My Coily Story - The Process
My initial objective for this project was to combine the concept of escapism through gaming with the black identity. After looking into escapism and coming across the organisation ‘Black Girl Gamers’, I decided that I wanted to primarily focus on the identity of the black woman.
I first started by reading multiple books, journals and articles pertaining to the different aspects of the black woman. I then watched movies, documentaries and panel discussions surrounding the same topic. After going over my notes I created visual research pages that highlighted the most interesting points I came across.
While going over my notes, I realised that there were specific subject matters that came up continuously; hair, texturism and colourism. Using these topics as inspiration, I created a couple sketches to get my creative juices flowing.
By this point, I felt a bit lost regarding what my next step was. I knew that I was drawn to the subject of black women and hair; however, I wasn’t sure how to go about developing my project. I decided to voice my concerns to my tutor and was advised to be playful and experiment with whatever medium I came across. The next few weeks were filled with me collecting different materials around my house and seeing how I could portray black hair using them.
Black Hair & Baubles
- Pictures taken on a Canon EOS 7D
Dangers of Hair Care
- Pictures taken on a Canon EOS 7D
Dangers of Hair Care, Short Clip #1
- Taken on a Canon EOS 7D
Dangers of Hair Care, Short Clip #2
- Taken on a Canon EOS 7D
Dangers of Hair Care, Short Clip #3
- Taken on a Canon EOS 7D
Scans of Braids and Hair care products
- Scanned on a Scanner
pH tests of black hair care products #1
- Tested on Litmus Paper, Scanned on a Scanner
pH tests of black hair care products #2
- Tested on Litmus Paper, Scanned on a Scanner
Markings of Braids #1
- Acrylic Paint
Markings of Braids #2
- Acrylic Paint
Markings of Braids #3
- Acrylic Paint
Markings of Braids #4
- Charcoal Sticks
Markings of Braids #5
- Pastels
Markings of Braids #6
- Pastels
Hair Care products encased in Glycerin Soap #1
- Glycerin Soap
Hair Care products encased in Glycerin Soap #2
- Glycerin Soap
Hair Care products encased in Glycerin Soap #3
- Glycerin Soap
Mould of Hair Baubles
- Air-Drying Clay
Mould of Hair Brush
- Air-Drying Clay
Mould of Braids
- Air-Drying Clay
3D Hair Relaxer Animation
- Blender
3D Hair Maintenance Animation
- Blender
Coded Parallax of Black Game Protagonist #1
- Procreate & Coder
Coded Parallax of Black Game Protagonist #2
- Procreate & Coder
Black Female Protagonist on Game Start Screen
- Procreate
Markings of Braids #7
- Pastels
I found this process extremely beneficial as it made me not take things too seriously; sometimes being playful brings out the most fruitful results
After showing my experiments to my tutor, I was advised to look into an artist called Danielle -Shirley Braithwaite. Brathwaite creates immersive digital experiences focusing on black trans people. She has told multiple stories using coding as a medium. Looking through her website made me realise that gaming is more than just the visuals and sound effects, its also the story being told to the player; the user experience is the most important thing. Because of this revelation, I decided to create an interactive story that focused on the journey the black woman takes when learning to accept her natural hair.
At this point, coding was still relatively new to me; because of this, I decided to spend a couple weeks following YouTube tutorials that covered very basic concepts.
Subtle Image Change
- Hover Effect
Image Spotlight
- Mouse-Over Effect
Parallax Landscape #1
- Parallax Scroll Effect
Animated Playing Cards
- Hover Effect
Parallax Astronaught
- Mouse Parallax Effect
Hidden Information Card
- Hover Effect
Profile Cards
- Hover Effect
Parallax Landscape #2
- Parallax Scroll Effect
Glowing Link
- Hover Effect
Animated Square
- Hover Effect
Following these tutorials developed my skills substantially, and soon enough I felt confident enough to come up with basic plans surrounding my final outcome.
First Rough Plan #1
First Rough Plan #2
Second Rough Plan #1
Second Rough Plan #2
Quick Sketch
Idea Generation
Key Themes Generation
Dialogue Plan #1
Dialogue Plan #2
Dialogue Plan #3
Dialogue Plan #4
Dialogue Plan #5
In order to make the story as informative as possible, I decided to illustrate different aspects of the natural hair journey that were spoken about repeatedly in the different materials I used as research. Each illustration would be made interactive through coding and each interaction would add to the point I was trying to get across.
Original Sketch
- Procreate
Natural Hair x Anxiety
- Procreate & After Effects
Original Sketch
- Procreate
The Palatable Black Woman
- Procreate & After Effects
Original 3D Model
- Procreate
The Temptation of Relaxers
- Procreate, Blender & After Effects
Original Sketch
- Procreate
Choosing Relaxer #1
- Procreate & After Effects
Original Sketch
- Procreate
Choosing Relaxer #2
- Procreate & After Effects
Original Sketch
- Procreate
The Struggle of Hair Maintenance
- Procreate
Choosing to stay Natural
- Procreate
Choosing to go Relaxed
- Procreate
Soon enough, I had enough material to create a final solid plan.
All that was left was to get it done.
After months of coding and problem solving, I was able to create my final outcome.
