Journey to the west
by Anita
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XUAN ZANG
character information
Xuanzang is one of the main characters in Wu Chengen’s mythical novel “Journey to the West”. He is an artistic image created by a writer based on the Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang. The Tang Seng in the novel is a typical representative of a class of scholars who abide by traditional ethics and religious beliefs. His deepest impression is that he is sincere and pedantic, kind and cowardly.
Xuanzang went through hardships throughout his life, was saved by the monk and named Jiangliu. When he was older, he became a monk with the name Xuanzang, and later became a generation of eminent monks. Tang Taizong immediately ordered him to go to the Western Heaven to learn the scriptures. He encountered countless disasters on the way.
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Character iteration
1
The first is the more traditional image of Xuanzang.
I want to analyze his initial character image carefully.
So this version is expressed in the way of Chinese painting.
He is a monk with a dignified appearance but relatively weak and pedantic.
Use Chinese art paper
2
The second one I moved its background to modern times.
Xuanzang wore a windbreaker and suit.
The clothes inside and the cane in his hand still have the original elements.
For example, the red and yellow robes are converted into suits.
Use photoshop
3
In the third one, I overturned Xuanzang’s decent image.
Xuanzang in this version is more like a monster.
Buddhist beads have also become weapons.
Because he was often taken away by monsters in the original work,
he might have changed from a Buddha to a monster if he stayed with the monster for a long time.
Use photoshop
4
In the fourth one, I imagined Xuanzang as a female in the future.
I changed Xuanzang from a cowardly male image to a heroic female image.
But retains the characteristics of Buddhist beads and bald heads.
Use photoshop
5
In the fifth one, I imagined Xuanzang as an illusory object.
The target hit some of his inner thoughts.
He has a very strong desire to learn the scriptures,
and he is very good at speaking Dharma and educating others.
So the brush and paper are the main components of this object.
Use photoshop
6
In the sixth one, I used non-woven fabrics
to create a cute and simple image of Xuanzang.
The character image is mainly composed of geometric bodies.
Use non-woven fabrics
7
In the seventh, I think of his previous life Jin Chanzi.
That is cicada.
I combined the image of cicada
and some of the characteristics of people to create a half-insect image.
Use photoshop
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Narrative Experiment
We initially shared seven different characters with each other. I found none of mine was particularly suitable. Because our story is still more archaic, and the overall story happened after the original, the characters should be relatively old. Especially Xuanzang, the main character. Because he is still human, he should become very old after a long time. So I designed an image of a relatively old and ordinary monk and tried to be as close to the master’s style as possible. And because of a change in Xuanzang’s identity in the story, I designed two different images. The first is the appearance of an ordinary monk, and the second is the image of the Buddha after defeating the inner demon.
two version
first draft
In terms of how to present, the content of the story is that we have chosen a change close and far scene in image . From the overall posture of the distant view to in the expression of the close view, and the final part of the view transfer to next view. I also added the line extension of moving objects . The details of the character’s expression can make the reader better understand the character’s psychological state and the direction of the story. We chose a more traditional format similar to a comic frame, but I tried to put some scenes out of the frame and found that the picture became more vivid.
In the first scene, which I drew, the main story is that Xuanzang and Bajie met many years later. Bajie is distraught when he discovers that Xuanzang has lost his memory. He forcibly took Xuanzang to the side of Wuzhi Mountain where Monkey King was suppressed .
final version
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Storyboards
first scene
second scene
third scene
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Final story
It rained early in the morning, and the pouring rain drove the sun away. There was a monk in the small courtyard holding a black staff. He was Xuanzang but lost some memory in his head. There were layers of wrinkles that started to appear on Xuanzang’ s face. But the pair of eyes was still gentle and moist.
He had been busy since the beginning of the morning, and by noon, he made a table of delicious food without meat，some rice and some vegetables, and put them in bowls. In addition to himself, there were also three sets of tableware.
He muttered, putting away the extra, who are those three people? Maybe it’s a very important person?
He cleaned up the dishes and went out the door. He sat on the steps in front of the house for a long time and almost fell asleep. After a while, the cold winds woke him up. It was a very cold dusk, the rain had not yet finished, and the setting sun had fallen.
The day was about to end again, like a bucket of water pouring from the head to the feet. Still repeating again and again. There are only two states of life: life and death. But he repeatedly swings at the two ends.
The night was like a deep well, and there was a soft hiss in the yard. This spring, the white horse was thinner. Its coat was bright, like silver in the rain. The spine protrudes like a blade, cutting through the night. He did know where it came from, but Xuanzang knew it was lonely just like him. Two lonely creatures act as mirrors to see and increase each other’ s loneliness.
Sometimes, he also suspected that he was still dreaming, a long and long dream. There is no one in the dream, but the butterfly becomes a human, and the human returns to the butterfly.
A noise shattered his thought.the pig head monster slumped into the courtyard with scars.
“Master!” the monster called in a sad voice.
Xuanzang was startled “When did I have such a strange ugly apprentice?”
The pig head looked at the monk in disbelief, as if the monk had done something extremely sorry for him.
A quarter of an hour later, the pig head told Xuanzang a story. The pig head is named Bajie, Xuanzang’s apprentice.
“I finally found you, master” , Ba Jie said, “Master, the Buddhas deceived us!They asked us to learn the sutras, saying that they would atone for the sins, but they never intended to spare us… You see, after we finished the journey to get sutras, what have we gained? Good result? You have lost all your memories and are stuck in this city of Chang’an. And you look so old. Senior was imprisoned in Five Elements mountain again, and I was cleaning the stars in the Milky Way with this pig head, and Sha Seng returned to the river of sand and became a ferryman.”
“…It’s none of my business.” Xuanzang said. To him these things never happened before.
“Only you can rescue the Wukong and fight back the Buddhas…” Bajei said repeatedly, and finally shed tears. The tears like a string of pearls flow down between the fat of the face. Then he held Xuanzang’ s hand.
To Xuanzang’ s surprise. Bajei took him directly to Five elements mountain before he noticed that. After Xuanzang swayed dizzily he saw a monkey’ s head in a heap of grass.
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Final drawing
The man had been busy since the beginning of the morning,
Making a table of delicious food，
In addition to himself, there were also three sets of tableware.
But he is alone.
The white horse was thinner, shining like silver in the rain.
The spine protrudes like a blade, cutting through the night.
Two lonely creatures act as mirrors to see and increase each other’ s loneliness.
Large sound break the silence.
Monster slumped into the courtyard with scars.
Tears flow down between the fat of the face.
The man did not remember him,
And the journey to the west.
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Reflection
This project is a very large project with a very large workload. And compared to before, this is an assignment that requires teamwork, so the work and cooperation between members is very important. As we discuss this topic together, some difficulties also follow. Because we started writing the story by three different people to write a complete story, the style and content are very different. Our team used the beginning of the story I wrote as the prototype of the final story, but because we have different ideas, the development of the story is a bit strange. This story makes it feel like there is no complete ending. We have been thinking about changing the ending part of this story for a long time. But in the end, through our long discussion together, we finally changed the end of the story. Because the members of our group are not particularly good at writing, we also spent a long time after changing the ending to add details and unify the writing style according to the teacher’s suggestions. So I think the process of creating a story is just a very difficult process.
I have also gained a lot. I have never painted such a storytelling picture before. In order to make the picture more story-telling and coherent, I tried to use some perspective changes to narrate. Our team also tried our best to make our pictures have some distance changes and add unified elements to make our pictures look more harmonious. Because our painting styles are different, we try to unify the elements as much as possible. But in the end I still finished a relatively satisfactory work. This is where I think I am successful.
