In my narrative short story entitled "Follower" the main character Quin is a confused teen with a deep desire to fit in. He aspires to be a successful musician and provide for him and his struggling mother however he's struggling to find his own style and fan base. After recording a few songs on his phone and posting them to popular streaming service SoundCloud he finally decides to find a job in order to pay for real studio time. After a few months of working he is excited to go to the studio however, this excitement is short-lived as he ends up giving into peer pressure and buying a popular jacket with the money instead.
I designed my Narrative Creature keeping in mind Quin's personality and traits. I decided to use distinctive parts of very different animals that didn't necessarily fit well together. I did this intentionally in order to demonstrate that copying or borrowing elements of style or ideas that have worked well in the past for others isn't a good approach to take when pursuing an artistic career. I decided to use body parts from a Sheep which is a common word used when referring to followers, a Vulture which scavenges in a similar way to how Quin constantly scavenges for inspiration, a Mimic Octopus which uses camouflage to hide it's real appearance, a Snake which is a metaphor for Quin's behavior when he wastes his money on non-essential items in a desperate attempt to fit in and finally, a Hercules Beetle which has a unique horn which is meant to indicate to the viewer that Quin has his own unique personality that he's scared to show to his audience. To design this creature, I used the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator to trace an outline of all the body parts I selected. I then created my own color scheme, feathers for the creature and a studio background for my creature which I drew in 1 point linear perspective. This process was a bit difficult at first as I was experimenting with different body parts and ended up having to throw some of them out after having drawn them already however, once I got past this small issue the rest came naturally. Overall, I'm happy with the final product I created considering that it was my first real design project in Illustrator.
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