Locale (Final Zine)

Final Zine & Spreads

(click to enlarge)

  

 

  


Character Design

After the presentation, I knew that I wanted the zine to take on a similar direction of having three distinct looks for the three different narratives. My first idea was to create a storybook of sorts, to create characters for each narrative that could help bring the audience through the entire storyline.  

 

My first ideas for the character design were quite realistic in a way. Each character would be an actual person that could actually exist in the context of each narrative – for example, the historical narrative would be told by an older Peranakan lady who would be informed about Peranakan heritage and culture. Although, I wanted to make use of the tiles that I drew for the presentation. So, I decided to reinterpret them by using various forms from the tiles to create features and clothing for the characters.

I cleaned up the sketches of my characters. Besides refining their costumes, I also took note of their poses and expressions to fit them to the narrative. For the historical narrative, I chose to depict an older character with a more genial pose and expression.

 

For the national narrative, I depicted the character taking a step, with her arm raised and her hands pointed out, like a guide. This was to reflect the curation of Joo Chiat’s narrative for tourists by governmental institutions.

Lastly, for the businesses’ narrative, I chose to depict a younger character, with a broad smile and confident pose to show the businesses’ attempt at marketing the Peranakan heritage of the area.


Environment Design

After creating the characters, I realised that I needed to create various worlds that they would exist in as well. I knew that my zine would feature architectural structures quite heavily, and so I took reference from isometric drawings, which were good for showcasing different perspectives of an object in one plane. Specifically, I really liked these drawings by Joost Swarte, which were full of detail that could draw the viewer in for a closer look.

  

Also, I wanted to a way to distinguish each world from the other. I decided to use colour as a way to unify each world within itself, and to also separate the worlds from each other visually. I took reference from these advertisements I found, and also the graphic novel, Here, by Richard McGuire. They used monochromatic colour schemes for each environment, using different tints and shades of the same colour to create depth. 

 

I decided to use green, blue and pink as these are iconic colours often seen on Peranakan beadwork and clothing.

1. Historical Narrative

For this narrative, I depicted a kampong scene. I constructed this illustration first by drawing the basic elements needed, since I knew there was going to be more repetition, and I could just arrange the objects in Photoshop after.

This was my first draft; I left blank space in specific areas as I thought I could fit in text all around the illustration. Originally, I had planned for this to be one whole spread, and so in total all the narratives would take up 3 spreads. But, after my consultation with Joy, we agreed it would be better if the illustration took up one page, and the text another. This way, it would reduce visual clutter in one page, and also avoid the risk of not having the illustration line up in the middle due to the gutter.

 

Here is the final linework for this illustration! I added in little details like the personal belongings of someone inside the kampong houses and the stacks of coconuts. Joy also suggested I could add in little sound effects and actions to make the tone of the zine more playful and informal, and so I decided to make that a recurring thing throughout all 3 illustrations. For this one, it’s a parang slashing across the tree to convey the idea of the clearing of plantations.

  

I coloured the illustration in Photoshop, and applied colour adjustments.

 

The illustration is read from left to right, and this particular one starts off with the coconut plantation at the left, and then a lorry with construction materials on cleared land at the right, to show the development of Joo Chiat into residential land.

2. National Narrative

Here is the first draft on the left. I decided to make it a tighter crop as it would make the composition more visually appealing, bringing focus into the shophouses.

 

Here’s the final linework for this illustration. I removed the painter and added a ‘out for lunch’ sign instead since there wasn’t people in the other illustrations. I also added little cameras on tripods since this is such a popular photo-taking spot.

After colour correction:

 

With this illustration, I wanted to show the various initiatives the government has taken to curate Joo Chiat as a cultural enclave. From the left, there is a shophouse covered in canvassing, to show the conservation of the building. As we move on to the right, the shophouses are shown in completion. There are information boards, road signs and also a website, which are all modelled after actual ones I saw in the area. The right shows the marketing of Joo Chiat today as a Peranakan heritage site, especially targeted at tourists.

3. Businesses’ Narrative

For this narrative, I wanted to showcase the modern businesses in Joo Chiat. I modelled the interiors of the shops after the details I observed when walking around the shops there. Also, I added a police car to show the implementation of tighter security in the area.

 

After colour correction:

This illustration showcases the transformation of Joo Chiat after the cleanup in the early 2000s. On the left there are signboards with the icons that allude to the more sleazy side of Joo Chiat, and then to the right we can see into the interior of the shops, which are clearly more modern. From bottom to top, we see how the Peranakan narrative is incorporated quite differently for the various businesses – from promoting culture, to appropriating motifs, or merely just using it as decor.


Text & Layout

After deciding to separate the text from the illustration, I tried to layout the information with the characters I created previously. The photo on the left is my first draft:

 

After consulting Joy, I realised that the information was arranged quite ambiguously – there was nothing anchoring the information visually. So, I decided to add dotted lines to help the text feel more organised. This also helped the viewer to draw the connection between the image and text.

In addition, I coloured in the character with the colours used in the illustration, and also recoloured the tile motifs and added them to the back for increased texture.

For the font, I chose to use Stark, a sans serif type that I thought was quite similar to the one used on these emblems I saw on the pavement while walking around the area.

  


Cover

The underlying message for this zine is that Joo Chiat’s identity is a confluence of all its different narratives, and the stories various stakeholders and individuals choose to tell, and sometimes curate. I thought about how I could show this multi-layered identity visually, and I came across these images of overlapping linework. 

  

I liked how the different colours created visual interest when stacked on top of each other, and it could also bring out my message symbolically. I coloured the linework with the most saturated shade in each narrative, and then overlapped them to create the cover.

   

I had a lot of fun illustrating and making my first zine! It was a great learning experience and I really enjoyed the entire process, I’m really happy with the final product too 🙂

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