Illustration and Visual Narrative - Task 2: Composition Design
15/10/2025 - 5/11/2025 (Week 4 - Week 7)
Cher Pei Ying (0389055)
Illustration and Visual Narrative
Task 2: Composition Design
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Tutorials
2. Process Work
2.3 Line Art
2.4 Color
2.5 Final Outcome
2.6 Rationale
3. Reflections
1. TUTORIALS
Week 7
For this week's tutorial, we learnt how to use the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator.
Figure 1.1 Tutorial 1
Figure 1.2 Tutorial 2
2. PROCESS WORK
This task is to create an environmental composition for one of the characters designed in task 1. We are required to use the guidelines from "Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers"
and choose a composition to create our work.
2.1 Character Backstory
I decided to work my composition on the wood character I designed in task
1.
Figure 2.1.1 Wood Character
As stated in task 1 e-portfolio, wood symbolizes strength, endurance, wisdom and acts as the foundation
of nature. He has a calm, reliable and a serious personality. Wood is the
protector of the forest, fighting robots created by humans that conducts
deforestation and collects original materials from the forest to develop
human technology. This disrupts the peace in the forest, and it is up to
Wood to stand up and fight for it.
2.2 Composition Sketches
After looking through "Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for
Visual Storytellers", I chose three compositions for my character.
#1 First Composition Sketch
Figure 2.2.1 Page 35 of "Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers"
Figure 2.2.2 First Composition Sketch
According to the guideline, I placed two tree trunks right in front of the shot to create a frame where my wood character is in the middle. This creates contrast between the scene and the character and gives perspective that the character is being watched from afar in secret.
#2 Second Composition Sketch
Figure 2.2.3 Page 41 of "Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers"
Figure 2.2.4 Second Composition Sketch
For the second composition sketch, the perspective is very low and starts from the floor, slowing going up to the body and face of the character. This gives the view a grand feel and can show the characters bold and fighter characteristic. The trees are also places diagonally to match the perspective view of the overall composition.
#3 Third Composition Sketch
Figure 2.2.5 Page 49 of "Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers"
Figure 2.2.6 Third Composition Sketch
For this composition, big, medium and small objects act as an important role in the frame to create contrast. The tree truck on the right takes the most space in the frame, making it the biggest object. My wood character is then the medium sized object, followed by birds that are small and in the background.
After receiving feedback, I decided to continue my work on the
second composition sketch, but some changes had to be made as
the current sketch doesn't show my characters backstory clearly. I
attempted a more detailed sketch and added some things to achieve a
better result.
Figure 2.2.7 Final Composition Sketch
I added robots that are defeated around the floor to show some action in the scene. I also drew some tress getting cut down and added smoke around the background to show that the forest has been destroyed by the robots. Other than that, I drew the trees in different sizes and thickness so that it looks more scattered around the forest and not organized.
2.3 Line Art
The next step is to create a line art of the composition in Adobe
Illustrator.
Figure 2.3.1 Line Art Progression of Wood
Figure 2.3.2 Line Art Progression of Axe and Shield
Then, I did the line art for his axe and shield.
Figure 2.3.3 Line Art Progression of Background
Lastly I completed the line art for the background, including the robots, tree trunk, bushes and smoke. To fill in the negative space on top and apply more contrast, I also added leaves surrounding the frame. This is the final line art for my composition:
Figure 2.3.4 Final Line Art
2.4 Color
After checking all my line art and scaling down my work, I used the
Live Paint Tool to fill in colors foe my composition.
Figure 2.4.1 Color fill for main character
Figure 2.4.2 Color fill for background
After that, I filled in the background. For the smoke, I created a new layer and reduced the opacity, I also used the brush tool to draw some grass on the ground. I then inserted a rectangle at the back of the artboard and fill it in with blue gradients to create the sky.
Figure 2.4.3 Tree trunk texture
Figure 2.4.4 Color fill for shadow
Next is to add shadows around the composition to give it more depth.
Figure 2.4.5 Color fill for tree leaves
I added the tree leaves for the background and deleted the original leaves on top as it looks weird and does not blend in with the overall composition. I also changed the color of the tree trunks to differentiate it with the leaves and give more contrast to the composition.
Figure 2.4.6 Light and Shadow
Lastly, I drew a rectangle over the whole composition and filled it in with a dark blue gradient to create a darker environment at the edges of the composition. Besides, a beam of light is added to show the main character well.
2.5 Final Outcome
This is the final outcome for my composition design:
Figure 2.5.1 Final Outcome of Composition Design
2.6 Rationale
3. REFLECTIONS
This was quite a difficult task as I had to go through a lot of trial and
error to get an ideal result, therefore it took me a long time to complete
the work, Adobe Illustrator even crashed tree times in the process but
luckily it was able to auto recover.
I am not very good with applying shadows in the composition so that took me
most of the time. I need to observe the world around me more and think
logically on where to apply the shadows.
I used a lot of layers for this task, that was an improvement from task 1,
but I think i can still utilize using layers even more, maybe creating a
layer for each object or character in the composition, that way, I can fill
in colors and add textures individually.
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