EGO: HERO (OUTCOME + RESEARCH)

 

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The Hero’s Journey

I have always been a digital cartoonist, rarely drawing anything on paper ever since my polytechnic days after I got my wacom tablet so I wanted to challenge myself and push myself to do more and to go back to my roots.

Have always been a big fan of comic book drawing styles, especially the vintage ones drawn traditionally with pencil and ink. Most of my work today are inspired by fellow Singaporean artists that joined Marvel; Benjamin Ang and Sonny Liew.


ARTIST REFERENCE | DEVELOPMENT | FINAL


ARTIST REFERENCE

Sonny Liew

Quirky, light ink inspired some of pieces and gave a lighter tone in some of my pieces.
The soft color board also influenced my choice of color to tell a story. A newer age of comics but still brings a subtle vintage tone to it.

Jack Kirby

And of course the legend himself, Jack Kirby, the really nice uncle that everyone likes of comics, next to Stan Lee of course. His style single handedly changed the way people viewed visual novels everywhere. Thick black strokes coupled with vibrant colors and the use of pen techniques like hatching to bring out shades was truly a MARVEL of the era.

Benjamin Ang

Benjamin is a new aged artists and this brings a whole new dynamic to the style of comics he draws. It was important for me to study how digitally drawn art differed from modern style to the more traditional vintage style.

 

 

 

 

 


DEVELOPMENT

Initial stages were very tough as I had too many ideas and was trying too hard to utilize different mediums to stand out from the rest.

I finalized on a single narrative about the coming of age of a super hero that would reflect my life.

ACT I: A fat boy decides to slim down. Becomes more confident and gains leadership and charisma. Learns skills from a mentor(the internet).

ACT II: Defeats foes on the internet and calls it his own.

ACT III: Gets destoryed by the one thing he calls his home. He realizes maybe this is not the Hero’s Journey he expected afterall.

For a compiling narrative, I needed compiling and complicated visuals.

Had wanted to do pancake art but after trying out, I realized I wasn’t much of a pancake contemporary artist.

(pardon the stock image)

I also explored mediums of color gels, lights, shadows and an installation style but was told it would sway from 2D to become a 3D project.

Upon browsing through shadow images, I thought of something I’ve seen before on pinterest and wanted to execute the concept.


(again, pardon the stock image)

The concept seemed cool and it went along well with my narrative, most of which started with (Me) at a certain age in my life and the reflections would lead their way to the 3rd box of each series.

But as I googled for more images, it seems someone has already used the concept. I was devastated. 🙁 I even did a mock up of a low poly of my face to test out the artistic style if it was suitable.

I had to change my idea completely. The images below would be all the versions thus far I’ve changed in AI and a journey into my thought process.

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(v1-ish: Tried poly and my style of cartooning)
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(v2: tried to digitally recreate traditional art works only to realize the reason why comic book artists spend hours on paper, pencil and ink)

drawn

Hand drawn and inked.

animated

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FINAL

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Triadic colors of the primary colors were chosen as they not only represent the metaphor of the hero, but also the state of mind I was in during at age.

Blue: Young & Innocent
Red: Hot & Passionate
 Yellow: Powerful & Dominant
White: Lost & Empty

screen-shot-2016-11-21-at-11-03-22-amMe(Young) + Hero’s Training = Strong & Bold

Always had a strong desire to protect and to be brave. When I was young, I was quite fat and as a result, was bullied very often. I decided to never become like one of those bullies. I’ve read comics my entire life and decided I wanted to a super hero. When I was 16, I was determined to lose as much weight and to be the person I always wanted to be; a strong, bold and courageous person.

screen-shot-2016-11-21-at-11-03-29-amMe(Teens) + Too Much Time On The Web = Develops Skills

During my teens, I was the odd kid in class because I was deeply in love with the internet and photoshop and photography and film. The internet came out of no where, took me by surprise and I made it my own. I learnt many things and developed skills that no 14 year old would know.

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Me(Not So Young) + Meets Technology = Finds True Calling

In polytechnic, I was truly exposed to technology. Thousands upon thousands of dollars of equipment was mine and thus it enhanced my skills and turned me into something that I never would have imagined. I have found happiness, bliss in technology.

screen-shot-2016-11-21-at-11-03-45-am Me(Now) + Life = Not So Much Of A Hero

I am now in university. The passion, overused from work and assignments, not doing what I truly love but what others deem to be necessary. I feel restricted. Unable to run. Is this what I truly wanted to be?

RHYMES: The King, The Knight, The Jokers, The Father

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The King, The Knight, The Jokers, The Father

With a specific theme in mind, I found quotes that were iconic and conveyed what I wanted to say. The visuals had to match the scene of the quote. It would be more impactful that way. I wanted to show depth and layers of the movie, easter eggs, visual metaphors.


The Knight

tan_junkang-terminator

I wanted to show the Terminator in its purest form, a strong mercenary with a compassionate heart, like a Knight. A gentleman was used to show his character.

No doubt the most touching sequence in the Terminator was whence he sacrificed himself for the greater good. The iconic scene of him waving and turning into a (Y) sign particularly struck me when it came to doing this quote. The negative clouds on the bottom of my visuals were also used to represent the lava that took his life but also to show the consistent theme of fire through his resurrection and birth from flames when he time traveled over to the present.

A skull was used as well to show the consistent themes the movie had with it. I had altered the skull’s eye sockets to look like a pair of sunglasses as the original Terminator would wear it quite often. I have also added in an eye ball to pay homage to his death scene in another Terminator movie. The U-Turn sign was used as a symbol of going back.

This line has inspired many sequels and breathed new life to the protagonists of the Terminator franchise. A quote that sets the past, present and future of its franchise.


The Jokers

tan_junkang-findingnemo

This is an ironic one. In the actual sequence, 3 different types of sharks were declaring veganism as they felt consumption of other fishes was as good as cannibalism. I wanted to show a level of sophistication that these animals have, thus, gentlemen.

The goal was to make an ironic mesh-mash of conflicting styles to show the delusion and incongruous nature of the quote. I purposefully pulled reference from 80s children’s storybooks, 2000s cartoons and vintage and realistic visuals.

I drew much reference from Spongebob Squarepants, a cartoon from the 2000s that showed the friendship between a sea sponge and a star fish. I incorporated much of its light hearted visuals into the design to emulate that friendship.

I watched this movie when I was 8 and it left a big impact on me. Big enough for me to swear to never eat fish because they are friends. I also have many pet fishes as they are also my friends. It’s also ironic cause I keep them in the kitchen, where they can see my family eating and cooking fishes.


The Father

tan_junkang-starwars

Perhaps the most iconic quote in cinema history. How could I not do this one? Star Wars is a franchise close to my heart and it took me multiple attempts to get this one out. Lions were used because contrary to popular belief, lions are terrible dads.(cough, darth vader was a terrible dad too, cough) They leave their young(cough, vader, cough) and won’t acknowledge them until they are old enough to join hunts.(cough, vader fights luke, cough)

Star Wars was basically a movie about family drama if you think about it. Angry dad, son and daughter fighting for redemption, dad punishes insubordinate son, son kills dad and restores peace to the entire universe. You know, typical family drama. So I made it look like a family portrait by giving it a vintage frame and added a pinch of asian family drama. “THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON’T GET AN A! OR WHEN YOU DEFY THE OVERLORD OF THE DARK SIDE!” They get the cane. Or in this case, a lightsaber to the paw.

I think I was able to find a balance of wit, humour and the actual seriousness of the scene in this graphic. Hits quite closely to home as I was punished very often at home and was glad I was able to convey those feelings.


The King

tan_junkang-titanic

I’m the king of the world! A common phrase I told myself during polytechnic days, I was the best at what I did, I answered to nobody, and had the time of my life. However, all that ended when the reality of 2 years in service. What I wanted to show was more than just a mere quote, I wanted to show the consequences of a declaration like that, and what is to come.(something like what happened to titanic)

The closer you look, the more things you’ll find. A consistent theme in all my designs, but this one in particular. We’ll start from the top; The King Of The World, a king of DIAMONDS with a globe face. The top portion already explains the entire quote. But let’s go alittle bit lower. We can see the mast of the ship that Jack proclaimed kingship of the world. We can also see the titanic and a sunken titanic in the quilts of the King’s innerwear.

The HEART shaped DIAMOND that Rose wore was an integral to the story. If you look closely, the King’s hand is in a open palm position relative to the diamond, as if he was dropping it.(which was what happened in the movie)

Let’s look at the bottom(pun intended) now. It’s the Jack of HEARTS. With a Rose face. Perfectly aligning the J ❤ Rose. Showing that Jack loves Rose. The Jack is also wearing a diamond necklace to show that the necklace has sunk into the ocean with him. There is also the iceberg that caused the sinking in it.

I chose this as my final outcome as it shows greater depth in not only the quote, but the entire movie as well. At a glance, people are able to pinpoint the quote, but people who have watched the movie would have caught many interesting easter eggs from this. Not only that, the consistent theme of the visuals also give a coherent and appealing look to the entire design.


The Making Of

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Rejected/Prototypes

Most of the rejects were just brainstorming visuals like Avengers Assemble!With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility and Why So Serious?

In the end, the visuals were just not compelling enough to be used for final submission. They lacked attitude, style and just didn’t fit my general theme.

PRE SILK

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“I’M THE KING OF THE WORLD.”
Jack Dawson, Titanic 1997

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“WHY SO SERIOUS?”
Joker, The Dark Knight 2008

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“FISH ARE FRIENDS, NOT FOOD.”
Bruce The Shark, Finding Nemo 2003

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“I’LL BE BACK.”
The Terminator, Terminator 1984

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“I AM YOUR FATHER”
Darth Vader, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back 1980

Emo Life: The Making Of

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Mark Making Elements

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Mark Making Mk I and Mk II

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Mark Making Mk III

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Artist References

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Trying out different mediums of Mark Making

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Contentment V Lust

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Amusement V Greed

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Courage V Fear

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Calmness V Gluttony

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Triumph V Pride

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Enthrallment V Envy

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Patience V Wrath

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Happiness V Sadness

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Love V Hate

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Final Reflection

 

Thy Line art Emotional: THE SINS & VIRTUES

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THE DEADLY SINS AND VIRTUES

When I started this project, I wanted to tell a story.

A tale of light and dark because we’re never just white or just black.

We commit sins and perform acts of virtue without even knowing and project themselves as emotions.

On the right, we have the virtues of everyday life,the pure whites on black to show there is light in dark, there is good in even the worst.

On the left, we have the sins of man, the jet blacks taint the white to show even the good harbours evil.

Look carefully. Each emotion contains a different medium based on their characteristics.

Contentment X Lust
Calmness X Greed
Amusement X Pride
Courage X Fear
Patience X Wrath
Enthrallment X Envy
Triumph X Pride
Happiness X Sadness
Love X Hate

Look carefully. They contain visual similarities although they are complete opposites.

Maybe dark and light isn’t so different after all.

This is an emotional post

1. Affection
2. Lust
3. Longing
4. Cheerfulness
5. Zest
6. Contentment
7. Pride
8. Optimism
9. Enthrallment
10. Relief
11. Surprise
12. Irritation
13. Exasperation
14. Rage
15. Disgust
16. Envy
17. Torment
18. Suffering
19. Sadness
20. Disappointment
21. Shame
22. Neglect
23. Sympathy
24. Horror
25. Nervousness