 2.1 Three-Acts Structure, Week 9

Choice of story : The Black Cat

1. Summary 

"The Black Cat" is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1843. It is a chilling tale that explores themes of guilt, madness, and the descent into moral decay.The story is narrated by an unnamed protagonist who starts by proclaiming his sanity and love for animals. He describes his happy life and affection for his pets, including a large black cat named Pluto. However, as the narrator's alcoholism grows, his personality undergoes a dark transformation.

3-Act Structure

Setup: Exposition, Inciting Incident, Plot Point One

One day, there lived the narrator and his wife who both share the love for keeping animals. There was a cat that was the narrator’s favourite called Pluto. The alcoholism in the narrator awakened and took over him which brought bad effects to the animals and his wife. One night, the narrator came home intoxicated and got mad as he felt that Pluto was avoiding him. The avoidance caused the narrator to be bitten by Pluto out of fear. This resulted in the narrator cutting open its eye from the socket. In the morning, due to his actions, the relationship was never the same.

 

Conflict: Rising Action, Midpoint, Plot Point Two

Pluto recovered but had developed fear of the narrator causing Pluto to avoid him.. This annoyed the narrator, resulting in him hanging Pluto around its neck to a limb of a tree. On the night of the same day, his house got caught in flames and both him and his wife survived with nothing left behind. He went back to find the cause of the fire to find a wall standing with a figure of a cat with a rope around the neck. This haunted him for days for days.

Resolution: Pre-climax, Climax, Denouement

One night, he found a cat that resembles Pluto but with white patch on its chest. The cat (2) followed him home but the narrator hated it due to his mistake. One day,he went down to the cellar with his wife and cat. He went mad and tried to kill the cat with an axe but ended up killing his wife by a fatal blow to her brain. He hid his dead wife in the wall. Policemen came to inspect after days, heard a shriek within the falls and discovered the rotting wife with the cat on her head. 

2. Story Research

Central theme

Major : Love and hate

Minor : Justice and Superstiotion

Central character

Narrator

Cat 1 (Pluto)

Cat 2

Wife 

Policemen

Mood

Madness

Irritated

Symbols in the story

The apparition of the hanging cat (Pluto) on the wall 

-his terrible deed as he loses everything he owns.

The black and white cat (cat 2)

- as a second chance to do good

- mistaken as guilt by narrator

- white patch on cat resembles gallow

Time of story:

- around the 80s

Location of story:

- narrator home

- 2nd home

-cellar

-basement

3. Visual Research

Fig. 2.2 References

4. Sketches

Fig. 2.3 Sketches

5. Triptych

Fig. 2.4 The pain of trust

Fig. 2.5 The fallen of trust

Fig. 2.6 She loved too hard innocently

Fig. 2.7 He could get the help but he did not

Fig. 2.8 Outline

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Final Project : Animated Visual Novel

Project 3 & Final Project: Graphic Novel & Motion Comic

For this part of the project, we were required to create a ONE PAGE introduction of your visual novel or comic to your readers with at least ONE animated panel. We were required to choose the one that has the best timing in the story flow and transitions of the visuals that strongly reflect the narrative through characters, panels, particle effects, texts etc.

Submission requirement:

Technical files: Final *.ai & *.psd

Design files: Final *.png & *.gif compiled in Google slides 

Project 3 & Final compilation: Google slides [21 x 30 cm]

- One selected Act from Digital triptych

- Animated page

1. Sketch

I tried to sketch out a few ideas that I thought could go well. My first sketch was focused onto the first act where the drunk narrator coming home whilst the cat running away from him. Due to that, it made him angry and decided to commit animal cruelty.. but I did not include the gore part to it to keep it pg.

Fig 2.9 Sketch 1 Act 1

Fig 3.0 Sketch 2 Act 3

2. Digitalization

Before starting the sketch tracing, I determined the size of each panels of the page in order to have a guide for my sketches. I was able to balanced out the size of the panels to the page making it more pleasant to look at.

Fig 3.1 Trial #1

Fig 3.2 Trial #2

3. Coloring and adding shades

I did some coloring for the vectors and using lighting to capture the intensity of the situation.

Fig 3.3 Ai coloring

4. Creating animation frames

Fig 3.4 Making frames

Fig 3.5 Bringing it to life in Ps

Final submission

Fig 3.6 Slides submission here

Fig 3.7 Final outline

Fig 3.8 Final animated panel (GIF)

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Reflection

Experience

I didn't mind being able to make a visual for a story but making a triptych is quite stressful and it makes my Ai lagged like crazyy. I hope I don't have to do too much on this kind of project because I was so close to give up everytime I see my Ai stopped responding.

Observations

To make a good triptych, I need to be able to ensure that the flow is there and it flows well. I do not like my work for this project. I can see myself improve better if there was more time to do it. I tend to change ideas alot last minute.

Findings

Image tracing saved most of my time and I wish to have more time to work on this more. Time to face the next one which is the animated panel. Animating was fun but I wish my laptop could handle more of the ram to add more frames.