Illustration & Visual Narrative / Final Project: Self-Titled

December 6 - January 5 / Week 11 - Week 14

Sheren Princessa Davon / 0362134

Illustration and Visual Narrative / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University

Final Project

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For our final project, we were supposed to weave in the 3 modules we learned this semester, Illustration and Visual Narrative, Digital Photography and Imaging, Typography.

Concept Board

Firstly, I created a concept board so I had a direction of what I wanted to create.

Fig 1.1 Concept Board

Base Photograph

Afterwards, I took the my original picture and created the base of my portrait on Photoshop.

Fig 1.2 Photograph of me

I saved the element as a transparent PNG so I can upload it to Illustrator.

Fig 1.3 Base Progression on Photoshop

Illustrations

I decided to illustrate a gold frame that will serve as a picture frame for my portrait. First, I created the base shapes using the Shape Tool. I added a texture to the shape in the back. Then I added gradients to the middle piece to make it seem like it was a shiny, glossy gold. Finally, I added a grain texture at the top to finalize the frame

Fig 1.4 Frame Illustration

Progress
I added a Gradient Background with green, blue, white, and a bit of brown to match the frame.

Then I placed the Main Element I previously made on Photoshop, along with a beach background I took myself. 

I added a "ray of light" by creating a solid white shape using the Pen Tool, then I set the transparency to Soft Light and turned down the opacity.

I placed in the quote I chose which is "let the light in". I used a paper overlay I found online and masked it to seem like it was torn pieces of paper and placed the text on top of it.

For the final touches, I added 3 stars that I made using the Pen Tool. I also added a final paper texture at the end to give finalize it.

Fig 1.5 Progress on Illustrator

Final Project: Self-Titled

Fig 1.6 Final Project: Self-Titled. JPG - Week 14 (03/01/24)

This project represents me and my inner child. I really resonate with the quote “let the light in” as it reminds me to not only look for the light in the darker times, hence, the ray of light entering my body. I let the stars represent my inner child struggling to break free, and through maturing I realize how important it is to let loose sometimes. 

With this piece, I attempt to combine the vintage, mature style of surrealism with more playful and bright colors. I incorporated the classic surrealism style with breaking the original portrait into 3, however instead of adding 3d objects, I illustrated some stars in place.

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Animation

Then I exported the individual elements into After Effects to create minimal animations. 

Fig 2.1 After Effects Progress

I decided to make it seem like my head is floating by adjusting the Position and Rotation of the top part of the head. I also made the light shine into the head by using a masking path

Fig 2.2 Floating head animation

Fig 2.3 Light masking path

 I created a slow scale movement for some of the stars, almost to replicate a beating heart.

Fig 2.4 Stars animation

Final Project Animation

Video 1.1 Final Animation

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REFLECTION

This final project was challenging to say the least. It took me quite a while to come up with a final concept and sketch I wanted to create for my self-portrait. I'm glad I got to use the techniques I learned in this module, such as Chiaroscuro gradients, and using textures. I liked mixing in two styles of design, the 3d and 2d aspects. Overall, this module has been really insightful, especially in my skills of using Adobe Illustrator.