ILLUSTRATION & VISUAL NARRATIVE - TASK 4 FINAL - WEBCOMIC ‘THE MONKEY'S PAW'

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December 12,2024


SUN JIAYUE (0376224)

Illustration & Visual Narrative / Bachelor in Design (Hons) in Creative Media

40% Final Assignment Brief: Animated Webcomic Cover and One-Page Comic for "The Monkey's Paw"


MODULE BRIEF




Instructions:

students will 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. 

Story link:

Assignment Breakdown:
Illustration and Visual Narrative (IVN): Design an illustrated masthead for the comic cover in Adobe Illustrator. Apply Scott McCloud’s comic transition types (from Understanding Comics) to tell a part of the story visually, emphasizing animated transitions that enhance the storytelling.

You may use photoshop Photoshop to manipulate images, adding textures and effects inspired by Dave McKean’s Sandman covers to achieve a surreal, atmospheric style. This will be key for creating a suspenseful, eerie mood that aligns with The Monkey’s Paw. Search for “surrealistic adobe illustrator artwork”

Webcomic Animation: Using Google Slides, students will create a portrait-oriented comic cover and a one-page comic with animated GIFs. They must animate at least three panels of the comic, and may also animate parts of the cover to draw viewers’ attention.

Assignment Requirements:
Comic Cover: Design a cover that represents your interpretation of The Monkey’s Paw, including an illustrated masthead created in Illustrator. You may use Photoshop to manipulate textures and images for a surreal effect inspired by Sandman covers or refer to “surrealistic adobe illustrator artwork”. Include subtle animations if desired to create a haunting atmosphere.

One-Page Comic: Translate a selected part of the story into a single-page, animated webcomic with at least 3 panels animated using GIFs in Google Slides. Focus on panel-to-panel transitions (e.g., moment-to-moment, action-to-action, subject-to-subject) to maintain suspense and continuity.

Format: Portrait orientation for phone or tablet display. Assemble all elements in Google Slides for presentation.

Inspirations & References


Cover design：








Creative process


Paragraph selection：

He sat until he was chilled with the cold, glancing occasionally at the figure of the old woman peering through the window. The candle-end, which had burned below the rim of the china candlestick, was throwing pulsating shadows on the ceiling and walls, until with a flicker larger than the rest, it expired. The old man, with an unspeakable sense of relief at the failure of the talisman, crept back to his bed, and a minute afterward the old woman came silently and apathetically beside him.


    Neither spoke, but lay silently listening to the ticking of the clock. A stair creaked, The stove glowed with light. The darkness was oppressive, and after lying for some time screwing up his courage, he took the box of matches, and striking one, went downstairs for a candle.

I digitized it with the parts selected by the highlighter.

Below is an analysis of each sentence:

1.He sat until he was chilled with the cold, glancing occasionally at the figure of the old woman peering through the window.
  • Wait for the results from the monkey's paw
  • It presents a tense, bleak atmosphere.
2.until with a flicker larger than the rest,
  • Great fire, great hope.
3.The old man, with an unspeakable sense of relief at the failure of the talisman
  • The wish of the monkey's paw did not come true
  • Disappointment, comfort each other
 4.Neither spoke, but lay silently
  • Failed to wish for success, disappointed each other
  • Don't want to accept that answer
5.listening to the ticking of the clock.
  • It's like a heartbeat
  • Quiet environment
 6.The stove glowed with light.
  • The warm flames contrasted with their sad moods
7.he took the box of matches, and striking one, went downstairs for a candle.
  • Still want to have hope
  • fear

I want the elements contained in the comic:

  • Man and wife
  • flame
  • pendulum
  • Dark and scary atmosphere
Art style reference：

  

  • Black and white is more scary
  • It has a strong impact
Rough sketch：
Comic cover


Animated one page introduction


Here are ideas for each panel:

1.The husband pondered and the wife looked out of the window.
2.Wish wish come true
3.Match flame
4.In bed, silent
5.The pendulum swung and made a sound
6.bonfire
7.Go downstairs

Digital (Comic cover):
Materials and illustrations

  
I made two different fonts and chose the one on the left



Comic cover:

I am using PS AI, the drawing software procreate, the following is the reference.
 

Comic book storyboard production
1.
     
2.
          

3.
                         

5.
                     


6.
                    


Animated film

1.





2.




3.





*Because the font is white, I added a layer of black background at the bottom, in order to better reflect the animation effect, which is not in the manga.

4.



One page comic presentation：




Final design operation:




Final design job link:The Monkey's Paw


FEEDBACK

The overall effect is still good, Mr. Suggested to me that we need to make the cartoon more coherent, add a small animation to the cover, and have a strange atmosphere.


REFLECTION

This project gave me a different experience, because comic design is a project that I have never designed before, and I need to explore different forms of visualization stories by consulting materials. Through this design project, I opened my design ideas, but I also encountered many problems in the process, such as the production of animation effects, scene selection and coherence. The visual impact that I want to convey to readers and the interpretation of the main content of the story are very important. At present, through my continuous attempts, I have solved all these problems, which has made great progress for me.







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