Illustration and Visual Narrative: Self Titled

Week 10 28/11/2023 - Week 14 29/12/2023

ALTAIFI, LEEN MAAN A (0367698)

Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media, Taylor's University

Illustration and Visual Narrative

Final Project

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Table of Content

1. Instructions & Tasks

    - Idea Development

    - Design Direction

    - Execution and After Effects

2. Reflections

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1. Instructions & Tasks

Task 4 Self Titled (Week 10-14):

Self-titled is an exploration project for the students to express their own individuality and reflect their personality into digital art self-expression. The main idea is to build self-confidence and discover their interest.

1.1 Idea Development (Week 10):

Write an autobiography:

 

INTRO	My name is Leen, I come from Saudi Arabia. I moved to Malaysia in pursuit of studying UI/UX design, as well as undergoing a self-growth journey.
PARAGRAPH 1	During my childhood, I was the shy, quiet, and reserved type. I was always too scared to get out of my comfort zone, and never dared to try anything new. I spent most of my adolescence in my room drawing or painting. My passion towards art was strong, but my potential was never reached because it was limited by the walls of my room, stuck inside. I rejected any opportunity that came my way because I was afraid of leaving my cocoon. That is, until, I moved countries and started university.
PARAGRAPH 2	Despite being scared, I always knew that I wanted to change deep down , but I just did not know how to take the initiative. When I was given the opportunity to study abroad, I thought to myself, “Maybe starting fresh will make it easier.” A land where no one knows me and have no expectations. Thus, I took that chance and pursued what I wanted to study, UI/UX design. I put myself out there, and I am no longer the little caterpillar stuck in the cocoon. It took moving across oceans to finally grow out of my shell, but at least I got there eventually.
SUMMARY	In conclusion, this was a biography about a shy Saudi girl who was passionate towards art but never had the courage to get out of her room till she pushed herself to go out of her own country so she could grow and pursue her studies. All it takes is to believe in your own potential and capabilities with a side of determination!

Write a statement about your work:

 

INTRO	This poster represents who I am, as I uncover to the viewer my identity, revealing my most vulnerable state: my skeleton.
PARAGRAPH 1	The concept behind this is about wanting to reveal my true self. There is a glow coming from within me, signifying the passions I hold inside that wishes to burst out.
PARAGRAPH 2	In the poster, I lift my shirt up, but only halfway; I am still hesitant on being fully vulnerable, yet a part of me wants to open up.
SUMMARY	This poster summarizes my internal struggle between wanting to be safe, comfortable, enclosed, and vulnerable, open, and communicative.

Mood Board (3 Posters):

POSTER 1	POSTER 2	POSTER 3
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/1008313804046610516/	https://www.pinterest.com/pin/626492998191510656/	https://www.pinterest.com/pin/373165519135540606/

1.2 Design Direction (Week 11-12):

I started my initial sketching, idea planning, a bit of the execution of Procreate. I edited the original picture by enhancing the colors and contrast. Then, I drew illustrative elements including the skeleton and the swirls in the background. I made an experimental gif through procreate gif animation export just to generate ideas for the animation. 

Self Titled Mood Board

Fig. 1.1: Experimental Gif

Fig. 1.0: Design Process

After getting the base idea done, I exported my layers from procreate to photoshop, so I can edit and manipulate the images further. I designed the type "Leen" using the font I've created in Typography class, "Racist AL", and manipulated it using the warp tool in illustrator. 

Fig. 1.2: Racist-AL on FontLab 7 (5/12/2023)

Fig. 1.3: Final Construction of  My Font Letters (5/12/2023)

Fig. 1.5: Process on Illustrator

Fig. 1.4: Process on Procreate

Fig. 1.6: Layers Imported from Procreate

I transferred the type design from illustrator to photoshop, adjusted the colors, and added more shadows to the illustrations. 

Fig. 1.7: Process on Photoshop 1

I decided to make more changes on the poster. I emitted some things, added texture, added more illustrative elements, increased the size of "Leen" because it was too small and unnoticeable, added "Design School" at the bottom, and changed the color scheme. 

Fig. 1.8: Process on Photoshop and Illustrator

Lastly, I made some final changes. I changed "Design School" text's design and color to remove the attention on it and make it a part of the background design. Instead, I shifted the attention to the quote I added: "I cling on to the light inside." 

Fig. 1.10: Process on Illustrator 2

Fig. 1.9: Process on Photoshop 2

1.3 Execution and After Effects (Week 13):

After finalizing the poster design on photoshop, I export the file to After Effects and start animating. The first screenshot on the top left was my first attempt, before I made changes to the original poster. I experimented around to get familiar with the software and to get an idea of what I want to do in the final draft.

I added light effects in the first second, using adjustment layer > blur > blending mode> Add. Then I added an up and down motion to the main subject (my photo) to create a floating effect, and changed the positions of the skeleton legs for motion too. Next, I added a wave warp effect most of the elements in the poster. I used the bezier warp effect on the smoke-like elements on top of the wave effect since they have more movement. And lastly, I added the music audio to the video by importing it onto the audio file. 

Fig. 1.11: Process on After Effects

Final Poster:

Fig. 1.12: Final Self-titled Poster

Artist Statement: 

I have always been a closed, reserved person, and I used art as the only way to express myself, but I have been trying to change that. This piece represents my willingness to change, to become vulnerable, and to show parts of myself to people. Through my work, I hope to evoke emotion and inspire others to do the same.

Final Video:

Video Links:

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bV2gmk64Ib4 

Drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19f1aLOx7eocBE2JO7BjDlgOi156erhx0/view?usp=drive_link 

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2. Reflections

Experience

The aim of this final project was to gain self confidence and discover our interests, and I feel like it made me internally reflect on myself a lot. I thought about how I wanted to represent myself in this project, and in turn that made me question many things about perception. How do I perceive myself? How do others perceive me? And how do I want to be perceived? 

Observations

 An  important aspect of design is collaboration and looking at other people's work. I observed a lot of my groupmates' and seniors' work, and it gave me a better judgement to critique my own designs with. A lot of the seniors' work involved really impressive animation and it inspired me to do the same on my project. 

Findings

This was my first time using after effects, so I learned a lot about the software and all the effects it can  make. I was initially intimidated by the interface, but I found that it's fairly simple to use. I plan on using it for personal projects in the future as well.