Illustration & Visual Narrative / Task 1 : Vormator challenge
29/09/2024 - 13/10/2024 (Week 1 - Week 3)
Rachel Ng Jie Ting/ 0378902
Bachelors of design (Honours) in creative media
Illustration & Visual Narrative / Task 1: Vormator Challenge - character creation (20%)
Table of content
Instruction
Task 1 - Vormator challenge
Week 1 :
Simple introduction to the module was given. Then, we were taught on how to set up our adobe accounts and how to download Adobe Illustrator. After setting up our adobe creative cloud accounts, Mr. Hafiz showed us 'The Pen Tool' game: 'Bezier game'. We played around with the Bezier game to learn and understand how to use the pen tool in adobe illustrator.
Week 2 and 3 :
We started a tutorial class on adobe illustrator. Our first exercise was to trace these 8 shapes that we will be using in the Vormator challenge to design our monster.
We were taught on the different ways to trace the shapes: either by free-handing it with the pen tool, or using shapes as a base and then modifying it by using the selection tool. I used a mix of both techniques to ensure my tracing is as accurate as it can be.
After that, I got started on the design of my creature . The rule is that we can rotate, flip, duplicate, and combine these shapes, but no stretching or compressing. Also, no creating or using any shapes outside of the provided Vormator set. However, we can merge or combine them to form new elements. Colors, gradients, and sizes of the shapes are ok to modify as long as the original proportions remain intact.
(I realized halfway through my creature design that I tend to change
things up as I go, so the final design might look uhhhh, slightly
different.)
Rough sketch design of my creature :
I used cam scanner to photograph my sketch and uploaded it into adobe illustrator. I then started building my creature in Adobe illustrator. First, I started with the head. Colours were used to help me identify the layers of the fur so that I wouldn't get confused.
I noticed that the 'tentacle' shape could be arranged to look like fur, thus the idea of the creature having a smooth round-ish head went out the window.
By using 2 'Drop' shape stitched together, I made simple ears for my creatures
True pain begins when I started building the legs for the creature. It took many tries to get the leg looking like a leg of a fox. Here I started to appreciate the existence of select. ctrl+c and ctrl+v.
So I did some adjustments, fur tuffs were also added to the legs, replacing the feather design.
After that, I began building the tail of the creature. Like always, a mix of black, white, and greys to highlight each individual tails. Then, I designed a 'eye' for the tails and stitched them with each end of the tails.
Final with colors shades
Fig 1.15 - Vormator Final (Coloured)
Concept & Background story:
Born of the destruction of the thousand-star valley, this legendary creature roams across the land, searching for the lost souls of his people.
Long ago, in the mystical Thousand-Star Valley, there lived a humble yet courageous human named Vaden, who served as a guardian and warrior for the enlightened race known as the Asthorii.
The valley, once a place of radiant beauty and home to the Asthorii, was destroyed in a devastating war, its stars shattered, and the Asthorii were wiped out. As he lay mortally wounded, the last surviving Asthorii elder used their final power to transform him into Azathoth, a legendary nine-tailed fox imbued with celestial energy, as a way to continue the fight, to seek the lost souls of their people, and to avenge the destruction of the valley.
Now, in his new form, Azathoth roams the world, searching for the scattered souls of the Asthorii to restore the balance and light of the Thousand-Star Valley. His nine tails, each representing a fragment of the valley's lost magic, shimmer with stardust as he carries the burden of both vengeance and redemption, haunted by the memory of his people’s destruction. Though immensely powerful, he remains sorrowful, driven by the eternal mission to reunite the lost souls of his kind.
Character description :
In his transformed state, Azathoth’s fur shimmers like stardust, ranging from deep midnight blue to glowing silver, as if woven from the night sky itself. Stars seem to dance in his fur, giving the illusion that the cosmos is alive within him, especially when his emotions flare. His tails—long, elegant, and ever-moving—are his most distinguishing feature, each one representing a piece of the celestial magic that transformed him. They flicker with light, sometimes glowing faintly like distant stars, other times blazing with the brilliance of supernovas when his power is fully unleashed.
Reflection
It was fun trying to create a new design with limited shape options, it gets the creative juice running through my head. Although most of the time I spend sitting in front of the computer, scratching my head on how to stich shaped together to get the desired form for my creature, this task has allowed me to explore more on adobe illustrator myself and I have learned many new things.
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