Illustration and Visual Narrative: Editorial Illustration (Decisive moment)

November 08, 2023

Illustration and Visual Narrative: Editorial Illustration (Decisive moment)

Week 7 (8/11/2023) - Week 9 (22/11/2023)

ALTAIFI, LEEN MAAN A (0367698)

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

Illustration and Visual Narrative

Assignment 1: Editorial Illustration (Week 7-9)

For this assignment, you must find a related article/story that discuss Urban Legends. The art style must be derived from Art Deco. You will create a minimalist editorial illustration based on an urban legend of your choice using Adobe Illustrator. Your illustration will be designed for a digital media publication and should include minor animations to enhance engagement.

Research:

The urban legend I have eventually chosen is the Red Room Curse; it is an internet-focused story that starts with an ominous pop-up. The pop-up features a red screen with black text that reads, “Do you like the red room?,” which is accompanied by a sinister pre-recorded voice asking the same question. No matter how many times you close the pop-up, it will continue to appear until the voice has finished its question. Afterward, your entire screen will turn red and become flooded with past victims’ names. No one knows what happens next, but the receivers of the pop-up are always found dead with their blood painting the walls red, creating the titular red room. Once you receive the pop-up, it is impossible to escape your fate.

Fig. 2.6: Red Room Curse Pop-up

Introduction/Setup: Introduce the protagonist, a curious individual who becomes aware of the mysterious "Red Room Curse." Establish the urban legend surrounding the red room, creating an atmosphere of intrigue and fear. The protagonist begins researching and hearing ominous stories about the curse.
Rising Action: The protagonist's curiosity intensifies, leading them to explore the origins and details of the red room curse. The red room is described as an enigmatic and forbidden place, heightening the tension.
Climax/Turning Point (Illustration Focus): The climatic turning event occurs when the protagonist, closes the pop-up tab. The room is a visually stunning yet foreboding space, setting the stage for the revelation. After closing pop-up tab, the protagonist experiences the immediate consequences of their actions. The curse's power becomes evident, and before they know it, the protagonist lies dead on their bed room floor with blood all over the walls.
Resolution/Conclusion: The resolution reveals the aftermath of the protagonist's encounter with the curse. And the room is left with ambiguity or an open-ended conclusion to maintain the mystery surrounding the red room curse.

Climatic Turning Point Illustration:

Setting: The room should be a stark, dimly lit, Art Deco-styled room with deep red walls, ornate details, and eerie lighting. The room should feel claustrophobic and foreboding.
Protagonist: Position the protagonist corpse on the floor, with blood flowing out of their head.
Curse Source: Highlight the object or element that represents the "Red Room Curse." This could be a cursed painting, an artifact, or an otherworldly entity. It should emanate an ominous red glow or aura. In this case, it is the computer screen emitting light on the corpse.
Composition: Use diagonal lines and strong geometric shapes to create a sense of tension and unease, which is characteristic of the Art Deco style. Emphasize symmetry and balance, but introduce elements that are slightly off-kilter to heighten the eerie atmosphere.
Lighting: Play with dramatic, moody lighting. Create strong contrasts between light and shadow to amplify the sense of fear and revelation. The red glow from the curse source should be the primary source of light, casting eerie reflections and shadows.
Details: Incorporate intricate Art Deco patterns and design elements into the room's furnishings and decor, reinforcing the style. These details should draw the viewer's eye towards the cursed object
.
Color Palette: Art Deco often features bold and contrasting colors. Red, black, and deep greens can be prominent in your color palette, with a focus on red to symbolize the curse.

Sketches/ Ideation:

Before settling with the Red Room Curse urban legend, I brainstormed ideas with other urban legends for more options to choose which one's composition and portrayal of the narrative is best.

Fig. 2.7: Idea 1

The story that the first idea portrays is this: Five teens were driving in a car late at night. They decide to pass by an old haunted house that everyone in school likes to tell stories about. They park their car in front of the house. As they are sitting their joking a laughing, the girl in the middle back seat stops all together, everyone stops and looks at her, she is as pale as a ghost. She looks at everyone and says "you guys would never leave me right..." She then looks down to her feet. Everyone's gaze follows to her feet and they see two hands sticking out from under the backseat grabbing her ankles. Everyone freaks out and runs out of the car. Leaving her inside alone. When they go back, she is no where to be found.

The turning point I illustrated was when everyone pans down to her feet and they find the two hands grabbing the girl's ankles.

Fig. 2.8: Idea 2

This idea was inspired by mangaka horror artist Junji Ito. The legend was one of the stories he has drawn in his manga series "The Town without Streets", which covers themes like invasion of privacy, paranoia, and girlhood. The idea was to illustrate one of the climatic turn of events, when the protagonist's parents would drill holes through her bedroom walls to spy on her. But this was more of a fictional narrative than an urban legend, therefore I did not proceed with this idea.

Afterwards, I start progressing on my final choice, the Red Room Curse. I initiated my progress by sketching out the composition on my sketchbook.

Fig. 2.9: Progress of Red Room Curse 1, Sketches

I used a bunch of references to aid me in finalizing the sketch so I could start digitizing it on adobe illustrator. Such as the interior design of the room (small Japanese rooms specifically), the computer on the desk, the colors, the mood, and the art style to prepare me for the next stage.

Fig. 2.10: Progress of Red Room Curse 2, Finalizing Composition

Digitizing:

Moving on to the next stage, I use my final sketch as a base for illustrating using the pen and pencil tool, simply starting on the line art first. I used a gun shot blood splatter reference image for the blood on the wall.

Fig. 2.12: Progress of Red Room Curse 4

Fig. 2.11: Progress of Red Room Curse 3

I fill in the shapes with shades of grey to get an idea of the overall lights and shadows. Then I cover the whole drawing using the blending mode overlay to get the ominous red lighting across the whole room.

Fig. 2.14: Progress of Red Room Curse 6

Fig. 2.13: Progress of Red Room Curse 5

After blocking in fill colors of grey shades to the shapes, I added gradient and grain texture to add depth and art deco style onto the illustration. After consulting with the lecturer, however, I was advised to fix the angle of the protagonist's body to become more aligned with the perspective, and to fix some other errors. Therefore, I resketched the protagonist and positioned her lower so that her head doesn't become in tangent with the end of the wall.