Wanted to do illustration.

Wanted to do a story about space.

So decided to work with illustrator and indesign, creating vector illustrations to tell a story about space.

My main reference:

artwork by: Riccardo Zema

Liked the simple description of the objects but when put together provide a strong sense of composition and depth in the work.

Some other examples:

cr: Poolga

 

Then I had to capture the colours of the night sky/space. Below are some image references:

Liked the colour scheme of both skies. But felt that the blue-green one has a more calming feeling. So decided to go for that.

And there we have it:

Simple rules:

1. Use vector art.
2. Tell a story about space.

Best worst decision ever.

Refer to my other posts to know why. 🙂

Have a great day,

KJ

The final post for my 2D foundation course.

Let’s start with a story:

Page 1:

This is SPACE BEAR. The main character of the story. Had this little guy appear in my ego project. Decided to explore more of this character’s story since we were told to describe our ‘Journey’ through this 2D course. Placed him as the largest object in the cover page to place emphasis on this character. Had a silly way of placing the title to make the Zine evoke a more playful feeling.

Spread 1:

SPACE BEAR lives in the world of Nyota, where little cosmic animals live. In their country they harvest stars from the skies to ensure that the constellations shines brightly. That day was SPACE BEAR’s turn. He wears his space helmet and goes on to space, placing the stars carefully. His first constellation is his favourite! Can you guess what constellation it is?

It is the great dipper! The bear constellation! It reminds SPACE BEAR of his great uncle.

In order for the story to flow in this spread, i utilized type hierarchy to allow the reader to follow the activities. The funny yellow boxes indicate the different task and the largest font will be the first activity.

Also, for aesthetics, I used a diagonal dividing line to give a sense of energy and playfulness to the overall composition. The contrast of warm and cold colours makes the composition interesting to look at.

Spread 2:

There are times when SPACE BEAR makes mistakes. Then the poor thing has to redo everything all over again. Can you spot the differences?

Finally, after a long day of work, SPACE BEAR likes to climb to the moon to view his work:

Used the same style of text boxes to emphasize the activity moments.

As mentioned during the presentation, I used an ‘object’ to play spot the difference so that the design still looks appealing despite the repetition. Placing it in a vertical position with the central text box also breaks up any sense of repetition, thus keeping the design appealing.

Used the interactive element to bring the attention of the reader to the top right hand corner of the spread, which consists of the moon and an aurora connecting the colour of this spread and the next. This is to ensure a sense of flow towards the final spread.

Spread 3:

And there we have it. A job well done.

Wanted a spread with a composition consisting of a ‘wide shot’. Had ambitious ideas but decided to put horoscope constellations at the end. Named them so that the readers will be able to learn about their names and how they look like. With the bear as the brightest and centralised object in the composition, we naturally bring our eyes to our character. That was where I ended my final line, aligned with the eye level of the eye so that the reader will be able to get to the words comfortably. For the constellations, had them in varying sizes and opacity to give a sense of depth. I also adjusted the font sizes to place further emphasis on the relative sizes of the constellations.

Really liked the peaceful feeling given off by this final spread.

Final Page:

… and we close off to our last page.

The back page has the same treatment as the front page to achieve a spread when the entire book is opened. It also serves to remind us of the character within the book. Treated my social contacts in the same way as the title on the cover page.

And that is it. My final 2D project.

Now for some overall sentimental reflections:

Looking back on my previous projects, have come a long way from barely struggling with my designing tools to be able to producing something more properly rendered.

In fact, the story of the bear was actually supposed to describe my creative process:

Spread one: Collecting the stars is the same as gathering ideas, and placing the ideas down and joining them together is the way I go about doing my work.

I always have the tendency to place emphasis on the ideation before I start my executions, placing all of them together and piecing them towards my desired piece.

I remember the first quote of the course: ‘ a line is a dot that went for a walk’. From there was probably how my inspiration for constellations come about.

Spread two: Like the silly bear, I make many mistakes too. However, the mistakes are the most valuable lessons I can ever have. By working on them and rectifying my mistakes, I eventually get the desired work I want.

Then, at the end of the day, I like to look back at my work, to have a simple reflection on the things I’ve learnt during this process.

Spread three: Whether the work turns out good or bad, I always know I’ve poured my heart into it, thus I am always have an emotional connection with my works. All of them tell a story of my growth as an artist so far.

So grateful for patient mentors and professors that are willing to guide me through an entire design process. Like placing the constellations in the night sky, I hope my art will be able to be seen by a lot of other people. And my art is a testimony of the mentor-ship that I have received.

So many things I’ve learnt, so many more I have to learn. I guess I have to do it one star at a time.

Until then,

Have a great day,

KJ

So in my book there are interactive elements to make it more appealing to kids.

I remember when I was young i always loved interactive elements in story books. I liked the surprise element when you open a window to learn something within the pages and also the usual giggles as you make something move. Interactive elements were always fun and magical.

I decided to add it to the zine.

In order to do so, have to do additional prints for the zine on top of the actual layout:

Front

Back

Moving Element:

This is probably the most fun to make and its quite simple.

Just need 3 pieces to create:

1. A pulling strip
2. A base for the image
3. A image

To make the pulling element:

Step 1: Attach the base to the pulling strip

Step 2: Slot the base through the slit created on the actual page

Step 3: Paste the Image. Done!

A rough video of my experiment:

For my actual, i created the strip with the ‘Pull Here’ sign to provide instructions to the reader on how to interact with the piece.

Flip Window:

Created a flip window as shown above, printing along both sides to get my desired effect. Had to ensure that the words were inverted so that the flip panel will be upright once it is opened.

Below is the result of the flip window:

Alright! Time for the final piece!

Have a great day,

KJ

Its the small things that goes a huge mile.

Had some feedback from Prof Shirley on how to work on my ideas.

They are life changing. Period.

Below is my zine:

seems like front page is good to go.

Who knew adding another whole new colour will have such a strong impact on an entire spread?

Now the composition looks and feels like its split into 3 distinct parts.

Learnt about the font style hierarchy where the size of the fonts determines which titles are to be read first.

Never heard about them. But i feel the message is much clearer now.

Added the funky text boxes! The composition got naturally more playful! Quite interesting.

Final spread page. Still searching high and low for inspirations on this one. Hopefully it comes. Soon.

Tried the same treatment for the front cover. Kinda silly. I’ll keep it. 🙂

Plans for now:

-Still have to resolve the 3rd 2nd spread: The aurora feels out of place. Wonder if there is anything that i can use to replace it.

-Have to resolve the final spread.

Full steam ahead! Learning so much through so little time. Really grateful that I’m allowed to go for this idea.

Have a great day,

KJ

After 7 tries of changing the layouts and consulting every friend available,

Managed to come up with a decent layout for the entire Zine.

Below is the layout:

Changed the font of the words. Much clearer now. Probably will still experiment on a few more. If time permits.

Had a huge conflict over the page being separated into 2. Changed the ‘mini page’ into a geometric shape. By changing the ‘page’ and placing it in the one-third division of the spread, the panel becomes more distinct and coherent with the entire composition. The diagonal division also makes more sense as it separates the last panel from the rest of the composition.

 

Some existing problems:

-weight of the two circles might be the same, thus might cause some visual tension, will adjust accordingly to see whether it flows better.

-the BG colour of the bottom panel might be too dark for any mark making. Have to adjust the colours accordingly to something lighter.

-the stars for the activity ‘join the stars’ might be too small for the reader to take notice. Might have to adjust the size of both the stars and the bear.

 

Finally figured out how to display the ‘spot the difference’ with something that is easy to look at. Was worried that repetition of the ‘spot the difference’ elements will spoil the entire design of the zine. However, the vertical repetition of small objects made the entire composition still easy to look at.

Some problems:

-Colour in the rectangular panel might be a little off as compared to the rest of the spread. Have to experiment on the different colours.

-Constant feedback on the empty space in the middle of the spread. Have to find out ways to fill in that gap.

Still working on this. Generally have to aim for a ‘nice finish’. Which is something i’m not able to come up with at the moment.

Added my own social contacts. There is definitely a better way to represent this. But this will do for now.

Still have quite a bit to resolve. But glad that the general idea of this zine is there. Just have to focus a lot on the aesthetics of the work.

Okay. Back to work.

Have a great day,

KJ

Over estimated my abilities to come up with illustrations.

The spread style of the layout becomes quite hard to illustrate on.

Below is the layout for the supposed illustration book:

Did not know how separate the zine into different images.

Decided to think more about the idea.

Have a great day,

KJ