Digital Photography & Imaging / FINAL PROJECT : SELF-TITLED

14/12/2023 - 05/01/2024 / Week 11 - Week 14

Eng Yan Ling

Bachelor's Degree in Creative Media (Hons) - (Taylor's University)

Illustration & Visual Narrative / Final Project : Self-Titled

TABLE CONTENT

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LECTURES

Instructions

Create a self-portrait that should not be a conventional photograph; instead, it should reflect your personality, interests, and imagination in a creative and artistic manner while integrating the challenges from 3 different modules and font created (Typo) must be used in in poster that features your self-portrait (DPI), and you will weave a related motive (IVN) through the font and image. Select a caption, phrase, or quote that complements and enhances the narrative of your self-portrait. The goal is to create an integrated poster that showcases your abilities in each of these areas resulting in a visually compelling and conceptually rich poster. The end result is an integrated poster; size: A4 (2480 pixels x 3508 pixels (print resolution) 595 pixels x 842 pixels (screen resolution).

INSTRUCTIONS

<iframe src="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nWQ9D3WD47zrI0IgywT13iweoLJCZPR2/preview" width="640" height="480" allow="autoplay"></iframe>

EXERCISE / PROGRESSION

1. Mood Board / Concept Board / References

Figure 3.1 Final Project Concept Board (Week 11, 07/12/2023)

Rationale

The overall sketch of my artwork reflects “me” in general, how I am perceived on the “main” planet whereas the smaller planets are things that actually represents me. The concept of my artwork is a universe of me, things/emotions that surrounds me constantly rotates around me, like how planets rotates around the sun. 
The general concept is referenced from one of my favourite story, The Little Prince where the protagonist travels from one planet to another, encountering new acquaintance and learning new things through every adventure. In my artwork, I would like viewers to travel through each planet which represents me, big or small to further understand who I am. The main idea of the planet I will be sitting on is similar to a story “The Little Prince”, where the rose symbolizes something the protagonist is responsible of taking care of the rose which in my artwork symbolizes the responsibilities in my life. As the first thing viewers will see is me at the center of the largest planet among all, it is similar to what occurs in my daily life of how people perceive me as shy and quiet. 
For the smaller planets, they represent my hobbies, likes and emotions that I feel is part of me. On the left, the larger planet represents “music” which is a big motivation in my life as it serves as a comfort, a joy, a motivation or even just a “friend” who relates to me through its melody and lyrics. The smaller planet before it is a girl dances ballet where “dance” is somewhere I escape to in my life. The furthest planet at the center symbolizes the chaos and frustration in my life, similarly to an active volcano which could possibly erupt at anytime. The planet with the hourglass that is placed upside down and flowing up instead of flowing downward signifies how I am often stuck in past memories unable to move on. The most right planet represents “games”, which is also something that brings me joy and comfort in my life. 
The caption for my artwork is “Camminare sulla linea” which is an Italian phrase of “Walk the Line”. It means being in an unstable position and trying to overcome similarly to someone “walking on a tightrope”). I constantly feel I am walking on a tight rope unable to be who I am worried of not being normal. Therefore, my artwork expresses in a way of how I am perceived and who I actually am in hopes of others to not finalize their conclusion of who I am from just perceiving what is on the outside.

Figure 3.2 Final Project References 

Source : Pinterest

2. Sketch 

Week 11 - 07/12/2023
Figure 3.3 Overall Sketch (Week 11, 07/12/2023)
Figure 3.4 Surrounding Planets Sketch (Week 11, 07/12/2023)

Foreground - Dance, Time, Game Planet
Middle ground - Main Planet, Full-Body Portrait, Rose
Background - Music, Chaos Planet

Week 14 - 04/01/2024
Figure 3.5 Caption Type Expression Sketch (Week 14, 04/01/24)


3. Photography

Week 12 - 14/12/2023

Figure 3.6 Photograph Reference

Image references to take in the studio and as a reference for lighting and camera angle.
Source : Pinterest

Figure 3.7 Self-Portraits (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

Images taken in studio at Taylors based on my reference pictures.

Figure 3.8 Selected Portrait (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

Final choice of image to use for this project.

4. Adobe Photoshop

Week 12 - 14/12/2023
Figure 3.9 Masking Portrait (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

Image is masked using the object selection tool in Photoshop. All areas are checked thoroughly to ensure a clean and defined mask. The hair areas is masked with the select and mask feature before applying the mask layer.

Figure 3.10 Masked Components (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

The main planet and rose that will be included in my poster is also masked using the direct selection tool. Figure 3.10 shows the masked layers.

Figure 3.11 Match Color Settings (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

After applying the mask layers, adjustments are made to the full body portrait and rose layers by matching its color to the planet that I will be "sitting" on. Luminance is adjusted to 150 while the adjustment of color intensity and fade remains.

Figure 3.12 Gaussian Blur Settings - Rose (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

After applying the match color adjustments to the rose, I have also applied a gaussian blur to the rose to give the rose some texture to match the vector art style of my poster.
Figure 3.13 Result of Match Color and Gaussian Blur (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

Figure 3.13 shows the layers with color match and gaussian blur (rose) applied.

Figure 3.14 Portrait & Rose Shadow (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

Figure 3.14 shows the process of creating the shadow of my full body portrait sitting on the planet to make the whole poster more realistic. Using the brush tool in Photoshop, I roughly drew the shape on a new layer created based on the around my legs and the shape of the rose.

Figure 3.15 Gaussian Blur Settings (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

A 45.0 pixels gaussian blur is applied to the shadow layer.

Figure 3.16 Portrait Shadow Result (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

Shadow layer after gaussian blur is applied.

Figure 3.17 Rotation Guideline (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

Oval rotation created using shape tool in Photoshop as a guideline to position my planets.

Figure 3.18 Illustrated Planets (Week 12, 14/12/2023)
Labels (Left to right)
1.  Music Planet
2. Dance Planet
3. Game Planet
4. Chaos Planet
5. Time Planet

Figure 3.19 Masked Compositions (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

The surrounding components (foreground & background) illustrated in Adobe Illustrator is masked in Photoshop.

Figure 3.20 Match Color - Masked Compositions (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

Similarly to middle ground layers, the planets, all planet layers applies match color adjustment. Details can be seen in Figure 3.20.


Figure 3.21 Positioned Compositions (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

Overall outcome of planets with match color adjustment applied and positioned with with oval rotation as a guide in the poster.


Figure 3.22 Positioned Planet Fillers (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

I have also added smaller planets around the bigger planets and the rotation guide to fill in the negative space between the planets.


Figure 3.23 Masking Portrait with Caption (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

With the portrait layer masked in photoshop, it is then brought in Adobe Illustrator to merge the caption with the portrait masked. Fonts used are Univers LT Std 65 Bold and Yan Regular (Font designed in Typography module) with the A edited in Illustrator. Figure 3.24 shows the process of masking the portrait with the caption.

Figure 3.25 Poster Draft #1 (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

 Figure 3.25 is final outcome of my first attempt on this project.


Week 14 - 04/01/2024

Feedbacks received by Mr Martin is the full-body image is too raw, hence does not match the whole vector art style of the poster.

Figure 3.26 Amended Layers (Week 14, 04/01/2024)

An additional changes made to the poster is changing the background into a more vector texture. The original colored background is replaced with the reference image in Figure 3.26 and the same gradient applied above it with opportunity adjusted to 60%.

Video Reference / Tutorial of Vector Image: https://youtu.be/DNQbQyVimNM?si=2Ey6pfy3nR6MEVfd

Figure 3.27 Vector Art Portrait Process (Week 14, 04/01/2024)

Figure 3.27 shows the process of with a detailed caption of how my vector portrait is edited.

Figure 3.28 Masking Caption & Rearranging Layers (Week 14, 04/01/2024)

From Mr Hafiz feedbacks, he mentions my caption is not expressed enough. Therefore, I have redesigned my caption to better express the meaning of each word. Figure 3.28 shows a detailed explanation of masking each word into their respective layers and inserted into the poster. My 2nd attempt of including the caption is separated into individual layers as mention by Mr Martin to allow easier work flow and making changes.

Figure 3.29 Poster Draft #2 (Week 14, 04/01/2024)

Figure 3.29 is the final outcome with changes made based on the feebacks received.


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5. After Effects / Animation

Video Art Direction/Reference : Pinterest

link : https://pin.it/65bgzAK

Week 12 - 07/12/2023

Figure 3.30 After Effects File Settings (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

Figure 3.30 shows the set up for my after effects file with 15s video length and photoshop file into After Effects.

Figure 3.31 Animation Process 1 (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

Using the skills and knowledge learned in Introduction to Photoshop, each planet layers are duplicate an extra with an "above" (foreground) and "below" (background). A detailed explanation of the process while animating the looping of all the planets are shown in Figure 3.31

Figure 3.32 Animation Process 2 (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

Similar to Figure 3.31, Figure 3.32 applies the same set of skills to animate the planets looping. A more detailed explanation is elaborated in Figure 3.32.

1st Attempt Animation

Figure 3.33 Animation Draft #1 (Week 12, 14/12/2023)

Figure 3.33 is the result of my first attempt on animating the seamless loop of my poster.


Week 14 - 04/01/2023

Feedbacks on the video animation are all good with no major changes required to the animation but Mr Martin suggests the captions to be animated as if it slowly comes forward and passes through me to form the outlined wordings. Changes are only made to the portrait and caption in Photoshop whereas animation only changes on the caption.


Audio Reference : Terr3ria Bgm - Day

link : https://youtu.be/x23I8f9PwlI?si=HZWJyVFaj6seIhx8

Figure 3.44 Terreria Bgm

The reason I chose this bgm because it is from a game I genuinely enjoy which I have mention that I enjoy playing games during my free time which is also why my project includes a planet that represents "game". This bgm has a very pixels game-like audio which is why I believe would go well with my video. 
At 5s where the audio transitions, it is also when the outline wordings appear and the background color changes into a darker shade at the same time.
Figure 3.35 Replacing Footage AE (Week 14, 04/01/2024)

With the feedbacks received and changes made to the portrait and caption in Photoshop, the new amended layers are replaced in After Effects as seen in Figure 3.35.


Figure 3.36 Caption Animation (Week 14, 04/01/2024)

Having the caption layers replaced, I work on the animation as mention by Mr Martin of it gradually coming forward for the outline wordings to appear. An elaborated explanation of the process of animating the caption can be seen in Figure 3.36


Figure 3.37 Animation Amendments (Week 14, 04/01/2024)

Before rendering, the video is previewed to check the flow of the planets looping to ensure its smoothness. Nearing the end of the video, the speed of the "game" planet can be seen moving at a faster speed than the other planets and its speed before that. 

Figure 3.38 Animation Flow Adjustment (Week 14, 04/01/2024)

Readjustment are made to ensure the constant speed of all the planets to present a better flow of the planets looping.

Figure 3.39 Animation Draft #2 (Week 14, 04/01/2024)

Outcome of video after adjustments made.


6. Final

FINAL PROJECT : SELF-TITLED SUBMISSION

Figure 3.40 FINAL PROJECT : SELF-TITLED POSTER JPEG (Week 14, 04/01/2024)


Figure 3.41 FINAL PROJECT : SELF-TITLED POSTER JPEG (Week 14, 04/01/2024)



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FEEDBACKS

Week 11

Overall idea is ok but make sure to have an art direction and a reference before starting on your project.

Week 14

Overall poster and animation looks ok but portrait image is too raw and does not match with the other components in the poster. mr martin suggested to edit portrait in a vector art to match well with the whole poster. can do something about the wordings like it is coming from the back and passing through the portrait for the outline wordings to appear. Audio must be added.

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REFLECTION

Experience

Overall experience while completing this project was a bit hectic especially when editing in After Effects because I was very new to this software being unsure what settings is correct. The long rendering hours was also quite frustrating as I encountered many attempts where it failed to render completely which made me spend quite some time just to deal with this issue. However, I believe this is a learning step for me to be more accustomed to using After Effects. Other than that, it was quite interesting to play around the features to animate my video for this project. 

Observation

I observed that it is important to be patient whilst carrying out any tasks as the frustration does not solve the issue. It is more important to look for solutions to deal with the matter. Besides that, I was able to find out new features and methods I can animate in After Effects.

Findings

Through this project, I was able to learn new things such as being able to import PS files into AI or replacing footages in After Effects. This project was truly an insightful journey to be able to learn and gain new skills and knowledge that will be useful to my career in the future. I was also able to improve on my soft skills in time management and patience as a person.

QUICK LINKS

E-Portfolio

Digital Photography & Imaging / Exercises : Click Here

Digital Photography & Imaging / Project 1 : Click Here
Digital Photography & Imaging / Project 2 : Click Here
Digital Photography & Imaging / Final Project : Click Here
Digital Photography & Imaging / Final Compilation : Click Here

Google Drive

Digital Photography & Imaging : Click Here

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