Design Principles Project 1 - Self Portrait
Project 1 - Self Portrait
Lecture
Self reflection; think about how you want to portray yourself. Empathize with yourself, visualize who you are, discover yourself. The process is the most important.
Instructions
Visual Research
Throughout my life, I've defined myself using the media I consumed. I track periods of my life through the phases I went through and the media I was obsessed with. A large part of my childhood up to today, I loved magical girl stories. I read comics, watched cartoons and even collected movies DVDs for this genre. Some examples of this genre would be:
Fig 1.1: W.I.T.C.H Graphic novel
Fig 1.2: Winx Club poster
These media tend to focus on growing and discovering who you are. This aligns with my own view of my self portrait. I struggled to think of a self portrait idea that didn't feel stuck in the moment to me.
I had the idea to do a simple animation and this video gave me a starting point to grow my idea from. It is an RPG animation and it brought memories of playing around on RPG maker.
Animation by Actually Ninjin on Youtube
Some examples of RPG character select screens:
Fig 1.4: Kamiko Switch RPG
Idea Exploration
While brainstorming, I explored the idea of doing a self portrait in various mediums: a comic, a poster design, a mixed design with 3D modelling and a still of a character select screen.
Fig 2.1: Initial thumbnail sketches
From there, with feedback from Dr. Charles, I decided to try simple animation and go with the RPG idea. Instead of a character select screen, I chose to just stick with a self portrait of me leveling up through the years.
Going through each stage, I sketched two main poses for each level for simple and minimal animation. I wanted to use the EXP to represent the year and the LVL for the age I was at the time.
Fig 2.2: Draft sketches for each level
From the initial sketch, I made a draft animated gif to see what the poses would look like while moving. At this point, I was also planning to add an 'equip item' animation to show what my main hobby was at the time.
Fig 2.3: Draft animation (gif)
I used the same colour scheme from the draft sketches to differentiate the levels and when the item is equipped. The final animation is in the form of a gif but with a link to a video incase it cannot be played.
Final Outcome & Rationale
Fig 3.0 Final outcome (gif)
For the final outcome, it is in gif format for simplicity's sake. The simple line art and colour blocks is so that it matches the rest of the simple layout. I handwrote the font because it is a self portrait and I feel that my handwriting also reflects myself. The movement in the gif is important as well as I typically cannot stop fidgeting unless I am asleep.
Reflection
This project made me think back and also scour through my memories to figure out what I wanted to showcase to the world. In my opinion, a self portrait is really difficult because I struggle to define myself and who I want to show to the world. Showing my evolution is my take on a self portrait.
References / Image sources:
Fig 1.1 - W.I.T.C.H Graphic novel volume 1 cover Google
Fig 1.2 - Winx Club poster Google
Fig 1.3 - Sailor Moon Crystal anime Google
Animation - Dream SMP RPG animation meme Youtube
Fig 1.4 - Kamiko Switch RPG character select screen Source
Fig 1.5 - Genshin Impact character select screen Google
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