ILLUSTRATION & VISUAL NARRATIVES - Task 1
23/09/2025 - 19/10/2025 (Week 1 - Week 4)
Lexandra Feodora Stefano/0384629
Illustration and Visual Narratives/Bachelors of Design (Honours) in
Creative Media/ Taylor's University
Task 1 [Character Design]
Week 1
An overall briefing of the module and playing The Bezier Game, which is a game
that can help understand the basics on how to use the pen tool on Adobe
Illustrator.
Week 2
A brief explanation about how to make unique character designs. He shows a few
examples of character design from different movies and explains on how colors
and shapes (silhouette) of the characters can help explain their traits.
Week 3
An introduction to a lighting technique called "Chiaroscuro" which means
'light-dark' in Italian. The purpose is to increase the scene's dramatic
tension by exaggerating the subject's importance using color and light
contrast. There are different types of lighting to describe the certain
scenes. Mr Fitri took examples from different historical paintings and movie
scenes.
Week 4
Today's lecture is an introduction to perspective. There are 4 different types of perspective, one point perspective, two point perspective, three point perspective, and isometric grid. As the name suggests, each perspective are based on how many points are drawn on. One point perspective is where the drawing is drawn to one point only. Two point perspective is where the object can be seen from two sides. Three point perspective is where there are 3 vanishing points that is usually used to draw images from the top or bottom. Isometric grid consist of lines as a guide to draw on.
INSTRUCTIONS
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IkLpmndcnmq0ZiGEVRt4DtAwsy50FJUo/view?usp=sharing
TASK
First, we were told to make a list with 4 items (10 each), which are who,
where, trait, and twist. After that, we used a dice (rolladie.net) to decide
which prompt we are going to use from each item and combine them into 1
prompt/sentence. The prompts that I got were
1. A confident fish on the beach wearing a crown
2. A crazy fairy with horns in a forest
3. A happy robot wearing a box on its head on top of a building
4. A grumpy cat wearing sunglasses on an alleyway
5. A sleepy wizard who covers his eyes in the sky
We were told to choose 3 out of 5 prompts, so I chose prompt 1, 2, and
3.
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| Fig 1.1 Prompts (30/09/2025) |
After that, I started looking for references to create the mood board.
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| Fig 1.2.1 Prompt 1 Mood Board (30/09/2025) |
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| Fig 1.2.2 Prompt 2 Mood Board (30/09/2025) |
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| Fig 1.2.3 Prompt 3 Mood Board (30/09/2025) |
After thinking on how to make the characters, I started sketching them on my
sketchbook. We were told to make 3 character designs for the 3 prompts that
we chose. Here are the sketches
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| Fig 1.2.4 Sketches (30/09/2025) |
On week 3, Mr Fitri picked the sketches he likes, he chose sketch 1 for the
first prompt, sketch 3 for the second prompt, and sketch 3 for the third
prompt. After that, I started digitalizing the sketch using Adobe
Illustrator. After that, he told us to make the outline first for this week.
Here are the results.
Techniques used for the line art :
- Pen tool : P (4-5 pixels)
- Edit the curve : P, Alt
- Berzier Handle (To edit anchor points), Alt (To break)
- Selection Tool : V
- Direct Selection Tool : A
- Curvature Tool : Shift ~
- Move Anchor Points : Control
- Shape Builder : Shift + M
- Remove overlapping lines : Hold Alt
- Width Tool : Shift + W
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| Fig 1.2.5 Line Art (10/10/2025) |
Prompt 1 :
Name : Martin
Rationale :
I decided to draw a Moorish Idol fish due to the unique shape and a nice color palette. For the crown, I decided to keep it simple so it shows the simple cartoon vibe and so it fits the tip of the fin easily. Since the background will be a beach instead of the sea, I gave him legs so he can stand on land rather than float. The confident facial expression is inspired by simple cartoon art styles. The leg shape is very simple and highly inspired by Darwin from the show Gumball, because I like the simple shapes and unique characters from that show.
Martin plays a huge role on the beach and the sea because he is the king that rules them both. His confident and positive personality makes him the perfect king to rule other fishes in both worlds. Even though he might seem self-centered, he actually cares about his people a lot, which makes him the perfect leader. He usually comes up to the beach to have meetings or start parties with the other fish.
Prompt 2 :
Name : Salvia
Rationale :
I decided to go for a simple fairy design with a dress that kind of resembles a flower petal. I gave the fairy short hair so the horns don't collide with the hairstyle or hair accessories. For the wings, I gave her a simple butterfly wing. The highlight of her design is the face because it shows the insanity/craziness of the character, just like the prompt says. Her name is inspired by the flower Salvia divinorum, which is one of the many plants that can alter people’s minds and cause craziness.
Salvia used to be a normal, happy, and bubbly fairy with her life ahead of her. But, one day, something happened that made her fall into insanity. When adventuring in the wild, she stumbled upon a beautiful flower and without knowing, she decided to smell the flower. The flower was a very infamous species, known to cause several issues to the creatures living in the forest. That one sniff made her fall into craziness and insanity. Therefore, she now roams the forest in a manic state, scaring the other fairies.
Prompt 3 :
Name : Hapbot
Rationale :
This design is inspired by BMO (Adventure Time) especially the shape and facial expression because BMO is such a bubbly character, so it fits the prompt. I decided to give him a body and make the head shape kind of like a TV. Rather than making his head a box, I decided to place the box a little slanted on his head so we can see his actual expression. The name is from the words Happy and Robot mixed together.
Hapbot is a robot created by a scientist who really enjoys his job. The scientist created him for one purpose only, to make him and others happy. Hapbot enjoys the littles things in life, anything makes him happy. Including the little box on top of his head. That box was given to him by the scientist, so now he wears it everywhere he goes. His favorite thing to do is exploring the city he lives in. He enjoys spending time with people and always brings a smile to everyone’s faces. He is the perfect embodiment of pure happiness.
After creating the outline and the rationale, I started coloring the
characters using the Live Paint Tool on Adobe Illustrator. I also added
some shadows and highlights to bring dimension to the characters. Here are
the results.
Techniques used for the line art :
- Pen tool : P (4-5 pixels)
- Edit the curve : P, Alt
- Berzier Handle (To edit anchor points), Alt (To break)
- Selection Tool : V
- Direct Selection Tool : A
- Artboard Tool : Shift + O
- Transform Panel : Shift + F8
- Remove stroke on color layer
- Live Paint Tool : K
- Shadow : Multiply
- Highlights : Color Dodge
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| Fig 1.2.6 Colored (13/10/2025) |
Slides :
REFLECTION
Experience - I learned how to use Adobe Illustrator for the first time and I enjoyed using it. Drawing the sketches was really fun and getting used to AI was not that hard. I still only know how to use the basic tools, but the slides that were provided was really helpful. This task is not as difficult as I thought it would be.
Observations - At first, using Adobe Illustrator was pretty scary because I never used it, but there are a lot of references online that are very helpful for this task. I understand how to use AI quite fast and got used to the tools pretty quickly. Though there are more things that I can explore in AI.
Findings - It is not that easy coming up with prompts and how to design the characters. We have to think how to make the characters express the prompts and make the characters simple but memorable. I feel like my characters are too bland/basic for this task. Next time I will try to make the characters more unique and improve my work.
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