Illustration and Visual Narrative - Assignment 1
3/6/2024 - 4/7/2024/ Week 7 - Week 11
Tay Yue Chern / 0373215
Illustration and Visual Narrative / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Assignment 1: Fly Me To The Moon
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. LECTURES
2. INSTRUCTIONS
3. PROCESS WORK
4. EXERCISES
5. REFLECTIONS
1. LECTURES
Week 7
No lecture, briefing conducted during Tutorial and Practical sessions.
Week 8
Independent Learning Week
Week 9
Watch this video, refer and apply it to our assignments (Fly Me To The Moon poster and Equality poster)
Week 10
No lecture
Prologue
Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, on December 12, 1915, Frank Sinatra rose to fame singing big band numbers. In the '40s and '50s, he had a dazzling array of hit songs and albums and went on to appear in dozens of films, winning a supporting actor Oscar for From Here to Eternity. He left behind a massive catalog of work that includes iconic tunes like "Love and Marriage," "Strangers in the Night," "My Way" and "New York, New York." He died on May 14, 1998 in Los Angeles, California.
Project Brief
Choose one song from the list below, appreciate the song, hear it through and understand the lyrics. We are then required to sketch initial ideas, figure out storyline, illustrate and compose and animate a ‘moment’ base of our understanding from the chosen song. This moment will be the album cover. Illustrated typography must be included. Foreground mid ground and background must be considered and illustrated.
Songs list:
1. Fly me to the moon
2. The way you look tonight
3. Come fly with me
4. Girl from Ipanema
5. New York, New York
Project criteria
Recommended Art Style - Art Deco / Minimalist / Retro / Pop Art / Art Nouveau
Originality - how unique is your idea and how suitable is it?
Technique - your basic skills in composition, your illustration style and proposal that fits the song
Interpretation - How did you interpret the song into your Illustration
Storytelling - Does your proposal tells a story? Does it show emotion? it's important not just to draw a character standing with a blank expression
Requirements - initial storyline, ideas + sketches | illustration | final animation gif
1. Sketches
After listening to all five songs listed above, 'Fly me to the moon' was my first choice. I like the flow of the song, and by looking at the lyrics, I immediately had a rough idea about what I wanted to express in my album cover.
I started by researching my preferred art styles, which are minimalist and some that combine both minimalist and art nouveau styles.
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| Fig 3.1.1 References, Week 7 (6/6/2024) |
I have quite a lot of different ideas regarding this topic, and I came out with several sketches. In the end, I chose the sketch at the bottom left to further illustrate.
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| Fig 3.1.2 Sketches, Week 7 (6/6/2024) |
2. Illustration
The first time I heard this song, it gave me a smooth and soothing vibe. The image that immediately came to mind was having a city walk under the moonlight, sharing a serene and beautiful moment with a loved one, while the moon becomes a silent witness to the love expressed in this intimate setting. It gives me the similar feeling to the movie ‘La La Land’.
Based on these initial ideas, I came out with two different art works and will decide which one to go for in the end.
Artwork #1
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| Fig 3.2.1 Artwork #1 sketches, Week 8 (13/6/2024) |
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| Fig 3.2.2 Artwork #1 working process, Week 8 (13/6/2024) |
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| Fig 3.2.3 Artwork #1 |
My concept for Artwork #1 was relatively straightforward compared to the other one. It is based on the idea of a city walk. For the animation part, I planned to have the signboard (with the song name on it) flashing, and the butterflies flying towards the moon.
Artwork #2
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| Fig 3.2.4 Artwork #2 sketches, Week 8 (13/6/2024) |
What I feel from the song itself is the careful yet open-hearted expression of affection, as ‘I’ always begins with metaphors to express love, indirectly yet profoundly. Therefore, my initial idea was to create an artwork with the moon’s reflection in the water as the focus, to convey the feeling of the way ‘I’ express love cautiously and gently, only daring to touch my lover’s reflection in the stillness of the night.
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| Fig 3.2.5 Artwork #2 working process, Week 8 (13/6/2024) |
One of the lyrics, ‘Let me see what spring is like on Jupiters and Mars,’ makes me think of butterflies, symbols of transformation and delicate beauty. Additionally, the overall atmosphere of the song feels like a heartfelt expression of love. So I wanted to use the sensation of “butterflies in my stomach” to mirror the feeling of falling in love - fragile yet exhilarating. This delicate and sincere way of conveying love is why I decided to depict a butterfly gently touching the moon’s reflection on the water.
I made several attempts at distorting the moon's reflection and the typography design.
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| Fig 3.2.6 Moon designs, Week 8 (13/6/2024) |
At first, I distorted the moon's reflection manually using curvature tool and pencil tool. However, I realised that the outcome wasn't very satisfying, and it would be quite troublesome when it came to the animation stage. Therefore, I used the wrinkle tool to make the distortion. It works faster and is more convenient, and I personally like this effect better.
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| Fig 3.2.7 Illustrated type designs attempts, Week 8 (13/6/2024) |
For the animation part, I planned to have the moon’s illusion in the water gently move, while the butterfly’s wings slightly tremble.
Considering the feasibility of the animation and my desire to create a smooth loop, I decided to choose Artwork #2 as the final album cover design.
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| Fig 3.2.8 Final album cover illustration design, Week 9 (20/6/2024) |
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| Fig 3.2.9 Sketch Rationale Moodboard, Week 9 (20/6/2024) |
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| Fig 3.3.1 Working process in Adobe Illustrator, Week 10 (27/6/62024) |
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| Fig 3.3.2 Motion references, Week 10 (27/6/62024) |
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| Fig 3.3.3 Animation attempt #1, Week 10 (27/6/62024) |
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| Fig 3.3.4 Animation attempt #1 Timeline (4 frames), Week 10 (27/6/62024) |
I tried to show the motion of butterfly’s wings slightly tremble, but it didn't appear natural, so I decided to try depicting the motion of butterfly's wings waving instead.
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| Fig 3.3.5 Animation attempt #2, Week 10 (27/6/62024) |
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| Fig 3.3.6 Animation attempt #2 Timeline (6 frames), Week 10 (27/6/62024) |
This version of animation is getting closer to what I intended to achieve. However, I feel like the typography part is a little too fixed, so I decided to animate it as well. The first idea that came to mind was to animate the blurring part of the word 'moon'.
I chose to blur it to emphasise its distance, as in the song, where although the moon is mentioned frequently, the true emphasis is on the journey and the companion. I intended to use the blurred 'moon' phrase to convey the concept of distance and allow viewers to focus on the act of flying, which symbolises the journey rather than the destination.
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| Fig 3.3.7 Animation attempt #3 Timeline (6 frames), Week 10 (27/6/62024) |
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| Fig 3.3.8 Animation attempt #3, Week 10 (27/6/62024) |
Animation attempt #3 was very closed to what I envisioned in the beginning, after the feedback session in Week 11, Mr Hafiz suggested to create a glowing effect for the word 'moon' instead of having the word blurring. Additionally, he recommended trying to show the different phases of the moon in the animation. Based on Mr Hafiz's feedback, I started working on the animation for the word 'moon'.
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| Fig 3.3.9 Improving process, Week 11 (4/7/2024) |
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| Fig 3.3.10 Final Animated Album Cover, Week 11 (4/7/2024) |
4. TUTORIAL AND PRACTICAL - EXERCISES
Pencil Tool Exercise
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| Fig 4.1 Illustrated Type, Week 9 (20/6/2024) |
Envelope Distort Exercise
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| Fig 4.2 Illustrated Type, Week 10 (27/6/62024) |
5. REFLECTIONS
This assignment was truly enjoyable as I like the process of listening to the songs, generating ideas, and refining them until achieving a satisfactory outcome. I appreciate how this assignment gave us a lot of freedom in choosing the song we like and didn't restrict us from exploring any creative ideas. One notable discovery during this process was the effectiveness and convenience of the pencil tool in refining object outlines.
It's a bit disappointing that Artwork #1 wasn't able to be chosen as the final design. I personally like the concept of the flashing signboard animation, but achieving a smooth and perfect loop with identical start and end points was challenging. This approach might not work well as the butterflies might not look natural in that way, which led me to choose Artwork #2. However, based on my personal feelings and understanding of the song, I actually prefer Artwork #2 as it better conveys the message I wanted to express. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed working on this assignment and am quite satisfied with the final results.
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