Illustration and Visual Narrative | Project 4

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 30.11.24 - 06.01.25 / week 11 - week 15
Subhana Salim / 0375936 
 Illustration and Visual Narrative / Bachelor's of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University 
Project 4
TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Instructions
2. Choosing the part of the story
3. Inspiration
4. Sketches
5. Mood board
6. Process Work
7. Final Result
8. Reflection

INSTRUCTIONS

Project 4: Animated Webcomic Cover and One Page Comic for 'The Monkey's Paw' (40%)
For this assignment we have to create both a comic cover as well as a one page comic, with minimum of 3 panels. The comic page and cover is based on the story 'The Monkey's Paw' by W.W. Jacob. We have the freedom to illustrate any part of the story for our assignment. We also have to animate either the cover page or the comic page. The art style for our comic must resemble surrealism and we are have to achieve this effect on illustrator. 

CHOOSING THE PART OF THE STORY

First I had to read through the story "The Monkey's Paw" to better understand the plot and its theme. This serves as my foundation for my work later.


 After reading through the story, I figured I will illustrate the following part:-

              "A fine crash from the piano greeted his words, interrupted by a shuddering cry from the old
              man. His wife and son ran toward him. "It moved," he cried, with a glance of disgust at the
              object as it lay on the floor."
This is the part where monkey paw moved, and the old man screamed from fear.


INSPIRATION

The surrealistic art style that inspired this assignment is of the video game Omori, and the comic book Mr. Punch by Dave McKeen. I am inspired by the sketchy line art of Omori and the use of textures of Dave McKeen. For inspiration for the sketches and the paneling, I decided to look for art that gives menacing or ominous vibes. 
Figure 1.1 References

For the color palette, I want to use a color palette similar to this. I would like to use dark yellowish greens and blacks into my art to create the moody effect.
Figure 1.2 Color Palette


SKETCHES

For the cover page, I made multiple variations of sketches. I decided to use the scene when the Mrs. White walk towards the door to answer the knocking, as she believed it to be from her son. 
Figure 2.1 Sketch variations of Cover page

This is the initial sketch for the one page comic. This is the scene where Mr. White makes his first wish and screams as he sees the hand move. 
Figure 2.2 Initial sketch of one page comic

I reworked my sketch for the one page comic digitally to make the scene feel more dynamic. I also wanted to make sure the transitions from one panel to another was easily readable.
Figure 2.3 Revamped sketch of one page comic

This is what I decided to represent in each panel
Panel 1 - Scream from Mr. White as he saw the paw move.
Panel 2 - Mrs. White and Herbert White runs to Mr. White to ask him what's wrong.
Panel 3 - Shows the scared face of Mr. White
Panel 4 - Close up to Mr. White's face to emphasize his fear.
Panel 5 - Close up to The Monkey's paw as its moving.

Digitalized sketches

 I also sketched the cover page digitally to clean up the lines to make tracing easier on Adobe Illustrator.
Figure 2.4 Digitalized Sketch


MOOD BOARD

After this I decided to create a mood board to detail my idea out. 
Figure 3.1 Mood Board

For the transitions of the panel is as follows 
1st - 2nd panel - Action to action
2nd - 3rd panel - Subject to subject
3rd - 4th panel - Movement to Movement
4th - 5th panel - Subject to subject
Figure 3.2 Transitions


PROCESS WORK

In order to create a surrealistic effect I decided to make the characters be in gray scale, add hatching texture to them and give them more dramatic shadows. Whereas for the background elements I decided to color them in a green, yellow color palette and add realistic textures of cracked floor, old wrinkly paper, and roots. For the monkey's paw I decided to add a realistic texture of skin and hair. This is to emphasize the unsettling and grossness nature of the monkey's paw. 

COVER PAGE

After cleaning up the sketch in the art program Clip Studio Paint, I imported it to Adobe Illustrator and started tracing the sketch.
Figure 4.1 Lineart in Illustrator

Then I added shading to the woman by importing textures.
Figure 4.2 Shading to the character
    
Then I added a green color palette to the background and added gradient effects. 
Figure 4.3 Coloring the background

Then I added realistic textures to my piece to achieve the surrealistic effect. I also added in the text 'The monkey's paw' and made it look like its engraved onto the floor. I also added the shadow of the monkey's paw on the stairs
Figure  4.4 Adding realistic textures to the background

The cover page I worked on wasn't looking surrealistic enough. So I made some edits to it. 

This is the final cover page.
Figure 4.5 Edited Cover page

COMIC PAGE

 I started to work on the one page comic. I first started with the line art.
Figure 4.6 Line art of one page comic

Then I added colors to the background and added gradients
Figure 4.7 Coloring of the comic

After that I added the textures. I also changed the colors of the text. 

This is the final comic page.
Figure 4.8 Adding textures

ANIMATION

For the animation process, I planned to animate the one page comic. I first duplicated the illustrator file. I began making multiple artboard in the duplicated file, which will act as my key frames for my animation. I decided to animate the elements in Panel 1, Panel 4 and Panel 5.  For Panel 1, I chose to animate the word 'AAARGH!!', the arrows and the action lines.
Figure 4.9  Panel 1

For  Panel 4, I chose the word bubble and the man's face.
Figure 4.10  Panel 4

For Panel 5, I chose the word 'Twitch' and the action lines around the Monkey's Paw.
Figure 4.11  Panel 5

This is the final illustrated key frames in Adobe Illustrator. 
Figure 4.12 Final Animation Key Frames

Then I saved the key frames as PNGs. I imported them into Adobe Photoshop and turned it into an animated loop. Each key frame is 0.2 seconds long. 
Figure 4.13 Animating on Adobe Photoshop

This is the animated comic

Figure 4.14  Final Animated Comic Panel
FINAL RESULT
Figure 5.1 Final Cover and Animated Comic Page
REFLECTIONS

This task was interesting as well as challenging. Making comics is my favorite pastime. So when I was required to make one for this assignment, I was beyond thrilled. My main challenge when it came to this assignment was trying to achieve a surrealistic art style. It is definitely an art style I was less knowledgeable in. We were given the freedom to choose the type of surrealistic art style that we wish to replicate. This was in a way liberating as well as difficult. Through the process of doing this assignment I had to define my own definition of surrealism. Another challenge I faced was translating my ideas on Illustrator. Due to my unfamiliarity with the program as well as its own limitations, I had to make smart decisions and learn to work around them. I also became more experienced with the program through this process. I feel my overall skills in composition as well as comic paneling has improved through this assignment. I find this assignment a good contribution to expanding my technical knowledge and artistic abilities. 

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