10 LIVES

YAGEN SQUARE PROJECT 22T3
BY LIZ MCLENNAN

MEET THE DESIGNER

Hi! My name is Liz. I am the designer behind 10 Lives.

I am an illustrator at heart, and so I decided to return to those roots for this project. In the future, I hope to focus more on UX/UI, but still utilise my illustration skills for the creation of custom assets.

For this project, I combined my love of cats and technology to create this artwork.

Want to see more of my work?
Follow me on Instagram: @liren_ipsum
Contact email: lirmclenn@gmail.com

THE PROJECT!

BRIEF:

Express yourself! In this studio, we produced a body of work that represents something that inspires us. We were encouraged to reflect on your time at SAE, revisit processes and techniques that challenged us, consider our hobbies and interests, and the reason why you first got into design. This is a personal dive into the foundations of why we want to create in the first place.

MY CONCEPT:

This all started with a desire to see my cat live forever. She is getting quite old, and so I wanted to create something to immortalise her. I am also really into technology, and so I thought it would be really interesting if I turned my cat into a giant robot, hence granting her immortality.

MY PROCESS:

I started off as an illustrator before I became a designer, and illustration is what inspired me to design in the first place, and so I decided to return to my roots for this project. After many hours of editing, I then put it into After Effects to make it all come to life.

I also had the pleasure of teaming up with Lux, an audio student, who created a beautiful instrumental piece to accompany my work.

YAGEN SQUARE PROJECT PROCESS

MOODBOARD + CHOSEN STYLE

INITIAL SKETCHES

I started off with a couple different variations. I knew from the start that I wanted to feature technology and my cat is some way. After gathering feedback from my lecturers and peers, I landed on my final sketch, which served as the base for my final design.

I knew that high contrast was important for this design in order for it to show up properly on the tower, and so my initial plan was to use contrasting colours and pops of highlights to make everything stand out.

FINAL SKETCH

DEVELOPMENT

First coloured version

My first challenge was colouring my piece. I tried a couple different lighting options before landing on this. I started out with thick lines in an effort to test the limits of the Yagen tower.

Further Refinement

Taking on feedback from peers and my lecturer, I refined my design and lightened everything to make it look better on the tower

Final Version

After a lot of trial and error, I was finally able to land on an illustration that was light enough for the tower and which still held the original mood I was looking for. With this all done, I was free to animate it.

SCREEN TESTS

Screen Test 1 & 2

Screen Test 3 & 4

HIDDEN SYMBOLS AND THEIR MEANINGS

Hanging star

This motif if the same as my very first tattoo, pictured left.

It is the (current) symbol for my favourite band Bring Me The Horizon. I was first introduced to them when I was 11 through a childhood friend's older sister. Been a fan ever since.

Outside of this context, it is a symbol of the occult known as a unicursal hexagram. It's meaning is similar to the ancient Egyptian Anhk symbol, which is also known as the key of life.

Honestly I think I did a better job drawing it than my tattoo artist.

Heart necklace

The necklace that can be seen hanging off the table is meant to be the necklace that my grandma gave me when I turned 13, as a sort of coming-of-age present.

The necklace has my birthname 'Lirren' engraved on it and it is made of solid gold. It is also a locket, and has a small compartment inside it where I used to keep a photo of my grandparent's dog. I have since lost that photo unfortunately.

Due to the highly maluable nature of gold and the senimental value it holds, I don't wear it out much out of fear of losing or breaking it. Most of the time it remains secure in it's box.

Window crystals

The hanging crystals in my drawing are actually modelled off of real hanging crystals that I have in my bedroom.

Currently it hangs up by a small window in my dressing room, above one of my cat's many sleeping spots.

FINAL ANIMATION!

(FINAL) 10 Lives_Liz McLennan_DESIGN.mp4

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