Illustration & Visual Narrative | Task 4: Webcomic
28/11/25 - 5/1/25 (Week 10 - Week 15)
Kimberly Miaw Jya Nee | 0366836
Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media | Taylor's University
Illustration & Visual Narrative
Task 4: Webcomic (40%)
[Table of Contents]
3.
Reflection
[Process Work: Comic Cover]
For our final project, we have to create an animated comic cover and one
page of comic (with a minimum of 3 panels) based on the short story The Monkey's Paw
by W.W. Jacobs in the format of portrait orientation for phone or tablet display.
Research
Dave McKean’s Sandman Covers
Fig. 1. (Left to Right) Dave McKean’s Cover of
The Sandman #11, The Sandman #1, The Sandman #37, The Sandman #71, The
Sandman #72
Dave McKean’s works are instantly recognizable for its surreal atmosphere. His compositions
often play with dramatic lighting, unconventional perspectives, and are
layered with intricate details. I found it hard to put his style into words,
but I learned that his Sandman covers were created as large
multimedia dioramas. This method explains the rich textures and distinctive,
layered quality that creates visual depth in his work.
Fig. 2. Dave McKean's Diorama of The Sandman Cover #1
Ideation
For the cover of the comic, I wanted to create a cover that subtly hints at the story's ending, showing
the moment after Mrs. White opens the door thinking her son, Herbert has
returned. I also referenced Dave McKean's Sandman covers while creating the cover layout.
[The Monkey's Paw: Intro]
Without, the night was cold and wet, but in the small parlour of Laburnum villa the blinds were drawn and the fire burned brightly. Father and son were at chess; the former, who possessed ideas about the game involving radical chances, putting his king into such sharp and unnecessary perils that it even provoked comment from the white-haired old lady knitting placidly by the fire.
[The Monkey's Paw: End]
The knocking ceased suddenly, although the echoes of it were still in the house. He heard the chair drawn back, and the door opened. A cold wind rushed up the staircase, and a long loud wail of disappointment and misery from his wife gave him the courage to run down to her side, and then to the gate beyond. The streetlamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road.
Fig. 3. Dave McKean's Sandman Covers Used As Reference
Sketch
Sketch #1
This is the first sketch I made for the cover. In this version, I added Laburnum flowers in the background. The name of The Whites' house is Laburnum Villa. Laburnum is a type of bush that is poisonous. How is this an example of foreshadowing? I found out that the use of 'Laburnum' as the name of the Whites' house in the story serves as a foreshadowing element, subtly implying an impending danger or misfortune due to its reference to a poisonous bush (source).
Sketch #2
I removed the Laburnum flowers for this sketch, and enlarged the Monkey's Paw and arranged it to the background of the composition.
Digitisation
For final touches, I added texture to the comic cover in Photoshop, by using an image of scratched painted metal. I applied clipping mask and set the image layer's blending mode into Overlay.
Fig. 6. Screenshot of Comic Cover Layer Panel in Photoshop
Animation
I decided to just animate the streetlamp flickering, as mentioned in the last sentence of the story.
The streetlamp flickering opposite
shone on a quiet and deserted road.
First, I created the animation frames in Illustrator. I made 4 frames, varying the brightness of the streetlamp.
Fig. 7. Comic Cover Animation Frames Created in Illustrator
Once I'm done creating the frames, I saved them as PNG files and transported them into Photoshop to animate them in the Timeline panel.
Fig. 8. Timeline Panel For Comic Cover
Lastly, I adjusted the delay for each frame until the flickering lights looked just right for a GIF animation.
[Process Work: Comic Page]
Research
Scott McCloud's Transitions
Fig. 9.
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud - 6 Types of Panel-to-Panel Transitions
Ideation
I decided to illustrate the first part of the story, where
Sergeant-Major Morris reveals the paw and mention that he had
his 3 wish granted.
[The Monkey’s Paw: Part 1]
To look at," said the Sergeant-Major, fumbling in his pocket, "it's
just an ordinary little paw, dried to a mummy.
He took something out of his pocket and proffered it. Mrs. White drew
back with a grimace, but her son, taking it, examined it
curiously.
"And what is there special about it?" inquired Mr. White as he took it
from his son, and having examined it, placed it upon the
table.
"It had a spell put on it by an old Fakir," said the
Sergeant-Major,
"a very holy man. He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and
that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow. He put a spell
on it so that three separate men could each have three wishes from
it."
His manners were so impressive that his hearers were conscious that
their light laughter had jarred somewhat.
"Well, why don't you have three, sir?" said Herbert White
cleverly.
The soldier regarded him the way that middle age is wont to regard
presumptuous youth. "I have," he said quietly, and his blotchy face
whitened.
Panel Planning:
Panel 2: Close-up panel of the paw.
Panel 3: Mrs. White, Mr. White and Herbert White's reaction of the
paw.
Panel 4: Sergeant-Major Morris explaining the curse behind the
paw.
Panel 5: The group leaning in closer together, as Herbert asked
Sergeant-Major Morris, "Well, why don't you have three, sir?"
Panel 6: Close-up panel of the Sergeant-Major’s haunted
face.
Panel 7: Wide panel capturing the hush that falls on the group, with
the paw visible in the background as Sergeant-Major Morris says, “I have.”
After planning what to draw for each panel, I started drafting the comic frames. I made two versions but chose Option #1 because I felt the frames guided the eyes to flow better with the story.
Sketch
Below are some images I referenced while creating sketching out the comic panels. I took note on the composition, poses and also lighting.
Digitisation
After completing my sketch, I transferred it into Illustrator. I set the sketch as a template layer and start tracing and while improvising layer by layer according to colours. Then, I would add in the dialogue/texts.
Fig. 13. Final Comic Panel (Non-Animated)
For the final touches, I added textures to the comic in Photoshop. This time, I used 2 different images. I used the same scratched painted metal texture I used for the cover and also an abstract halftone texture.
Fig. 14. Textures Used for Comic Page
The textures added more depth to the final comic cover, which made it look less "flat".
Animation
We have to animate at least 3 panels of the comic, and may also animate
parts of the cover to draw viewer's attention.
I decided to animate Panel 1, Panel 2, Panel 5 and Panel 7. First, I made
each animation frame in Illustrator, then I transferred them into
Photoshop to animate them.
Fig. 15. Timeline Panel For Comic Page
[Final Outcome]
Fig. 16. Final Animated Comic Cover
Fig. 17. Final Animated Comic Page
[Reflection]
I learned that creating a comic is not as simple as it sounds, as it
requires extreme attention to detail. Each panel has to be planned in
terms of storyline, composition, and even how it looks as a whole
page.
I'm satisfied with the final outcome of my work, however I believe
there's more room for improvement as this is my first time creating a
comic. My animations are also rather simple, and I would like to put more effort on this aspect in my future works.
Thank You
