Illustration & Visual Narrative - Task 2: Composition Design
23.10.2025 - 5.11.2025 (Week 5 - Week 7)
Cheyenne Liew Khye Yean / 0378330
Illustration & Visual Narrative / Bachelor of Design (Hons) Creative Media
Task 2: Composition Design
Cheyenne Liew Khye Yean / 0378330
Illustration & Visual Narrative / Bachelor of Design (Hons) Creative Media
Task 2: Composition Design
LECTURES
Week 5Mr. Hafiz briefed us about the new assignment and instructed us to come up with a backstory for 1 of our characters. We also need to determine the type of environment the character lives in, as well as create a minimum of 2 composition sketches based on the “Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers” PDF that was provided to us.
Week 6No lecture (self-directed).
TUTORIAL
Week 7
Figure 1.1 Chiaroscuro Pear Exercise Outcome, Week 7 (6/11/2025)
Figure 1.2 Rasterised Image Outcome, Week 7 (6/11/2025)
Figure 1.3 Chiaroscuro Exercise 2 Outcome, Week 7 (6/11/2025)
INSTRUCTIONS
Task 2: Composition Design
- Determine the backstory and environment of a character, either an existing character from Task 1 or a newly designed one.
- Create the environment of the character using compositions referenced from “Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers” in Adobe Illustrator.
PROCESS WORK
Week 5
Figure 2.1 Character 3, Week 5 (23/10/2025)
From my 3 characters, I decided to proceed with Character 3, as he was my favourite of the bunch. I then started working on the backstory for this character, since I didn't have much from the last task besides its personality.
BACKSTORYThis eldritch being is known for its unsettling yet approachable presence. It has a single large eye and dark, flowing tendrils that give it an eerie look, but its behaviour is calm and curious rather than threatening. It usually stays in forested areas, preferring quiet, foggy environments where it can move around unnoticed. It's also curious and tends to watch travelers who pass through its territory, occasionally helping them find their way out if they get lost, though that's if they don't run off first, which is something that happens more often than not. Despite being mysterious and unpredictable, it isn't malicious, just something that doesn't fully belong, observing the world from a distance.
After establishing an environment, which is quiet, foggy, and forested areas, I looked through the Framed Ink PDF to select a fitting composition. I struggled a little bit with this, seeing as most of the examples were with humans and set in urban areas, making it hard for me to imagine my character being in them.
Figure 2.2 Overpowering Upshots and Scale Progression from Framed Ink PDF, Week 5 (23/10/2025)
In the end, I picked Overpowering Upshots and Scale Progression after a bit of contemplation. I figured I could use Overpowering Upshots in a scene where my character is doing its mysterious, magical activities alone in a forest from a lower angle, and Scale Progression could be my character encountering a lost traveller.
I looked for some reference pictures of trees for the first environment sketch, since I wasn't the best at perspective.
Figure 2.4 Composition 1 Sketch, Week 5 (24/10/2025)
This was what I roughly sketched out for Composition 1, most of the details in the trees haven't been added in yet, but I planned on working on that when digitising.
Figure 2.5 Composition 2 Sketch, Week 5 (24/10/2025)
Composition 2 was significantly easier to sketch as it didn't involve as much repetition as the first one. I ended up sending these 2 sketches in for feedback.
From my 3 characters, I decided to proceed with Character 3, as he was my favourite of the bunch. I then started working on the backstory for this character, since I didn't have much from the last task besides its personality.
BACKSTORY
This eldritch being is known for its unsettling yet approachable presence. It has a single large eye and dark, flowing tendrils that give it an eerie look, but its behaviour is calm and curious rather than threatening. It usually stays in forested areas, preferring quiet, foggy environments where it can move around unnoticed. It's also curious and tends to watch travelers who pass through its territory, occasionally helping them find their way out if they get lost, though that's if they don't run off first, which is something that happens more often than not. Despite being mysterious and unpredictable, it isn't malicious, just something that doesn't fully belong, observing the world from a distance.
Figure 2.2 Overpowering Upshots and Scale Progression from Framed Ink PDF, Week 5 (23/10/2025)
Figure 2.4 Composition 1 Sketch, Week 5 (24/10/2025)
Figure 2.5 Composition 2 Sketch, Week 5 (24/10/2025)
Week 6
After getting feedback on my sketches, I was told both could work well. I decided to proceed with Composition 1 even though it's the complicated one of the 2 because I thought that Composition 2 wasn't as dramatic as I liked it to be. I also later realised that Composition 2 would not look good in a card design as well.
Figure 2.6 Lineart Process, Week 6 (28/10/2025)
Figure 2.7 Lineart, Week 6 (30/10/2025)
I started the digitisation as soon as I had the time, since I knew this composition was gonna be a lot of work. It was quite exhausting working on the lineart, as I wasn't too detailed in my sketch, which resulted in me having to wing quite a few details, especially the leaves on the trees. Besides that, I also ended up doing the trees from the middleground onward on only one side and copying it to the opposite side to save time and maintain balance in my composition.
Colouring in the sketch was even more complicated because I wanted my composition to have a green tint to match my character. I didn't have a colour palette either, but I knew because of the green tint I would have to experiment a lot with colour theory, so I just played around with colours until I was satisfied. I also worked with a lot of gradients to make the later process of adding shadows easier, considering the shape of the leaves and bushes are quite complicated.
Figure 2.8 Gradient Colouring Process, Week 6 (30/10/2025)
Figure 2.9 Colouring First Outcome, Week 6 (31/10/2025)
Figure 2.10 After Shadow Gradients, Week 6 (31/10/2025)
This made it look a lot better to me, but I feel as if there's a lack of fogginess I wanted to have, so I added an oval shape with a light green colour and added a gaussian blur effect to it.
Figure 2.11 After Adding Fog, Week 6 (31/10/2025)
At this stage, I was already quite happy with the outcome, so I continued by adding my character in. My character was originally front-facing, while the composition has a lower angle, which meant I had to tweak it a little bit. I used the perspective warp tool for this part.
Figure 2.12 Character Warping Process, Week 6 (1/11/2025)
I actually didn't realise I added the version of the character without any details until a few days later, but I ended up just repeating the process with the correct version later on.
Week 7
Following that, I thought the contrast between the widths of my character and the trees (which were not edited) looked quite unbalanced, so I used the width tool to add some depth to the lineart.
Figure 2.13 Width Tool Process, Week 7 (2/11/2025)
Figure 2.14 Width Tool Outcome, Week 7 (2/11/2025)
I continued by adding highlights and shadows to wherever I deemed necessary. I also considered not adding more shadows to the already dark parts in the trees from the gradients, but after turning my screen brightness all the way up to check, I figured some bolder shadows could make it look better.
Figure 2.15 Final Outcome, Week 7 (3/11/2025)
For the magic parts, I added an extra layer in the back and applied gaussian blur for it to look like its glowing.
Figure 2.16 Layers Used, Week 7 (3/11/2025)
After I was done with the environment, I started working on the collectible card design by sketching out ideas.
Figure 2.17 Card Sketches, Week 7 (3/11/2025)
I sketched out 2 card designs, the first one is based on what was shown in the tutorial slides and the other one more stylised. I wasn't sure which one to pick, and I also had some extra time, so I ended up digitising both.
Figure 2.18 Card Designs 1 & 2, Week 7 (3/11/2025)
FINAL OUTCOME
Environment
Figure 3.1 Environment Final Outcome, Week 7 (5/11/2025)
Figure 3.2 Environment Background Final Outcome, Week 7 (5/11/2025)
Submission Board
Figure 3.3 Submission Board, Week 7 (8/11/2025)
RATIONALE
This environment was designed to reflect the creature's mysterious and unpredictable nature while maintaining a balance between approachability and threat. My reference of choice was "Overpowering Upshots", where the use of an upward angle and towering trees gives the creature a sense of dominance and unease, making it appear intimidating to those who might encounter it. The composition was built around a central focal point, with the trees framing the creature in a symmetrical yet slightly uneven way to enhance tension while keeping focus on it. The fog and green tones across the environment create a cold and distant atmosphere that matches the creature's quiet personality, while gradients of light and shadow add depth, letting the darker foreground and lighter middle and background naturally guide the viewer's eye toward the focal point. Although the setting feels eerie and tense, it also carries a sense of tranquility, suggesting that the creature's intentions are not harmful unless approached with fear.
Collectible Card Design (Extra)
Figure 3.4 Collectible Card Design Final Outcome, Week 7 (5/11/2025)
TECHNIQUES APPLIED
For the environment of my character, I used gradients instead of harsh shadows to add depth and atmosphere, giving the environment a soft, mysterious feel while still guiding the viewer’s eye through the scene. The width tool was used on the trees to create variation in line thickness, helping them feel more organic and dynamic rather than flat or uniform. Next, olour theory was used to keep the colours cohesive and forest-like, emphasising the mysterious and eerie atmosphere of the setting. I also used the perspective tool to slightly warp the creature to match the upward angle of the trees.
For the environment of my character, I used gradients instead of harsh shadows to add depth and atmosphere, giving the environment a soft, mysterious feel while still guiding the viewer’s eye through the scene. The width tool was used on the trees to create variation in line thickness, helping them feel more organic and dynamic rather than flat or uniform. Next, olour theory was used to keep the colours cohesive and forest-like, emphasising the mysterious and eerie atmosphere of the setting. I also used the perspective tool to slightly warp the creature to match the upward angle of the trees.
FEEDBACK
Week 5: Both composition sketches are good. The first one is well-balanced and has a nice angle, while the second one has an additional character that can help with the narrative.
REFLECTION
I actually found this task to be much more enjoyable than the previous one, mainly because the hard part of sketching and planning the characters have already been done. Although digitising and colouring the environment was a little tiring, I eventually found it to be quite relaxing. However, along the way, my Illustrator kept crashing due to the file size, but I managed to work around it by taking screenshots and saving my process as JPEGs once each part has been done to recover whatever was lost every time it crashed, as I learnt from the previous task. My workspace became quite messy and confusing because of that, but at least I was able to save what I could. Overall, while the crashing problem was quite frustrating, I'm proud of how the final outcome turned out.
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