Design Principles - Week 7-8 Entry (Final Project Submission)

14/02/2022 - 27/02/2022 (Week 7-8)
WONG JUN ZHE / 0353613
Design Principles / B'Creative Media / Taylor's University

Task 1 - Final Project: Visual Analysis

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Inspiration Artworks

Artwork 1

Connor from "Detroit: Become Human",
Fanart by Энни in Pinterest

Observation

This design work is in a portrait format. As for visual elements, the main colours observed are different shades of blue, grey, and black. The less dominant colours that I observed is a light tint of green-ish teal around the person. Overall, this artist used futuristic effects to support the design. Throughout the design, there are glitching effects everywhere. These glitching effects are composed of small rectangles. A foreground and the background can be clearly seen in the design. There are also words in middle-bottom parts of the design. At the centre, an image of Connor is featured. 

Analysis

This design features a asymmetrical balanced composition. The emphasis is obviously on the central image -- Connor himself, rendered with a darker set of colours compared to the background. This also shows contrast between the foreground and the background. In the video game, Detroit: Become Human, androids like Connor have an LED built in. Thus, the blue glowing ring of light on his forehead. As one glance through the design, one can see a repetition of glitch effects made up of tiny rectangles at the middle-bottom of the design. There is harmony in how the words "CONNOR" "CYBERLIFE" and "RK800" are arranged in a triangle. Unity can be identified in the overall composition of this design as the objects are arranged in a way that compliments each other. Proportion can also be seen, therefore creating hierarchy. At first glance, we first see the image of the portrait itself, followed by the slightly smaller words. 

Interpretation

This is a digital illustration of one of the main characters in the video game 'Detroit: Become Human (D:BH) named Connor, an android produced by Cyberlife. 

The video game is published on April 24, 2018. Nowadays, many video game developers like to create video games that resembles the future. D:BH is no different, as it portrays the world in the year 2038. Basically, D:BH shows a future where androids take over most jobs. Because of this, humans become unhappy with it and started discriminating androids. Thus, androids started to develop deviance and started to fight for their freedom. What makes this particular title unique is its flexibility of how the story will go. The player has to make choices that leads to different endings. 

The model of Connor's android is RK800, the most advanced model yet. Hence, the three words scattered around in the design. I find the illustration style interesting, and that the rectangular shapes and blue hue give out a sense of the advancing, futuristic technology. Overall, this digital illustration is designed in a sleek manner, with sharp edges and clear images of objects. In my opinion, I think this illustration reflects well on the video game itself, especially the facial features of Connor, which almost looks identical to how he looks originally. 

How androids look without their human skin on

Artwork 2

"WONDER", by Ross Tran aka RossDraws

Observation

This design work called 'WONDER' is in a portrait format. As for visual elements, the main colours observed are pink, white, purple, blue, and green. Overall, it is a very colourful design. The artist used both sharper lines for the foreground, the boy, and the dragon; smoother and softer lines for the clouds and background. At the bottom of the design, a boy is sitting on the ground while looking upwards. There is a signboard beside him. The ground consists of flowers and grass. At the middle of the design, the main focus -- the dragon, can be seen. There is an obvious curve of light at the top of the design. 

Analysis

This design is asymmetrically balanced. The dragon is emphasized by being bigger than other objects.  The dragon is tilted slightly, which shows movement -- the dragon is flying away from us. The sharp curve of light at the top of the design further encourages movement in the piece. Harmony is also shown here as the three objects are arranged in a triangle as in Fig. 2.1. The palette used consists of colours about the same colour family, which further promotes unity and harmony. There is also proportion in the layout, creating hierarchy. First, we see the object that is biggest in size (the dragon), followed by the slightly smaller objects (the boy and the signboard). Overall, all the objects are arranged in a way that compliments each other, which ultimately creates unity. 

Interpretation 

This is a digital illustration that portrays a fantasy world that the artist had in mind. I find the colours very contrasting and bright, but not in a too out of control manner. This illustration style makes me feel very comfortable while looking at his artwork. Everything in the piece adds up together while not overpowering each other. Overall, this digital illustration is designed in a fantasy-like manner. Personally, this artwork reminds me of movie/video game posters. 

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Final Artwork Progression

I started off by roughly sketching some compositions for me to choose from. 

Composition 1

Composition 2

After selecting the composition, I started by drawing a rough sketch on paper using a pencil as I still don't feel as comfortable to do it digitally.

Then, I inked the outlines using a 0.5 art liner. After I finished outlining everything, I scanned my drawing into my computer to start colouring digitally. 

For the selection of colours, I was inspired by the colours of the androids in Detroit: Become Human. I included hues of white, grey, black, and blue. I first coloured these basic colours into the artwork and slowly added the shadows and highlights. This way, the artwork doesn't look too flat. There is also a clear seperation of foreground, middle ground, and background. 

Final Artwork - 'Freedom'

Concept / Story

This illustration tells a scene of a story of a robotic dragon named Raast, who have developed feelings and emotions and now knows the meaning of freedom. Thus, the title of this design. 

Androids are built to obey commands from their owners. However, some androids consider themselves to be a species and not just something that is made out of metal. Therefore, they have always wanted to have freedom of their own for a long time. 

In my design, I drew the scene where Raast is about to say his final goodbye to join his species to a place far away, as seen in the background. Both Raast and its caretaker, Jane, do not know if they will ever see each other again. To both Raast, Jane is the most important person in its life -- she was its one and only friend. Now that Raast has finally have its own freedom, it bows down to Jane to express its thankfulness towards Jane. 

Furthermore, two identical red scarfs that are sewed by Jane herself can be seen on the girl's neck and Raast's leg to represent their unbreakable relationship. In the future, although Raast might be at another place physically, but both of them will stay together in their minds and in their hearts. Thus, the red scarf on Raast's leg acts as a souvenir from Jane, which reminds it of her all the time. 

A godly looking ray of light that shines from above. This is up to the viewer on how he/she interprets it. From my side, it can represent 2 things. (1) The ray of light represents hope, in hope that one day they will meet each other again. (2) It signifies their hope in both their hearts, in hope that everything is well without one another's presence.

Reflection

From this project, I have a chance to express my imagination and creativity as there isn't limitations of any sort. At the beginning, I've got many ideas on what to do for this project such as portraits, abstract paintings, and digital illustrations. I decided on this one because I think the storytelling part is good and I love the lore of it. Personally, the final artwork is very meaningful to me. 

Through developing ideas, sketches, and the final artwork of this project, I get to know my strengths and weaknesses. I would say that illustrating digitally is one of my weakness, as I need a lot of time to figure things out in the software. However, lore development and how I apply it into the design is one of my strengths, as I am quite happy with how the lore turned out. I know that with practice and handwork, my skills can be further sharpened over time.