Art Direction - Final Project - Art Guide

30/09/25 - 04/01/26

Khan Saif (0367438)

Art Direction / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media

Art Direction Compilation (Project 1 + 2 + Final Compilation)

Project 1 : Proposal

Our goal for project 1 was to create an art direction concept that can respond to a real-world community problem that aligns with the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This project will also be a on-going project until the final project. Our project can range from having a social campaign to having a game concept, as long as it's based on our decided specialization. 

We first looked into the different SDGs that we could choose from. After researching on some SDGs, such as Quality Education, Life Below Water and Life On Land, we ended up selecting Quality Education as it's a concurrent problem to the younger generation these days that are more exposed to technology. As for our output, we initially wanted to do on a game but quickly realized that the idea is simply too difficult and time consuming especially considering that we have other modules to work on at the same time. So, we decided to work on something with a smaller scale instead, and that is, an interactive comic. The whole idea of this comic, is for it to be educational and at the same time engaging to interact with.

Miro Board Link

Group Timeline Link

Google Drive Submission Link

Final Outcome

Project 1 Final Proposal

Project 1 Final Presentation Deck

Project Management Report

Final Project: Art Direction Guide

While working on our interactive comic, we also needed to create an art guide where basically we explain some of the rules required and what to stick to when making the comic. It basically serves as our guideline. This guide basically can range from doing the marketing to doing the concept designs for interactive comic.

We split the art guide to 5 parts and those are Branding & Merchandise, Social Media, Animation Art, Interactive and Entertainment. I did the social media art guide to represent the advertisement of the interactive comic.

Act 1 Panel Design

Act 2 Panel Design

Act 3 Panel Design

                      

My attempt at the final illustration for the comic

Art Guide for Born Distracted

Art Guide for Born Distracted [Book-Styled]

 

Final Interactive Comic - Born Distracted

Art Guide Presentation

Final Project Management

Individual Report

Reports of Miscommunication / Reflection

NOTE: This session of portfolio is important because it documents our misguided communication and a potential evidence of ghosting. I cannot speak for my teammates, but I can speak for myself and how I observe the group through evidence and our behavioral pattern.

What I observe through the group:

- Group don't seem to understand the art direction, despite the established moodboard.
- Their Silence in Text often Speaks Volumes which sometimes voices concern and worry over lack of progress, especially towards the UI stage.
- Display a pattern of favoritism towards another group member over the other, which results in potential ghosting.
- Cherry-pick who the leader is and the role quite often, which cause a lot of inconvenience and results a huge favor in favoritism over equality of work.
- Display a lack of professionalism and even display attempts of ghosting, especially in the illustration stage

Discovering what my teammates have said about my work in my portfolio, frankly, I am very disappointed and displeased by the way they gave feedback. The best way I can describe their critique is being dismissive.

I emphasized that my art style for this comic is supposed to be sketchy with thick bold lines with the use of hatching and thick lining. This is because it not only fit a style of children's book illustration, but also to fit in the storytelling that was supposed to be contrary to Guss's habit of his digital addiction. This rationale has already documented all the way in project 1. However, it seems that my teams weren't paying enough attention to these details, so they decided to rework the whole comic panel without my permission and dismiss it as "draft".

Art Direction in Moodboard 1

Art Direction in Moodboard 2

Art Direction in Moodboard 3

I completed the whole panel in December 23rd, and I expect them to work on the UI starting at night time given their schedule, but contrary to what I have believed, their silence is speaking volumes and judging by what they have wrote on the portfolio, they have secretly rework the illustration behind my backs. (I resent my panel in Dec 26th).

They responded vaguely with "Don't worry", and proceed to tell me to work on my art guide. However, the fact is, they haven't send me the link to Figma for collaborative reasons, and this was rather disturbing and concerning.

What I observe for myself:

- Procrastination sometimes happens and cause troubles for teammates.
- Can be too blunt and sound dominating when giving criticism.
- Mindset often go for the end-goal rather than progressive due to my gradiose personality.
- They are more initiative than me in group discussions (which probably results favortism), despite my efforts and attempts to put everyone on the same page, especially on Whatsapp and Google Meet (in earlier weeks).
- Perhaps my work don't go in their favors. (But that's only because I'm trying my best to follow the supposed art direction, which I thought everyone agreed upon.)

To be quite frank, now that everything has been covered, I'm less baffled towards the end product, and more disappointed towards on my group member's communication. There's moments where we get along and on the same page, but because of their avoidance of resolve conflict with communication, things have turned out to be confusing, at least for me or anyone that seems to feel left out after the project.

Ghosting anyone is never okay, no matter how different the person is or less ideal their executions were. Ghosting someone or their work is never a solution as an easy way out, and I hope that writing this reflection, my effort and contribution in this interactive comic were not in vain.

That said, I understand I'm not perfect, and there have been times where my grandiose personality of going towards the end product and vision rather than progress make my group feel uneasy and seemingly restrictive towards their creative prowess.

But it still hurtful how they have displayed numerous attempts of silence when I asked their progress, because me not getting along with them is the last thing I want. I write all of this because I wish and want to do better to give them creative freedom while trying to get everyone on the same page. But it seems I have a long way to go when it comes to leading the group in that direction in the future.