Illustration and Visual Narrative / Task 3

15/10/2021 - 5/11/2021 / Week 8 - Week 10
Nurul Adlina Rizal / 0345429 / Bachelor of Design in Creative Media
Illustration and Visual Narrative
Task 3: Graphic Novel

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LECTURES

Week 7: 

3-Acts Structure

Central Theme

- what the story is really about

- main idea/underlying meaning

- 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. 

Task 3 Theme: HORROR !

Conflict

- what drives the story

- creates tension and builds suspense

- engages an audience

Characters

- each has a different role or purpose 

- there is always a protagonist and antagonist

Central Characters: these characters are vital to the development of the story. The plot revolved around them. 

Protagonist

- main character of a story

- clear goal to accomplish or conflict to overcome

Antagonist

- oppose protagonists

- can be presented in the form of any person, place, thing or situation that represents a tremendous obstacle to the protagonists 

Three-Acts Structure 

1. Setup

- where? who?

- world in which the protagonist exists prior to the journey

- setup usually ends with conflict being revealed

2. Rising Tension

- series of obstacles the protagonist must overcome

- each obstacle is more difficult and with higher stakes than the previous one 

3. Conflict

- point of highest tension 

- major decisive turning point for the protagonist

4. Resolution

- conflict's conclusion

- protagonist overcomes the conflict, learns to accept it, or is ultimately defeated by it

- where the journey ends

Fig 1.0: Three-Acts Structure Chart

Week 8: 

How to Make Comics !

Visual Techniques: Transitions

> Starts with Ideas!

> Ideas comes from experiences and what inspires you,

> Create mind maps and concepts.

> Watch cartoons! Play games! Read mangas/comics! Listen to different genres of music! Try a new dish!

"The more you stress on finding the ideas, the more it will stray you"

*Ideas that relate = win an audience

Week 9: 

Transitions

Moment-to-Moment

- think of it as a blank or two between seconds of a film 

- can be used to slow down and draw out action 

- if over utilized can make your comics dull and laborious to draw and read 

Action-to-Action

- typically focuses on significant events 

Subject-to-Subject

- a cut between related moments but focusing on a different subject in the same scene

- 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

- interesting way to jump around a scene, taking in key details or letting the characters focus wonder

- a good way to introduce their environment to a reader

Symbolic

- unreal and imaged

- depicts contents of a flashback or inner dialog

Rolling Transitions

- images are melded and mixed together

Fig 1.1: Rolling Transitions in Comics (5/12/2021)

Non Sequitur

- surreal abstract 

- juxtapositions

Week 10: Consultation

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INSTRUCTIONS

Task 3: Graphic Novel

Visual Research

My main inspiration was Junji Ito comics. I really loved the idea of unique stories as well as having of lesson in the end. Some of the lessons in Junji Ito are related to not be greedy or care a lot about your appearance which is interesting as his popular comics always have a distorted version of human faces. 

Fig 1.2: Honored Ancestors Junji Ito (5/12/2021)

Fig 1.3: Junji Ito character - Tomie (5/12/2021)

Fig 1.4: A panel from Junji Ito's comics (5/12/2021)

Idea Exploration

Story Drafts

#1

Mother

Act 1 – Setup

Sara was a hardworking woman worked hard to put food on the table for her family of three. Being the only breadwinner was not easy, she would push herself to work overtime and would come home late every day. She had always wished that she could rest and sleep all day. Secretly, she wanted to be rid of her responsibilities as a mother and daughter.

Act 2 – Conflict

One day, when she was ready to leave the office early for her daughter’s birthday, her boss had confronted her about a report due tomorrow morning that was missing. Threatened to be fired, Sara had no choice but to miss the celebration of her daughter’s birth to finish the work before deadline. Because of that, she had come home past her daughter’s bedtime and was nagged by her mother for neglecting her daughter. Her mother warned her about prioritizing work over family. Sara was frustrated that her mother does not understand the difficult situation she is in.

Act 3 – Resolution

That night, she was drunk after consuming a lot of alcohol to forget about her stressful life. In that drunken state, she received a text from her boss that her report was amazing and that she would be promised a higher position in the company. Instead of thinking about how this opportunity could be beneficial for her family, she thought of using the money to go on a vacation by herself and neglect her role as a mother. Suddenly, her cellphone runs out of battery and she feels a hand on her shoulder. She turns around to sees her daughter in a ghostly state that proceeds to strangle her to death. After that day, a woman was deemed missing leaving her only child alone at home the night of her disappearance. 

Story Drafts

#2

Best Friend

Act 1 – Setup

Sara was a hardworking woman who worked hard to put food on the table for herself. Being the only breadwinner of her family was not easy, she would push herself to work overtime and would come home late every day. She had always wished that she could rest and sleep all day like her roommate – Beca. It was hard to be Beca’s roommate and best friend, it was rare that Sara could hang out with anyone else but lucky for her, she rarely has time to hang out with anyone and Beca liked that. 

Act 2 – Conflict

One day, when she was ready to leave the office early for Beca’s birthday, her boss had confronted her about a report due tomorrow morning that was missing. Threatened to be fired, Sara had no choice but to miss the celebration of her best friend’s birthday celebration they had planned together to finish the work before deadline. Because of that, she had come home past Beca’s bedtime and felt really guilty when she saw the birthday cake that Beca had bought.

Act 3 – Resolution

That night, she looked up island vacation plans so she could make it up to Beca. However,

 before she could confirm the booking of a hotel, she heard a sound in the kitchen. Sara wondered if Beca had woken up so she went to the kitchen to see her and apologize.  Upon reaching the kitchen, she did not find Beca but the cake knife missing. Unaware of who had crept behind her, Sara was stabbed to death by her own roommate. The reason behind Beca’s killing was her anger when she thought that Sara was about to run off to an island and leave her. Her impulsive obsessive behavior had cost her another best friend. 

Final Story

Act 1 – Setup

Sara was a hardworking woman who worked hard to put food on the table for her family of three. Being the only breadwinner was not easy, she would push herself to work overtime and would come home late every day. She had always wished that she could rest and sleep all day. Secretly, she wanted to be rid of her responsibilities as a mother and daughter.

Act 2 – Conflict

One day, when she was ready to leave the office early for her daughter’s birthday, her boss had confronted her about a report due tomorrow morning that was missing. Threatened to be fired, Sara had no choice but to miss the celebration of her daughter’s birth to finish the work before deadline. Because of that, she had come home past her daughter’s bedtime and was nagged by her mother for neglecting her daughter. Her mother warned her about prioritizing work over family. Sara was frustrated that her mother does not understand the difficult situation she is in. When Sara goes and check on her daughter, she tucks her blanket and feels guilty. As she leaves, her daughter is shown to still be awake.

Act 3 – Resolution

That night, she was drunk after consuming a lot of alcohol to forget about her stressful life. In that drunken state, she received a text from her boss that her report was amazing and that she would be promised a higher position in the company. Instead of thinking about how this opportunity could be beneficial for her family, she thought of using the money to go on a vacation by herself and neglect her role as a mother. Suddenly, her cellphone runs out of battery and she feels a hand on her shoulder. She turns around to sees her daughter in a ghostly state that proceeds to strangle her to death. After that day, a woman was deemed missing leaving her only child alone at home the night of her disappearance. 

Comic Script

How I decide the panels and pages.

Act 1 – Setup

Sara is at work, her back aches. (6)

Panel 1: Office Place
Panel 2: Sara is typing stuff
Panel 3: Her back aches
Panel 4: She looks at something
Panel 5: Her family photo
Panel 6: She frowns, her hand on her cheek sighing

Sara is called by her boss. (3)

Panel 1: Sara!
Panel 2: Leaves
Panel 3: zooms in calendar, daughter's bday today !

Act 2 – Conflict

Sara arrives home late as usual, she is tired. (6)

Panel 1: Takes shoes off
Panel 2: Is looking down
Panel 3: Looks up
Panel 4: Clock shows late time (12 AM)
Panel 5: Sighs
Panel 6: Places her suitcase on the couch

Sara checks on the cake. (5)

Panel 1: Sees the cake already out on the dining table.
Panel 2: Knife has cake bits.
Panel 3: Opens cake box
Panel 4: Sees one cake slice missing
Panel 5: Frowns and guilty.

Sara checks on daughter. (7)

Panel 1: Peeks in the room, daughter sleeping.
Panel 2: Tucks her in
Panel 3: Looks angry (cuz of the text) ( can add text here) Mom: Did you forget (name)'s bday again? Sara you ought to be a better mother.
Panel 4: Sighs eyes closed
Panel 5: Leaves room
Panel 6: Daughter sleep
Panel 7: Daughter AWOKE

Act 3 – Resolution

Sara is drinking. (2)

Panel 1: on the dining table near the cake drinking alcohol back angle
Panel 2: Shows visible drunkenness on face

Sara is alone (7)

Panel 1: Scrolling on the web on best vacation spots for one person
Panel 2: Sees Island getaway
Panel 3: Person advertising turns into herself
Panel 4: Scary lighting of her alone, light only on her face.
Panel 5: Notices the knife is gone from the cake
Panel 6: Alone visible confusion
Panel 7: Zooms into face looking left and right (like she feels something behind her)

Sara is attacked (6)

Panel 1: daughter is behind her w knife
Panel 2: Sara falls (only her hand is seen, w the phone)
Panel 3: blood splatter
Panel 4: daughter's crazy face, blood splatter
Panel 5: Picks up phone
Panel 6: Smiles

Ending (3)

Panel 1: Beach view
Panel 2: A girl (same as advertisement )
Panel 3: Zoom in its the daughter.

Total: 45 panels

Concept Sketches

Fig 1.5: Concept Sketches (4/12/2021)

From these concept sketches you can see that Sara and Mia has had multiple design changes and the initial panels here are to give me general idea of how many panels I could be needing to better tell my story while making sure I don't exceed 50 panels. 

Graphic Novel Digital Sketch

Fig 1.6: Page 1-9 Sketches (19/11/2021)

These were made on Photoshop to help me later on Adobe Illustrator.

Final

WEBTOON LINK: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/daughter/list?title_no=708905

Fig 1.7: Page Screenshot (4/12/2021)

Fig 1.8: Final Graphic Novel PDF (4/12/2021)

Screenshots and Thumbnails

Fig 1.9: Screenshot #1 (4/12/2021)

Fig 2.0: Screenshot #2 (4/12/2021)

Fig 2.1: Square Thumbnail (4/12/2021)

Fig 2.2: Vertical Thumbnail (4/12/2021)

RATIONALE

In my first ever web comic 'Daughter', I explore the themes of horror and find things that I fear to turn into a terrifying story for all to read. The story is deeply inspired by horror stories I have read in the past and although simple, it is something that I know will bring in the scares since it is a relatable story related to family. There are themes of negligent parenting and the feeling of being forgotten as a child. Depends on how you are brought up, you may side with either Sara (the mother) or Mia (the child). 

I make up for the simple story with the visuals and mainly used shades of black, red and white to give an eerie feeling. At the start, the comics starts of bright - signifying the day or just as most horror stories start, everything seems fine. Later on during the night time, the story gets progressively scarier and ends with a tragedy of the daughter's plans to murder her beloved mother.

I hope many can enjoy this comic to have a little scare. :>

Link to Task 4 - Motion Comic

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FEEDBACKS

Week 9

Specific Feedback: First story is more interesting than the second one. Increase the horror at the end. 

General Feedback: Make use of transitions.

Week 10

Specific Feedback: -

General Feedback: -

Week 11

Specific Feedback: Add space where you think necessary. Good opening / establishment of character and setting. Good work :>

General Feedback: Try to fit all three acts in your comic. Planning is important (especially for the animation part)

Week 12

Specific Feedback: Short, sweet and straightforward. For page 7, reuse the confused look on her face. 

General Feedback: Get started on Illustrator!

Week 13

Specific Feedback: Good just keep working on it!

General Feedback: -

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REFLECTIONS

Experience

During this project, I had learn topics I genuinely love such as story-writing and how to visualize them in comics/scenes. This meant that I learned a lot during class to aid me for this project. Other than that, Ms Jennifer's tutorial classes where she teaches us to use Adobe programs were very helpful in figuring out how to create comics in the technical sense. 

This project definitely gained me skills in story making and my efficiency in working with multiple programs. In conclusion, I had loads of fun and hope that I can try out other themes too other than Horror in the future because through this project, it sparked my joy in creating comics. 

Observation

I observed that I found something that I was passionate at which is story writing and bringing them to life. I also observed that I had to sacrifice quality in different aspects of the project to increase quality in other aspects such as sacrificing having more panels to better express the story to having better visuals. I also had less panels so I could focus more on animating. 

Moreover, I observed that somehow with four to seven weeks given it felt like it was not enough or that it was hard to properly split the tasks as it was hard to indicate how long it would take for each process. I myself struggled in finding how much time was enough to polish the story to what I wanted. This gave me newfound respect to animators and storywriters in the industry, it definitely takes a lot of time to complete a project you can be satisfied of. 

Findings

I found that I should learn how to properly divide tasks or give myself a timeline for each task so I don't spend too much or not enough on each aspect of the comic. 

Other than that, I found that if you're passionate on something, you'll always want to go beyond your abilities and this project was definitely that for me. Since I was excited and wanted to see the fruit of my efforts be beautiful and amazing, I worked hard on it without noticing the time or how tired I get when I sit for four hours straight working on it. I would also think about it outside of my work time and see what I can improve on. I never thought I would be excited working on a certain task but creating something I always dreamed of was everything to me. Needless to say, I was so honored to be given this task.