Illustration and Visual Narrative : Task 3 & Final Project/Web Toon and Motion Comic

Week 10 - Week 14 : 29 Oct 2021 - 26 Nov 2021

Tan Yi Yun
0345559
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Task 3 & Final Project / Web Toon and Motion Comic


LECTURE

Week 7

Storytelling basics

Central theme
The theme is what the story really about. It is the main idea or underlying meaning. Often, it is the storyteller's personal opinion on the subject matter. 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
The conflict is what drives the story. It is what creates tension and builds suspense, which are the elements that make a story interesting. If there is no conflict, not only will the audience not care, but there also won't be any compelling story to tell. Conflict is what engages an audience. It is what keeps them white-knuckled, at the edge of their seats, waiting impatiently to see if the protagonists will overcome their obstacle. 

3-Act Structure

Three-act story structure divides a story into three distinct sections, each anchored around one or more plot points that drive the overall action. Over the course of the three acts, a complete story unfolds.

Figure 1.1, 3-Act Structure

Act I : Setup 
The world in which the protagonist exists prior to the journey. The setup usually ends with the conflict being revealed.

Act II : Rising Tension
The series of obstacles the protagonist must overcome. Each obstacle is usually more difficult and with higher stakes than the previous one.

Act III : Conflict and Resolution
Conflict is the point of highest tension, and the major decisive turning point for the protagonist. Then it comes to the conflict's conclusion. This is where the protagonist finally overcomes the conflict, learns to accept it, or is ultimately defeated by it. Regardless, this is where the journey ends. 

Figure 1.2 is an example of a short narrative.

Figure 1.2, Short narrative example

Week 10

Transitions

Gutter: The space between the panels.

Moment-to-moment 
A blink or two between seconds of a film, can be used to slow down and draw out action. Over utilized it can make the comics dull and laborious to draw and read. 

Action-to-action
a less finely sliced version of Moment to Moment, and typically focuses on significant events. or movement from panel to panel, and over larger intervals of time between moments. 

Subject-to-subject
A cut between to related moments, but focusing on a different subject in the same scene. Think conversation in a restaurant, or a shift of focus onto another actor in the scene. 

Scene-to-scene
A series of events that happen in one location, and continuous period of time. A change of location or significant jump in time between panels is considered the end of a scene and the start of a new one. 

Aspect-to-aspect
It can be an interesting way to jump around a scene, taking in key details or letting the characters focus wonder. It’s also a good way to introduce their environment to a reader, though the players eyes perhaps or inviting them to wonder away from the players a bit.

Symbolic
You see it a lot in various forms, partial montages depicting the contents of a fashback or inner dialog. 

Rolling Transition
Transition from one panel or idea to the next. Capture a sense of movement through space. Breaking down the "blink" model of panel to panel comics storytelling in favour of something more fluid. Instead of having panel gutters as separate graphical elements at all, the images are melded and mixed together. Overlapping and interlacing. 

As the reader's eye travels over the contour of one figure, it finds itself on the other side in a separate 'moment' or 'aspect' or 'space' of the scene, giving a 'Rolling' sense of movement through space and time to the story. Rather than the traditional isolation of one
moment and aspect, to another in paneled comics design.

Non Sequitur
These are not common at all, outside of surreal abstract or gag comics. In part because we’re likely to infer some kind of meaning even when none was planned, and that leads them to be perceived by readers more like Aspect to Aspect transitions. The most enlightening thing to learn about them, is how resilient the desire in readers is to perceive a narrative between juxtaposed moments or things.
Figure 1.3, Transition sets, Week 10 (29/10/2021)

Figure 1.4, Transition sets, Week 10 (29/10/2021)

Figure 1.5, Word and picture combination styles, Week 10 (29/10/2021)


INSTRUCTION


TASK 3  : Web Toon 

Horror themed comic...of our own creation... *gasp* 

This project we are tasked to create a one shot Web Toon short with the premise of a horror genre story. We should consider 3-act structures but with interesting twists and plots. It can be wordless and presented only with illustrations, or it can be detailed with stories, filled with speeches and texts. Think of creating a premise for a story that makes the readers creeped out, scared, and of course we can end the story on a happy note too. The final comic should be published on webtoons.com. 

Visual Research

I seldom (never) watch horror shows, so I have little clue on how to make a good horror story. Therefore, I looked for some tips to start a horror story and jotted down in Figure 2.1.

Figure 2.1, Tips to make a horror story, Week 9 (24/10/2021)

I also read some "less horror" manga on Web Toon to get some inspirations. 

a) Stagtown 

Description : Something is wrong with the town Frankie grew up in. Hidden away from the world on the other side of an old stone bridge, the people of Stagtown spend every day trying not to see the strange things that go on around them.

Figure 2.2, Stagtown, Week 9 (24/10/2021)

b) Tales of the Unusual

Description : In dangerous urban legends and dark ancient myths, human instincts and urges take form in unusual ways. Discover strange and thrilling depths in Tales of the Unusual. Often the thing that we should be most afraid of... is ourselves.

Figure 2.3, Tales of the Unusual, Week 9 (24/10/2021)


Idea Exploration

My general concept came from the haunted doll. According to Wikipedia, a haunted doll is a handmade or manufactured doll or stuffed animal that is claimed to be cursed or possessed in some way. If you simply search for keywords like "haunted doll" or "cursed doll", you can see a lot of real life story pops out (and click them if you dare). Some dolls move when no one is looking at, some grow their hair, some possess supernatural ability that you don't want to mess up with. I also found that the muppet headgarments from Stagtown Ep. 6 is creepy and disturbing to look at. 

Extra: If you are interested to look at a doll that grows its hair, you can look at this website : Okiku, the Japanese haunted doll. 

Here are the process of idea exploration and the final story in 3-act structures.

Figure 2.4, Idea exploration, Week 9 (24/10/2021)

Figure 2.5, Applying 3-Act Structure, Week 9 (24/10/2021)


Logline

Summary of my story into one sentence :
This is a story about a 12-year-old boy who is being abused by his parents because of his unsatisfied results, decided to trade his eye in exchange of the power of a haunted doll to make sure he will excel in the coming examination.

Character Design

At first I didn't use any reference and just sketch out my ideas. I find a little difficult to express the characters' personalities. Figure 2.7 shows my initial sketches.


Figure 2.7, Initial sketches, Week 10 (30/10/2021)

Then, I looked for references in Pinterest and "wow!" I saw a bunch of great examples there. I quickly saved a few of them and observed their basic shapes, facial expression and body languages. 

Figure 2.8, Inspirations taken from Pinterest, Week 10 (31/10/2021)

Figure 2.6, 2.7 and 2.8 are my second attempt of character design. The colours are not final yet because I was thinking to make black and white comics with minimal colours only.

Figure 2.6, Character Design - Karl, Week 10 (31/10/2021)

Figure 2.7, Character Design - James, Week 10 (31/10/2021)

Figure 2.8, Character Design - Haunted Doll, Week 10 (31/10/2021)

Storyboard

Storyboard helps me to plan my narrative and visualise what will be my final product look like. Figure 2.9 is an example of storyboard I found online. 

Figure 2.9, Example of storyboard, Week 11 (6/11/2021)

This is how I plan all the panels :
Act I : 9 -11 panels
Act II : 24 - 26 panels
Act III : 12 - 14 panels 
Total : approximately 45 panels

Figure 3.1, Storyboard for "The Haunted Doll" using 3-act structures, Week 11 (6/11/2021)

Digital Sketch

I finished my sketches in Adobe Photoshop. I created a super long vertical strip since this comic is going to publish on Web Toon. This is where I planned my comic layouts. 

The colours used are mainly cold colours - blue. I choose blue because it fits the cool and introverted personalities of Karl, and this is a story about him. I used red at certain parts to create contrast, such as blood, and the dress of the doll. 

(Spoiler Alert : Do not read this if you want to see the final outcome published on Web Toon) 

Figure 3.2, Sketches in Photoshop, Week 12 (13/11/2021)

Digitisation in AI

Digitising my comic in Adobe Illustrator is a super time-consuming stage. But since I had organised things well in my previous stage, this makes my process slightly easier because I only need to trace over the drawing. I mainly use the Charcoal brush in AI to maintain the charcoal texture of my original sketch. 

Figure 3.3, Artboards in AI, Week 13 (21/11/2021)
Font used : CC Wild Words Roman
Total pages : 21
Total panels : 39

I removed the part where the teacher asked students to put their fortune dolls on the table. I am not sure how I got this idea. I might see this culture somewhere but I couldn't find any example online. When I showed my sketch to my friends, some of them suggested me to remove this dialogue because it may seem confusing. 

Figure 3.4, Sketch v.s. Final digitisation, Week 13 (21/11/2021)

You can also see the next scene is being changed too because it is linked to the "allow of fortune doll on table". I drew a sneaky look on Karl when he is trying to put his doll in the drawer. 

Figure 3.5, Sketch v.s. Final digitisation, Week 13 (21/11/2021)

Now my comic is ready to publish! All I need to do is to prepare the vertical and square thumbnails for Web Toon.

Figure 3.6, Vertical and square thumbnails, Week 13 (22/11/2021)

For the episode thumbnail I reused one of the illustration that shows the haunted doll.

Figure 3.7, Episode thumbnails, Week 13 (22/11/2021)

And Figure 3.8 is the cover page for my Web Toon.

Figure 3.8, Cover page, Week 13 (22/11/2021)

Final Web Toon

Web Toon link : 

Figure 3.9, Published on Web Toon, Week 14 (29/12/2021)

Figure 4.1 - Final Web Toon in PDF, Week 14 (29/11/2021)


Animation

I did not expect animating can be so exciting and frustrating at the same time. The first day of animating was kind of fun, I saved up to 3 copies of them and went to bed happily. The next day, I couldn't open my working file in After Effects! I have no idea what's the problem. I asked help from Google and Ms. Jennifer...but...but still...t he only file I can open is the back up file with only 2 pages of animation. So I ended up redoing almost everything HA HA. (I'm fine, the second round of animating gives me chance to refine the previous animation :D....)

Figure 4.2, The unsolved mystery, Week 14 (1/12/2021)

*Update (2/12/2021) : I clicked "OK" as many times as possible (I think it depends on the amount of your layers) and the time bar at the back is moving (?) then the file can be opened (!?) HMMM but why? Can anyone explain this to me haha*

To move AI artboard to AE, I created a new artboard 1280 x 720px and separated each sublayers into main layer. I also make sure that the file colour is in RGB. 

Figure 4.3, Creating new artboard for After Effects, Week 14 (1/12/2021)

Figure 4.4, Animating in After Effects, Week 14 (1/12/2021)

Figure 4.5, Animating in After Effects (puppet tool), Week 14 (1/12/2021)

Extra : A frame-by-frame paper falling animation is also added.


Frame-by-frame animation, Week 14 (1/12/2021)

I think I have the most fun on adding sound effects. I downloaded no copyright music from YouTube. The background music really helps to build the suspense atmosphere.
Figure 4.6, Bunch of sound effects, Week 14 (2/12/2021)

I made a separate file for the opening of motion comic. I followed a video tutorial to add an ink effect in displaying the text.

Figure 4.7, Opening of motion comic, Week 14 (2/12/2021)

Final Submission

Web Toon - The Haunted Doll
Web Toon link : 

Figure 4.8, Final Web Toon in PDF, Week 14 (2/12/2021)

Motion Comic - The Haunted Doll

YouTube video - The Haunted Doll, Week 14 (2/12/2021)


FEEDBACK

Week 9 : 

This week I only presented my storyline verbally to Ms. Anis. She gave me some suggestions like focusing on the creepiness of the doll at certain scenes, and adding "eyeball trading" scene to my storyline.  

Week 10 : 

Ms. Anis approved my storyline! :D So now I can proceed with this story and start designing the characters.

Week 11 : 

I am on the right track! The only thing Ms. Anis gave me suggestion is to add highlights on the doll's hair. 

Week 12 : 

Nice drawings and composition! The story flow is alright. Now they are good to go for AI illustration.


REFLECTION
This is a great experience as I learned a lot in these two projects. Firstly, I learned about the purpose of 3-act structure in planning a good story flow. I also learned about some useful transitions such as aspect-to-aspect, subject-to-subject that I can apply in my comic. Although I prefer to complete my comic using other drawing software like Photoshop or Clip Studio Paint Pro, I have gained new skills working with Adobe Illustrator. For example, the Blob Brush Tool can form filled, compound path. I found it is good for drawing filled shapes, even new painted shapes can merge with the existing one, interesting! One of the struggles I faced when working in AI is to create the art style I want. I don't want my comic similar to my previous tasks' style. I spent a lot of time working with textured brush. 

Animating in After Effects is still pretty new for me. I enjoy experimenting with different transitions and effects. The only part that makes me frustrated is when I couldn't open my AE file (That means I need to redo LOL). But the positive side of redoing is that I improved and refined my previous animation, and added extra movements that I didn't add previously. It feels good to see the final outcome, bringing my Web Toon to life.