KNB136 Visual Storytelling: Production Design
Assessment 1
By Johanna Beasley n11214341
Creative writing major with minor in screenwriting for interactive environments
Chosen Poem 6 by Edward Lear in the Book of Nonsense
Week: 1
Genre: Fantasy
Era: England Witch Trials 
Environment: 1
Thumbnail
Inspiration by Megan Colozzo
For this environment, I wanted to explore compositional elements studied in class. Namely, the rule of thirds and the Fibonacci sequence golden ratio.
I’ve been experimenting with new techniques for colouring and sketching. I had fun with it, especially the clouds and bubbles, although it did frustrate me a lot.
Environment: 2
Interior
Week: 2
Tutorial Homework
Due to personal reasons I missed a lot of tutorials and first came in week 4 so I applied the week 2 homework to Isometric perspective.
Week: 3
Tutorial and Homework
Environment: 3 & 4
3pt perspective drawing. I had a lot of fun with it. To the right is the week 3 Homework and corrections of it.
Week: 4
Tutorial Homework &
Environment: 5
Environment: 6, 7, 8, 9
Thumbnails, they are very rushed and ultimately not what I wanted to present but complete the assessment. I wish I had more time but my skill level is also not to a point of being able to create more of an image within the 20 minutes of what is considered a rough sketch time frame.
The last documented execution for witchcraft in England was in 1682.
Props
Rather than black line-art I tried a dark grey. I think my preference still leans towards black.
Treatment – Logline – Elevator Pitch – expanded ideas – story broken into parts – Synopsis – Audience – and breakdowns to come in Assessment 2
Colour Theory Start:
(Move to come as the pallet is refined).
Definitely a purple for the witch which invokes that wealth, femininity, safety, but also the element of witchery and ‘death’.
Yellow of the cat eyes shows Joy, attention, intellect and a curiosity.
Week 5
Character Sheet
First Character sheet
Too stiff and realistic and not stylised enough. Although I do like the ‘cat eyes’ they need to be bigger.
The face shape was then refined as I was really struggling with it. Later iterations also helped define the characters recognisable traits.
Week 6
Inspiration & Tutorial Homework
Environment: 10
This environment was made after week 6 exercises.
I’m really impressed with how it turned out but it is entirely thanks to Neil walking me through the layers and the technicalities of it. Such as that the darkest areas of the next layer should not be darker than the layer before it. And exactly how atmospheric pressure affects the layers of distance. Neil very thankfully showed me how to use the layer settings (I had no idea how ‘multiply’ and ‘linear burn’ worked and now I do). I have been using Sketchbook Pro however rather than Photoshop which has thankfully worked but does make it more difficult at times. I’m very thankful not to have to learn an entirely new software though – I’d cry.
These iterations show playing around with colour and I really struggled with choosing wether I wanted a cool or warm linear burn to the piece. However I remembered how atmospheric pressure could work in reverse of going cooler in the forefront to warmer in the background – as was in the lecture. This influenced the final idea. In the right image you can see the details I began to add to draw the eye around the page. I always thought composition was purely just a framing tool for the larger structures of the piece. I didn’t realise that it was also about providing the information on where to place details in a frame that draw your eyes around the work. I ended up adjusting the squiggle so that I could draw even more out of the centre of the piece and it looked more visually appealing then. I added the details of a cat skull cave and demonic eyes, some have a faint green glow emanating from them. I added some bats and my two characters (a witch and a cat) walking towards the light in the distance. These were then brushed with a white glow rather than red as that highlighted them more. The green and red really sparked ideas and helped me bring out more of the ‘witchy’ themes of the work.
I’ve started an online drawing environments course. Which I hope to further develop my artistic application and learn more about creating environments in addition to this subject.
