Illustration and Visual Narrative - Task 3: Honor Competition

 

Task 3: Honor Competition

This is a competition organized by HONOR, where participants are provided with a series of themes and are required to create original illustrations based on the selected topics.

Themes: 

• Renewal of Life - Return
• Cultural Prosperity - Celebration
• Genesis - The Future
• Young Convergence - Integration

Submission:

• Accessories Design – 6000 x 3000 pixels in JPG
• Overall Visual Design – 6000 x 3000 pixels in JPG
• Animation Design – 1920 x 1080 pixels in MP4 Format (Size below 20Mb)

Illustration

Among these themes, I have chosen "Renewal of Life". I started with my very first sketch based on the theme of environmental protection. My initial idea was to design a landscape environment featuring different claw machines, each representing a specific ecosystem, such as the ocean, a garden, and the sky. The claw in each machine would collect rubbish from its environment and dispense it outside. Personally, I found this idea quite appealing as it showcased the dreamcore art style I envisioned while aligning well with the theme.

First Sketch

Dreamcore art style

However, after consulting with Mr. Hafiz, he suggested that I prioritize character and graphic development, as my initial concept lacked a main character. He also mentioned that the final outcome should include a landscape environment with a main character, a mock-up of graphic design on merchandise, and an animated graphic. While he didn’t say my first sketch was bad, the lack of a central element made it feel incomplete.

Taking his feedback into account, I revised my concept while keeping the original idea. To align with the dreamcore theme, I introduced a main character, a bunny. I chose a bunny because it’s a cute animal that also brings a sense of mystery due to its subtle and quiet nature. To further incorporate the dreamy element, I expanded the setting into space, imagining a surreal universe. This led me to the idea of a bunny astronaut exploring a mysterious planet in search of new life. This concept allowed me to maintain the dreamy art style I enjoy while introducing character-driven storytelling. Below is the second sketch that reflects this idea.

Second sketch

I then refined the composition by referencing the book Framed Ink. I aimed to create an atmosphere where the bunny astronaut discovers a glowing, new life form amidst the darkness of an alien planet—symbolizing rebirth. I found a composition in the book that matched the mood I wanted to convey. From there, I made slight adjustments to the perspective and visual balance. I imagined the center of the artwork glowing with life while the surroundings remained dark and mysterious. This led to the development of my second sketch.

Refined Sketch from Framed Ink

Reference from Framed Ink

Once I was almost satisfied with the sketch, I began digitalizing it in Adobe Illustrator. I started by creating the outlines using the shape tool and pen tool, then merged the shapes using the shape builder tool. Rather than tracing directly from the sketch, I created each element individually and arranged them later on the artboard.

Outline

For the long vein-like trees, I used the pen tool with thick strokes, then expanded them into vectors and added leaves. For the spiral galaxy, I first created a simple *-shaped star using straight lines, then modified the stroke to a calligraphy style, thick in the middle and thin on the ends. I expanded it into a vector and used the swirl tool to turn it into a spiral. For finer adjustments, I also used tools like the warp tool and puppet warp tool.

Spiral Galaxy

 

Long veins plants

Final Outline

Then I started adding colour to my character. I sourced a pastel colour palette and mainly used pink and purple as the primary colours. Unlike previous tasks where I used solid colours, this time I applied gradients instead, as I wanted to create a dreamy visual effect. Although I used colours with similar brightness (in terms of hue and tone), I made sure the different elements had enough contrast so they wouldn’t blend into each other.

Gradient Colouring

For the shading part, I also used gradients and set the blending mode to Multiply, similar to what I did in my first task. Instead of using black for the shadows, I used dark purple for the darker areas and added a touch of yellow for the highlights to make the overall colour scheme more vibrant and interesting. Below is the overall effect after applying the gradient shading.

Overall effect after adding multiply gradient

Gradient with Multiply

For the stars and glowing objects, I discovered the Outer Glow effect, which helped create a luminous appearance. Apart from that, I also used the Lighten blending mode to create the light reflection on the glass of the bunny astronaut's helmet.

Outer Glow effect

Reflection on the helmet

Lighting blending mode

At this stage, the colours looked harmonious and matched well with each other, while still remaining visually distinct. However, I noticed an issue: the shading wasn’t very obvious due to the lack of contrast between light and dark areas. So, instead of adding harsh shadows, I blended them into the character using gradients. I darkened one side and gradually reduced the opacity to 0% on the other side to create a smooth, natural shadow transition. Below is the outcome after fine-tuning the overall shading.

After tuning overall shading

Lastly, I added a layer of grain texture on top of the canvas. Due to the high resolution of the canvas, the default grain appeared very fine and barely noticeable. To fix this, I increased the intensity, lowered the contrast, and set the DPI to 50 so the grain would be more visible.

Closer view on the texture 

Accesories Design

We were required to use Adobe Photoshop to visualize our graphic on various accessories. I downloaded the official template from the HONOR website and imported it into Photoshop. The layers in the template were clearly labeled, which made it easy to place our design in the correct areas using clipping masks. Therefore, I placed my illustration on top of the layer I wanted to mask, then right clicked and selected "Create Clipping Mask" to clip my illustration onto the merchandise. Then I also applied Multiply blending mode onto the illustration to make it blend with the material and shade of the merchandise. For the cups and T-shirt, I removed the background of the bunny astronaut.

Accesories Design

Animation

For the animation, I decided to use Adobe Photoshop. I first converted my Adobe Illustrator file into a Photoshop file so that it would export into multiple layers, allowing me to animate each layer individually. However, I encountered a problem: there were too many layers, which made the animation process complicated and caused Photoshop to lag. To solve this, instead of importing all the layers into Photoshop, I separated the elements and exported them as PNG files. This reduced the number of layers and made the animation process much smoother.

Importing PNG into timeline

Since the environment is set in space, I wanted to create a low-gravity effect, where the elements appear to be floating. For each of the plants on the sides, I made them sway gently from time to time, along with the bunny astronaut. As for the spiral galaxy in the background, I made it rotate, and for the glowing particles, I made them glow by adjusting the opacity from high to low and back to high, as well as making them float away. Below are some examples of keyframes that I have done.

Keyframes

Final Submission

Google Drive Compilation: Link

Development Board

Overall Visual Design

Accessories Design

Animation Design

Reflection

To be honest, this was definitely a challenging but fulfilling task. The time given was very limited, and the workload was quite heavy, as we were required to learn additional skills like merchandise design and short animation. These techniques had to be done using Adobe Photoshop, which I was not familiar with, as I haven’t taken the Digital Photography and Imaging module before.

In this task, unlike the previous one focused solely on illustration. I learned new techniques such as adding visual effects like texture and glow and creating vector shapes using stroke and the expand tool. However, due to the tight schedule and juggling multiple assignments, I wasn't able to make it as perfect as the references that inspired me. It feels like it's halfway there, and I would love to continue refining it if I have more time.

I also learned how to use Photoshop to create animations. Compared to professional software like Adobe After Effects, Photoshop is more suitable for simpler animations like transformations, rotations, opacity adjustments, and more. It’s definitely more beginner-friendly for someone like me. Additionally, adding our illustrations onto merchandise mockups turned out to be easier than I expected, just clip the mask, adjust the blending mode to match the product, and wrap it nicely to fit the perspective.

Overall, I’m really grateful for the opportunity to learn all of this. It has been a very insightful experience that pushed me out of my comfort zone and helped me discover new creative possibilities.