Graphic Narrative

CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key) are the four inks most commonly used in colour printing. 300dpi is a resolution size used to print, which keeps files at a high quality without sacrificing too much file size. A PDF can be opened without use of the original program (i.e Photoshop), and so can be printed from anywhere.

For my graphic narrative, I used the Prada Candy TV advert (directed by Roman Coppola and Wes Anderson) for its use of colour and excellent cinematography as a placeholder. Much of the buildings were designed using LA street photography to gain the correct proportions. The story's protagonist, simply named "The Actress", was designed with a bright colour palette; her hair, clothing, shoes, and makeup all used vibrant colours intended to stand out from the background to show off the wealth and luxury she surrounds herself in. I think this effect worked well, as in many scenes the main character stands out as the sole focus of the narrative.

After conducting some research into the types of fonts certain luxury fashion labels use, I decided to narrate the story using the font "Times", which is reminiscent of the typography in the Louis Vuitton logo. Not only did this suit the storyline, but it was convenient in how the font remained synonymous with 'high fashion', 'wealth' and 'luxury', and is highly recognisable by my target audience. I utilised highly recognisable locations in Los Angeles for the graphic narrative. Rodeo Drive, Hollywood Boulevard and Venice Beach are all popular destinations in the city, and are all individually renowned for the amount of celebrities they attract. All of the images were designed to stay simplistic and clean, (a theme in the fashion industry) as well as realistic. I designed every image in Adobe Illustrator using the pen tool and various effects to add an element of realism. 

The very first thing I created was the protagonist herself; I was incredibly inspired by the actress Léa Seyoux, whom I modelled my main character off of. I was initially drawn to her in the previously mentioned Prada Candy advertisement.

Using the pen tool in Illustrator, I designed each individual scene using LA street photography as a template. Whenever an additional character was produced, I made sure that the face was covered or they were heavily blurred, much like the scenery in the narrative. This was a conscious decision that was intended to be symbolic of the main character's narcissism and self-absorbed nature.

I feel like the character design was the strongest part of my narrative, partially because I thoroughly enjoyed designing her. If I had to alter the narrative in any way I would go back an re-design some of the background images, spending more time shading and making everything more lifelike. However, I'd like to think the character design and selective pops of colour make the narrative stand out, as it otherwise might not have if I hadn't enjoyed it.

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BMD Design - Artwork

This is my artwork with a Ukrainian theme, inspired by BMD design.

I was given the country of Ukraine for the playing card project. Initially, I researched the country as nothing stood out to me from memory. I hand drew the Holy Sophia Cathedral on A3 paper before scanning and adding colour in Photoshop. Much like the BMD artwork, I scattered various words across the design that related to the nature of the piece. Ukraine has wonderful nature and architecture, which drove the design heavily. 

Once it was scanned into Photoshop, I used one main colour selectively (gold), to fill in the windows and spired of the structure. As a lot of BMD's work features a rather "gritty" feel, I wanted to incorporate that into my own design, and so I left the speckles that appeared in the scanning of the artwork as I felt like it gave the artwork more character. 

The typography was also BMD inspired, where I would use various fonts across the structure to show variety in the words that were written down.

Guess Who? Progression & Final Piece

To put the final touches on the picture, I covered the unwanted areas of the picture with the required gradient and yellow border, which made my image fit in with the other Guess Who? characters. I found that the little details made this picture 'come alive' and resemble myself accurately, such as the creases in the skin as I smiled, the structure of my nose and the strands in my hair. Overall, the picture turned out better than I expected and gave me new skills to use in photo editing that I will carry through to my other projects.

The colouring process required a lot of back-and-forth checking to make sure that the image looked as close to the original photograph as possible. The highlights in my hair was achieved by picking a lighter colour than the base and then turning the opacity down so that it blended in with the hair properly. There was a similar effect used to create the reflection in the lens of the glasses, except with a blue gradient.

After tracing over every defining area of my face, I used the swatches available to get the best colour possible to match my skin tone and hair. For other parts of the picture, such as the lips or glasses, I used the eyedropper tool to get the most accurate colour.

Starting off with the pen tool, I traced over the defining areas of my face that would make up the detail that would show the resemblance of my face in the final piece (i.e eyebrows, lips, glasses, jawline etc). I used white initially as it was the colour that stood out from the rest of my face, and showed me which parts were left to trace. 

I started off with a raw, untouched photo of myself (taken from an iPad) and uploaded it to the computer, and began editing in Adobe Illustrator. 

Part 1 - Graphic Narrative Research

Ghostbusters Volume 6

I enjoy how the illustrator of the book has been selective with the use of vibrant colour; it is a common theme throughout the book where one segment of a page will feature an overwhelming use of bright colours and electric hues. The book utilizes a comic book style typography, where text bubbles are used throughout to show character's in the middle of conversation. This is something I may not necessarily use as it's not a particular style I find appealing. The characters in the book are drawn in an over-the-top, caricatured style which is probably reflective of the young target audience the author had in mind when writing the book. This could be a possible influence on my own design if I choose to appeal to young children. The illustrator possibly drew the design, scanned, then edited the sketches digitally.

Playing Card

Back of Playing Card

Front of Playing Card (Final)

Front of Playing Card (Development)