IDEATION
The basic concept of EGO project is:
ME + SITUATION = OUTCOME
First off, I needed to personify myself in 4 different ways and before starting on that some self-discovery had to be made – I just went around asking peers their impression of me and also did some deep contemplation alone. (‘:
With some consideration and comments, I’ve decided to portray myself with these personifications and also put them in situations that were relatable personally.
I already had a rough idea what I wanted the strips to portray but after consulting, I edited and changed my ideas, finalising into these equations:
- Fish out of water + Heart-to-heart talk = Fishing for honest answers
- Puzzle Box + Crowded space = Wanting personal space
- Sweaty apple + Thing I want to try = Unexperienced, gets worn down but also gaining experience
- Plastic bag + Time travel = Messing up the timeline and in turn, my own being
Now time to develop a visual direction!
RESEARCH
When we were told we could use any medium, I knew I wanted to do mostly digital and it would be illustration right at the get go. However I also wished to explore and try new styles to produce these strips! Since I enjoy playing around with colours, why not try to stick to a set colour palette for each strip – which limits my colour choices, but allows me to optimise the focus and unity more than an unlimited palette would allow.
I took off to Instagram and Twitter where I get most of my illustrative inspiration from your day-to-day artists!
https://www.instagram.com/robogabo/
For colour inspiration, I really admire robogabo’s choices of saturated colours that might seem like they clash but the way they utilise it makes it still feel unified.
https://twitter.com/pooopskin
Similarly with nico a.k.a pooopskin, they use strong colours as well, but instead of just tossing in lots of many differing hues, they choose to keep with a set of strong colours that are usually complementary: creating high contrasts. I also like their slightly textured simple but effective rendering, probably with a textured chalk-like brush.
PROCESS
Holding onto the colour and style inspirations, I went onto to Coolors.co to experiment around with the colour palettes until I achieved the desired complementary and triad colour schemes. The palettes might have many different hues, but I’ll be using these colours in a way that still retains contrast and balances out the visuals.
While keeping in mind to use these colours mainly, I did use a few more colours that aren’t pictured above to enhance the overall visuals.
After consultations with Shirley and also my peers, I sketched out the panels with their corresponding colour palettes with Photoshop.
This was the rough look I wanted to follow and below is the final illustrations!
A more detailed write-up for the illustrations will be in my EGO Final posting!