ILLUSTRATION & VISUAL NARRATIVES - Task 3
04/11/2025 - 30/11/2025 (Week 7 - Week 10)
Lexandra Feodora Stefano/0384629
Illustration and Visual Narratives/Bachelors of Design (Honours) in
Creative Media/ Taylor's University
Task 3 [Webcomic]
JUMPLINKS
3 Acts Structure
- Setup : the world in which the protagonist exists prior to the journey. The setup usually ends with the conflict being revealed.
- Rising tension : the series of obstacles the protagonist must overcome. Each obstacle is usually more difficult and with higher stakes than the previous one.
- Conflict : the point of highest tension and the major decisive turning point for the protagonist. Usually features the conflict's resolution where the protagonist finally overcomes the conflict, learns to accept, or is defeated by it.
- Moment to moment : shows small, gradual changes in time
- Action to action : a single subject performing different actions
- Subject to subject : shifts between different subjects in the same scene
- Scene to scene : jumps across significant time or space
- Aspect to aspect : moves between different elements or moods of scenes to build atmosphere
- Non Sequitur : panels with no logical connection
INSTRUCTIONS
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1IkLpmndcnmq0ZiGEVRt4DtAwsy50FJUo/view?usp=sharing
TASK
Story
Our first task is to create a story from the character that we chose in
task 2. I chose my 3rd character design so I decided to make a backstory
of that character using the 3 acts structure. Here is the story.
Once upon a time, there was a scientist who really cherished his job. He loved his job so much that the neighborhood his lab is located in knows that he loves creating inventions that help the people around him. And one of those inventions was Hapbot. Hapbot was created to make him and the people around happy and enjoy life. Hapbot's job is to entertain people and bring smiles to other people's faces.
But one day, something happened. While working on a new project with the other scientists, they had an accident. That accident was so bad that the whole neighborhood knew about it. But the worst thing is, that accident left the beloved scientist permanently wounded. Due to that, he cannot continue his job as a scientist and has to stop due to his disabilities. He packed his things and decided to leave the lab behind.
Hapbot didn't know about that incident and he didn't know that the scientist left. Hapbot goes to the scientist's desk everyday waiting for him to come back. He remembered that the scientist gave him a box once, so he wears the box on his head every single day. He wanders through the city hoping to find the scientist. Hapbot still does his job to make people happy, he loves exploring the city, and loves the box on his head. Till this day, Hapbot still wanders the city making people happy and hopes that he can find his beloved scientist someday.
Comic
After finishing the story, Mr Fitri told me to make the 3 panel comic
showing Hapbot making people in the neighbourhood happy. I decided to make 2
sketches first for the comic. The first idea is Hapbot giving flowers to an
elderly, giving a balloon to a child, and Hapbot cheering someone. I decided
to make the first transition as scene to scene. Here is the panel planning
for the first idea.
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| Fig 1.1.1 Panel Planning (10/11/2025) |
The second idea is a kid loosing their balloon then Hapbot giving them a new
one to cheer them up. For the second idea, I decided to use the action to
action transition. Here is the panel planning for the second idea.
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| Fig 1.1.2 Panel Planning 2 (10/11/2025) |
After coming up with the ideas, I decided to look for some references that can
help me with the comic. I looked up references on pinterest and google.
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| Fig 1.1.3 Reference (11/11/2025) |
After looking up the references, I started sketching the ideas on my tablet
using IbisPaintX. I divided the panel into 3 parts, two small panel on
the top and one large panel on the bottom. Here are the finished
sketches.
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| Fig 1.1.4 Sketches (13/11/2025) |
From the 2 sketches, Mr Fitri chose the first sketch. Then, I worked on
digitalizing the comic in Adobe Illustrator. First, I made the background on a
separate file, I used the pen tool, shape tool, blob brush tool and gradient to
create the background with solid colours.
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| Fig 1.1.5 Solid Colour (18/11/2025) |
Then, I added some gradients following the tutorial given in class and the
slides provided, which is using the masking tool and gradient. Also I added some texture using effects - grain on the
pathway.
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| Fig 1.1.6 Effects (18/11/2025) |
Then, I edited some parts of the background and added more gradient as well. I
also added some texture on the 2 pathways behind as well.
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| Fig 1.1.7 Background 1 (18/11/2025) |
I then repeated the same steps for the other 2 backgrounds that I need for the
3 panel comic. I added gradient on the grass, water, and sky. I also added
some texture on the grass and water. Here are the results.
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| Fig 1.1.8 Backgrounds (21/11/2025) |
After finishing the background, I started digitizing the characters of the
comic in different files. Then I followed the previous tutorial (week 4) to do
the colouring, shadows, and highlights. I used the pen tool, live bucket tool,
blob brush tool, and eraser to help me make the desired shape, the shadows and
highlights, also to colour it in. Here are the results of the characters
from the 3 panels.
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| Fig 1.1.9 Characters (22/11/2025) |
After finishing the characters and the backgrounds, I made a new file to
compile all of them together and started assembling the comic panels. I made a
new A3 file on Illustrator and put in the background png and then I copy and
paste the layers from the character file into the comic file.
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| Fig 1.1.10 Comic File (22/11/2025) |
Then, I added some text boxes for the panels that have dialog using the
ellipse tool and the pen tool. I added the text using the text tool and
adjusted the letters to fit the text bubble. Then I edited the text bubble so
it doesn't look too perfect and so that it looks more natural/more comic
like.
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| Fig 1.1.11 Text Bubble (23/11/2025) |
After that, I made a new file to make the title for the comic following the
tutorial given on week 9. I decided to give the comic a title called "A
Robot's Mission". I used the appearance panel on AI, then I added gradient on the text. After that, I added a transform effect to add the 3d type shadow. Following the tutorial, I added a dot texture using the appearance panel and I ended up with this.
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| Fig 2.1.1 Title (24/11/2025) |
Then I moved the title to the comic file and made some adjustments for the
borders. I decided to place the title in the middle of the comic. Here is
the result.
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| Fig 2.1.2 Comic (24/11/2025) |
Then, I asked Mr Fitri for some feedback/suggestions and he said to make the text on
the first panel bigger and to move the tittle to the bottom right instead of
the middle. So, I fixed it and here are the results.
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| Fig 2.1.3 Final Comic (24/11/2025) |
Rationale : I decided to make Hapbot giving a grandmother a flower, giving a child a balloon, and comforting someone because those are some of the gestures that can make other people smile and feel happy. I came up with that tittle because it is written in the story that his purpose is to make other people happy while still looking for the scientist, so it is somewhat like his mission.
Techniques used :
- Pen tool : P
- Edit the curve : P, Alt
- Shape Builder : Shift + M
- Berzier Handle (To edit anchor points), Alt (To break)
- Selection Tool : V
- Direct Selection Tool : A
- Live Paint Tool : K
- Shadow : Multiply
- Highlights : Colour Dodge
- Gradient
- Texture (grain)
- Text tool : T
- Appearance
PDF Documentation :
REFLECTION
Experience - This task was quite complicated at first due
to the many things I need to do (story, planning, sketch, digitizing,
tittle) and I was a little bit overwhelmed at first. When writing the
story, I decided to go with the vibe of music that I was listening to so
that's why the story is kind of sad. But, Mr Fitri decided to choose the
happy part of the story so it wont be too sad. I got to learn a new
technique of gradient and put textures on the comic, especially on the
background. The previous techniques are also still very helpful. I
managed to finish fast and got the approval fast.
Observations - When making a comic, transitions plays a
huge role on the flow and the readability. I used the scene to scene
transition for the comic to show a montage of Hapbot making people
happy. When making the title, colour; font; texture; and style plays a
huge role to make it interesting. Giving the panels some texture also
helps with adding details on the panels to make it pop even
more.
Findings - I found that making comic takes a lot of time
and patience. Sometimes it can get confusing and overwhelming especially
with the many layers and things we need to add, but overall it is quite
the experience. I could learn some new techniques and can make a story
for my character from task 1. When making a comic, we need to pay
attention to the transition to make the comic more interesting and more
appealing for the audience as well.
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