Illustration and Visual Narrative - Task 3: Digital Triptych

5/11/2025 - 26/11/2025 (Week 7 - Week 10)

Cher Pei Ying (0389055)

Illustration and Visual Narrative

Task 3: Digital Triptych

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Tutorials 

2. Process Work

    2.1 300 Word Story

    2.2 Sketch

    2.3 Line Art

    2.4 Color

    2.5 Final Outcome

    2.6 Transition Explanation

3. Reflection

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1. TUTORIALS

Week 8

This week's tutorial is to learn about Scott McCloud’s theory of transitions. This exercise is to look through all the panels and choose 20 frames to express the narrative clearly.

                        Figure 1.1 Tutorial 1 original                     Figure 1.2 Tutorial 1 outcome

Week 9

For this week, I learnt how to customize a font and draw out strokes to add character to the font.

Figure 1.3 Tutorial 2 outcome

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2. PROCESS WORK

2.1 300 Word Story

I decided to do my digital triptych on my character Flora which I designed in Task 1.

Figure 2.1.1 Flora Character

Before getting into the sketch, we are required to write out a 300 word story to describe our 3 panels for the digital triptych. This can 

This is my story:

        The forest is dying from a wave of deforestation due to the invasion of robots. The robots will not appear in the scene, just the aftermath will be shown. The trees that had once stood for centuries were now nothing but stumps, chopped and unwanted tree trunks are messily placed around the forest bed. All the tree leaves and flowers had withered and were scattered around on the floor. The sky is grey and crows are flying around with sorrow. The animals wandered through the ruins of their homes crying. The overall color for this scene is dark and grey and the environment looks dirty. This scene will have a low angle to show the forest bed more.

        Suddenly, Flora the flower fairy flies in with her leaf pouch that stores magic pixie dust. The magic pixie dust is gold in color and is shiny. Flora flew from tree to tree while sprinkling the dust across the barren land. The action of Flora sprinkling the pixie dust can be cut into small frames and will be focused on her hand movements. Wherever it touched, the plants regrew into a new life, saplings burst from the soil, leaves unfurled and flowers blossomed. The forest came back into life with the help of Flora, she puts on a relaxed and calm expression. The color for this scene is more saturated, the chopped trees grow a bit taller and small leaves are growing back out. 

        The forest is alive again. The animals gathered around Flora, chirping, howling, and dancing in celebration. Confetti can be drawn to show that they are really celebrating. Flora smiled as sunlight filtered through the leaves once more. This scene will be more vibrant and warm. The trees and flowers can be drawn in different shapes and lines to show more expression.

2.2 Sketch

After getting approval from the lecturer, I started with a sketch for each panel.

               Figure 2.2.1 Sketch 1 of Digital Triptych           Figure 2.2.2 Sketch 2 of Digital Triptych

For the second panel, I looked for reference on Pinterest to better show my vision:

Figure 2.2.3 Reference from Pinterest

2.3 Line Art

By inserting the sketch in a layer and dimming the opacity to 25%, I can draw the line art over the sketch to complete the first panel.

Figure 2.3.1 Line Art progress for first panel

Figure 2.3.1 Line Art progress for second panel

Figure 2.3.1 Line Art progress for second panel

This is the final line art outcome:

Figure 2.3.4 Line Art of digital triptych

2.4 Color

I used the live paint tool to fill in colors for my panels. I also searched for color references on Adobe Color to apply in my work.

Figure 2.4.1 Color fill progress for first panel

Figure 2.4.2 Color fill progress for second panel

Figure 2.4.3 Color fill progress for third panel

For the grass, I used the brush tool to draw put grass strokes in different shades of green.

Figure 2.4.4 Grass fill progress for first panel

Figure 2.4.5 Grass fill progress for second panel

Figure 2.4.6 Grass fill progress for third panel

To make the smoke in the first panel more realistic, I added a feather effect to it, I did the same for the clouds in the second and third panel. Besides, I added stars and confetti to each panel as a last touch.

Figure 2.4.7 Smoke for first panel

Figure 2.4.8 Clouds and stars for second panel

Figure 2.4.9 Clouds and confetti for third panel

Lastly, I added a dark shadow around the first panel and partially around the second panel to show the gloomy vibes of the picture more. For the stars in the second panel, I also added an outer blur.

Figure 2.4.10 Shadows for first panel

Figure 2.4.11 Shadows and shine for second panel

And I added some leaves at the top of the third panel.

Figure 2.4.12 Leaves for third panel

These are the final outcome of color fills:

Figure 2.4.13 Final color fill for first panel

Figure 2.4.14 Final color fill for second panel

Figure 2.4.15 Final color fill for third

2.5 Final Outcome

This is the final outcome for my digital triptych:

Figure 2.5.1 Final Outcome of Digital Triptych

2.6 Transition Explanation

Panel 1 -> Panel 2: Scene to scene transition 

In the first panel, the forest is shown in a devastated state, Flora and some animals are surrounded by dead trees, smoke and a gloomy atmosphere. The second panel shifts to a later point in time, where Flora’s magical pixie dust has already begun to take effect, new flowers are blooming and trees are partially restored. This jump from a ruined environment to one that is actively healing indicates a clear passage of time, making it a classic example of a scene to scene transition.

Panel 2 -> Panel 3: Action to action transition

The second panel shows the forest in the middle of its magical regrowth, capturing the moment where the environment is being revived. The third panel then presents the direct outcome of that action. The forest is now fully restored and the characters are celebrating joyfully among vibrant flowers and healthy trees. This flow from the act of healing to the resulting celebration reflects a natural progression of events, demonstrating how one action leads directly to the next. 

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3. REFLECTION

This task was quite challenging to me, I had to create three panels that relate to each other that has a logical transition and at the same time it has to be clean enough for the audience to understand easily. The Scott McCloud’s theory of transitions were quite confusing to understand at first, but after a tutorial class from the lecturer, I understood it more and was able to apply it into my work. For the panels, I contemplated whether to do more than three panels to show my story more detailed at first, but the work load was too much for me, so I ended up just sticking to the standard three panels.

In the process of creating my line art by referring to my sketch, I realized I missed out a lot of details, so I kept going back to my sketch to add things and continue the line art again. This slowed down my overall efficiency, so I will remind myself to always check and confirm a final sketch before going into Adobe Illustrator next time. Besides that, I am more familiar with using the tools in Adobe Illustrator now, and I remembered to use more layers in my work, that really help me a lot and avoided unnecessary problems.

At the end of working on my piece, I got a bit tired so I did not really pay attention to the details, which I think I could do much better on. I could add more shadows and highlights, but overall I think my work brings out its message well with my sketch and the colors.

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