Illustration & Visual Narrative - Task 1: Vormator Challenge
24/09/2024 - 11/10/2024 (Week 1 - Week 3)Illustration & Visual Narrative
Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Task 1: Vormator Challenge
WEEK 2
On the 3rd of October 2024, I met Mr. Hafiz in person for the first time. He assigned us our first exercise: the Vormator Challenge. We must create a unique character by combining and manipulating a limited set of shapes while adhering to specific rules. This assignment aims to help us develop our skills in proportion, balance, color, and composition. He encouraged us to start with a sketch before digitizing it using Adobe Illustrator. One of the most useful tools in Adobe Illustrator tool is the Pen tool. To familiarize ourselves with it, he showed us some tutorial and suggested us to play bezier games.
WEEK 3
Mr. Hafiz also sent us us these images, the fundamental character shapes: circles, squares, and triangles. Each shape carries specific characteristics. For instance, circles evoke feelings of warmth and welcome, squares suggest strength, while triangle conveys sharpness.
Task 1: Vormator Challenge - Character Creation in Adobe Illustrator
Moodboard/ References and Rationale
Overall, I only used 4 from the 8 shapes that were given, which were: The Drop, The Badge, The Wurst, and The Tentacle.
Observations
Findings
TABLE OF CONTENTS
MODULE
LECTURES
WEEK 2
On the 3rd of October 2024, I met Mr. Hafiz in person for the first time. He assigned us our first exercise: the Vormator Challenge. We must create a unique character by combining and manipulating a limited set of shapes while adhering to specific rules. This assignment aims to help us develop our skills in proportion, balance, color, and composition. He encouraged us to start with a sketch before digitizing it using Adobe Illustrator. One of the most useful tools in Adobe Illustrator tool is the Pen tool. To familiarize ourselves with it, he showed us some tutorial and suggested us to play bezier games.
Figure 1.1.1: The Bezier Games
He also briefed us about the upcoming assessment:
- 60% Continuous Assessment
Task 1: Exercises 20%
Task 2: Composition Continuous 20%
Task 3: Sequential Art Continuous 20%
- 40% Final Assessment
Task 4: Final Project & Portfolio Final 40%
- 60% Continuous Assessment
Task 1: Exercises 20%
Task 2: Composition Continuous 20%
Task 3: Sequential Art Continuous 20%
- 40% Final Assessment
Task 4: Final Project & Portfolio Final 40%
WEEK 3
On 10th October 2024, Mr. Hafiz taught us about some Adobe Illustrator tools that we would be using for this assessment. He demonstrated the Path Finder and Shape Builder tools by using Adidas logo as a practical example and told us to make one.
Figure 1.2.1: The Process
Mr. Hafiz also sent us us these images, the fundamental character shapes: circles, squares, and triangles. Each shape carries specific characteristics. For instance, circles evoke feelings of warmth and welcome, squares suggest strength, while triangle conveys sharpness.
Figure 1.2.2: The Circles
Figure 1.2.3: The Squares
Figure 1.2.4: The Triangles
INSTRUCTIONS
Task 1: Vormator Challenge - Character Creation in Adobe Illustrator
- Shape Constraints: You must use the 8 Vormator shapes provided for your character design. You can rotate, flip, duplicate, and combine these shapes, but you cannot distort, skew, or alter the proportions of any shape (no stretching or compressing).
- No Adding New Shapes: You are not allowed to create or use any shapes outside of the provided Vormator set. However, you are encouraged to be creative in how you merge or combine them to form new elements.
- Color and Size: You are free to experiment with colors, gradients, and sizes of the shapes, as long as the original proportions remain intact.
- Creative Expression: Feel free to give your character a backstory, personality, or theme that influences its design. This will help you think critically about how shapes can communicate emotion or narrative.
PRACTICAL
Google Drive Link
Task 1: Vormator Challenge - Character Creation in Adobe Illustrator
Task 1: Vormator Challenge - Character Creation in Adobe Illustrator
First of all, I traced a set of Vormator Shapes provided to be used later on to form my character using Adobe Illustrator. I learned how to use the Pen and Curvature tools, which were new to me. The bezier games really helped me with the tracing process.
Figure 2.1.1: Vormator Elements Tracing
These are the references from the internet that I combined to create my character. I got the inspiration from various sources. The main aspect of my character is a hamster. The cape, inspired by Count Dracula from "Hotel Transylvania", adds a symbolize of mystery and heroism, giving the hamster a touch of bravery, while the apple that the hamster holds is inspired by Snow White.
Figure 2.1.2: The Reference
The Sketch
After getting the idea from the reference, I started working on the sketch, and this is the final sketch before I digitized it.
Figure 2.1.3: The Sketch
Overall, I only used 4 from the 8 shapes that were given, which were: The Drop, The Badge, The Wurst, and The Tentacle.
Figure 2.1.4: Shape Count
Color Palette
Here are the color palette I chose for my character:
Figure 2.1.5: Color Palette
-Challenges Faced-
Creating a character that is visually appealing is quite challenging as this was my very first time using Adobe Illustrator, so I explored the software on my own and also do research on Youtube and Google to learn new technique and features. The difficulty I faced was that I had to maintain the proportions of each shapes without distorting, skewing, or altering them. One of the most difficult part was combining the shape to form an apple. However, I eventually managed to do this by combining, flipping, resizing, and layering specific shapes. Besides that, arranging the layer was also quite difficult for me as my character involved quite a lot number of layers, so organizing them took most of my time. -Technique Learned-
I learned some new skills, one of them was how to use layers in Adobe Illustrator. I also discovered how to resize shapes without stretching or compressing them, by holding the shift key while resizing. Although this is a basic thing but it was new to me. Furthermore, I also learned how to use Path Finder and Shape Builder tools. I find both tools really useful and expand my design capabilities. This experience really helped me to become more familiar with the software and really improve my skills. Through this project, I learned how to think creatively. This experience showed me that limitations can boost our creativity and force ourselves to explore new ideas.
Here are the final outcomes of my character, I named it 'Hammy'. Figure 2.1.5, Mr. Hafiz told us to submit the silhouette of our character with only 3 colours, so I chose black, light gray, and darker gray, while Figure 2.1.6, the colored one, was the result of using Path Finder and Shape Builder tools.
Experience
Figure 2.1.6: Final Outcome (silhouette)
Figure 2.1.7: Final Outcome (colored)
REFLECTIONS
Experience
Creating a character using only a set of shapes provided was quite difficult. In addition, we
had to maintain the proportions of each shape without distorting, skewing, or altering them. But overall I enjoyed exploring Adobe Illustrator tools which are new to me.
Observations
I noticed that doing layers is really helpful in making character. Other than that, I also noticed that color choices play a significant role in making the character look appealing.
Findings
I discovered that even basic shapes can create complex characters. After finishing this assignment I also feel that my technical skills have improved and I have a deeper understanding of the software compared to before.
Comments
Post a Comment