OKAY. This had absolutely no business being so hard. I think it has a lot to do with something going wrong during my tracing, but I was too stubborn to redo it. 2nd one's a failed attempt (sort of?) I chose a very light texture so had to make the whites black to see it. The 3rd one is finally a successful attempt. I used different colours for shading so the texture didn't manage to cover everything but OH WELL. I need to look up some tutorials asap.
WEEK 6 (6/5/2022)
EXERCISE: Colouring Tutorial
fig 2.3 Colouring Tutorial (6/5/2022)
WEEK 7 (13/5/2022) Exercise: Gradient
fig 2.4.1 gradient tutorial (13/5/2022)
fig 2.4.2 if gradient why complicated (13/5/2022)
I'll be honest. Mr Hafiz lost me pretty quick. Thank heavens for the recordings.
fig 2.4.3 Gradient Tutorial (16/5/2022)
Every time I rewatch recordings I question why I didn't understand these simple things the first time around.
Detective Conan, also known as Case Closed, is a Japanese detective manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. The story follows the high school detective Shinichi Kudo who was transformed into a child, Edogawa Conan while investigating a mysterious organization. Throughout the series, we follow him to solve a multitude of cases by impersonating his childhood best friend's father and various other characters.
Decisive moment: Conan's Shiny Glasses effect
Thescene that I've chosen is Conan's iconic shining anime glasses moment we see every time he figured things out about the case. It's a defining moment that serious stuff is about to go down. Ever since I started watching this series as a kid, I've always found this particular thing really cool. This is one of my favourite features of anime, and I absolutely love it when Conan does it. Too bad I can't replicate it well enough in real life, but at least I can do it in this poster.
This line was one that appears after the opening sequence of every movie, sometimes in the anime series as well. It is Conan's well-known catchphrase, "there is always only one truth!" or "One Truth Prevails!" in some translations (真実はいつもひとつ！), as well as his iconic pointing pose. This line and scene is one that represents Conan's motto and image as a whole hence I feel is a very impactful scene for the series overall. I will try to incorporate the pointing pose somewhere in the poster.
fig 3.1.1 Shiny glasses moment
fig 3.1.2 Conan art deco style reference
fig 3.1.3 Conan pose reference
fig 3.1.4 Shinichi pose reference
SKETCHING
Fig 3.2 Idea sketches (6/5/2022)
I’ve come up with 2 idea sketches.
While showing the shiny glasses moment, I was hoping to in some way add in Shinichi's shadow or reflection to indicate that Shinichi and Conan are in fact the same person.
The first one is a Conan closeup with Shinichi's reflection in his glasses doing the pose
The second one is having a spotlight shone on Conan doing the pose with Shinichi’s shadow behind him.
I’m leaning more towards the first sketch for now since in sketch 2 the shadow might get a lil tricky to execute.
TRACING
fig 4.1.1 tracing progress (11/5/2022)
I have a bad omen that I'm doing this wrong somehow.
Update (12/5/22): SO I WAS DOING SOMETHING WRONG. I should do the silhouette outline first, then start cutting out the shapes inside smh. Maybe this wonky way works too, but I'm not gonna take any risks and chances on this rn. I'm already sleep-deprived enough thank you very much.
WEEK 7 (13/5/2022)
fig 4.1.2 Tracing progress (18/5/2022)
It's my first time actually using the shapebuilder tool besides that chaotic experience during tutorial class. So far it's going okay. I hope it stays that way.
fig 4.1.3 Progress (18/5/2022)
It worked!
fig 4.1.4 Progress (18/5/2022)
Friendship ended with pathfinder tool. Shapebuilder tool is my best friend now. Now time to move on to the shading
WEEK 8 (20/5/2022) Screwed up the eye! What a way to start my Friday. Copying my artboard to act as my backup from here on. Learned my lesson, but at what cost.🥲
fig 4.1.4 more progress (20/5/2022)
fig 4.1.5 tracing progress (20/5/2022)
Okay, I tried tracing the hand, and it looks deformed, hideous, and an awful lot like a certain something else. Might be abandoning the idea.
fig 4.1.6 progress (22/5/2022)
I did one ver with shading and one without. We'll decide which to use and when later.
fig 4.1.6 Conan with & without shading (22/5/2022)
So after MORE thinking, I realised my initial idea of him doing the pose is not going to work out as well as I hoped. If I make the pointing pose entirely black as the rest of the shadow, it's gonna turn out like this:
fig 4.1.7 Conan's pointing pose
And honestly, unless you already know his signature pose, you won't be able to make out anything from this shadow. He could be crossing his arms instead for all I know. Hence, we are going to try something else. Instead of pointing towards the front, Shinichi's going to point towards the side. Aesthetically I don't know how it'll turn out, but fingers crossed it will look good.
fig 4.1.8 Frankenstein-ing Shinichi
Since I couldn't find a side profile reference pic with Shinichi pointing, I had to DIY it myself. The arm is at an awkward length. I'll try to fix it.
fig 4.1.9 Poster layout drafts (23/5/2022)
Instead of using "There is always only one truth!" I decided to use the alternate translation "One Truth Prevails". It's shorter and catchier.
I tried making 2 layouts and tried out some different colour combinations. I like them, but they didn't feel like THE one. I'll make a couple more variations. I don't have much time to hesitate if I want to start on the animation soon.
fig 4.1.10 Poster layouts (24/5/2022)
Decided to add a spotlight to fill in the emptiness of the background. I think it gives the hair more contrast to the background.
fig 4.1.11 effects (27/5/2022)
Decided to be a bit extra and gave the glasses a subtle glow. Now onto the animation!
ANIMATION
I was planning to sketch the animation plan but decided that words will suffice. Here's how it (hopefully) goes:
no shadow + clear glasses
spotlight emerges + shadow + clear glasses
Conan tips his head + shadow + both shiny glasses
Conan lifts his head + shadow + single side shiny glasses with Shinichi's shadow
fig 5.1.1 Spotlight animation trial 1 (25/5/2022)
Tested out the spotlight animation. This was 5 frames with no delay, and god why is Conan slightly shifting too. Still rigid and def needs more polishing up, but the light animation direction seems to work.
WEEK 9 (27/5/2022)
Okay turns out this task is due on the 29th and not week 10 LMAO *chuckles* I'm in danger. I asked Mr Hafiz what was the easiest way to execute the nodding animation and he said 3D, or draw it frame by frame. Well crap, seems like I might be abandoning the idea after all.
fig 5.1.2 Spotlight animation trial 2 (27/5/2022)
You saw Conan shift a bit too didn't you?? Tell me I'm not hallucinating 😭 They're all duplicated I don't get it?? I went and took extra precautions to make sure all Conans have the same dimensions up to the exact 4 decimal places I am low-key losing it. This one was 10 frames. Looped this so the ending shadow part went by in a flash. The overall animation did feel smoother, but there is still plenty to polish.
After giving it more thought, I decided not to make the spotlight animation too complex.
fig 5.1.3 Spotlight animation trial 3 (27/5/2022)
I think I'm happy with this version. Yes, Conan is still wiggling, but there's still more to this animation and if duplicating the exact thing won't give me consistent results I really don't know what to do anymore 💀
Added shadows to the words! Hopefully, it'll look better in animation now. Next, we're onto the glasses and maybe the head(?) We'll see what we can do. Okay, update. Nodding is impossible for my skill level and time constraint but having Conan tilt his head instead? That I can do.
fig 5.2.2 glasses glow & head tilt animation trial (27/5/2022)
I titled his head slightly to the left and gave the glasses a glow. Gave the ends of his hair a slight wiggle too. Now onto the last phase of animation before I combine all 3.
Ms Anis liked the 1st sketch and suggested I should play around with side profiles as well. I should focus on making the poster work on its own even without the animation. Otherwise, I will need to work on visualizing the animation in static form.
WEEK 9 (27/5/2022)
Ms Anis thought the animation idea was okay but perhaps the nodding animation can be omitted. Her direct quote was "If you can do it, you can." (and I don't know if I can LOL I'll try.)
REFLECTION
Sobbing crying rolling on the ground dying.
I honestly didn’t expect to have so much fun with this task! Was there a lot of pain? Yes. Was there a lot of screaming? Yes. But I think the fact that I’m working on one of my favourite characters ever makes all the difference.
Compared to back in Task 1, I think I’m more well versed with tracing as well as using the shape builder tool and illustrator in general, which is always a big win. I still have a looong way to go with animation though, but I had a good time trying and experimenting with it ✨It was a long journey and its funny how the poster turned out very different from what I was expecting to make in the beginning. I even changed the Decisive moment halfway through when I found out the pointing pose is not going to work out💀
This task took way longer than anticipated, but I'm super happy with the experimentation and exploration I got to experience throughout the task! I'm super pumped to start the Final Project. How are we at the Final Project already? Where did all the time go.
Leong Jiahui
One-point 
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