Illustration and Visual Narrative · Project 2

30/10/2023 - 29/11/2023 / Week 7 - Week 9

YANG ZHI CHING / 0365154

Illustration and Visual Narrative / Bahelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Project 2 : Decisive Moment

Lab · Transperancy Exercise

Pre-exercise given is to create textures by adding shading to the illustrations given by using the Grain Effect combined with linear, radial and freeform gradients.

Fig 1.11 Practice 1, Week 6

Fig 1.12 Practice 2 Illustration People , Week 6

Fig 1.13 Practice 3 Own Practice, Week 6

Brief · What is Editorial Illustration (Decisive Moment)

Editorial illustrations are created for newspapers, magazines, and websites to visually enhance written content. The illustrations serve the dual purpose of capturing the reader's attention and providing a fresh perspective to the article. The assignment requires creating a minimalist editorial illustration in an Art Deco style based on an urban legend, whether local or international. The final design, intended for a digital media publication, should incorporate minor animations to increase reader engagement.

Story Research ·

Regarding urban legends, the first thing that comes to my mind are horror legends. As a movie lover, I always feel that Eastern horror films are scarier than Western horror films. Because Western horror films are usually about jumpscare and curses, Eastern horror's ghosts and karma are more deeply rooted in my mind. So I decided to use the story "Ghost Marriage" that I watch the related movie recently as the theme. In Chinese superstition, ghost marriage is to find a spouse for the dead. It refers to a non-religious and legal form of marriage. The corpses of two people are usually placed together after death to show their marital relationship. The ghost bridge is the woman in ghost marriage.

Below are the article of story about 'Ghost Marriage'

Late at night, the city streets were covered in thick fog, and the smoke from burning incense floated eerily through the darkness. In this big city, there was a spooky story that everyone talked about—the story of the blood-red wedding.
In a part of the city, there lived a young girl named Xiaoe. During the day, she was carefree, but at night, she walked alone through the streets. One night, something guided her into a dark alley, like an invisible hand pulling her.
In the alley, Xiaoe woke up suddenly to a deep voice calling out. Looking up, she saw an old woman in tattered clothes, holding a crumpled paper fan, shouting, "Gather, troubled souls! The blood wedding is about to happen. Those with destiny shall come and help the ghost bride from the underworld in her marriage." The woman's voice echoed, giving everyone goosebumps.
Xiaoe felt a chill, but her body moved on its own towards the voice. She found herself in a run-down place where a strange wedding ceremony was taking place. The incense smoke filled the air, making it hard to breathe.
In the shadows, Xiaoe saw a group of women wearing red wedding dresses, their eyes looking lifeless. A ghostly figure approached, its face looking creepy, and it reached out to guide Xiaoe into the red-colored ritual.
The wedding conductor, holding a yellow paper fan, chanted words and shouted the vows of the ghostly union. Xiaoe felt a strange force holding her down; she couldn't escape and could only watch as the ceremony continued.
Suddenly, a strong feeling of evil surrounded her, and the incense smoke got thicker. Her body shook a lot, and painful sounds filled her ears. The wedding atmosphere became even creepier, like the entire underworld was celebrating this strange marriage.
At that moment, a cold hand touched Xiaoe's shoulder. When she looked up, she saw a scary ghost with a twisted smile on its face. The ghost opened its mouth and made a terrifying scream, and Xiaoe blacked out.
When she woke up again, she was back in the dark alley. There were no signs of the ceremony on her, but the fear in her heart and the unclear memories of the weird wedding stayed with her.
As time went on, Xiaoe noticed a change in herself. Every night, she felt a strange coldness, and her dreams were filled with echoes of the strange ceremony. Her eyes slowly lost their liveliness, becoming empty and mysterious. On a dark night, she realized she had turned into that tormented soul. No longer alive, Xiaoe was now a part of the underworld, forever stuck in the shadow of the blood-red wedding.

Mood Board / Reference ·

I searched for relevant photography works using the keywords 'chinese horror' and 'ghost marriage'. Most of this theme use a dark red colour that indicates 'chinese happiness' and contrasts with the weird green and the black background. In addition to photography, I also found game CGs from the famous game 'paper bridge' ar reference images.

In Chinese tradition, the bride who becomes a monk wears a red wedding dress and a red hijab, and the groom will take off the bride's hijab during the ceremony. In traditional Chinese funerals, people will burn 'paper figures' as offering (burial objects) to the deceased, and the cheeks of these paper figures usually have extremely obvious red blush, which is derived from the ancient traditional makeup effect.

Thus, the idead that came to my mind was 'The moment when the bride's hijab is taken off and show her ghost face".

Fig 1.1 Photography artworks searched from online, Week 7

Fig 1.2 Steam Game <Paper Bridge> CG, Week 7

Sketches ·

Illustration Software: Procreate

Video Process of sketching in Procreate, Week 7

Fig 2.1 Final Sketch, Week 7

Digitization ·

I first imported the sketch drawn from Procreate and traced it in AI. After adding the basic colour block, then add shadows and texture. Below are the processes:

Fig 3.1 Basic colour block and process of adding texture, Week 8

A little thought that is the change of the words "囍" and "奠" , the word "囍" represents the 'double happiness' calligraphy used in chinese weddings, while the word "奠" represents the 'mourning' calligraphy used in chinese funerals.

Fig 3.2 The illustration of the Ghost Bridge, Week 8

Fig 3.3 Progress of Ghost Bridge, Week 8

Fig 3.4 Four Main Scenes, Week 8

Fig 3.5 Progress before import to Photoshop, Week 8

Fig 3.6 Timeline First Version, Week 8

Fig 3.7 Animation First Version, Week 8

After submitted this version of animation, i get the feedback from mr.Hafiz that: Good illustration but you don't need to animate everything. just the smoke from the sticks and then the appearance which is 'Secondary Action'. So, I reduced the frames of animation and just animate the smoke from the red candle.

Fig 3.8 Second Version Timeline, Week 9

Fig 3.9 Second Version Animation, Week 9

Final Illustration

Fig 3.10 Final Version Illustration, Week 9

Final GIF Animation

Fig 3.11 Final Version Animation, Week 9

FEEDBACK

Week 9 : Good illustration but I don't need to animate everything. just the smoke from the sticks and then the appearance.

REFLECTION

This is a very interesting project. I really like 'narrative' artworks like illustrations of a story. The theme of 'ghost marriage' is a thing that has impressed me since a long time ago. The process of drawing makes me enjoy it. But after looking at other students' works, I found that many of us are doing the same scene which is hanging. I thought it was a very scary and deeply rooted scene, which is why so many people regard this as a 'decisive moment'. so i think how to be unique is what I need to strengthen in this project.

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YANG ZHI CHING (0365154)