Graphic Narrative Evaluation

Use this template to help you evaluate your project.

You should give specific details about your work.

You should provide both written and visual examples to explain your project.

You should find areas to praise in your work. Be specific about why you think they are good or why you are proud of them.

You should also find areas that could be improved. Look for areas that you could make better if you went back to them. Be specific about what you would improve.

Add additional slides as you need to. Don’t be restricted by what is here.

Any blank slides should be deleted before submission.

Does your final product reflect your original intentions?

All of my storyboard is very similar to my final product. The reason I have done this because it was a lot easier to follow my plan than to do it page by page. However, originally I was going to make all of my images on Photoshop but when I started making test pages I decided that it would take to long to complete and, I didn't’t like the style that I created in Photoshop and I thought it would be easier to create the style I wanted by drawing.

One thing I have changed is the layout of the images on page 8. The reason I have decided to do this is because I could not fit all of the images on the page.

Another thing I have changed is page 10 because I could not split the screen in half without warping the image so I had to cut it diagonally.

Another change I have made is not integrating the text with my images because I did not realize how much space the text would take up so I put it on separate page. I also found with the books.

I have also decided to remove the text from the pages and instead make a second page for my text. One reason I have decided to do this is because when making my test pages I found out that I could not fit the text on my pages. It also makes my pages look less cluttered and I can add just my text to make the lettering easier to read in a separate page.

In pages 1 and 2 (the pages below) I decided that instead of redrawing an entire page it would be better to move a character around my background and zoom in. One reason I have done this is because it would save time so I could stick to my schedule.

Another thing I like about my images is that they are all hand drawn. One reason I have decided to do this is because I thought it would give my book a unique look that I would not be able to produce on Photoshop and it would be visually interesting and catch my audiences eye because of that. For example, I don’t think I would have been able to create the look of the fur on the wolfs on Photoshop. By hand drawing the images it also took less time when comparing one page I produced when drawn and one page I produced on Photoshop during my test pages.

One thing I like about how I have constructed page 10 (image to the left) is that I have used one image and zoomed in on different parts to better illustrate the text. One reason this was done because if I were to separate the images their would not of been much text to with each image separately.

I have used similar colours on each page and reused the same colours for things so they do not look out of place or slightly changed the shade. For example I have used the same range of colours for all the tress in my final product. One reason I have decided to do this is so when the reader goes onto the next page it looks similar to all of the other pages and doesn’t look out of place

Colours – The trees in my book all come from a set of shades of green and the tree trunks all come from a set of shades of brown. I think this helps create a recognised environment in all of my pages so the audience knows that it is all set in the same place and by having similar colours all the pages look connection and nothing looks out of place.

For the three wolfs in my book I have selected three different light shades of grey. This was done so each character is more distinguished from each other. The lighter colours also have connotations of good so the audience associated them as the protagonists. For the antagonist I have used darker shades for all of the the characters colour so the audience associates him as the antagonist.

Texture – I have not used any texture in my final product. I have hand drawn all of book and I used the paint bucket tool to fill in colours. One technique I used to create depth was to create a circle using Photoshop and feather the edges, which helped my achieve a glowing look in the cave.

Oscar WildeThe Selfish Giant

One similarity between this book and mind is that it is hand drawn.

One difference between my book and this book is that texture has been added in through the drawing of the image and I only drew the outline and used Photoshop to add block colour.

• You should talk about the combination of words, images and text.

On the page I have not shown all of the actions I have described such as the bear walking near the cave, running towards the cave and charging into the den. However, by showing a close up of the bear it suggests that is when the bear heard the screams so the audience assumes the best was walking before then. The other picture shows the bear stood in front of the cave so the audience assumes he must of ran there and he is about to charge in. By showing the right pictures the audience is able to fill in the gaps between the two and make a story out of the images.

This is my opening page. By showing only one character on the page my audience will make a clear connection that anything on the text page is about this character. On the text page I also only mention Little Red Riding Hood so that strengths the connection between the image and text page.

Is your product suitable for your audience? • Reference your proposal• Give an audience profile and describe suitability in reference to content

In my proposal I said I was going to be basing my book on the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. In order to make this fairly tale suitable for my audience of 5+ that I stated in my proposal. I read the story, removing any part that I thought was inappropriate and not fitting for my audience. For example the original book boils one wolf in water and cuts open and skins another, which would of not been suitable.

I am targeted a 5+ audience as my primary audience. I have used bright colours that are eye catching and go well together. This will appeal to my audience because young children are typically distracted easily so it is important that the book draws them in. My book is also a single strand narrative. This makes my book more accessible for children because the narrative will be clearer to follow as young children generally find it more difficult to follow multi-strand narratives. My book is also a linear narrative, which would also appeal to a young audience due to the fact that children usually find it harder to follow a time line that is not in chronological order.

I also think a 5+ audience will want to read my book to satisfy their need to be entertained. This is a need everyone has and one way I have managed to achieve this in my book is through excitation transfer, making the audience worried about my character and then rewarding them at the end through the story I have chosen.

My secondary audience is adults. This is because adults will be the ones who will be buying the book for their children so I picked a very popular fairy tale because it increases the chances they would buy the book because if they liked it they would consider buying it for their children. In contrast with picking a fairy tale that is not very well know, it would not stand out in a book store with hundreds of books and because it does not have lots of popularity nobody would actively seek out the book. I think adults will find that my book uses relatively simple language in comparison to other books that are targeted towards my audience age and this will appeal to them because it means that their child will understand it.

I am targeting males and females. My book uses a range of colours, on their own they could be associated with certain genders but when used together I think they don’t appeal to just one gender. My story does not put very much emphasis on gender so my audience might not associate to the character through gender and so they will appeal to both genders.

In my proposal I stated that I would be targeting an urban readership. This has not changed, I have managed to appeal to this by picking a popular fairy tale that would be more likely to be stocked in book stores I urban areas. This because book stores in urban areas have higher rent costs and have more pressure to be profitable due to that and by people are more inclined to by popular established story's than new ones. Urban areas also have a higher population so consequently more people will visit a book store and see my book. In contrast remote locations have fewer city links and lower population so less people will be able to find my book.

What do you like/dislike about the techniques you have used?

• Reference specific tools you used with images

Draw out design on A3 paper with pencil

Draw over design with a fine black pen

Rub out pencil marks

Scan into computer

Crop the edges of the image down in photoshop to get rid of any gaps in the lines at the edges

I would then make sure there were not gaps in any of the lines by using the pencil tool.

I would then use the paint bucket tool in photoshop to colour in all the sections of my image.

To create the fade in the caves in both these images I

• Used the quick selected to select the black of the cave

• Inverse the selection• Select layer via copy• Place the copied layer on top of the

current one• Used the marquee tool to create a circle

from layer 1• Increased the feathered to 100• Layer via copy• Selected the blending options and

changed the colours overlay to white• Positions the circle above the initial

layer and then place the copied background on top.

One thing I like about my book is the characters that I have designed. In order to make the characters more like humans and make them stand on two legs, hold objects in their paws, have them live in a house and have human beds. I think this was important to do because a young child typically has a low attention span so it is important that they are be able to relate to the book in order to finish it.

This is the first page of my book so by displaying the protagonist as the main focal point and as the only character on the first page it is clear that this is the pr

One thing I really like about my book is the visual style I managed to achieve by hand drawing all of the images. It is gives my book a unique look because it cannot be exactly replicated and I hope my audience would find this appealing because they would of not seen anything that looks like my book.

One thing I like about this page is that I managed to create depth within the image by scaling the characters and making the path smaller into the distance.

One thing I like about my product is the effect I have used. In the images with the cave I have made a slight appear to come from the cave. The reason I have done this is because it creates depth with the image and helps show where the character is going.

Another thing that I like about my book is the colours that I have used. For example I have used the same set of shades of browns and greens for the trees. This helps tie my book together and seem like its all part of the same location and I think it is also important for continuity to have the same colours on differenr pages of it makes things seem out of place.

One thing I dislike about my product was that all the pages with the cave I thought were simple not as visually interesting as they could have been. One reason this is because I did not know until towards the end of production by and then I had ran out of time so I could not go back and add things into the background.

One thing I like about this image is that it links with the text very well. I think that the multiple images make a nice change form the other single pages. I think this will appeal to my audience because it will help them understand and picture what is happening in the book.

I dislike page 11 because there is a picture frame but a missing image of Little Red Riding Hood in it and this is bad for continuity. This a mistake and I should of looked over my work more carefully.

Why did you include the content you used?

Professional conventions One professional convention I have followed to is listing my text top to bottom and left to right. I did this because it makes my text more legible.

StyleI decided to draw all of my images. I thought this would give me book a unique look and make is visually appealing to look at. I also decided to use block colour in order to get a 2d effect and it makes my book look almost cartoon like.

Text I have decided to use a serif font. One reason I have decided to do this is because serifs on the letter make my text more distinguished. I think this would appeal to my audience of young children because they would find it easier to read if the letters are easier to recognize.

I have also decided to increase the leading, slightly increase the tracking and separate each individual sentence. This will make my text more legible. I think it will appeal to my audience because young children might have trouble reading and by increase the tracking and leading it can help them sound of the words. By separating the sentences it all also allows my audience to tackle one sentence at a time as opposed to a chunk of text.

I have decided to use Times New Roman as my font. The reason I picked this font is because it a mainstream recognizable font and it is not distracting so I thought it would be perfect for me audience because they will not be advance readers.

What signs, symbols or codes have your used in your work?

• Choices of colour, style, locations, character design and tone all give additional meaning to your work.

My protagonists are all animals and my antagonist is a hunter. People associate a hunter as a danger to animals so they know he is the bad guy in my book.

Wolfs are typically seen as dangerous and aggressive animals. I have decided to make my wolf characters stand on two legs to make them more human like and relatable so the audience does not mistake them for an antagonist.

What representations can be found in your work?

• How are men, women or children shown in your work? Does your work feature different ages, races, social groups or religions? Does a lack of any variety of character types create its own representation?

I do not mention any ages in my book but it is suggested through the fact that Little Red Riding Hood was with her mother that she lives at home and then would be a child.

The grandma character in my story has a negative representation and I show her not being able to walk and requires a stick and has a bent back. However, the reason I have done this is because it helps establish the character of the grandma and distinguishes them from the rest of the book.

What style have you employed in your products?

I was trying to create my book in a block 2d style that is slightly cartoon like. I thought this was a good style to go for because a lot of younger children watch TV so I thought they would find a book in that style more visually engaging to look at. One place I took inspiration from is the Simpsons, which exclusively uses block colour to create the cartoon effect and even though my book is very different from the Simpsons I used block colour to create my pages.

My mood board has had the influence for the style I decided to drawn. Specifically, the images that I have highlighted with the red arrow. I tried to combine multiple elements from all of these images that I liked, which led me to the style I used in my book.

What were the strengths and weaknesses of the pre-production and planning

• How did the planning and research help• How well did you manage your time• Reference specific examplesBy planning my book it helps me realize what style I wanted to go for in my book, Specifically, by assembling my mood board I managed to pick elements from different pictures to create an idea of what I wanted to do. This is a strength of my planning because when it came down to creating my pages I already had I good idea of what style I was going for so I did not need to waste anytime with that.

I think I managed my time well and I managed to complete my project on time but I used up my extra time that I had reserved for going back to look over my book and improve areas. This was a weakness of my planning because it meant I could not go back and fix some issues I have with my book now. For example there is a continuity error In my book where I have Little Red Riding Hood in a picture frame and in one page I left it out and I think the pages of the cave are simple and need more detail to make them more interesting. If I were to do it again I would try and set more realistic standards so I could organise my time better and complete more work at home so it doesn't’t need to happen again.

An advantage of my planning was that is allowed me to sort out small details such as the page dimensions and export format. If I did not sort out my dimensions before hand my image would have been warped and would not of looked as professional.

Another advantage is that I had a basic and clear outline for my story, which allowed me to break it down easily and write text for each section of the story. If I did not write a story overview it would of taken me longer to complete the text of my book and I could of fallen behind.

Historical and cultural context

My book has similarity's and differences with the existing products I have looked at. The biggest difference is the use of combining my hand drawn images and the using Photoshop to block colour in my image. Even though I have not seen this in any existing products I have looked at I am pleased with the outcome and I think it looks visually interesting despite being different.

Michael RosenHelen Oxenbury We’re Going on a Bear Hunt

One similarity of these books is that they both use a serif font. I decided to do this because I thought it would make my text easier to read for a younger audience because the letters are more distinguished than sans serif fonts.

Another similarity is that both books have increased the leading of the text. This has been done because it makes the book easier to read because the text is broken up. The is especially useful for a young audience because they could just be learning to read and they would find a large chunk of text too challenging.

Another similarity between the two book is that they are both hand drawn.

One difference between the texts is that I my book I separated the text onto a different page. The reason I did not integrate my text is because after drawing my images I realized that their was not enough room on my page for the text. Also because I had a colour background it was hard to make the text have enough contrast so its easier to read. The book on the left doesn't ’t have this problem because it is in black and white so its easier to make the text contrast with the background and stand out. One reason the book on the left may of chosen not to separate the text is to make it easier to anchor the text with the image and make it more engaging to read as opposed to having them separate and looking at one thing at a time.

One difference between this text and mine is that they have chosen to integrate the text onto the images.

Another difference is that the letterform has been changed at the beginning of the sentence and I have not done this.

Another difference between this book and mine is that I decided you the paint bucket tool on Photoshop in order to create the block colour in my book and this book is completely hand drawn and has shading.

One similarity between my book and this book is that we have both used sans serif font. The reason I used that font is because I found it conventional in lots of other children's book and because it makes the letters stand out more, which could be beneficially for a young child learning to read.

Another difference between the books Is the dimensions. The princess and the pea has a portrait layout and mine is more landscape.