IVN - Vormator/Pokemon card
01/05/2024 - 09/06/2024 | Week 03 - Week 08
Koh Sher Wei | 0353816
Illustration & Visual Narrative | Bachelor of Design In Creative Media | Taylor's University
List of Contents:
Vormator Challenge:
The task is to create an original character using the limited elements
given. Rotating, flipping, duplicating and scaling to proportion is
allowed. The colour scheme is free of choice, so gradients, fills and
shadowing are allowed, but keep it simple. Our final product should be a
unique design, that showcases our creativity as set within the given
restrictions.
List of elements given
Tracing of elements
Before we start working on our actual project, we were given tutorials on how to use the basic tools in Adobe Illustrator. This includes: pen tool, curvature tool, shape builder, and shape tools. We learn how to use these tools by tracing the vormator shapes for our vormator challenge task.
Design Process:
vormator character dissection
vormator character outline
My vision for this tak twas to create something simple and easy to shape. As seen in the dissection photo, many of my vormator shapes were either reflected or repeated a few times to form a nice over shape. The base of my character was just an enlarge version of ONE vormator shape that I thought looked cute because of it's subtle curves. Then I chose to apply other curved shapes to my base to amplify the cute concept to my character instead of sharper shapes which would have made my character look harsher.
Final Character Design:
Final vormator character with colour
Since this is only our first task, sir told us to keep our colours minimum and only use 3 basic colours to fill in our character. The purpose is just to have an overall vibe for the look of our character composition. So because I chose the cute concept, I used lighter tones of blue to red with purple undertones to bring out the pastel vibes for a sweet/loveable character.
Pokemon Card:
With the final vormator design, we are to illustrate a pokemon card composition, utilising foreground, midground and background elements. (The vormator rules and shapes no longer apply, meaning any new shapes can be added) Additionally, the aim is to showcase our usage of tools that we have learnt; pathfinder, shape builder tool, knife toll and others. The pokemon card should be completed with proper composition of the character and its complimenting surroundings, as well as a written description of its powers and abilities. The format should replicate a traditional pokemon card.
Pokemon card template given
Design Process:
character colour experiment
Initial background idea
Final background idea
Originally, I wanted to have a gradient background and make my character float with some "psychic" elements but realistically I was not able to put my idea into action. So instead of applying gradient to the background, I applied gradient to my character's colour and went for a simple dark blue background to replicate the night sky. The midground is supposed to be a grassland with blue-ish shadow to relate to the background sky, and to further show that the pokemon character is the foreground object.
Final Composition:
Final pokemon card composition
Finally, I also added a few other components, which is the mist in the foreground and the clouds in the background just to add more texture and further direct the focal point on the Pokemon character. As for the actual pokemon card, I went for a psychic pokemon with hypnosis and reflect power. This is because as stated above, I made my character have a cute concept, and most psychic pokemons has this cuter, more pastel look to them in order to hypnotise their opponents. Furhtermore, the clouds and mist were also added to make it seem as though the pokemon character either controls or blends in with it's atmosphere.
Reflection:
Truth to be told, I really enjoyed doing this task. Pokemon was something that I watched while growing up and always found the characters so cute and fascinating. The fact that we were given the opportunity to create a pokemon of our own is really interesting, I had so much fun coming up with different scenarios and ideas on what I wanted to create. Since this was our first tasks, there was also not much to stress about as we were just playing with the basic tools and mostly had to focus on the composition creativity of our character and pokemon card. I would say though, that I struggled a little with creating an evident different between the background, midground and foreground, but still am satisfied with the final outcome.
