https://youtu.be/NCNOmlNtF_Q             

Link to a video demonstration on Youtube

https://www.freelancewriting.com/creative-writing/questions-for-creating-character-development/

https://www.novel-software.com/theultimatecharacterquestionnaire

Above are some questions listed for me to ask about the four characters Wukong, Xuanzhang, Bajie, and Wujing so help better understand them and write better information for the audience to read and understand.

I also need to fix the transition slide and also fix the bugs that I have in my code.

and lastly, I need to incorporate more interactivity in the code for users to play around with.

I got some issues with the clicking function, they are all mouse presses and and because they are all mouse pressed they show up on all of the environments so the players can accidently get switched to another environment while still enjoying and playing with their previous one.

I think I one way to resolve the issue is to take out the home page and write the code in order from the environment so that once one character interactivity is completed I can write an if statement telling the program to rewrite over the previous one so that none of the past functions would effect the next environment.

I also discovered I came across some issues with the movements suffering with some lags but works fine if I put it in a new file with no other code. I think I might have some bugs but I just don’t know where it is coming from, I have a meeting with Bonnie in the morning so I am hoping she could take a look at it.

I think the biggest problem for me right now is coding and me taking a long time to grasp an understand certain parts of the language. I am not entirely concern with some of the unfinished paintings because they are all pretty minor at this point and I can easily fix and change those but with coding it is very unpredictable.  But I am remaining optimistic, I will have it completed there will just not have as much interactively as I would have hoped but I can always add in more things later. That is one of the good things about coding, once you solve one issue and made one thing work, I can base it off the previous code and add more things into it.

So, for the class critique I showed everyone my Processing file and what I have thus far but after Mondays class I worked on it some more and decided that it will be easier for me to have clicking transitions instead of sliding transitions.

So I changed it so now they are clicking transitions. I also moved onto coding the interactivtly of the code. Because I spend so much time painting and drawing the scenes and characters I don’t have much time with coding so I am shortening my plan a little.

Instead of having multiple game interactions there will only be one per character and location. the rest will be roll overs and mouse presses of the environment to find interesting facts about each character. I still want the informative aspect of the project to remain because that was my original intention but I wanted to add interaction for it to be more engaging.

The ending will still be the same with all of the characters together on their to India to achieve enlightenment.

I made some changes to Wukongs’s environment so that it fits better and so that Wukong would belong into the frame because it was too blue and Wukong’s cloths was also blue.

I have already started to code for the last part of the BFA project.

I redesigned Bajie’s environment  because his original was too far away so if I were to put him in it, he would be very tiny.

I also redesigned Wukong’s environment cause his was too confusing and there was also no room for him to stand.

I started on adding textures and colors to their environment and I am making decent progress. I am aiming to have this all done by the end of this week and ready for monday so I can start putting them all into Processing. I was also given permission by Bonnie to work on my BFA as a final for her Art and Code class so that is what I will be working on for the following week until Finals.

This is Zhu Bajie’s environment.

This is Wukong’s new environment.

I plan on adding more foliage and trees into the environment

I made some revisions on the characters after having a meeting with Bonnie. I’ve officially finished the characters textures and all. Now I am working on finishing the environment as well as planning out an interface and flow cart for my interactive project.

       Sha Wujing

     Sun Wukung

       Xuanzhang

  Zhu Bajie

I goal is to finish the environment by Wednesday and have a solid flow chart to follow so I can begin coding for the rest of November and December.

Above is what I have made thus far and the image below has the sketch layer on top to show what else I need to add into the image.

This is the basic color palette I felt it will go well with Bajie but this could change once I added in the detail.

The image below is what Wujing’s location looks like, I am pretty happy with the color palette of this location as well, but this could change once I add in the textures.

I finished Wujing’s character I just have to go in and add the textures, his character is bigger than the other characters because he is often describe as being taller in stature. In my previous post I assigned him the colors blue and browns for his characterists but I have yet found ways to incorporate more browns into his palette. His color scheme may or may not change once I go in and add his textures.

I’ve also finished the sketches for his environment and found information on his location.

Like many of the main characters in the novel they were all punished for the crimes they have committed and Wujing’s punishment was to be isolated in a dessert like place where his swords and daggers will randomly be send from the heavens to stab him at randoms. Despite his crimes and him being damned to become a demon in the novel his is often noted to be very kind hearted and the most obedient out of the three companions to Xuanzhang.

This is the rough outline that I will follow but his location will mostly be sand and rocks and in the background there will be mountains off in the distance.

I plan on having all of the environment done and I will work on the textures of the environment in class and over the rest of this week. My goal is to have all of this done by the end of Sunday so I can begin animating everything that needs to be animated and start assembling everything by the end of November or sooner depending on how smoothly the animating part will go since I might have to go back and make revision for the joints of the characters if they cannot be animated smoothly in After Effects.

I never got to finishing up Wukong’s environment but I about done with Bajie I just need to add textures on and he is ready to be animated.

My goal is to have his environment sketched out and Wukongs environment done by wednesday. I’ll be back to work on more later today since I am hoping to have all of the characters ready to show.

On the left is a screen shot that I took from an old animation about Wukong, and on the right is my basic vector drawing of his environment. I am trying to have the same whimsical appeal as what was in the animation but that is all I have gotten done with today’s class time. I had to move some of the pieces around because it didn’t fit with the composition so it looks a little different from my initial sketch drawing. I hope to add textures in my monday and also get a start on Zhubajie on Monday.

What I have done thus far, Wukong (monkey king; the monkey) is completely done while the Monk is almost done. I am still working on his robe and from the group critique there are things that needs to be done to that the monk character and the monkey match in style and texture.

The issue of time and time management is also an issue since I am behind on schedule but I also eliminated a lot of work from my calendar because I don’t have to write a script for each character and their origin story and research are mostly finished. I just need to focus on completing the characters and the environment.

Somethings that are positive is the fact the environment and characters are suitable for the interactive web storybook that I am trying to create.

As for the technical and computer science part, the class that I am taking Art and Code is moving along and I am on the section where I am learning about interactivity so by the end of that segment I should also have the characters and environment completed for me to start playing around with the program.

So, I can’t figure out how to add textures in illustrator so instead I will be using Photoshop instead to make the images for the characters and environments.

Here are some screen shots of the environments from an old animation about Sun Wukong, I am taking inspiration from the images and how they illustrate the environments. I believe they used water color to achieve their dream like environment but I will be using digital mediums instead to illustrate my environment.

Found a tutorial on how to achieve a simple but effective look in photoshop

This is probably the closest to how I want my characters and environment to look like

Xuanzhang was an actual historical figure.

The link above retells his story and his significance in Chinese history by bringing buddhism to China. The author of Journey to the West, Wu Cheng En named his character the Monk after Xuanzhang, much of the premise of the story to Journey to the West is based on Xuanzhang’s adventure traveling to India. The only difference is that the actual Xuanzhang traveled alone was a fugitive from the Chinese Emperor because he left China without his permission (there was a travel ban in China at the time), while in the book by Wu Cheng En Xuanzhang was granted permission and Wukong was sent to protect him from harm that would come his way during his travels.

Also found another much more detailed report history of Xuanzhang by a professor from Peking University China

Because the real Xuanzhang brought buddhism to China for his item I will make a large golden Buddha head lodge between clouds in the Heavens for his symbol.

If I have time I want to make the roofs jingle and move a bit like a xylophone.

The fences will shift left to right like the clouds if the mouse scrolls over them.

This what I sort of have in mind when you open the page, but there will be more details and many of the environment will be done in illustrator. The very top of the page is the Jade heavenly palace and as your scroll down you’ll see the mortal whelm with mountains and the roof tops of the houses. In between the heavens and the mortal whelm there will be a lot of clouds.

In order to allow the audience to see the world where “Journey to the West” takes palace, I’m doing research on the jade empire.

The Jade Emperor and who resides with him in the Heavenly Palace

I want clouds to move and float to cover the palace and the landscape but once the user moves their mouse the cloud will float away.

They will look something like the three pictures.

I plan taking inspiration from the forbidden city in Beijing, China to create what the Jade Palace would look like.

There’s not a lot of cartoon characters or old Chinese cartoons depicting the Monk, so I am revisiting a live action remake of the Journey to the West of the characters. I will base my character design off of this actor Xu Shaohua who portrays the Monk

Most common features of the Monk is that he has long earlobes, small lips and a long face. I   probably will not make his head piece as detailed as what his is wearing, I will probably keep the colors and the little gold details.

I also love the expressions and body language actor Liu Xiao Ling Tong used in his portrayal of the Wukong, out all the actors I’ve seen his has done the best in my opinion of bring Wukong to life.

Favorite Artists: PearFleur, she doesn’t reveal her real name, but she is an illustrator studying in New York.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEL6pbAnxgs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFpLiXh19iI     

The first video is her most recent sketchbook tour where she recalls her thought process and how she got to her final image in her sketchbook, she talked about what worked for her and what she didn’t like. She also talked about what inspired her to create the paintings that she created. PearFleur also experimented with different mediums and she also talked about which type she preferred and how each one gave off a different type of effect and look to her pieces.

The second video is of her digital painting for the first time and she talked about the difference in how there is a gap in digital traditional painting. She also talked about the struggles she encountered in digital painting as opposed to traditional painting. One major point was that digital painting leaves no room for mistake and it can always turn out perfect as opposed to traditional media where there is room for mistakes and for mistakes to be turned into masterpieces.

Another Favorite Artists: Sara Tepes, she is also a student and illustrator. Sara uses variety of mediums from traditional to digital.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orgVs2csqbo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyu5JJGG-Z0

The first video of Sara is of her repainting one of her older digital painting and seeing how it compared to how her skills now.  She also went about explaining how she improved her skills and some tips she used to motivate and encourage her to continue. She also encouraged to use reference pictures and look up how lighting works and how the body moves to replicate an accurate figure.

Her second video is of her painting in watercolor illustration of Little Red Riding Hood, she also mentioned how she improved in her skills outside of digital painting and in traditional media when she wasn’t so comfortable with traditional media and how she went about transitioning from one media to next.

I think it’s interesting to see two of my many favorite artists approach their art and to see the difference in their preferred medium, one being traditional and more abstract while the other is more illustrative and used digital mediums more so than traditional (although Sara has become more flexible).

For both artists, I am inspired by their use of color and how illustrative they both are when it comes to their work. PearFleur is inspired by everyday events and incorporates it into her work, while Sara finds inspiration through Pinterest or subjects that interest her.

I am very much the same with both PearFleur and Sara but instead of everyday events, I want to explore more everyday events within my family and about being Chinese. But I am still not entirely comfortable with exposing myself which is why I thought about illustrating a Chinese short story. Going back to colors many artists of whom I follow and admire love using colors and experiment with colors, which is why I really love the older cartoons produced in China. I want to recreate that but in a new medium of digital painting and putting my own spin to it. So I am merging the old and the new together, I think it’s sort of symbolic of myself since I am from a new generation apart from my parents and my views are different from my parents but I still value a lot of the older Chinese traditions but I only take what I believe is true and leaving the ones that I think is important i.e traditional roles of women in households.

Below are five sketches that I’ve created based on the older cartoon style of Wukong, in the first sketch I had a real time trying to capture the fluidness of his body but as I continued to sketch and draw I slowly was getting the hang of it. It also helped that I found an old movie about his origin and I was watching that while trying to copy his movements through the screen. I  also played around with his face design and how his hair will look and his clothing design and some expressions. I am still not entirely comfortable with this form of style but I am slowly trying to transition and once I get a solid design I will move onto the other characters and trying to capture their body movement and style.

The movie that I found where a lot of the pictures that I found online were taken from.

Jiaxinl_project_2

^^^^ above is a little more detail of Project 2 including some of the research that I’ve already done for my BFA project.

After much thought, while researching Chinese stories, I’ve come to realize I still love my original idea of doing my BFA project on the story “Journey to the West”. I think it’s a nice ending to my final year in college since my very first assignment from my first AMP class was color and painting and I painted Sun Wukong (one of the main character from the story).

My plan still stands about it being an animated interaction piece but I held back a little because I’m not very familiar with coding or even Javascript. But hopefully, with some help from other faculty members who are familiar with Javascript and much more thorough research, I can complete the project.

I want to introduce the audience to the wonderful story and beautiful characters that are in the story but time is limited and there are many characters so I will only focus on the main characters and they are:

Xuanzang; He is the monk traveling to the west to achieve enlightenment.

•  His colors will consist of: red, brown, green, and blue

Sun Wukong: Punished and trapped by Buddha, he is forced to accompany and protect Xuanzang on his journey to the west.

• His colors will consist of: red, orange, and blue

Zhu Bajie once,  a well-respected Commander for the Heavenly Army in the Jade emperors kingdom he is punished for flirting with the Moon Goddess, Chang’e

• His colors will consist of: purple, and orange.

Sha Wujing once, a general assignment to hold the celestial curtain he is punished and banned for breaking a crystal goblet.

• His colors will consist of: Blue, purple, and brown.

These are the four main characters that I will focus on as each of them symbolize different characteristics of humanity like Dante’s Inferno. Zhu Bajie is gluttonous and greedy for food and women, Sun Wukong is mischievous and selfish and Sha Wujing is careless and sometimes unmotivated.

I assigned them colors based on the meaning of Feng Shui since in Chinese Opera their colorful customs are based on the colors in Feng Shui. I am also going to include and mix my own take and meaning behind each other and possibly fit more to their characteristics but these are the basics for their color palette.

Instead of illustrating a full chapter of one of their adventures I will only do an introductory type story.

It will be on a website and the first opening scene will show clouds and it will open up to the many levels of the heavenly empire. Each location will be related to the “origin” story of each character an example will be Sun Wukong was a monkey born from a rock so there will be rock resting towards the lower level of the heavenly empire and when your mouse over to the rock, the rock will rattle and it will split open revealing a fully grown golden monkey.

This will be the same for all of the characters each one of them will be linked to an item and they will pop open revealing each character. Once the character pops out a short animated sequence will begin, illustrating their part and how they got to be part of the group. The animated sequence will be entirely based on the color palette that I’ve selected for them.

I will be using the following programs:

Adobe Illustrator; making the characters and movable props.

Photoshop: To add textures to the characters and movable props, i.e Sun Wukong’s rock. I will also use Photoshop to paint the main opening scene and their backgrounds.

After Effects: used to assemble all of the animations.

Javascript: to bring the entire project to life.

Finally, I haven’t decided on what website to host all of this yet but I don’t think it’s entirely important as of yet.

Some link I’ve used:

http://www.feng-shui-and-beyond.com/feng-shui-colors.html

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-10945/what-each-color-means-in-feng-shui.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West

(I’m aware wiki is not a valid source for information but, it has the basics of the story. I am working on finding more credible sources for information regarding the stor.)