Assignment 01: Human Emotions with Digital Images

For this assignment, we were tasked to create a series of images that would evoke or express various emotions.

Final Images

I have created a series of four images which depicts the emotions of happiness, surprise, sadness, and fear. The series revolves around a bear and his interaction with different environments, each evoking a different emotion  to the viewer based on colours and lighting.

Final Images

For Happiness, I picked a sunset, autumn-like colour scheme of warm orange. I wanted to evoke a sense of tranquility along with happiness; the bear jumping into a calm lake in a seemingly peaceful forest.

Image 1 – Happiness

For Surprise, I wanted to express this emotion by introducing specks of light in a dark environment. A field of fireflies in the dark creates a sense of wonder and mesmerisation.

Image 2 – Surprise

For Sadness, two things came to mind, dull muted colours and rain. Rim light was included to  add some brightness to the otherwise dull image and to separate the various elements from the background. Rain was added to give the illustration a more gloomy feel.

Image 3 – Sadness

For Fear, I initially pictured the bear alone in a dark forest, but I thought that if there was another bear which had been shot dead in the scene, it would evoke a stronger sense of fear for the bear. Rim light was very important to distinguish the characters and trees as I wanted minimal light in this scene to evoke this emotion. A dutch tilt was also incorporated to create a sense of uneasiness in the scene.

Image 4 – Fear

Thumbnails & Colour tests

I started by sketching out thumbnails of different compositions for the various emotions. I then blocked out the values in grayscale. After which, I experimented with a few colour schemes and selected the one that best portrayed the particular emotion.

Thumbnails (Happiness)
Colour test (Happiness)
Thumbnails (Surprise)
Colour test (Surprise)
Thumbnails (Sadness)
Colour test (Sadness)
Thumbnails (Fear)
Colour test (Fear)

Final edits

The final step was to add a subtle filter of light to enhance the image, creating the glow from the light sources.

Happiness (Before final edit)
Happiness (Final)
Surprise (Before final edit)
Surprise (Final)
Sadness (Before final edit)
Sadness (Final)
Fear (Before final edit)
Fear (Final)

Research and references

For my research, I looked at the concept art of various animation films, as well as a book called The Colour of Pixar, which contains scenes from various Pixar movies catalogued by colour. I also referenced Pascal Campion’s style of illustrating, his use of colours and the way he uses lighting to enhance his illustrations.

Art of Ratatouille
Art of Moana
Art of Kung Fu Panda 2
Art of The Good Dinosaur
The Color of Pixar
The Color of Pixar
The Color of Pixar
The Color of Pixar
Artwork by Pascal Campion
Artwork by Pascal Campion
Artwork by Pascal Campion
Artwork by Pascal Campion

2D Project 3: Ego in different settings (Final)

Process parts 1-3 can be found here:

2D Project 3: Ego in different settings (Process Pt.1 & 2)

2D Project 3: Ego in different settings (Process Pt.3)

Presentation
Presentation layout
 Equation 1
When a timid person is alone, he tends to be more expressive.
Equation 1
Timid me

Square colour harmony

In this colour harmony, there are two sets of complementary colours, each set has a dominant and subdominant colour.

– yellow  & blue, yellow dominant

– green & red, green dominant

I used an overall muted colour scheme to depict a typical boring classroom environment. The shadows make the light more contrasting and prominent, also, the direction of light and where the other characters are looking draws your attention to the character in focus.

In the shower

Split complementary colour harmony

A warm and vibrant orangey composition to depict a relaxing afternoon bath, with a bit of blue and green to complement it and to give it a strong visual contrast between warm and cool colours. Again, the ray of light from the window draws attention to the character, also, the darker foreground elements to give a sense of depth.

Rock star

Analogous colour harmony

For analogous there would typically be a dominant, subdominant and a third colour to be used as an accent.

In this case, blue violet is the dominant, violet and pink are the subdominant and the red along with the whites are the accents. There is an overall harmonious blend of colours, depicting a night time concert.

The lack of details in the background make it seem very foggy which gives a sense of depth that the location is very large. Due to the strong spotlight, the main character and the surrounding audience is given a rim light so that the mid and foreground elements interact with each other.

 

Equation 2
Because I own the Lamborghini of electric unicycles. endangering lives since 2017.
Equation 2

 

Tired from walking

Split complementary colour harmony

The amount of blue and orange/yellow is slightly equal so there isn’t really a dominant colour, the warm and cool colours are balanced out.

This is a late afternoon setting as you can tell from the orange light cast on the ground and the long shadows of the trees. The rim light on the trees make them stand out more. The trees nearer are darker and those further are lighter.

Riding on electric unicycle

Triadic colour harmony

Triadic colours of red, blue and yellow. For this colour harmony, there is typically a dominant and two other colours for the accents. In this case, blue is the dominant.

I tried to keep this one simple, no details besides the rim light which shows the form of some of the elements such as the guy’s body and the details of the bridge. Clouds used to draw your eye to the guy and to balance the composition, on the left is giant cloud + less trees, on the right, small cloud + more trees.

F1 racer

Split complementary colour harmony

I initially wanted to go for a muted colour scheme of like a typical race track scene of grey roads and a few coloured cars, but in the end i referenced the Cars movie from Pixar and went for a desert sunset theme instead. The dominant colours are orange and yellow, with blue as the cast shadows.

Also, a dutch tilt to make it more dynamic since it’s a moving race car, lines on the ground also act as perspective lines to give it a sense of perspective.

Equation 3
Drawing and daydreaming in lectures, mostly Art History, nothing against you Prof. Walsh.
Equation 3

 

Bored at a lecture

Analogous colour harmony

Colours give it a very sleepy and dream like state kind of environment, as well as the lack of strong contrasting colours which makes it sort of muted which adds to the sleepy feel.

Character in focus is of a slightly brighter colour as compared to the rest, who are tinted with pinkish red to make them blend in with the environment and less prominent.

Since there are so many people, one way to make this one guy stand out is to make him brighter and another way was to use the rule of thirds to place him in an area of focus.

Drawing

Analogous colour harmony

I wanted to go for a late afternoon time of day and hence chose a colour scheme of red-orange, orange, and yellow-orange the floor is made completely white to show there’s a very strong sunlight casting down, which allowed me to draw in contrasting cast shadows.

In my own world

Split complementary colour harmony

I wanted to go for a very joyous, adventurous and majestic feel to this illustration, I took inspiration from DreamWork’s How to Train Your Dragon, where a bunch of dragons are flying above the clouds with what is called ‘god light’ shining down to give it that majestic feel. Rim lights are added to the clouds to give the volume.

Initially, it looked very plain and boring and i wanted to scrap it, but after adding lights everywhere it became one of my favourites out of the twelve.

Equation 4
I don’t pull all-nighters, it’s just for the sake of this equation :p
Equation 4

 

Pulling all-nighters

Complementary colour harmony

The turquoise window with the rain outside gives a very cozy feeling in the otherwise dull coloured room. There are two elements of focus, one is the window on the left and the other one is the main light source on the right, the two balances each other out.

There are rim lights on the elements in the darkness, again, to make them interact with the lights. The blurred foreground element gives depth to the image.

Final presentation

Split complementary harmony

A strong cone of light to draw your attention to the area. Characters in the foreground have rim light to show that there is interaction between foreground and mid ground.

Relaxation

Split complementary harmony

I went for a colour scheme which portrayed a relaxing sunny white sandy beach and cool turquoise water. I used a  diagonal composition as since the guy is laying down, I didn’t want him to be parallel with the sides. I filled in the empty spaces of the beach with bushes and details of small rocks and seashells and Cody the Crab™.

 

Research and references

My greatest inspiration was from Pascal Campion’s illustrations, whose illustrations always tell a story and are visually engaging.

Artworks by Pascal Campion

I also referenced a few colour schemes from colour keys and scripts of animated films. I find these very inspiring as the artist is able to use lighting and colours in such small thumbnail illustrations to tell a story.

Storyboard colour keys – Finding Nemo
Colour scripts – Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Printing

When I test printed, the colours turned out quite yellowish. I had to apply a colour balance to all my illustrations to cancel it out. I eventually went for the top right adjustments.

Conclusion

A challenge i faced was working with square compositions and not the usual 16:9, it was quite challenging to get a good composition from such a small working space, but I think I made it work by keeping most of the elements in focus off centre and using the rule of thirds, along with the lighting.

I also tend to colour pick a lot from existing illustrations, the colours work but I have to tweak or remove some colours so that they fit into one of the colour harmonies taught to us. I find that colour picking is a very good way of approaching illustrating especially when you are not good with colours because you can see the colours the artist used and you can visualise how they would work with your own drawing.

This project has been very fun as I have never done so many illustrations before in one project, it has definitely improved my sense of colour usage and visualisation.

 

Find cody in all 12 illustrations c:

 

 

 

2D Project 3: Ego in different settings (Process Pt.3)

EQUATION 3

Equation 3
composition 7
Sketch
Colours
Finished
Colour scheme and reference image

A warm analogous colour scheme to replicate a dream-like state of boredom.

The character in focus is of a brighter colour as compared to the other characters.

composition 8
Sketch
Colours
Finished
Colour scheme and image reference

A warm analogous colour scheme that portrays a late-afternoon time of day.  It gives a peaceful and relaxing vibe which signifies the end of a day’s work.

composition 9
Sketch
Colours
Colours 2
Finished
Colour scheme and image reference

An orange and red colour scheme that signifies joy and adventure, the overlay of white lights gives a majestic feel to the composition. Complimenting these colours are a few touches of blue.

EQUATION 4

Equation 4
composition 10
Sketch
Colours
Finished
Colour scheme and image reference

I really liked the use of the turquoise in the otherwise dull brownish illustration as seen from the reference image. The fog effect on the window makes it seem as though it is glowing. Rim lights were added to the elements in the darker areas to make them stand out just a little. A blurred foreground element is added  to give a sense of depth in a ‘flat’ image.

composition 11
Sketch
Colours
Finished
Colour scheme and image reference

Split complementary of maroon red, pale orange, and a hint of blue. Foreground characters are in the shadows but with rim lights so that they interact with the light in front if them.

composition 12
Sketch
Colours
Finished
Colour scheme and image reference

Warm red and oranges and white sand to portray a sunny beach setting, along with a cool turquoise water at the shoreline to complete the beach-y vibe.

2D Project 3: Ego in different settings (Process Pt.1 & 2)

Process Part  1

Artist/ Colour references

Artworks by Pascal Campion

 

Equation 1
Composition 1
Sketch
Colour block-in
Finished

During consultation, Joy suggested that the foreground could be slightly more red so that the greens in the foreground will not take too much attention away from the prominent green chalkboard.

After consultation
Colour scheme and reference image (muted colours found online)

Square – Two sets of complementary colours

  • Yellow (Dominant) & Blue
  • Green (Dominant) & Red

I went for a muted colour scheme to depict a typical ‘boring’ classroom environment. The main character is standing in the light which is shining down onto him, also, the foreground is darker to further draw attention away onto the main character.

 

COMPOSITION 2
Sketch
Colours
Finished

 

Colour scheme and reference image

A warm and vibrant colour that reflects a sense of happiness, with a hint of blues and greens to compliment it, which breaks it from the otherwise monochromatic colour scheme, making it more visually engaging. Darker foreground elements create a sense of depth, and the main character is in the light.

COMPOSITION 3

 

Sketch
Colours

 

Finished

Joy had suggested to add a light stand with light ‘pouring down’ on the stage so that it is similar to the shower head ‘pouring down’ the water. Similarly, the cone of light in the first composition also seem to be ‘pouring down’ onto the main character.

After consultation
Colour scheme and image reference

An cool analogous colour scheme of blue-violet-magenta and a little red creates relaxing composition of colours which is easy to look at. It also gives sort of a hypnotic vibe, where everyone in a concert is simultaneously singing along and moving simultaneously to the rhythm and beat of the music. A more detailed foreground and a blurry background gives a sense of depth and vastness of the location.

Process Part 2

Equation 2
Composition 4

 

Sketch
Colour block-in

 

Finished

Joy had suggested to make the green leaves more yellow-olive, and the red hat slightly violet, but eventually I made the hat lean towards orange and made the sky less green and more blue to fit into a split complementary colour harmony.

After consultation

 

Colour scheme and image reference

An orange-yellow colour scheme to signify a peaceful afternoon setting, with a complimentary blue to add a cool hue to the warm colours.

Composition 5
Sketch
Colour block-in
Finished
Colour scheme and image reference

A triadic colour scheme for a balanced use of colours. The strong yellow rim light and high contrasting shadows gives a strong late-afternoon lighting, as if riding back home after a day’s work.

Composition 6
Sketch
Colours
Finished
Colour scheme and image reference (From Pixar’s Cars 3)

I had initially wanted to go for a muted greyish colour scheme with reds and greens to represent a race track environment with coloured race cars. But I thought of the outdoor environments from Pixar’s Cars and used that instead. A warm orange with complimentary colours for shadows and a tint of it in the sky, for a peaceful sunset-desert environment.

 

 

 

Coming soon…