Design Exploration - Task 2: Project Development

 

17/10/2024 (Week 5) - 5/1/2025 (Week 14)

Nurul Asilah Binti Mohamad Asif | 0353346 | Design Exploration / Bachelor of Design (HONS) in Creative Media 

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Instruction

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Progress on Task 2

After completing the initial concept sketches in Task 1, I shifted my focus to refining the environment illustrations for the elemental regions in my story artbook. This stage was all about bringing the settings to life, ensuring that each environment visually represented the unique traits and symbolism of the four elements, Earth, Water, Air, and Fire.

I also included the Narrator as a character, so that there would be a voice to the story.

For Fire, I focused on jagged edges, molten lava, and volcanic landscapes to represent power and intensity. The use of bright oranges, reds, and dark shadows created a striking contrast, emphasizing the element’s energy and danger.

For Air, I aimed for openness, sketching floating islands, swirling clouds, and soft pastel skies. I wanted this space to evoke freedom and movement, so I used smooth, curved lines and gradients to maintain an airy feel.

For Water, I experimented with flowing lines and rippling patterns to create serene lakes, and waterfalls. Adding reflective surfaces and gradients helped highlight the fluidity and depth of this element.

For Earth, I focused on lush forests, towering trees, and hidden caves to capture a sense of stability and growth. The sketches incorporated organic shapes and earthy tones to enhance the grounded and protective feel of this environment.

Heyzine flipbook

Once done I exported the pages to Heyzine flipbook, so we could flip the pages as we read. Here's 

what the pages would like below.

Link to Flipbook: https://heyzine.com/flip-book/29acb4f0c8.html#page/12

Flipbook Slide

Teaser Trailer progression 

After finalizing the foundational environment sketches for the elemental regions in flipbook, I shifted my focus to creating a teaser trailer animation that would visually introduce the story and set the tone for my art book.

Expanding the Landscapes
I started by illustrating three distinct landscape drawings—each representing one of the elemental regions: Earth, Water, and Fire. My goal was to make each landscape feel immersive and visually unique, while also tying them together to reflect the story’s central theme of balance and unity among the elements. For the drawings I used Procreate and then separated the layers so that I could animate them separately later.

Landscape 1

Landscape 2

Landscape 3

For these drawings, I paid close attention to detail, incorporating elements like glowing rivers for Water, erupting volcanoes for Fire, and towering forests for Earth.

Animating the Landscapes
Once the landscapes were complete, I imported them into Procreate Dreams to begin the animation process. I wanted the animation to feel dynamic and engaging, so I designed it as an open book animation—a visual metaphor for stepping into the world of the story.

Finalised Video

Book Animation

When the book opens, the landscapes gradually come to life using the color drop effect. This effect allowed the colors to fill the illustrations in a fluid motion, almost like paint spreading across the pages. The transition was meant to create a sense of unfolding narrative, giving viewers the impression that the story was emerging directly from the pages of the book.

As for the narrators voice I used a text to speech AI voice, where it will sound realistic when the trailer plays. 

Once done I exported it into an Mp4 video.

Final Video 

Final Presentation

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Reflection
Looking back, this phase of the project has been a huge learning experience. It pushed me to explore animation techniques that were entirely new to me, and I feel that it added an extra layer of depth to my visual storytelling.

The process wasn’t without its challenges, especially in balancing timing, effects, and visual details. However, overcoming these hurdles gave me a better understanding of animation principles and how they can transform static art into dynamic scenes.

I’m really proud of how the teaser trailer turned out. It captures the mood and essence of the story while hinting at the adventure that lies ahead. This experience has not only strengthened my skills in both illustration and animation but has also inspired me to keep exploring motion design in future projects.