Illustration & Visual Narrative - Project 3 : Digital Triptych

1/12/2023 - (Week 10 - Week 11 ) 

Ho Winnie / 0364866 

Illustration & Visual Narratives / Bachelor's of Design Honors In Creative Media 

Project 3 : Digital Triptych 

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1. LECTURES 

Class summary

Week 10: 

Mr Hafiz briefed us about our new project called the digital triptych, which is made up of three panels. It is often used to create a sequence or show different elements of the same subject matter. We were also introduced to this law called Scott McCloud rule of comics, which narrates different types of scene transition. I have broken down the transitions based on what I understand 

1. Moment to moment - they are the ones that need 'little closure' this is due to the fact that very little information is changing between these transitions , for eg eye blinking or a cough 

2. Action to action - they show a single subject progressing through a specific movement 

3. Subject to subject - these transitions will stay within a specific scene and require for more reader involvement 

4. Scene to scene - they take place across different distances within a specific timeline 

5. Aspect to aspect - they show a moment happening from different aspects occurring within the same screen 

Week 10 Lecture Slides :

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2. INSTRUCTIONS

Project 3 : Digital Triptych 

Part 1 : Research 

Part 2 : Sketching of panels 

Part 3 : Digitalizing of panels 

Feedback 

Reflection

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3. Project 3 : Digital Triptych 

3.1 Research 

Before diving into starting my project, i did a little research on what exactly is digital triptych to get a better idea of its concept and how it looks like. Mr Hafiz gave us an example of how a famous artwork looks like 

Fig 3.1.1 Hieronymus Bosch, Garden of Early Delights , Week 10 (12/2/2023 ) 

A triptych is normally a work of art , in the form of panel artworks that is divided into three sections that are hinged together and can be folded shut or displayed open. The three panels become one unified artwork in the eyes of the viewers. For this project, we were required to do a digital triptych based on the urban legend we used in our previous project. 

The middle panel of the triptych should be the decisive moment (climax) and the other two panels illustrate the pre climax and post climax. Following the Scott McCloud's transitions, we are required to pick one type to show the progression of the digital triptych. More examples of modern digital triptych comics are shown below 

Fig 3.1.2 Bikestronaut Triptych , Week 10 (12/2/2023)

Fig 3.1.3 Cleaver Magazine , Week 10 (12/2/2023 )

3.2 Sketching of Panels 

I decided to choose aspect to aspect transition to illustrate my urban legend of Sadako Yamamura. Since my climax is the scene where she shows up in a television and haunting the victim, i decided to show the aspect of the victim switching on the television from his point of view for the pre climax and the aspect of an outside view looking into the house for the post climax.  

As aspect-to-aspect transitions focus on different aspects or elements within a scene or idea, rather than following a specific action or subject and freezing the moment and showing it from different angles. 

Here is a detailed breakdown of my frames and their corresponding sketch  :

Panel 1 ( pre climax ) : the hand pressing the remote control and the television shows the hand of the ghost coming out from the tv

Fig 3.2.1 Panel 1 Sketch 1 , Week 10 (12/2/2023 )

Panel 2 ( climax ) : as shown in decisive moment gif where the ghost hair and hand comes out

Fig 3.2.2 Panel 2 Decisive Moment , Week 10 (12/2/2023 )

Panel 3 ( post climax ) : Shows outside surrounding of the forest with window view of the house ( since there’s a window inside my climax )

Fig 3.3.3 Panel 3 Sketch 1 , Week 10 (12/2/2023)

3.3 Digitalizing of panels 

I imported my sketch into Adobe Illustrator and started to digitalise the first panel first which is the part where the ghost reaches out her hands from the television and the victim trying to press the television remote control. As the art style needs to be similar, I referenced the background to my decisive moment 

Similarly, I applied the same background texture and pattern to ensure that the consistency of the art style is there throughout the transition. 

Background : Wall and Television wall 

Midground : Bleeding Clock and Ghost Hand 

Foreground : Victim's hand and the television remote control 

Fig 3.3.1 Pre Climax Digitalisation , Week 11 (12/7/2023)

For panel 3, I decided to do a dark forest background scenary as shown in my decisive moment where tree branches can be spotted from the window. I added the grain texture throughout and also kept the colour scheme similar to my panel 1 and panel 2. 

Fig 3.3.2 Draft 1 of Panel 3 , Week 11 (12/7/2023)

Mr Hafiz felt that the boy should look more afraid when the ghost reached out so i further adjusted the hand movement of the boy to make him look more shocked and scared. 

Background : Mountain and Moon 

Midground : Forest patch 

Foreground : Japanese House featuring the scene where Sadako Yamamura reach out

Fig 3.3.3 Final draft of panel 3 , Week 11 (12/7/2023)

Full Detailed Explanation of panels and transitions : 

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4. Feedback

Week 10 

Mr Hafiz felt that the sketches were very well done and its okay to proceed to digitalising it out but keep in mind to remain the same art style 

Week 11 

Mr Hafiz felt that the boy in panel 3 should look more scared to bring out the feeling 

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5. Reflection

As an avid comic book reader, i find it intriguing to learn about Scott McCloud's rule of transitions for comics as it never crossed my mind that there were a few different variants on how we can split it. 

Through this task, I learnt how to identify what kind of transition scenes I can use for my own urban legend and what they meant. It was fun to be able to make our own digital triptych and illustrating our own story. 

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QUICK LINKS

Project 1 : Exercises 

Project 2 : Decisive Moment Poster and Animation 

Final Project : Self Titled