AMY FARRELL - 2D

2D - Final Outcome

2/21/2021

Lining

Continuing from last week, I carried on with the lining process, ensuring my lines were smooth and clean. This process did take a while, yet I believe it paid off in the end. Even looking at the linework alone, I was able to see clearer what things were meant to be due to the smoother lines. In addition, playing around with line width was also a key part of this process, as I needed thicker lines for the larger pieces, such as the characters, but also had to ensure smaller details still stood out as much as the larger, clearer pieces.

Once I had completed the lining process, I began to cut off the details I didn't need, and then, had a piece that was ready for colour to be applied to, as was to be my next step; figuring out colour schemes for the different aspects of the piece.

Colouring

To begin tackling the final colour scheme, I began by looking at the characters as these would be a central point of the recipe, and focus would be drawn to them more than the pans and cups. In addition, there were more options when it came to the what colours I wanted each of the characters to have.

To begin with I decided to stick with the cooler colour for the female rabbit, however changed the cape to contrast the colour of her fur. This worked fairly well on it's own, however would run into troubles later on when it came to choosing a background. It is for this reason I changed the cape to being blue, to work with the rabbit, and instead work against the softer background instead of working against too many different colours in so many different places.

For the younger rabbit, I wanted to contrast the cooler tones of the first and so settled with the sandy colour initially. When looking back on the the design it looked plain, too plain when both rabbits stood side by side. I decided to add some darker patches to break up the lighter tones of what was no it's base colour. Both changes made to their initial designs worked well in the end, making them more interesting with a combination of softer and darker tones present in each design.

Background colour was something else I tackled early on, for the utensils were going to be almost the same colour as the two rabbits; with pans being cooler toned, and spoons being warmer toned. With the similar colours of the rabbits going to be present throughout the recipe, I decided to try and find a colour that would make them stand out. Not wanting to chose red or blue due to them tones being present in the rabbit's designs as well as the connotations of gender with the colours, I decided to go with either a yellow or green background as to keep things neutral.

It became clear that I preferred the yellow tone due to the green clashing with the younger rabbit. Instead I thought the yellow worked well with the smaller details of each rabbit, and keeping it a softer colour would work well for the main background, and a darker border would make the whole piece stand out, framing it nicely.

Flat colour

Shading

Due to the more childish and simple feel I wanted for my recipe, I decided to go for a simple style of shading, using one shadow and one highlight to make the individual aspects feel childish and as clean as the linework. This also worked well when looking at all the pieces together, feeling like a whole set as opposed to different elements, as this was something I wanted to replicate when looking at the varying set of sprites from my initial research and inspiration.

Once I had decided on a shading style, it was again a case of repeating the process to cover all the different components of the recipe which did become rather time consuming - but again, proved effective in having everything feel like a group.

Finalising the piece

Once the shading of the whole piece was complete, I took a look back at the thing as a whole, and could see that there was still something missing, as the background looked plain despite the border and busy instructions present on the piece. To tackle this I decided to give the recipe a background, in the form of shapes that would be faint enough to ensure they didn't mess with the instructions. Again, I tried to steer away from things that could be associated with either gender, as I wanted something neutral to make the audience wider. It was for this reason I decided to go with soft stars, making a simple shape that could be used to make a pattern and then placed in the background and on the border to make the recipe more interesting and fun.

Final piece

All in all I am proud of my final outcome, and the way I went about it. Although it was time consuming and repetitive at times, it looks coherent and part of a parcel - working well together. Given the time and being unsure on how to tacking this project in the beginning, I am happy with the outcome, and if I were to do it again, wish I could have had more time to put some more shading into the piece to make it a little more complex.

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2D - Development Work

2/13/2021

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Going into this week, I finished off the sketch for the layout of my recipe, reading downwards in simple steps - and with the pacing of the piece, finally decided on aiming for a 2:1 ratio. Upon sketching down my ideas, I initially wanted everything to be boxed off nicely, however upon adding characters in, decided not to, to make it a little more interactive and more playful.

It was also with the feedback session, that I noted that enlarging the heads of the characters would make them look more appealing and friendly, so was something that I made a note of when it came to the lining stages of my piece.

To finish off the layout, my final idea is to include an interaction similar to the second panel, but will be something I will explore at a later date, as getting down the ingredients is the priority for me at the moment, ensuring their designs translate well as are the most important part of the recipe.

When it came to finishing off the latter, more complex steps of my recipe, I turned back to the inspiration of the Cooking Mama games, making the steps more interactive as they went along, as the further along the recipe goes, the more complex they also become. It is also for this reason, when looking at sprites from the game, that I intend to keep the same images throughout the recipe when it comes to the ingredients; ensuring it is clear which is which throughout as to not overcomplicate things for the younger audience.

Similarly, given I also wish to include a character, I looked at character sprites from the games too, to give me a basic idea on proportions, even if I don't with to exaggerate them as much.

Lining Process

Going into the lining process, I was a little unsure how I wished to go about lining my work; or if I wanted to line it at all. One of the initial ideas I had was to not line the piece and instead work on flat colour like one of my personal pieces I did recently.

Quickly however, I realised this would be a bad idea. Although it works well for characters, details would be lost when it comes to ingredients. What I don't want is for things to become too confusing, and a lack of lines would only add to that; and in addition, it can be time consuming. Instead, I decided that lining my sketches was the best way forwards, as would keep both characters, ingredients and instructions coherent.

When it came to lining the initial characters, it was simple enough, especially once I had figured out a line width that worked well for both the main lining and the details. For the initial part of the recipe, the text boxes being bolder to indicate the importance of the information was the best move, as should be the highlight of the starter of the recipe.

The ingredients however was something that I had to take time with, as I wanted to ensure that they looked somewhat realistic, whilst keeping the simple appearance to communicate what it was whilst having them look simple, but too a part of the same group.

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Visual Communication - 2D

2/7/2021

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Baking - Flapjacks

For our first Semester Two project we were tasked with illustrating a recipe without the use of words or numbers. But first we had to bake, following the recipe and taking notes as we went along, documenting the journey, leading up to the drawing and the development of the task following.

Although the recipe was easy to follow, variables effected the outcome, and in hindsight the way in which the ingredients were photographed served as little held when words and numbers couldn't be used to indicate how much of each thing was needed - this was something I had to think about when developing my drawing ideas to overcome that problem.

But in terms of the outcome of the flapjacks, they turned out fairly well, a little on the sticky side but edible. This task wasn't as difficult as I expected, but was as stressful as I expected, but, I was able to cope with the company of a little helper.

Development Work - Ideas

Moving onto the development of ideas, this was something I was much more comfortable with. To begin with a began by jotting down quick ideas on how I wanted to go about this, and within my development work was quick to realise the simpler, the better as it would be easier to follow, and for this reason my work was targeted towards a younger audience, with the help of parents. Appealing to this audience made the line of enquiry far more colourful, simple and friendly as I progressed, leading towards having a friendly face among the instructions to guide those following along, something that was prominent in games and interactive instructions of my own childhood.

From there forth, I explored ways in which steps could be communicated as to not get too confusing with the more free flowing step by step that I may end up using. For this, I explored the use of hand signs, counting the various steps as this was something that is universal regardless of location, age etc.

Not having all my supplies that I would usually have given the circumstances proved to be an issue, particularly when it came to getting quick colour down for my ideas. Thus once I had explored the ways in which the various ingredients could be designed to strongly communicate what they were meant to be, I turned to digital ways to colour and begin to refine by giving them more life than the monotone sketches,

One of my main concerns regarding this project is getting everything to fit into the designated space without it going on for too long - as the more steps and the longer the recipe is, the more confusing it is surely going to become. For this problem, I came up with the idea of having the ingredients appear larger at the top or the bottom of the recipe, allowing them to be seen clearer, as well as saving space in the long run as I would be able to cut down on the size of them in the actual steps of the recipe.

Playing on the idea of having some form of friendly face, I was drawn to the possible idea of having what was listed in the form of a 'speech bubble', replacing the need for words. I was particularly drawn to this idea as it reminded me of the older 'Cooking Mama' games I used to play when I was younger; something that made the most of visuals as opposed to words due to the varying languages it would appear in over its lifespan - meaning very little was needed to be changed.

Although I have components I would like to include in my recipe, the main line of enquiry from here on out is the way it is presented; will it be more linear, or free flowing? One continuous piece, or something more blocked off? I intend to try and find a style that is neither too free flowing as it may get confusing, but nor too formal and blocked off as would work against the childish style I am intending to follow.