Illustration and Visual Narrative : Task 4 - Webcomic

27 November 2024 - 5  January 2024 // Week 10 - Week 14

Racheal Tan Tze Rou // 0381005

Illustration and Visual Narrative // Bachelor of Design (Hons) // Creative Media 

Task 4 : Webcomic

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LECTURES

Scott McLoud’s transitions

01 Moment to Moment
02 Action to Action
03 Subject to Subject
04 Scene to Scene
05 Aspect to Aspect

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INSTRUCTIONS

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TASK 4 : WEBCOMIC

IDEA DEVELOPMENT: 

In this final assignment, we were tasked to create an animated, web-ready comic cover and a minimum 3 panel comic page based on the short story "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs. 

• Comic Cover
• One-Page Comic
• Format: Portrait orientation for phone or tablet display.

For artstyle reference, I referred to Japanese horror manga artist, Junji Ito's artworks 

Figure 2.1.1 ; Junji Ito's Artworks

Figure 2.1.2 ; surrealistic elements

• The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí
• Souichi Tsujii by Junji Ito

A short summary of this story is that this is a suspenseful short story about a cursed paw that grants three wishes, but with terrible consequences. The White family receives the monkey paw from a visitor who warns them of its dark magical powers. Ignoring the warning, they make a wish for money, only to receive it for the tragic death of their son. Grief-stricken, they make a second wish to bring their son back to life, but the results are horrifying. In a panic, they undo the second wish with a third wish, which leaves them grief-stricken and terrified of what might happen.

Figure 2.1.3 ; story part I chose

SKETCH (ONE-PAGE COMIC) :

Figure 2.2 ; sketch (comic)

I chose the part where Mrs. White desperately asked her husband, Mr. White to make a second wish to the paw to bring her son back to life. Mr. White hesitated, but complied. As they waited in silence, imagery such as flickering candlelight and shadows emphasized the keyed-up emotions.

There are some elements included to help to emphasize the mood of the comic :

• burst line
• swirling line
• flickering candle
• distorted shadow
• close-up eyes
• silhouette of the characters

DIGITALIZATION PROCESS (COMIC) :

Panel 1 

Figure 2.3.1 ; Panel 1 

 

Subject-to-Subject Transition : Shifts focus between characters (Mrs. White and Mr. White), emphasizing dialogue and urgency. 

For the background of this panel, I drew a box and filled it with the gradient tool. Then, I used the brush tool to create the character “Mrs. White”.

Panel 2

Figure 2.3.2 ; Panel 2

 

Action-to-Action Transition: Shows Mr. White’s hesitation reflects dread about the consequences, adding tension.

As for this panel, I wanted to use image trace but the result does not match the comic, so I ended up using the brush tool like the first panel to create the character "Mr. White". 

Panel 3

Figure 2.3.3 ; Panel 3

 

Aspect-to-Aspect Transition: Focuses on mood and intensity rather than advancing the plot, creating tension.

I created the burst line as a background to amplify the tension in Panel 3 and to show Mrs. White's desperation to see her son's come back to life. 

Panel 4

Figure 2.3.4 ; Panel 4

 

Action-to-Action Transition:  Captures the movement of the wish being made, continuing the sequence.

I used the same technique to create the burst lines, then used the twirl tool to twirl the lines to make swirling lines. I used swirling lines to mimic the supernatural tone and distorted reality, which brings in the surrealist style because of its dreamlike qualities. Besides, it helps to draw the viewer's attention directly to the monkey's paw when Mr. White holds it aloft to make his second wish.

Panel 5

Figure 2.3.5 ; Panel 5

 

Action-to-Action Transition: Mr. White lets go of the paw after wishing for his son's resurrection. Follows the falling action, symbolizing the wish’s completion and the emotional weight.

I drew speed lines to show how the paw falls to the ground.

Panel 6

Figure 2.3.6 ; Panel 6

 

Moment-to-Moment Transition: Zooms in to emphasize growing fear and anticipation.

I used the brush tool to draw the wrinkles and shape of the eyes. Then, the eyeballs were created using clipping mask. The close-up of the eyes highlights Mr. White's panicked emotions. I also increased the stroke weight, heavier brushstrokes make the eyes feel unnatural and distorted.

Panel 7 

Figure 2.3.7 ; Panel 7

 

Aspect-to-Aspect Transition: Highlights supernatural tension, building suspense through mood.

For Panel 7, it shows the paw fell to the floor. The floor is created using image trace. The unnatural form of the shadow emphasizes the supernatural power of the monkey's paw, reinforcing its devious nature. To add the surreal element I created a circle and filled it with the gradient tool. I then used the Gaussian Blur tool to blur the circle, and to make the red glows. I added them beneath and above the paw, the paw glows red in the dark shows the supernatural power.

Panel 8

Figure 2.3.8 ; Panel 8

Scene-to-Scene Transition: Silhouette of Mr. and Mrs. White anxiously waiting for the outcome of their wish 

Instead of focusing on the faces, I decided to make the candle as the focus of this panel, which also serves as a connection to panel 10. The use of candle also shows the passage of time. 

Panel 9

Figure 2.3.9 ; Panel 9

Scene-to-Scene Transition: Suggests the passage of time and impending doom, transitioning to the aftermath.

I added the distorted clock in this panel as the surrealism element and to show that the time is ticking

Panel 10

Figure 2.3.10 ; Panel 10

Scene-to-Scene Transition: Shows the smoke of the expired candle 

When the candle burns out, it means, “time is up,” and I end the comic by giving the audience room to wonder what's going to happen next.

ANIMATION

Figure 2.4.1 ; Panel 6 animation process

Figure 2.4.2 ; Panel 6 animation ; GIF

Figure 2.5.1 ; Panel 8 animation process

Figure 2.5.2 ; Panel 8 animation ; GIF

Figure 2.6.1 ; Panel 10 animation process

Figure 2.6.2 ; Panel 10 animation ; GIF

REFERENCE (COMIC COVER) :

Figure 2.7.1 ; cover reference by Junji Ito

This cover reference is also from a piece of artwork by Junji Ito

Figure 2.7.2 ; Dave McKean's Sandman

As suggested by Mr. Hafiz, I also referred to Dave McKean’s Sandman for my cover design 

SKETCH (COMIC COVER) :

Figure 2.7.2 ; Comic Cover Sketch

This cover shows the horrified bloodshot eye of Mr. White. The silhouette of the paws resembles the red veins in the eye, reaching toward the pupil in the center, conveying doom, death, and fate catching up, tying to the story’s unintended consequences. The non-sequential veins beside also look like cracks on the eye, emphasizing the surrealistic art style. In addition, the distorted hourglass shape clock in the pupil symbolize time running out and destiny spiraling out of control, reflecting the ominous consequences of the wishes.

DIGITALIZATION (COMIC COVER) :

Figure 2.8.1 ; Comic Cover Attempts

Mr. Hafiz gave feedback that the bottom half of the sketch cover was a bit empty, so I decided to tweak the whole composition a bit during digitizing. In my first attempt, I used a radial gradient background, but then I changed it to a brown skin texture background with the use of image trace. This made it look like a brown leather book cover as well.

Font used : Scary Benko, Regular

Figure 2.9.1 ; comic cover animation process

I also animated the cover to make the claw reaches out to the clock and distorted the clock. There are also a small detail 

FINAL RESULT ; COVER (ANIMATION)

Figure 2.9.2 ; Animated Comic Cover ; GIF

FINAL RESULT ; COVER 

Figure 2.10.1 ;  FINAL Result ; Static Cover

FINAL RESULT ; COMIC 

Figure 2.10.1 ; FINAL Result ; Static Comic

Link to Google Slides :  One Page Comic (Animated) 

Figure 2.11 ; Cover & One Page Comic (Animated)

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FEEDBACK

Sketch and composition look good. Transition also looks good but how about the surrealistic art reference/direction? How will you apply it? Or build your adobe illustrator composition using it?

Feedback for comic cover : The bottom part of the cover is a little empty, maybe you need to rethink the cropping.

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REFLECTION

Experience

I originally thought this project would be difficult because it requires a lot of creativity, but when I started doing it, I realized it was really fun. I usually have a hard time creating regular and sequential shapes, and to create this suspenseful story I used more irregular shapes to match the supernatural tone so I had a lot of fun working on this comic. I also experimented with surrealistic art techniques to capture the unsettling tone of the narrative.

Observations

I observed how panel composition, line work, and lighting dramatically influence mood. Radial and swirling lines effectively created tension and movement, while dark shadows and red highlights enhanced the ominous tone. Besides that, exporting animated GIFs was tricky at first, especially ensuring compatibility with platforms like Google Slides and blogspot. Learning that was an important discovery.

Findings

Since different panels need to create different effects, I had the opportunity to explore more illustrator features in this project such as the roughen tool, gaussian blur, twirl tool and etc. And of course, I learned how to control the brush tool better and use the group selection tool to make adjustments since I used these tools the most for the comic.