Telling a Story Through a Character…

I’ll admit, when I was younger I never really took too kindly to designing and writing characters. Writing backstories and carefully designing/developing a character was never something I was too particularly interested in. I felt that said characters were “too-overwritten” plain and un-relatable. When I tried to write or design a character I always felt like they either had too much or too little thought put into them both visually and backstory-wise. I struggled to create a balance within the characters as I used to think that characters were essentially just another prop to the background. 

Growing as an illustrator, learning more about myself and character development, as of late it had finally clicked for me, where I feel like I finally realized that characters are vehicles of which the story/ message is being told and that caring for the character is just as important as the story, environment, concept, and message itself. I failed to realize that, and now I know that developing a project that is heavy on storytelling is a fine-tuned balance between all of these elements in storytelling. Placing more emphasis on one element or a few elements more than others can add more flair and originality to a work, but neglecting any one of these aspects in storytelling can come across very evidently within an audience. It is important to realize that each storytelling element has a synonymous relationship with one another to effectively tell a multi-faceted and rich story.  

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When creating the character seen, there was a lot to account for. I wanted to make sure that this character looked like it lived and breathed in the environment/world, as well as, making sure to stick with themes of mental illness and more specifically an embodiment of fear, confusion, hesitation, conflict, and hopelessness. I find designing characters a bit more challenging to create because there is so much to account for in the creation of a character but there also has to be this process of whittling and narrowing down the design of the character to truly make it into an effective and identifiable/relatable character. 

With this character, I also went through various designing processes and experimentation in terms of stylistic quality and medium. I drew this character first in a sketchbook with gouache and black pencil crayon, then to lino-block printing for the texture of the character, then to water-soluble crayons and pencil crayons, and then finally to ink and pencil crayon. Like designing the first concept illustration, I was also able to deeply reflect on and realize how I wanted to depict the concept and themes at hand when exploring different mediums as each medium has its own look, mood, and expression tied with it. I also found that in this process I was able to discover something new about the character every time with each different medium I had explored as I was deeper reflecting on the character’s backstory with each of the mediums. I was then able to take these finished experimental pieces, compare/ contrast them, figure out what I liked/ didn't like about each of the mediums until I had come up with one method and mediums that I liked the look of with one another. I found this process being very important for this character as this was a great way to experiment on a small scale what I would like the rest of the work to follow in stylistic look and feel. This is important because this character will directly influence the environment and world of which it lives/controls so it is important that both this character and design of the world match up with one another or it will distract the reader and feel detached. 

Although the development of both the environment and character could change later as the project is further developed. This is ok though because this process allows me to ensure and consciously realize that the two are synonymous with one another. This also allows me to be conscious of the fact that each storytelling element hinges on the other and has a very incredibly synonymous relationship. This process of designing this character has allowed me to effectively experiment, further stylistically develop a look/feel to both the character and to the other concept illustrations, as well as, allowing me to find what it is I am looking for within/visioning for the project as a whole.

This will be the last concept illustration of this project as after the process of each I now feel that I have enough ideas, realized influences, themes, and concepts that I know I want to be developed and I feel are ready to be developed into a finished project. But until then, stay tuned for what's coming soon…

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To Further Explore the Deeply Personal and Unknown...

I have always taken fondly to creating new environments and worlds. I’ve always been fascinated by the amount of detail or sometimes the lack of thereof that is included within concept environment pieces. I’ll admit I have attempted to design an environment piece here and there being younger, but I always felt that the process of developing an environment being extremely daunting and overwhelming. The idea of creating a world for a narrative to take place would feel like an impossible task to do right.

Having learned more about image-making in general and more about the development of backgrounds/ environments, I realize that there is more nuance involved when creating environments and other worlds for narratives to take place. When it comes to developing an environment or concept illustration for that matter, there must be a level of being not too descriptive or explicit in the illustration as this will prevent the viewer or reader from wanting to explore further and to leave a level of nuance. I particularly enjoy this part of designing concept environment illustration as I feel that it allows me to have more freedom in what I can choose to leave in and leave out of the piece to provoke interest and curiosity within the viewer to want to explore more.

My approach to creating concept illustrations for environments currently has led me to develop a strong concept/ theme first and foremost for the message and story being told. To follow on focusing on depicting the concept from the first illustration, I took the same processes from the first illustration but instead of just copying the foundational subject matter and characters for the concept, I have instead chosen to further develop on the concept itself. This requiring to further self-reflect/ introspect on the concept and think about how the theme, feelings, and mood should be visually represented and further developed in the environment. This process then allows me to truly think about how this environment would present itself and the possible terrains it may have. For this particular environment, I explored the concept further and experimented with various designs and subject matter to attempt to depict the truth of the concept and what felt best suitable for the terrain for such. 

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For this environment, I particularly envisioned an abysmal, bleak, and confusing environment to navigate. I inspired the visuals for the environment illustration from swamp terrains, ruins, mirrors, shifting textures, and submerged terrains. Featured is the main character of the story, who has a very shy, quiet, timid approach and personality when facing challenges and this will be further developed within the story. Reflecting on the creation of this character, they may accidentally represent me in some shape or another, since the theme of this story inherently comes from deeply personal feelings and experiences. I then took these inspirations/influences and experimented with suitable compositions, styles, and subject matter that both combined the original concept illustration and these in-depth influences. After combining my ideas, guidelines for myself, and influences I was then able to come up with the final composition seen. For this illustration, I decided to finish with the same materials/media used for the original illustration, to continue with the stylistic quality of the materials used, and for continuity purposes. Although creating a concept environment illustration can seem a daunting task at first for me, some of my favorite pieces as of yet have originated from the development process of creating an environment. 

Stay tuned for next time as I will go into my final process...

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The Beginning of my Creative Process...

The process of creating images when I was younger has always fascinated me. The thought of seeing a finished drawing or painting has always bewildered me in the fact that I would always feel overwhelmed when looking at an incredibly detailed and designed painting/drawing. I would think that the work seen was created in one sitting and was developed or thought out during the creation of the piece. I carried this thought process over into my earlier drawings as I had no clue, and this was very evident in my art just starting out being as young as I was.

Learning more and more about the process of image-making getting older I then knew that more process is put into finished pieces than previously thought. Although I knew this, I still for a long time would pay no attention to the process as simply put, I would only care for the end product, a means to an end. Mistakenly and naively I would then spend no time or thought into the process as all I would care about would be the finished piece because that was all that was going to be seen by the viewer. This lack of care once again could be perceived in my finished paintings and drawings at the time.

Now I have found myself having quite the opposite approach and mindset to image-making and creating illustrations. These days I find enjoyment and creative liberty in the first stages of creating larger pieces. Being able to freely illustrate in these stages of early development allows me to express the concept in its truest form and drive the rest of the work to follow. As this image encapsulates the raw concept, this illustration is the driving force behind the story and narrative as a whole. 

For this specific project that I am developing and working on, the inspiration/concept behind this illustration is mental illness and creating a story that reflects my own experiences and emotions from my childhood. The work to follow in the future will reflect such themes and inspirations whether or not the project visually deviates from its origin and all other illustrations to follow.

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My process for this illustration was to sketch ideas and think about a message/ concept that meant a lot to me for the soon upcoming project. I then sketched character ideas, color palettes, and environment concept pieces that first came to mind as well as experiment with mediums. After experimenting within my sketchbook I then took those first sketches/ideas that I liked and that I felt represented the concept/ idea the best and created finished concept drawings to develop into larger pieces later. There will be more to come on this process in future entries.

Using this method and process I am then able to reflect and start properly fleshing out the concept and visual ideas that envision the concept. Although the details may not carry over and be reflected in a larger project, these steps allow me to fully reflect on the message and how I am visually depicting it. I can also then decide at these steps where I should further direct the work, re-evaluate how the message is being visually communicated and if I'm effective in telling the story/narrative within the pieces. Once again, I find that these first few steps are the most enjoyable as I feel the most creatively liberated and free to express what I would like. Despite this, this step can also feel the most stressful if I don't feel very confident in the piece, this is where a lot of pressure and uncertainty for the piece can also present itself. However I may feel about creating the piece in the first few steps, nothing compares to how rewarding and satisfying it feels to see a finished work or series despite how laborious or seamless the process was. 

Stay tuned for more blog posts about the further development of this project!

#creativeprocess #iluportdev2021 #illustration