Illustration & Visual Narrative - Task 3: Sequential Art
5.11.2025 - 26.10.2025 (Week 7 - Week 10)
Cheyenne Liew Khye Yean / 0378330
Illustration & Visual Narrative / Bachelor of Design (Hons) Creative Media
Task 3: Sequential Art
LECTURES
Week 7
We were briefed about Task 3 and its requirements. Mr. Hafiz explained that we needed to write a 300-word story that our digital triptych would be based on. Additionally, we were also taught about Scott McCloud's transitions and shown examples for each, which will be applied to every scene in our final triptych.
We were briefed about Task 3 and its requirements. Mr. Hafiz explained that we needed to write a 300-word story that our digital triptych would be based on. Additionally, we were also taught about Scott McCloud's transitions and shown examples for each, which will be applied to every scene in our final triptych.
Week 8
No lecture (self-directed).
Week 8
No lecture (self-directed).
TUTORIAL
Week 8
Week 8
Figure 1.1 Transitions Exercise, Week 8 (13/11/2025)
We were instructed to take the above comic and shorten it to at most 20 frames while still ensuring the story makes sense. The original comic has a lot of behind-the-scenes detail that wasn't exactly necessary for the main narrative to convey the same meaning.
Figure 1.2 Transitions Exercise Final Outcome, Week 8 (13/11/2025)
Week 9
This week, we explored the brush tool, warp tool, and intertwine tool. We were instructed to type out our initials, warp them together, and have a brush stroke intertwine throughout the text.
Figure 1.3 Initials in Chosen Font, Week 10 (20/11/2025)
Figure 1.4 Initials After Warping, Week 10 (20/11/2025)
I started by warping the letters together, then I smoothed out the rough edges of the font for better legibility.
Figure 1.5 Initials with Brush Stroke, Week 10 (20/11/2025)
After that, I added a brush stroke that could intertwine properly with parts of the text.
Figure 1.6 Final Outcome, Week 10 (20/11/2025)
Lastly, I intertwined the brush stroke with the text and customised the colours.
INSTRUCTIONS
Week 9
This week, we explored the brush tool, warp tool, and intertwine tool. We were instructed to type out our initials, warp them together, and have a brush stroke intertwine throughout the text.
Figure 1.3 Initials in Chosen Font, Week 10 (20/11/2025)
Figure 1.4 Initials After Warping, Week 10 (20/11/2025)
I started by warping the letters together, then I smoothed out the rough edges of the font for better legibility.
Figure 1.5 Initials with Brush Stroke, Week 10 (20/11/2025)
After that, I added a brush stroke that could intertwine properly with parts of the text.
Figure 1.6 Final Outcome, Week 10 (20/11/2025)
Lastly, I intertwined the brush stroke with the text and customised the colours.
INSTRUCTIONS
Task 3: Sequential Art
- Write a 300-word short story as a narrative plan.
- Create a 3-part narrative structure in an illustrated form using the 3-act structure.
- Apply Scott McCloud's theory of transitions from Understanding Comics to create a sequence of 3 panels representing the before, during, and after of an event.
PROCESS WORK
Week 8
I started by writing the story, just to get a clearer narrative before planning my frames. Taking from my character's backstory, I wanted to have a traveller who runs away from the creature before it can show its helpful nature.
STORY
Figure 2.1 Story, Week 8 (11/11/2025)
SUMMARY
ACT 1 - SETUP:
The lost traveller finds a strange green glow and walks towards it.
ACT 2 - CONFRONTATION:
He sees the terrifying creature and freezes in shock and fear.
ACT 3 - RESOLUTION:
He overcomes his paralysis and frantically runs away back into the forest.
Before sketching, I decided to look for some references online to compile into a frame to see if it fits the narrative. I planned to have Panel 1 be the silhouette of the character lost in the forest, Panel 2 be the creature in the forest (taken from Task 2), and Panel 3 be a close-up of the travellers scared eyes.
TRANSITIONS
PANEL 1 > PANEL 2: Scene-to-scene; the transition jumps between 2 different points in time.
PANEL 2 > PANEL 3: Aspect-to-aspect; the transition moves between different aspects within the same scene.
Figure 2.3 Updated Frame Planning (Source: Panel 4), Week 8 (14/11/2025)
TRANSITIONS
PANEL 1 > PANEL 2: Scene-to-scene; the transition jumps between 2 different points in time.
PANEL 2 > PANEL 3: Aspect-to-aspect; the transition moves between different aspects within the same scene.
PANEL 3 > PANEL 4: Action-to-action; the transition depicts 2 different actions of the same character.
Figure 2.4 Sketches, Week 9 (17/11/2025)
Figure 2.5 Compiled Triptych Sketches, Week 9 (17/11/2025)
Figure 2.6 Rule of Thirds Usage in Panel 4, Week 9 (17/11/2025)
I sent the sketches to Mr. Hafiz and he said I could proceed with it. He also suggested adding the creature's tentacles in the foreground of the last panel.
I brought the sketches into Illustrator and decided to make all the panels in separate files, given the laggy experience I had for the last task.
I brought the sketches into Illustrator and decided to make all the panels in separate files, given the laggy experience I had for the last task.
Figure 2.7 Lineart, Week 9 (21/11/2025)
Same as last time, I decided to not adjust the line widths of any of the panels until after adding colour. For the most part, I colour-picked from the final outcome of my previous task and adjusted the brightness as needed to maintain colour continuity within the three panels.
Figure 2.8 Panel 1 Process, Week 10 (23/11/2025)
Figure 2.9 Panel 3 Process, Week 10 (23/11/2025)
Figure 2.10 Panels After Colouring, Week 10 (26/11/2025)
Figure 2.11 Panel 4 Before and After, Week 10 (26/11/2025)
Figure 2.12 Perspective Warp Process, Week 10 (26/11/2025)
Then, I added highlights and shadows with the pen tool as a final touch before adding grain to each panel and compiling them together.
Figure 2.13 Final Frames, Week 10 (26/11/2025)
Figure 2.14 Layers for Each Panel, Week 10 (26/11/2025)
FINAL OUTCOME
Story
Figure 3.1 Final Story, Week 10 (26/11/2025)
Digital Triptych
Figure 3.2 Triptych Final Outcome, Week 10 (26/11/2025)
TRANSITION EXPLANATIONS
PANEL 1 > PANEL 2: Scene-to-scene; this transition moves from the traveller walking through the forest to suddenly seeing the creature. It shows a jump in time and place, making the moment feel more surprising and tense.
PANEL 2 > PANEL 3: Aspect-to-aspect; the focus shifts from the creature to the character’s eyes. Both things are happening at the same time, but the panel change highlights the creature and the travellers’s reaction to it.
PANEL 3 > PANEL 4: Action-to-action; this transition shows what the character does next. After the close-up of the scared eyes, the next panel shows him running away. It captures the moment of fear and the action that immediately follows.
RATIONALE
This triptych was created to show a brief but intense moment of fear inside a quiet, foggy forest. Each panel focuses on a different part of the experience, from the calm atmosphere to the sudden threat, followed by the traveller’s fear, and his escape. I used lighting, shadows, and clear transitions between panels to guide the viewer through the character’s emotions. The glowing creature and the close-up of the eyes help build tension, while the use of the rule of thirds in the last panel keeps the character from looking awkward or taking away too much attention.
This triptych was created to show a brief but intense moment of fear inside a quiet, foggy forest. Each panel focuses on a different part of the experience, from the calm atmosphere to the sudden threat, followed by the traveller’s fear, and his escape. I used lighting, shadows, and clear transitions between panels to guide the viewer through the character’s emotions. The glowing creature and the close-up of the eyes help build tension, while the use of the rule of thirds in the last panel keeps the character from looking awkward or taking away too much attention.
TECHNIQUES APPLIED
I used the width tool for line width variation to add depth and form to the panels, helping the forest and characters feel more three-dimensional. The brush tool with gaussian blur was applied specifically to the ground to cover any harsh lines that the regular gradient shadows couldn’t hide. I also used the perspective tool to position the creature in the last panel, giving it a sense of scale and presence while keeping the focus on the traveler.
FEEDBACK
Week 8: Instead of having scared eyes as the last frame, it could be a scene of the character running away.
Week 9: Good, could add tentacles in the foreground of the last panel.
REFLECTION
This task was quite stressful for me as I had a hard time coming up with ideas. To fix that, I looked for picture references before sketching out my panels, which helped a lot. The lighting and shadows were also a bit confusing to work with, especially because of the glow coming from the creature. Overall, I'm quite happy with my outcome, but I think I could've done better with more time on my hands.
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