22nd April - 18 June 2024 / Week 1 - 9
Alana Sofia Othman / 0353451 / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media
Publishing Design
Task 2
INSTRUCTIONS
Task 2: Content Generation
Content Writing Progression
Week 2
Attachment 1.1. Progression: Story Proposal, Week 2 (23 Apr - 30 Apr 2024)
Week 3
Attachment 1.2. Progression: Story Content 1, Week 3 (30 Apr - 7 May
2024)
Week 4
Attachment 1.3. Progression: Story Content 2, Week 4 (7 May - 14 May
2024)
Visuals Progression
Book Visuals Sketches
[INSERT SKETCHES HERE LATER]
I sketched out some of the visuals for my book before doing it digitally
as I always find it easier to work from sketches first. While writing, I
had a rough idea of the visuals for some of them but not all. However when
I was sketching, I realised they might be more complicated and time
consuming for me to do digitally than I realised. After consultation, Mr
Hijjaz said something similar and suggested me to either simplify it, make
it more abstract or stylise it. However, he said it for different reasons
as he believed my sketches were too straight forward and childish when he
wanted more maturity and feminity. At first this irked me as my style does
tend to be quite childish and playful. I was also left confused with how
to mvoe forward and spent quite some time trying to find references that
fit his feedback suggestions and something within my own preference and
capabilities.
I ended being lost and decided to instead work on my book cover first.
However, after I had my first 4 drafts of book covers and time went on, I
felt that I was running out of time by just procrastinating the visuals,
so I contacted him for a little more guidance to understand what I should
be looking for in order to move forward. After discussing with him and
sharing references back and fourth, we were able to find something we both
agreed on, appreciated and within my bounds.
Book Visuals Digitials
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| Figure 1.1. Colour Scheme & Confirmed Style Reference (Week 6 - 7, 28 May - 3 June 2024) |
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Figure 1.2. Book Visuals Progress 1 (Week 7, 4 June 2024) |
Once we had confirmed on a style reference for my visuals (see Figure
1.1), I looked through the artist's Instagram to study more on how she
drew not just figures but objects as well. Once I had a slight
understanding, I began drawing my own visuals, referencing her style. I
started with drawing Mother Mary as it was easier to start with a portrait
figure as the reference was mostly portrait figures. I of course
referenced other drawings/photos as well for the content of what I was
drawing (for example, the Mother Mary was referenced after a photo of a
Mother Mary statue from Google Photos). Once I had that down, I moved on
to the other visuals and it eventually got easier to draw.
I worked with the colour scheme of 3 hues and 2 different lightness each
(as seen in Figure 1.1). I chose these 3 colours from when I was working
on the book cover drafts. Figure 1.2. shows my first drafts of my
drawings. Although I referenced my sketches, I had adapted bits and pieces
to fit the style more, while also making the drawings less complicated and
too visually direct.
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| Figure 1.3. Book Visuals Progress 2 (Week 9, 18 June 2024) |
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| Figure 1.4. Book Visuals Progress 2 - Not Used (Week 8 - 9, 11 - 18 June 2024) |
Figure 1.4. shows my attempts with other options I had when drawing some of
my visuals. I tried the devil naked, and also with a... coat, as many
references I looked at online drew devils to be distinguiseed looking with
their coats and formal attire. However, I did not like either versions for
my own devil. I thought of having him wear a kind of robe, a little roman
style, but as already suggested by that description, that was too western
for my devil. Instead, I settled for a scarf, which was really because I did
not want to be showing too much skin. That's harammmmm, even for a devil who
is supposedly staring at you in the shower. As for the other drawings, they
were similar process, in the sense that I tried different ways of styling
& colouring it but decided they did not work as well.
Book Cover Progression
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| Figure 2.1. Book Cover Text Options 1 (Week 7, 4 June 2024) |
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| Figure 2.2. Book Cover Design Options 1 (Week 7, 4 June 2024) |
From the time I was deciding on my book title, I was persistent of having
the 'Oh Darling' in the title and I had an idea of how it would look. I knew
I wanted it thick and slightly curvy. I tried a few different fonts but
could not find one that was similar to exactly what I had in mind (see
Figure 2.1.). I decided on the best looking rounded yet sharp font for my
'Oh Darling' and felt it would be nice to contrast it with another font that
was more sharp. I also styled the tittle of the 'i' to be a star as I
felt would be a cute little touch to it.
I then moved on to designing my book cover. I thought of having a compass as
it could connote a moral compass due to the book being religion while also
obviously symbolising the idea of being lost, which suits the title and book
theme. Although at this point I did not have a confirmed visual style yet, I
figured I could work on these to possibly give me a better sense of
direction for my visual style inside the book. However, I was mainly
designing them thinking of the theme/content knowing that style can be
adapted later on, so I was not entirely too bothered about it yet.
Other than the compass idea, I did think of a wayfinder signage but felt
that was too cliché. While scrolling through Pinterest, I stumbled upon two
images, one of a drawing of a maze and another, a book cover of top view of
a maze. Which led me to try out a maze a fun maze hedge as another book
cover option. After I drew it out though, I realised I could not just slap
on the title as it would not work well, instead I tried to integrate it with
the hedges, which is not an easy task as I do not want to distort the text
too much but also have to try and keep the two portions of the title to be
the same size.
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| Figure 2.3. Book Cover Text Options 2 (Week 9, 18 June 2024) |
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| Figure 2.4. Book Cover Design Options 2 (Week 9, 18 June 2024) |
I then redesigned the book cover of option 4 from previous versions to fit
the confirmed visual style. I drew it in AI as it was easier to stay
consistent since my drawings were also in AI. Then shifted the cover
design to Photoshop for the text warping. I tried out the different fonts,
using one font only and a mix and match font style. In total, using 4
fonts for 4 different cover options. At first I was leaning towards the
first two where the fonts where oblique, however, once I tried out the
next two fonts that are not oblique, I ended up preferring those more.
Although I quite like option 3 as it makes it more interesting, I was
worried that it stood out too much and would be out of place, which left
me to think that option 4 would be easier & safer while still making
an interesting cover to look at.
Final Outcome
Attachment 2.1. Final Story Content, Week 4 (14 May 2024)
Attachment 2.2. Final Visual Designs, Week 9 (18 June 2024)
FEEDBACK
REFLECTION
FURTHER READING
Content Progression
Week 2
- topic about religion is the most interesting. descriptive or
reflective writing is ok, thats up to me
- try not to be too critical because it can be a sensitive topic. be
the bigger person when writing
- good to talk about because many go through a similar journey
- just write. it doesnt need to be perfect.
- dont need to make comparisons or involve philosophy, just share my
experience
- other story about my holiday trips is kinda boring since there is
no character development involved
Week 3
- good chapter transitions
- need to be more visually descriptive. its currently too fast
- its ok if its over 3k words
Week 4
- sometimes when a different language is used in books, text is
italised for clarification. check on that
- nice that names have meaning behind it
- think of variation on the first title option
- some words can be changed to be more complex (eg. comprehend
instead of understand)
- back cover needs to sound fancier as it needs to be more
inticing and capivating
- highlight what im gon draw out
- name my chapters
- do i wanna put acknowledgements? Preface? Put before
- mention my town, declare that "it may not seem conservative to
others but it was to me" type thing. or else, try be more
descriptive about it
- when drawing, make characters look a lil more malaysian, skin
colour, features, etc.
Week 5
- start on book visual sketches and draft
Visuals Progression
Week 6
- try simplify or make visuals more abstract. Currently too
direct and full (human bodies)
- stylise the drawing a little more
- make the visuals more mature and feminine looking, currently
too childish and not suited to content
Week 7
Book Visuals
- style of illustrations is ok now
- devil try make botak and uglier, currently too handsome.
Change his clothes. Try naked?
- be more consistent with outlines n stuff. No chibi looking
faces when some are sharper jawlines
- its ok to introduce other colours from outside current
colour scheme as long as similar tones
- if interested, diff chapters can also have diff colour
schemes
- some drawings can be more detailed than others to stand out
Book Cover
- theme of cover 4 is ok but text needs to be more prominent
- try a more swiss font style for cover, currently too old
school
- cover 1 is also okay
- if use the compass, can try make patterns from the compass
which later can design to fill whole page
Week 9
- book visual illustrations are ok, looks consistent
- front cover texts should be bigger
- have another colour on the cover as an accent, add another
element for it. Birds? Flower?
REFLECTION
Experience
nootnoot
Observations
nootnoot
Findings
nootnoot
FURTHER READING
SkillsTeamHullUni (2014) Reflective Writing [Video] Availeble
at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoI67VeE3ds
Amal Mansour (2021) How to Write a Descriptive Essay [Video]
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXwEGwgGeuw
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