Vietnam Fantasy

An Imagination Journeyby

QUE NGUYEN

1. Concept idea

The requirement is to incorporate Vietnam elements into the artwork. So I created a character and followed his steps through a journey inside Vietnam.This is the story of a pilot from the 1960s after he got lost on the sky and entered a fantasy version of Vietnam. Pilot because I was inspired by The Little Prince story, and who’s better for traveling and discovery than a pilot? In this fantasy version, I let my wild imagination create different scenery, combining environments, incorporating fairy tales, and just wandering with nonsense poetic dreams.So at this first stage, I sketched:

2. Speedpaint

Once I felt like I have had enough ideas and rough sketches, the next step was to select and bring them to Photoshop. I chose 1 sketch that introduced story concept (with the pilot and his helicopter), and the other 3 with the most distinctive kinds of landscapes, set in 3 different regions of Vietnam.I used Photoshop throughout my project, for it allows a lot of freedom to feel like really painting - putting colors onto a blank canvas, like traditional fine arts. And I was a little low-tech, so traditional way of painting is more familiar to me.

Vung Tau

Hanoi

HochiminhBac Lieu

Since the illustrations are aimed to use for children storybooks, I took a lot of freedom and fun when creating these paintings. I want them to look gorgeous and childish at the same time, so the style here looks quite cartoonish.

My techniques are very simple, including:1. Scan the paper sketch or draw a line sketch.2. Set a background color. This often sets a distinctive kind of mood that we are going to implement in the painting.

3. Use Lasso tool, select and fill in regions of flat colors.4. Add in levels and details by adding shadow and highlight on top of the flat colors. Blend mode “Overlay” or “Soft light”5. Finally, you can export the painting as a JPEG and then enhance it more, just like retouching a photo.

Finished Artwork

With some enhancement, especially the Turtle Tower (Hanoi), to improve the mood and tell a better story.

Thank Jaime for your helpful feedbacks and directions.

The Stranded Pilot

Settings: Vung Tau

Reference photos

The Turtle Tower

Settings: Hanoi

Reference photos

The Whale Submarine

Settings: Hochiminh city

Reference photos

The Flying Trishaw

Settings: Bac Lieu

Reference photos

Final wordsThat’s it! After 1 course of digital illustration and I’ve decided to

become an illustrator/2D artist.Thank you Jaime for a great semester of inspiring and exploring.

You broadens my horizon.